Call for volunteers
The Conrad Foundation is calling for volunteers from all over Fiji to help them deliver books to children living in villages and settlements across the country.
The organisation is a grassroots charity founded in London, UK, by Sarah Conrad from Nadroga. She aims to have each child receive a book through its "100 Books for 100 Children" Initiative. The initiative is part of the organisation's commitment to promote reading among children and to ensure a better future for everyone.
"Promoting early literacy reading is the key to unlocking every child's full potential and opens up a world of possibilities. A good education is of course, about much more than just reading. But being able to read well is the foundation on which so much else depends. Their chances of getting a good job and pulling themselves out of poverty is greater," said the foundation in a statement.
"Therefore, we are Kickstarting 2020 off with our 100 Books for 100 Children initiative. Promoting reading and early literacy amongst young children through the donation of children's books which we ship from London to Fiji. We will visit every village in Fiji."
The organisation will nominate one volunteer per village, settlement or community and they will become their lead volunteer to whom they will send the books and who are then responsible for distributing it to the village, settlement or community that they are responsible for.
"Through our network of volunteers in Fiji we are then able to reach every corner of Fiji to ensure that no child is left out. Each child gets one free book. The initiative will be ongoing, meaning there is a start date but no end date," revealed the organisation. The initiative begins in next month and the villages, settlements and communities will be announced on The Conrad Foundation's social media pages.
Volunteers willing to sign up can go to their website http://www. theconradfoundation.com under the Volunteer page.
The foundation will also be launching other initiatives this year. These are;
■ Feeding Fiji - Promoting food security where they will introduce Food Banks in key locations around Fiji to support those who have incomes below the poverty line and are at risk of malnutrition as they have to skip meals to survive.
■ Vei lomani Disaster response - The organisation hopes to provide humanitarian relief to Fijians in most need, through the provision of material or logistical assistance in response to natural disasters and man-made disasters, through the donations of food, clothing, blankets, medicine,etc.
For more information: website: http://www.theconradfoundation.com facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theconradfoundation twitter: https://twitter.com/TheConradNGO instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theconradfoundation