Reading matters

One of my quiet enjoyments in my new life in Canada, is my journey to work on the West Coast Express train (which my dad says is so slow that it can't call itself an express!) It gently winds its way along the edge of Burrard Inlet and you can look across the water to the North Shore and see the mountains - snow-capped for about three quarters of the year.

When I reached the Waterfront Station today and climbed three fligths of stairs to the street level (thighs burning and lungs wheezing on a Monday morning!) I noticed something I'd never seen before - a book exchange box. it's such a wonderful idea and I was reminded that we saw them at every station on our epic train ride around BC ... yes, I know, I still owe you those stories! But what a charming, friendly thing to do - people leave their unwanted books on a shelf or in a box at every station and other travellers can exchange their books or just take one - for a small donation.

I was just thinking how well endowed we are in the western world when I was reminded that in Rwanda, there is still not even a single public library. My friend Paul who is a staunch Rotarian, told me recently that even thought they have made great progress, they are still trying to raise funds to build the first public library in Kigali.

You can read the full story here ... and of course, if you want to make a donation to help the Virunga Rotary Club in this fantasic effort, that would be wonderful. (Although I was a little disappointed not to see our names on the list of Founding Members even though we made our donation ... maybe Paul will fix that?)

I've just seen that you can support the fund raising effort just by making your next Amazon purchase via their search engine on this website. Go buy yourself books and support a nation to develop a reading culture ... made even more important now that Enlgish has become the official language and millions of francophonie are busy learning English.