What sparked your interest in Room to Read?

The opportunity to be involved in charity and community work was one of the reasons I joined IMC, and I had a lot of questions about it during the interview process. The Chicago office does a lot of cool things with the local community – for example, regularly IMC would transport in a group of high school students from inner-city schools and spend the afternoon tutoring them in math over deep-dish pizza.

Back in 2019, a message went around the office inviting volunteers to visit the Room to Read projects in South Africa and Tanzania. I jumped at the chance – who wouldn’t want to go on a trip like this? Plus, Room to Read is IMC's largest charitable commitment, and I was curious to see where our investment was going.

But at the last minute, COVID-19 broke out and the trip was postponed. Luckily, by the end of 2023, we were ready to go again and were able to pick up where we left off with the original team.

Your journey started at the Room to Read headquarters in Pretoria. What was that like?

After three years of waiting, it was a great feeling to finally land in Africa! The Room to Read team was also very excited to finally meet us and introduce us to their projects. They welcomed us with open arms and their enthusiasm and passion for their work was like nothing I’d ever seen before. Coming from a more conservative society, it took some getting used to at first – but once we started visiting the schools, their passion made sense!

The school visits themselves were no less of a celebration. In addition to the school staff, we were greeted by local government and education officials, as well as local authors. At one school, a tribal princess showed up. It shows the deep connections Room to Read has with the communities around the schools. It's really powerful – the program focuses on literacy for children, but it touches the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds.

What surprised you most about the charity's work?

At IMC, we talk about Room to Read as a literacy charity, but it's more than that – it's a local language literacy program in developing countries. What that means is that all the teaching that takes place in the schools is done in the local language – in Tanzania it is in Swahili, while in South Africa it is in six of the local languages.

That's an important distinction. Access to textbooks in some of these languages can be extremely difficult, and the parents I spoke to recalled having to share a single book between an entire classroom of 50 students. So being able to provide a school with an entire library of books that everyone can read can be completely life-changing.

What also surprised me was the importance that families place on education. Our first visit was to a rural area. There were no buses, and some of the children walked several miles to and from school each day. Their dedication to showing up for class each day was truly awe-inspiring.

Did you notice any other differences between the four schools you visited?

Room to Read covers a large geographical area all over the world and we only visited two countries: Tanzania and South Africa. While they have a general philosophy, they adapt their approach to the needs of the different schools and communities.

For example, the student-teacher ratio in Tanzania is much higher than in South Africa, so you will often see teachers with classes of 50 or 60 children. In South Africa, class sizes are smaller, but the languages are more diverse. The country has 12 official national languages, and some schools offer classes in two or more languages. Some schools are teaching in four different languages, counting English!

Another key difference is the way Room to Read supports its libraries. For example, the team in Tanzania, either directly or in partnership with other organizations, builds the actual physical library structure. Whereas, in South Africa, Room to Read requires the school to provide the space for the library including bookshelves. However, in both countries Room to Read fills all the shelves with books!

The overall goal is always promoting self-reliance. When Room to Read begins working with a school, it maintains a very close, hands-on relationship for the first four years. After that, it steps back and is less involved on a week-to-week basis. It means that the schools and communities ultimately have ownership of their education.

Do you have a particular lasting memory of the trip?

There were so many different amazing experiences that it's hard to pick just one. But I'll always remember our visit to one school – when it was time for us to leave, the whole school came together to see us off with a specially arranged dance.

It was contagious and I couldn't help but join in. I found myself in the middle of the action, surrounded by students, teachers, and parents! In a way, it underscored one of the key takeaways from the entire trip: many of the children we met were living in challenging circumstances, but they were genuinely excited about the future and the opportunities that education could open up for them.

At IMC, we are all numbers people, so of course we like to know the return on our charitable investments. There are some things – like excitement, passion, hope – that can't be quantified, but these school visits confirmed that IMC and Room to Read are doing a lot of things right together!

Stay tuned for the next blog in our Room to Read series, featuring Charity Manager Karolina Brzozowska in Mumbai.