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BOOKS FOR THE ISLANDS
Global Development, Aid & Service
Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, PNG
Alleviating Educational Poverty: Providing Resources to Foster Learning and Growth
WFWP Australia began Books for the Islands in 2008 as an initiative from the NSW Chapter. Since then, Australian Chapters have shipped tens of thousands of boxes of children’s books to either augment or start local primary school libraries in Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea.
WFWP Australia supports UN Sustainable Development Goal 4: inclusive and quality education for all; Goal 5: gender equality; Goal 10: reduced inequalities; Goal 17: partnerships for the goals.
Many Island nations do not have libraries for their primary schools. WFWP Australia has worked towards establishing school libraries or expanding the resources of existing libraries by suppling good quality children’s books in either the English or French language.
Christ the King School, Samoa.
Child Care Centre, Port Vila, Vanuatu.
Lina and Giulia volunteering in Vanuatu's remote villages
Lina and Giulia spent one month together in different villages in Vanuatu during their volunteering experience, where they connected to the communities, built toilets and renovated houses. They fell in love with the people and the culture, and realised how much they desire to have good quality education.
Lina (left) and Giulia (right) with the children of Lamnatu.
The beautiful children of Lamnatu.
Creating School Libraries
Lamnatu and Lamlu are remote villages situated on Tanna Island, in the Tafea province of Vanuatu. The entire island has a population of 29'000 people and is mainly known for their coffee, which is exported to other countries.
A few villages are modernised, and houses have electricity and running water, but most of them do not have any of these. This is the case for the inland area where Lamnatu and Lamlu are located.
The children of the villages were very curious to learn more about the world, since none of them had ever left their village on Tanna before. Although most of them love their life on the island, there is a strong desire to see the world and to pursue a proper education.
Tanna Island, Vanuatu
However, due to the lack of resources on the island, most young adults are forced to study overseas to pursue any kind of career. This puts a lot of pressure on their families, which have to make enormous sacrifices to be able to afford paying for their child's study expenses. Nevertheless, most families believe in education and parents hope their children will have the chance to leave the island to have a future with more resources.
Local schools (a French and an English one) are located nearby the two villages. Lina, Giulia and the other volunteers visited one of them and had a chance to present themselves to the students and talk about their respective country of provenience. There they learned that the school did not have a world map, so they arranged for one to be donated to the school.
Now, in collaboration with WFWP Australia, they are hoping to support these villages and create libraries in their schools by providing them with good quality books.
The primary and secondary school of the Middlebush region on Tanna.
Group picture of one of the classes in the local school.
Lina with all the boxes of books donated by the Lycée Condorcet, a local french school in Sydney, NSW.
Packing the books and getting them ready for shipping
Unloading the van and preparing the boxes to be shipped.