Source-a-Philippe Community Library Project

My name is Amy and I went to Source-a-Philippe in March 2008 to facilitate communication between Joe & Shirley Edgerton, two GBGM long-term volunteers, and the community. I taught English and French classes to adults and schoolchildren for a period of two and a half months. In Haiti, everybody speaks Creole, but only the educated speak French, which is the language of the school system. In Source-a-Philippe, only a handful of people speak French, and the students are struggling. It is difficult to learn material taught in a foreign language you can barely understand, let alone speak. While getting to know my students, I came to the conclusion that a major obstacle to their progress in French was this: in Source-a-Philippe, there are practically no books. Unless you count the occasional textbook, a collection of which are safely stashed away out of the hands of children, who associate the word livre (book) with the word étudier (to study), and not lire (to read).

Everyone deserves to have access to books. The people on la Gonave don't. It was from this frustration that the idea for a library was born. I left all the books I had taken with me to Haiti behind, even though almost none of them were appropriate (mosly English grammar/teaching books and dictionaries, just a few fiction books in English and only one in French). Here they are:

It's not much, but it's a start. Since I got back from Haiti in May, I've been looking for ways to find a way to get some books to the island. There are a few obstacles. First of all, I don't believe that any books are better than no books. Books in English wouldn't be appropriate. Few people speak English well enough to read, and reading in a foreign language takes a high skill level to be enjoyable (trust me on this one). We need books in French and Creole.

Second of all, shipping is complicated: there is no mail service on the island. Fortunately, teams from the US travel there once every few months and can take shipments of books with them.

How can we get appropriate, educational, interesting books that inspire people who have never picked up a book to read for pleasure before? I have started a wish list at Amazon:

Amazon.com Wish List
The wish list is sorted by "date added" by default. Select "priority" on the drop-down menu to have the highest priority items shown first.

You can pick the book you want to send to the library project. Used books are acceptable! It will be mailed to me, and I will prepare it to be sent to Source-a-Philippe, where it will be added to the collection that is being born.

You can also donate directly through paypal. Direct donations will be used for library materials as well as books in Creole purchased through other websites. I'll send you the receipt for the purchase.

You can browse the library catalog here.

Thanks for your support.