NEWS RELEASE
CONTACT: Cathy Leiber
www.JudithsReadingRoom.org
Judith’s Reading Room Gifts TEACH Rwanda with a STEM Library
Bright School/TEACH Rwanda’s Students Needed Books to Conquer Robotics Challenge
January 7, 2025 — Judith’s Reading Room named Bright School/TEACH Rwanda as its first of 15 global organizations to receive a curated collection of books in celebration of the organization’s 15th anniversary. The bold initiative, “15 Libraries to Celebrate Its 15th Anniversary in 2025” will include organizations stretching across 4 oceans and 4 continents. The inaugural ceremony was captured on ZOOM as eager students, their librarian and several teachers dove into the books.
Working with our partner TEACH Rwanda, Judith’s Reading Room established its 94th eponymous library in 2016 with 137 children’s books to which subsistence farming families could relate. In testament to the dedication of TEACH Rwanda founders Jan Brown and William Whipple of Easton, Pennsylvania, today Brown and Whipple requested books on elevated science topics like robotics.
The hand-picked collection of 52 books on aeronautical engineering, architecture, oceans and robotics with a cover price of $800 will add significant depth to Judith’s Reading Room’s library and will benefit 340 students ages pre-K to 6th grade plus 20 teachers in this sub-Saharan, land-locked African nation.
“In particular, the books on robotics and oceans will greatly assist Bright School’s Robotics Team as they compete in LEGO’s 2025 championship, the theme of which is “Submerged,” noted Cathy Leiber, President, Judith’s Reading Room. “To give Bright School’s students a “leg up,” Judith’s Reading Room selected a dozen books on the Ocean — a place on the planet most of them will never, ever see,” she added.
Bright School/TEACH Rwanda’s Robotics Team boasts 50/50 girls/boys. UN Women, sponsor of AGCCI — African Girls Can Code Initiative — has been instrumental in making sure that girls can see technology-heavy careers for themselves. “Robotics has been a big step forward in our lives. First of all, we didn’t expect that robotics would bring us so many opportunities like meeting our (Rwandan) President face to face or getting our own computers,” Ninette, student, grade P6.
“What makes Bright School/TEACH Rwanda stand out is our concentration on literacy, developing teachers’ skills, providing necessary materials, and stressing gender equality,” said Whipple. He added, “TEACH Rwanda has brought modern librarianship concepts to life including teaching respect for books, how you turn pages of a book, how you put them on shelves so that you can find them again — etiquette that seems obvious to us in America is not well understood by children in Rwanda.”
French teacher and librarian, Bonfils Iradakunda, refugee from Burundi, encourages literacy, empowerment and joy at Bright School’s library.
“The 15 Libraries to Celebrate Our 15th Anniversary in 2025”
- Bright School/TEACH Rwanda, Muhanga, Rwanda — January 7
- Escuela ‘Agustin Flores Contreras,’ Puerto Vallarta, Mexico — January 15
- Read for Literacy, “Real Men READ-y”, Toledo, Ohio — February 1
- Avery Chapel AME Church, Southaven, Mississippi — February 15
- Watch Me Grow Learning Academy, Grenada, Mississippi — February 15
- Mosaic Preparatory Academy, East Harlem, New York — March 14
- Louisiana Methodist Family & Children’s Services, Ruston, Louisiana — April 1
- Washington County Juvenile’s ‘Harkins House,’ Portland, Oregon — April 4
- Heavy Sound, Edinburgh, Scotland — May 30
- James Prendergast Free Library, Jamestown, New York — July 31
- Chinle Planting Hope, Navajo Nation, Chinle, Arizona — November 1
- Kirioruwa School, Marabedda, Bandarawela, Sri Lanka — TBD
- Vhulakanjhani Primary School, South Africa — TBD
- Shree Jantra Adharbhut Vidhyalaya School, Kathmandu, Nepal — TBD
- Shree Prasad St. School, Kathmandu, Nepal — TBD
Judith’s Reading Room, a 501 (c) 3 global literacy organization was founded in 2010 in the memory of Judith F. Krug, a distinguished librarian and cousin to the founders. Its mission is: “To enrich lives and societies by proactively encouraging freedom through literacy.” It has achieved that mission by dedicating 108 libraries in 25 countries with nearly 134,000 books donated valued at more than $1.4 million dollars. ## END ##