All the Books of the Rainbow

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Project completed! (for now ... I'll be back to visit in 2014)

Thanks again to my adorable sponsors! (almost as adorable as the sponsees) xoxo 'til next time 

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Booknook and House

I wanted to make the library a space where everything is child-sized and where the children get a dose of colour and fun - since most of the inside of the school is very bare. So when I spotted this amazing playhouse, I knew it was supposed to live in the library, and I surrounded it with a cosy reading area named the "Book-Nook" by Rachel Cooper.

The house itself was named for my boyfriend Chris, and in keeping with his study of linguistics and his obsession with forts, is called the Fort of Words. Lovely class 4 made hanging word drawings, featuring their favourite word in English on one side, and Nepali on the other. 

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Kalimpong book dealings

Kalimpong is like Darjeeling's quiet little sister and, more importantly for my purposes, a centre of learning and the home of some of the best schools in India. That means there's quite a large variety of shops specialising in educational material - like this lovely bookshop on Main Road. These lovely gents helped me pick out 10,000 rupees worth of books (after discount, approx $200nz), which seems like an awful lot but when I consider how many books I would have been able to buy for that in New Zealand (about ten) and how many I got here (about forty), it seems like a fair deal. 

Thanks again to my extremely generous sponsors and I hope you'll be happy with my book choices and how I put this library together (photos to come as this week progresses). 

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Darjeeling 'Business Trip'

The picture above is my bed right now. That little guy is the resident cat of the guest house and moves between snuggly and psycho like all my favourite cats do. He likes to pull a cushion on top of himself and then FIGHT IT TO THE DEATH. I feel honoured that this little renegade has chosen to take up residence in my room. 

Anyway, thanks to the generous funding of various benevolent souls, I took a Jeep to Darjeeling and bought insane amounts of books and games - courtesy of the wonderful Oxford Bookshop and DAS Darjeeling. My personal favourite purchase is the Roald Dahl Treasury. 

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Thanks again MOM! (and Katherine!) Those two cuties paid exorbitant postage fees to send this parcel of beautiful books (lots of geography ones!) to Gorubathan. Faced with such a dramatic gesture of goodwill, the post man in Gorubathan threatened to send the parcel back to New Zealand unless I picked it up that day. That day, I was miles away in the mountains of Sikkim. Luckily my colleagues saved the day and the parcel was allowed to remain in India! Phew.

<3

Also: I get all my fundraising $$$ this week and I cant wait. I have a large box of books with my name on it in Kalimpong and a date at the Oxford bookshop in Darjeeling. Dream job.

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Money Money Money...

So I started up an online crowd-funding drive, and within 24 hours I had reached my goal of $1000 NZ and it's now at an incredible $1465. I am totally blown away and grateful, and the teachers and I have been scheming how to best use the money (see the link for an extensive list). 

In any case, the funding drive is open for another 32 days and we certainly have no shortage of things the school needs, so if you did still want to donate any amount upwards of $5NZ that would be amazing.  I am also watching out for the post-man like a hawk, since I have been informed that there are some things on the way ... 

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Teacher support!  Lovely Naresh Sir*, as I've come to think of him, donated this Children's Encyclopedia he purchased himself last year. Here he is posing with our as yet unnamed penguin and the book.  *All the staff call each other 'Name Miss/ Sir.' It's very charming. 

Yours,

Leila Miss 

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A GIANT PARCEL ARRIVED! 

I got a note delivered that I had to head to Gorubathan post office to pick up a large parcel. Three cheerful musketeers accompanied me and we took turns schlepping the heavy thing the 20 minutes back to school - where the parcel was ripped into and everyone poured over the books - teachers and students alike! The last photo is Srijana, our Principal, and class IV with some of the many books. 

Thanks sooo much to my delightful mother who paid the exorbitant postage fee, to Marion Trinder who purchased the beautiful Joy Cowley book and to the University Bookshop, Dunedin who provided me with most of the books free of charge!  Now I feel the library is well on the way ... 

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This is Rainbow Academy and some of the cuties who attend it. The last picture is the artwork Level V did to illustrate Animals who live in Africa! 

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This is the space I am attempting to turn into a mini-library! I will put up a curtain, posters, put lots of blankets and cushions on the floor and put in some shelves. Any other ideas also welcome! 

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Project!

Oh hi,

  As you may already know, I am putting together a small library for Rainbow Academy school in Gorubathan, West Bengal, India. Here's the website of the school for your perusal: http://www.rainbowacademy.info/

  The school needs a lot of things, many of which I'll be buying locally (for example dictionaries for 180 rupees each/ $4nz) - hopefully with some help from you guys, in the way of funding (I'll set-up a pledgeme page shortly). 

  However, if you'd rather send some awesome children's books of your choice, that would be massively appreciated. We'll be excited to get used or new books for children ages 3 - 10. I asked the teachers what books they think are most necessary for their classes, and the list below is the result. If you buy one of these and send it, please leave a comment to that effect so we can avoid too many double-ups (although having two children's atlases, for example, would not be a bad thing!). 

  * Children's Atlas of the World

* Children's Encyclopaedia 

* Children's reference books on: Animals, Plants, Planets/ the Universe, Science

* Informational posters: the ABC's, counting, animals, etc. 

* Books on how-to draw/ sketch, and other reference art books

* Children's story books from ages 3-10 - one teacher would especially love a copy of Alice in Wonderland! 

* Children's song/ rhyme books

  We're also open to other ideas/ your personal favourite! If you send a book, it would be cute if you wrote a note for us in the cover :D 

  The address is:

Rainbow Academy, The Library

Ahaley Busty, Near Forest Range Office,

Gorubathan

P.O. Fagu

District: Darjeeling

West Bengal

Pin no. 735231,  India

  Of course, postage to India is expensive, so if you only have a little bit to give then instead of physically sending books you'll be able to donate any amount once I set up the PledgeMe page. Sorry I haven already - things take longer in India! :)

  Thanks heaps pals and sorry to inundate you with requests. Love xxx