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In July and August, the 17-year-old traveled to 64
elementary schools throughout Sisaket province in northeast
Thailand, and delivered more than 60,000 textbooks,
dictionaries and other volumes containing simple English for
some 15,000 students. While at the schools, Titley spoke to
students about the importance of learning English, an
increasingly universal language in our globalized world.
³ Hopefully, English will be a way
for them to come out of the village [and] find a better job,
whether in the capital, Bangkok, or the wider world,² said
Titley, a senior and student president at Oceanside High
School. ³Being a student, I understand that education is the
key to success, and hopefully my book drive helps them to
move on and help themselves and their families.²
Having visited Egypt, the United Kingdom and much of Europe,
Titley has for the past six years traveled to Southeast Asia
with his father, Andrew Sr., who in August 2004 married a
Thai woman.
Sisaket province about 400 miles outside Bangkok
comprises rice-producing villages where yearly incomes
average $1,000, water buffaloes roam and running water,
electricity, newspapers and foreigners are either rare or
nonexistent. Schools range from small huts with 50 student
to ³pretty decent² concrete facilities with cafeterias and
auditoriums and 500 students, according to Titley.
While in Thailand in the summer of 2004, he visited an
elementary school outside the province. He found it had few
books in English, and vowed to embark on a book drive for
the school and neighboring institutions. That September, he
established Thai Book Drive, solicited donors through fliers
and the Internet, and built his own Web site
(Thaibookdrive.com). Initially, he aimed to collect about
10,000 books. One major donor, the Maryland-based Books of
International Goodwill, donated 25,000 books, which, thanks
to Titleyıs fatherıs business connections overseas, he was
able to ship to and store in Thailand.
Titley stacked the books from other donors throughout
his Oceanside home. Eventually, however, he had so many
books that he was unable to sit down in his living room to
watch television. So he rented a portable storage facility
for $135 a month. The drive proved to be pricey, what with
shipping costs, the $1,000 plane ticket to Thailand, the $10
a day in gas to travel to three schools, and Titleyıs hiring
of a translator to communicate with the school kids.
Yet the cost was well worth it to him, since it proved
to be the most satisfying experience of his young life. What
the impoverished Thai people lacked in material means they
made up for in character. ³Iıve always been welcomed there
so warmly,² Titley said. ³Iıve traveled to many different
countries, but these people have been the most respectful,
the nicest, the most loving Iıve ever met. And in return
Iıve learned a great respect for them. So this is the least
I could do.²
³I was amazed at how well received these books were,² said
Andrew Sr., who accompanied his son on his initial visits to
the Sisaket schools. ³These books were valued like gold over
there.²
During his classroom talks, Titley told the students a
little about himself, America and his book drive. He
stressed the importance of learning to speak, read and write
English, now an integral part of the Thai school curriculum,
and gave lessons in its alphabet.
With the growth of the Internet, Americaıs cultural
influence and globalization, English is expanding in
importance, from Asia to South America. After the prime
minister of Mongolia took office in June 2004, he announced
that his nation would adopt English as a second language. In
the Middle East, the prospect that Turkey might join the
European Union, in which English is becoming dominant,
raised the likelihood that the Muslim nation might emphasize
English. Chileıs government has committed to teaching
English nationwide, in elementary and high schools.
Through his research, Titley said he found that
Thailand is the least knowledgeable of English among Asian
nations, and that the current students there are the first
generation required to learn the language. Thai students are
curious and eager to learn English, he said.
³These kids have never seen a foreigner before, and to
have a tall, 200-pound American come there and tell them
about the importance of learning English, they listened to
him,² Andrew Sr. said of the impression his son made on the
Thai students.
Describing Andrew as ³very independent,² his father
said he is ³incredibly proud² of his eldest son for seeing a
need in Thailandıs schools and fulfilling it through the
book drive. ³I think itıs good for America,² he continued.
³Andrew probably did more for Thailand in one summer than
the United Nations has done in the last 20 years.²
On Sept. 20, the New York state Legislator passed a
resolution, authored by Sen. Dean Skelos, ³commending the
kindhearted efforts of Andrew Titley ...,² Skelos wrote.
Titley recognizes that it will be difficult for his
book drive to be as productive once he heads to college in
the U.K. next September. So before then, he plans to include
in next summerıs drive some donated computers, to open more
doors for the Sisaket school kids and to stay connected with
them. He also hopes to establish Thai Book Drive as a legal
company, and take over its ownership from his father once he
turns 18.
³ I hope my book drive will
enlighten other people in the United States and around the
world to how a small project can grow to a certain size to
help out other people overseas,² Titley said. ³I hope people
can take hope and ideas from it to build on what Iıve done,
whether in education or other fields.²
For information on Thai Book Drive, contact Titley at (516)
528-0009, or at Info@Thaibookdrive.com.
Comments on this story? JKellard@liherald.com, or (516)
569-4000 ext. 287.
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