READ Global Breaks the Cycle of Poverty, One Village at a Time
For the last 20 years, READ Global has been building learning centers in remote villages across India, Bhutan and Nepal. Their impact is incredible: 1.8 million rural villagers have access to READ Centers, and entire villages are given an opportunity to end the cycle of poverty through learning.
Tina Sciabica, READ Global's executive director, has traveled to READ Centers in each country but remembers one woman in particular standing out to her.
Tina was in Jhuwani, Nepal, when she met Bamiya. Five years earlier, Bamiya's village started to create bio-gas facilities in an effort to bring an alternative energy source to the community. Bamiya went to the bio-gas plant and asked what she could do to help. Tina says Bamiya was told she "was just an illiterate woman, and couldn’t do anything."
That didn't sit well with Bamiya, so she took literacy classes and practiced reading at the READ Center. Tina says, "Bamiya was laughing when she was telling us this story because today she’s actually a paid consultant who has helped to create 15 of these bio-gas facilities in her community. Several men are now working for her, and she’s able to take care of her family."
Read Global learning center in Lamjung, Nepal. (Photo c/o READ Global)READ Global has just received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that will help them expand their services and reach more people. The grant will help "break the cycle of poverty, one village at a time," says Tina.
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