Global Primary Care

Greetings from the other side of the Atlantic. I wanted to bring everyone up to date on the progress I know about since our very successful celebration of the Sesotho story contest winners in late July.

• The 20,000 maloti grant given to Family Literacy Lesotho in July by Foundation Nederland (thanks to the help of Family Literacy Lesotho member Garard Mathot) purchased 475 children’s picture books translated into Sesotho from Biblionef South Africa for distribution through the Reach Out and Read Pediatric Literacy Program in Lesotho.
• Friends of Lesotho, an association of former U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers in Lesotho, sent $150 to Christine Lim to buy Biblionef books in Sesotho for distribution to children in Lesotho.
• 1,300 new children’s picture books and about 200 used picture books were donated and sent in October 2007 by Houghton-Mifflin Publishers, Bain Capital, and private individuals for distribution to children through the Reach Out and Read Program at the Baylor College of Medicine/Bristol-Myers Squibb Pediatric HIV/AIDS Clinic and Clinton HIV/AIDS Clinic in Lesotho.
• The employees of Bristol-Myers Squibb pharmaceutical company made Reach Out and Read in Lesotho the focus of their employee-giving program in November-December 2007 and raised $34,000, which will be matched by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Secure the Future Foundation for a total of about $68,000.  This will be enough money to buy books for the Lesotho clinic for the next year as well as expand to 2 clinics in Swaziland. Further expansion to the other Baylor-Bristol-Myers Squibb HIV/AIDS pediatric clinics in Africa is planned for the future.
• Most of the Bristol-Myers Squibb money will be spent on English-language children’s books from Reach Out and Read’s U.S. publishing partner, Scholastic Books in New York.  However, some of it is being put aside for translating into Sesotho some titles by Brian Wildsmith published by Star Bright Books.  One of Family Literacy Lesotho’s members, Me Lineo ‘Malimpho Sekokotoana, has kindly agreed to do the translations.
• I have given and am scheduled to give presentations about Family Literacy Lesotho’s work in a number of venues.  They have been very well received and several small contributions have resulted (about $350 worth), as well as ideas for writing grant applications to sustain our work.  Here are some of the places I’ve spoken:  Rotary Clubs in Waltham, Newton, and Watertown, Massachusetts; Waltham Family Literacy Coalition; Brandeis University; Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.) in Virginia
• The artists who attended our Family Literacy awards celebration and worked so nicely with children and parents, led by Peter “Peete” Maphatsoe, have formed an NGO called The Children’s Art Organisation of Lesotho to work with us on the illustration of children’s picture books.  On Saturday, February 9 they will deliver a workshop for about 30 Basotho adults and young people about making books at home.
• Several Rotary Clubs in Massachusetts, along with Rotary Maloti, are helping me write a grant request (due in March) that will help start a Family Literacy and Arts Center in Lesotho.  It will be a place for the artists we work with to do their work, store their supplies, and give art lessons to children and families.  It will also be a place where we can display our books and have a family reading room.  I will let you know the results.

Sincerely,Jane Hale