The Reading Room

The average Haitian child has never walked into their home, a public library or a school library, picked out a book, sat in a comfortable chair and read it. In fact, the average Haitian child doesnt even know what a library is. He or she has never seen one. Haitian children have no place to sit and read for pleasure and little or no time set aside... to pursue their interests or develop their imaginations. Half of all Haitians cant read. Functional literacy is much worse. Lacking the resources we take for granted, Haitian children can fall further and further behind. Opportunities to develop critical thinking skills may never materialize. Their knowledge of the world can remain limited. Poverty may tighten its grip and prevent them from ever reaching their full potential. The Reading Room is small South Windsor, Connecticut based non-profit dedicated to building a culture of reading in Haiti. We do that by providing schools with flash libraries which include 500-1,000 books and can be built for of the cost of conventional libraries. We also provide training to Haitian teachers so they can use library materials more effectively. And we organize book camps where teachers and students can come together for a month in the summer to read, write, play learning related games and build their literacy skills.Read More