Star student, Roeurn Kakada, reads aloud from a book at Room to Read's center at Chimeak Primary School.

On my recent visit to Room to Read’s new library and literacy programs in the Cambodian provinces of Kampong Thom and Siem Reap, I was struck by the enthusiasm with which the children approached reading – tiny boys and girls voraciously devouring one book after another.

I couldn’t help but think back to a time not so long ago when the Khmer Rouge burned all the books they could get their hands on in an attempt to purge the country of any trace of life before what was to be known as year zero.

Following nearly four years of brutal Khmer Rouge rule and 10 years of internal conflicts, in many ways the country had to start again from scratch.

Today, Cambodia is still struggling to shed its post-war status, but since my first trip here in 2006, I have witnessed so much positive change with each subsequent visit, and it was a true pleasure to see Room to Read’s programs in action there.

It’s so cliché to say it. Change starts with the youth, but sometimes the most salient concepts are the ones we should adhere to the most.

At Room to Read’s Ta Lek Primary School library deep in the rural parts of Kampong Thom province, I watched transfixed as the children threw themselves at the bookshelves with unabated appetite. Most of the parents cannot read, but today their kids can. They also regularly listen to Room to Read’s weekly radio program, which promotes reading, but they all unanimously agreed that reading itself is better than radio – the only form of modern entertainment available in their village.

Roeurn Kakada, an 11–year old girl I met at Room to Read’s centre at Chimeak Primary School just outside of Kampong Thom city, stood out as something of a star student. She reads several books every day, draws a lot, and plans to be an illustrator when she grows up, and who is to say she might not one day be employed by Room to Read. They published 25 new titles in Khmer in 2011, illustrated and written by Cambodia’s up and coming writers and artists, and they plan to release 30 new books in 2012.

Room to Read also introduced a pilot literacy program in 20 schools across Cambodia, two of which I visited in Siem Reap province. The program, supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, saw the creation of a new textbook and the implementation of a phonic and whole language approach, which teachers say has facilitated an increase in literacy levels, and indeed, test results show a remarkable improvement in reading and writing abilities. The program also encourages community outreach as teachers encourage parents to support their children as they embark on the task of learning how to read and write Khmer, even though often times, the parents themselves are illiterate.

These are the kinds of programs that really work – simple, almost obvious, and yet so effective at lifting people out of the conditions of poverty. It goes without saying that education is indispensible to participation in the global economy, but it also enriches the human spirit by inspiring people to dream without limits, and rewrite their own destiny.

For more information on Room to Read’s amazing programs around the world, check out this New York Times article by Nicholas Kristof.

Please also consider making a donation to Room to Read.

Below you will find a selection of images. Click here for the full archive of images.

Roeurn Kakada, left, and Eung Vichaka read book at Room to Read's new center at Chimeak Primary School.

Children read at Room to Read's center at Chimeak Primary School.

Parents sit with their children at Room to Read's library at Ta Lek Primary School.

Children gather around as a woman reads aloud in Room to Read's library at Ta Lek Primary School.

Children read together at Room to Read's library at Ta Lek Primary School.

Children learn to read and write at Lvea Primary School where teachers implement Room to Read's literacy program.

Children learn to read and write at Lvea Primary School where teachers implement Room to Read's literacy program.

Children learn to read and write at Lvea Primary School where teachers implement Room to Read's literacy program.

Children learn to read and write at Lvea Primary School where teachers implement Room to Read's literacy program.

Children learn to read and write at Sok San Primary School where teachers implement Room to Read's literacy program.

Cambodia’s garment industry could rightfully be credited with pulling the country out of its post-war economic catastrophe. Investors from China, Malaysia and Singapore first opened factories here in 1994, just on the heels of two decades of war.

Buoyed by the favourable trade conditions granted by the United States – conditions that mandated Cambodia’s garment sector adhere to international labour standards – the industry grew an estimated 40 per cent each year between 1995 and 2006.

The International Labor Organization played an instrumental role in overseeing the endeavor through its Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) programme, established in 2001, which effectively promotes application of labour law and labour standards in the export sector.

But Cambodia’s heavy reliance on western buyers and largely external Asian investors is precisely what made it especially vulnerable when the 2008 financial crisis hit. Many workers suddenly found themselves without a job or with reduced wages because there was less work to be had.

Despite the creation of some 37,000 new jobs in 2010, and a general assessment that Cambodia’s garment sector has more or less survived the financial crisis, existing jobs still fall 30,000 short of pre-crisis numbers, and ironically, many factory managers now complain that they are unable to recruit workers.

Although the minimum wage was raised in 2010 from USD 50 to USD 61 per month, the food and fuel price crisis has made making ends meet a serious challenge for Cambodia’s garment workers, the vast majority of whom are also sending money home to support their families in the provinces.

Kibera, Kenya’s largest shantytown, is at the fault line of the youth employment crisis sweeping the world.

Three years ago, youths were tearing up the railroad tracks that run through the informal settlement during post-election violence over the lack of jobs. Furious over sky-high unemployment, thousands of idle youths took to the streets to disrupt and burn the businesses and houses of perceived members of the economically advantaged.

Today, residents have rebuilt their communities, and the hustle and bustle within the informal settlement has shifted from frustrated violence to productive work. Yet employment remains a huge challenge, particularly among the youth – a point analysts study closely as the country gears up for new elections next year.

Government neglect of Kibera has resulted in major gaps in public service. One of the key challenges is sanitation. People don’t have toilets, showers or running water in their homes.

Over the last five years, Kibera residents have banded together to create public bath houses, latrines, clean water kiosks and other projects that benefit the whole of the community. These initiatives have turned out to be among the more stable forms of income for the youth and women’s groups that run what the Umande Trust co-operative calls “bio centers.” Umande, sponsored by the ILO under its COOP Africa Challenge Fund, has over 50 bio centers across Kenya’s informal settlements. They convert human waste into bio gas that is used to heat water for the showers and sold to residents for cooking.

Click here to read the corresponding article on the ILO’s website.

Starting in 2007, the International Labour Organization began providing grants to co-operatives in eight African nations through its COOPAfrica Challenge Fund facility, funded mostly by the UK’s Department for International Development and the government of Finland, allowing for a total of USD 3.7 million in grant disbursements to date. Kenya has been one of the largest recipients, benefitting from USD 1.3 million for a total of 28 projects from 2008 to 2010.

One sector where a clear impact can be observed is the dairy farming industry. Above is a collection of images from two dairy farmers co-operatives in Kenya who received grants of about $50,000 each. Limuru Dairy Farmers Co-operative Society in Kiambu district used the grant to launch its own animal feed processing plant, and Wamunyu Farmers Co-operative Society in Machakos district acquired two cooling facilities to store freshly delivered milk.

Click here to see the corresponding article I wrote for the ILO on their website.

A Charity Book of Photography to raise awareness and funds for hospice care — curated by James Whitlow Delano

Mado-sha Publishing Co., Tokyo , Japan

Designed by Giorgio Baravalle / de.Mo

Release date: Click Here to Buy on Amazon Now!

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In 2008 I received an email from James Whitlow Delano asking me if I would like to participate in a philanthropic venture. After the untimely death of his only sister, Jeanne, he realized how grateful he was for the palliative hospice care she received in her last days, and  he wanted to give something back. My father had also received hospice care in the time leading up to his death, just a few years prior to James’ proposal, and I jumped at the opportunity to contribute to an effort to raise money for the kind of aid and comfort that hospice workers provide for the dying and their loved ones. The humble staff of the center where my father was cared for worked with inherent dedication and diligence to eliminate his physical pain, to help us to understand the psychological states of dying, and to say goodbye in the best of all possible conditions. The compassion, knowledge and mercy they provided us were an invaluable gift.

James succeeded in enlisting over a hundred photographers, asking each of us the same thing: to provide one photograph that expressed the notion of “mercy.” It is with great pleasure that I announce the completion of his project and solicit your support for this endeavor. Proceeds and royalties will go entirely to National Hospice Foundation in the US and Japan Hospice Palliative Care Foundation.

Contributing photographers:

James Whitlow Delano, Lori Grinker, Marcus Bleasdale, Jacob Au Sobol, Renee C. Byer,  Munem Wasif, Arantxa Cedillo, Ken Light, Charles Pertwee, Sara Terry, Chris Steele-Perkins, Suzanne Lee, A. K. Kimoto, Alexandra Boulat, V. J. Villafranca, Tomas Munita, Nic Dunlop, Teru Kuwayama, Maggie Steber, Michael Kenna, Eric Rechsteiner, Ami Vitale, Lynsey Addario, Tim Hetherington, Balazs Gardi, Masaru Goto, Jeff Jacobson, Adam Ferguson, David Coll Blanco, Yoshihiro Hagiwara, Don Bartletti, Stuart Isett, Shepard Sherbell, Gilles Perrin, Andrea Frazzetta, Ed Kashi, Moises Saman, J. B. Reed, Adam Dean, Nina Berman, Chantal Heijnen, Idalina Pedrosa, Lorenzo Castore, Matthew Sleeth, Atsushi Okada, Jon Golden, David Geraghty, Alberto Giuliani, Yasuhiro Ogawa, Gary Knight, Image courtesy Edward Burtynsky & Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Marc Asnin, Michael Wong, Anne Holmes, Daniel Traub, Greg Gorman, Shiho Fukada, Katharina Hesse, Kenji Hosoe, Brian English, Herb Ritts, Martin Parr, Tamara Voninski, David Alan Harvey, Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert, Jeff Dunas, Shelby Lee Adams, Macduff Everton, Andy Rain, Alessandro Belgiojoso, Seamus Murphy, Andrew Kaufman, Kosuke Okahara, Justin Jin, Martin Reeves, Ron Haviv, Q. Sakamaki, Paolo Pellegrin , Marina Black, David Butow, John Vink, Keri Pickett, John Stanmeyer, Rena Effendi, Simon Larbelastier, Nick Nostitz, Toshiya Momose, Steve McCurry, Francoise Callier, Will Baxter, Jae-Hyun Seok, Erika Larsen, Patrick Brown, Roger Lemoyne, Alice Smeets, Philip Blenkinsop, Agnes Dherbeys, Sirio Magnabosco, Monika Bielskyte, Jean Chung, Guy Calaf, David Hogsholt, Beniamino Terraneo, Ken Kitano, Bob Black, Jonathan Luckhurst, Hiroshi Watanabe, David Dare Parker, Enno Kapitza, Simon Norfolk, Mark Peterson, Eikoh Hosoe, Andrew Jamieson, Kevin Chan, Kevin Lynch, Giovanni Del Brenna, Nick Vaccaro, Antonin Kratochvil

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