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FULLY BOOKED Young New Yorker distributes books to needy
schools in Northeast Anyone who meets Andrew Titley, an 18-year-old from New York, might mistake him for a tourist. In fact, he's not. This bright young man has come to Thailand's northeastern provinces to promote a serious cause - distributing nearly 100,000 books to needy schools in the Northeast over two years. "I'm not a visitor. I'm the president and founder of the Thai Book Drive. I come here to give out books donated by American people in New York to students in remote schools in Thailand," said the teenager, who finished high school in New York early this year. The Thai Book Drive was established two years ago. The non-profit organisation has two offices, one in New York and the other in Bangkok. Mr Titley said he decided to launch the campaign after visiting schools in Nongwaeng village of Kanthararom district in Si Sa Ket province, the hometown of his Thai stepmother. During his visits, he noticed that all the books at the schools were old and in poor condition. Besides, there were few English-language books. Mr Titley then told the schools of his intention to help. Upon returning to New York, he asked schools, libraries and individuals through his website, letters, advertisements and word of mouth to donate books to the campaign. The teenager spent the whole of last year collecting books from donors. He collected them mostly in the evenings, after school. Back home, he sorted every donated item himself. This was to screen out inappropriate books such as those with pornographic or violent content, or those concerned with religious beliefs, he said. "I'm quite serious about the types of books. The books that I selected must have a lot of pictures and be easy to read for Thai students who aren't yet good at reading English," he said. His youth made it difficult to convince people at first, he said. "Several people whom I contacted to ask for book donations did not look up to me. They didn't believe in me and expressed doubts about my project's objectives because they were afraid that I would make a profit by selling these books," he said. But he did not give up and the arduous campaign paid off. He attributed the success of the campaign to his father, an executive at a shipping firm, who agreed to take up the role of sponsor. Cash donations were small, he said. Mr Titley said his father paid for all the expenses incurred during the collection of books and also helped spread the idea to friends who wanted to help. Thanks to his father's help, the teenager said, he not only got more books, but also a storage place and a special shipping service to Thailand. The first batch of more than 60,000 books went to 60 schools in Kanthararom district within a month last year. This year he received around 52,000 books for almost 100 schools in Ubon Ratchathani's Warin Chamrap district, where English-language books were scarce. His mission for this year is to be completed at the end of this month and he will return to New York before heading for Scotland to pursue his pre-graduate studies in international business management. "I promise that I will come back to Thailand every year to donate books to students in remote schools. And furthermore I wish I can find and provide computers for the schools in coming years," said Mr Titley. Aporn Rermkidkarn, a teacher at Ban Khua Mai Kan school in Warin Chamrap district, thanked the teenager for his thoughtful campaign, saying the school had no money to purchase English-language books. The teacher said the school's budget for book purchases was meagre, at 3,000 baht a year. Napaporn Kruasang, a fifth grade student at the same school, said English is her favourite subject as it is a bridge that links her to new things in the world. "I will go to the school's library to read Mr Titley's books every day. And if I have the opportunity, I would like to study in England," said the girl, whose dream is to study medicine. |