By. RAPIDAH FITRI (F1021131027)
John Wood
was an employee in Microsoft Company; his work covered Asia Pacific. And now he
is the founder of “Room to Read”; a library that supplies many books for
children in poor countries. This time, more than 7000 libraries have built in
many poor countries.
This
history was started when john was in a holiday in Nepal, on the top of Himalaya
Mountain. In the cool morning at the small restaurant, he remembered his job in Microsoft Company. Every day he had to work hard.
He never felt happy with his job. So, having a holiday in Nepal made him really
happy. There, he met an old man. His age was maybe at 50 years old, his name was
Pasupathi. John talked to him, john asked him about his job. He said “I am someone
who responsible for 17 schools in this province”. He told john about those
schools. He said “every day, I must walk 200 miles to those schools. There, the
students are very smart. They also like learning. They have high spirit to
learn this world, but there are many things that made them unable to learn well.”
Those all made john wanted to visit those schools. Finally, Pasupathi took John
to visit one of those schools: the school in Bahundandan village.
There, he
met many students and teachers. He was very happy to meet them. But, when he
looked around the school, he was very sad because the school has no floor and
chair. The students just learnt on the land without a mat and put their books
on their knees.
Later,
John asked the teacher to take him to the library. He was very shock because
there was only a dull world map on the wall. And he said “you have beautiful
library, sir! But, there is no book here, where is the book?” Then, the teacher
opened a roomette at the library. He said “we put all books here. But all of
these books are broken and these are not good to read by children.”
At the
time, John was really sad about the condition. His spirit was lost. The teacher
said, “We know that book is very important for us. But, what must we do? We
have no idea how to get the books.” And he said “maybe, one day you will come
here again and bring the books.” This sentence has changed john’s life. Finally,
before going back to his camp he said “I am going to come back to give books.”
John
thinks, he was very lucky because when he was a child, he could read many books.
He has liked reading so much since child, he has been greedy to read many books.
Every week, he went to library and tried to borrow more books than other
people. His childhood was full of books, he thinks how lucky he is. When he
looked at the children who didn’t have lucky life like him, he becomes really
sad.
And
finally, with many efforts, he gave many books to school in Bahundandan village.
There, the children were very happy, so did john. They welcomed John with their
smile, they put the books that was brought by John enthusiastically; like the one
who for the first time ever saw a book. They opened the books page by page,
read all of the words and looked all the pictures happily and smiling. They also
made a joke with their friends when read the book.
John was
very happy, he never felt like that before. It made he changed his life better.
And finally, he leaved Microsoft company and becomes one who helps many poor
children, and changes this world through Room to read.
Oke
friends, what do you think of this brief story? Of course, john finds the
miracle of learning by reading a book. Reading a book will help you to
understand and explore this world. Ta- ta
for now… ^_^
If you
want to know more about him, just open these links:
My source: Book of Room to Read By JOHN WOOD
