Students Caught “Read-Handed” in the Amazon!

No, no, it’s not what you think! The students I’m talking about were not dealing illegal substances in the Amazon. They were acting as couriers for a different kind of addictive substance – BOOKS!!

This international ring of book bandits, formed in 2007 after an expedition to the Amazon. As part of their Amazon field experience, seven high school students from Woodland, California visited the CONAPAC Amazon Library.  They were so inspired by director Nancy Dunn’s efforts to make books accessible to children in remote Amazon villages they decided to help. They returned home and started a nonprofit organization called R.E.A.C.H. 4 Books (Reading in Every Amazon Child's Home). Their purpose has been to promote literacy by donating books in Spanish to the children in the rainforest through the Library. They faithfully raised money for several years and sent a total of 4000 books.

Now the project being rejuvenated and the youngest member of the original ring of book bandits is taking over. At the helm today is Tom Payne. “I became a part of R.E.A.C.H. 4 Books when we went down to Peru when I was in third grade and we brought down books and school supplies to the schools we were visiting. When we came back from the trip, we were so inspired that we wanted to do more to help these children, so we decided to start this non-profit. As the youngest of the founding members, I am the last active member as the others have moved on to college and adulthood, and so my goal is to continue the good works of R.E.A.C.H. 4 Books. My plan is to continue to send books, financially support the library, and hopefully adopt-a-school in the months/years to come.”

This year R.E.A.C.H 4 Books is partnering with Amazon Rainforest Workshops to recruit more couriers to their international book distribution ring!  In March, students from Sidwell Friends School and Emma Willard School will travel to the Amazon rainforest on field expeditions. In addition to bug spray, binoculars, and field journals, these students will also stuff books from R.E.A.C.H into their luggage. They will take boats down the Amazon and hike through rainforest to deliver their precious cargo directly to the CONAPAC Library on the Amazon River.

You can help!  

Contact Tom Payne at reach4booksorg[at]yahoo.com for more information on how to support R.E.A.C.H 4 Books
 

Learn how you and your students can Adopt-A-School in the Amazon:  http://conapac.org/adopt.html

If you are an educator and would like to have your students hand deliver books to the Amazon, contact Christa Dillabaugh, Director of Amazon Rainforest Workshops and learn how you can organize an Amazon expedition for students from your school! christa[at]amazonworkshops.com

Christa Dillabaugh is our Education and the Rainforest Editor.  A former middle school and high school science educator, she coordinates experiential field programs for educators and students in the rainforests of Central and South America.  She currently serves as education director for Amazon Rainforest Workshops and loves traipsing through rainforest mud in search of teachable moments!  You can read her Amazon field notes at http://amazonworkshops.wordpress.com/

All photos courtesy and copyright Amazon Rainforest Workshops