Book Project
Sarah Maude
Sarah’s idea led to a project linking a local library, charity shops, a banana company, shipping and truck hire companies with two South American countries.
Transcript
[South American music plays throughout] Book project: I’ve lived in Montpelier, Windmill Hill and now twelve years in Withywood. I worked for four years in the Western Caribbean as a schoolteacher before I came to Bristol.
Books carry information. They also entertain and stimulate. Boats carry cargo.
With innovations in information technology and telephony, as well as a revolution in our living rooms with PlayStations, DVDs, Internet etc, it became obvious to me that books are not held on to like before in our culture.
In the Wetsern Caribbean, there are places with no bookshops or libraries. The information technology revolutions have made people more aware of the necessity of literacy.
My friend Andy and I had an idea: He’s very practical. I’m good at linking things. He knew where and how to get books. I met someone on a plane who gave me a phone number. Now Fyffes-Geest lets me send childrens books and equipment from Portsmouth to Big Creek, Belize. Jackson Shipping move some pallets on to Roatan, Honduras.
Bishopsworth Library is where I do my Internet. They give me books now. Friends have helped out too. Rygor at Westbury lend us a truck.
Andy and I have moved four shipments over the last two and a half years. Books have gone to Roatan (Honduras), and Toldeo and Stann Creeks district (Belize), as well as to Stella Maris school in Belize City.
Individuals and families have also taken books home to read themselves or with their kids.
Oscar has helped a lot with customs clearance and transport in Belize.
I like this project because, on a practical level, in reminds me, all the time, that we are all interconnected.
