Students bunk by the books to raise funds for literacy

BY LAUREL MYERS

Two Laurentian University students have set out on a mission. They've given up their privacy, their classes, and the comforts of home to live in a tent in front of the J. N. Desmarais Library for 10 days.

But they haven't pitched a tent in any kind of protest and they will return to their classes soon, but for now, their focus is on world literacy, or the lack thereof.

Andrea Hyde and Julie Sabourin have joined students from three other Canadian universities - Memorial University in Newfoundland, Queen's University in Kingston and the University of British Columbia - in an attempt to raise $20,000 to build five school libraries in Nepal through a student initiative called Live-in for Literacy ( www.liveinforliteracy.com ).

"We believe everybody deserves a chance to be literate but there (Nepal) it's not even a choice," said Hyde, a second-year English student. "They don't have the tools or the resources to learn how to read."

According to the World Factbook, Nepal has one of the lowest literacy rates in all of Asia, with only 48.6 percent of the population considered to be literate.

The students took their post in front of the library on Jan. 18 and will remain there until Jan. 28. They must eat, sleep and live in the tent and are allowed only five minutes of freedom each hour.

The girls are occupying their time with homework, reading and spreading awareness to all passers-by, but admitted time is going slowly. However, they're driven to continue by the impact their efforts will make.

"Our 10 days will change the lives of all the kids who will have access to the library," said Sabourin, a second-year Psychology student. "It's something that will last forever for them.

"It takes work, but a little bit of effort in our country makes a huge difference elsewhere."

With five days left, Hyde and Sabourin are hopeful to meet their $4,000 goal and welcome any donations. They are also selling raffle tickets, candy shish kebobs and popcorn, and have organized an event for Thursday in which participants will be challenged to be the last person standing on one foot on a book shelf for a $250 gift certificate for the Laurentian bookstore. The entry fee for this event is $25.

Live-in for Literacy is an annual national event started by a student organization known as DREAM (Discover the Reality of Educating All Minds) two years ago. All funds raised are directed towards Room to Read ( www.roomtoread.org ), a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the world's children. Since it's inception in 2000, Room to Read has built 287 schools and over 3,000 libraries around the world.