Field Reports

Our second shipment of Headway English textbooks has just reached the Darfur refugee camps of eastern Chad. The following report and photos from our on-the-ground partner CORD capture the moment the refugees received this "lifeline." We are now half way to meeting the needs of the English classes in the camps, and ask for your support to enable additional shipments.

Our second shipment of Headway ESL books has just arrived in Hadjer Hadid, Chad, the staging point for our partner CORD's relief efforts in the Bredjing, Treguine, and Gaga refugee camps.

Book Wish Foundation is excited to join a partnership delivering educational aid to prepare future leaders of reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Spearheaded by the Michael Scott Mater Foundation, the project focuses on Dhi Qar University in Nasiriyah. Book Wish will provide English as a Second Language material to Dhi Qar, building on our experience in Chad and our sponsorship from leading publisher Oxford University Press.

Exciting news from the refugee camps about the impact of our first shipment of Headway English language learning material. Despite the large amount of work to be accomplished in the fields during the summer rainy season, the refugees have chosen to continue their English studies through the summer school break! The Education Program Manager for our on-the-ground partner CORD, Anne Goddard, reports:

"In legacy of our high school that fostered learning and success," alumni of Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, Indiana have donated $300 to the Book Wish Foundation's reading relief project in eastern Chad, completing the funding for a second shipment of ESL books for Darfur refugees learning English.

Under the leadership of Class President Kenneth D. Adams, Jr., the Crispus Attucks High School Alumni Class of 1954 identified the Book Wish project as an "opportunity to be of service."

Hippocrene Books, one of America’s foremost publishers of foreign-language reference books and ethnic cookbooks, has donated 75 of its popular English-Arabic/Arabic-English dictionaries to our reading relief project in the Bredjing, Treguine, and Gaga refugee camps in eastern Chad.

June 26 was a day for celebration in the Bredjing Refugee Camp in eastern Chad, as the Book Wish Foundation's first shipment of books from the Headway English course arrived. Despite serious security incidents in the area, which had paralyzed transportation, our partners on the ground, CORD, safely delivered the 269 books to the grateful Darfuris, who place so much hope in learning English.

The first shipment of Headway English Language books for the Darfur refugees in Chad leave London's Heathrow Airport. Pictured are Brian Godfrey of Air France, and his team of handlers, who ensured a speedy delivery to the Chadian capital N'Djamena, via Paris.

The educational dreams of hundreds of refugees from Darfur came one step closer to reality on May 14, 2008. In Oxford, England, at the headquarters of renowned publisher Oxford University Press, Book Wish Foundation's UK-based partner CORD received the first group of Headway English language learning books destined for refugee camps in eastern Chad. Headway's publishing manager, Judith King, participated in the handover.

We are excited to announce that the Book Wish Foundation has just ordered 269 Headway English books for our Chad/Darfur project, using funds donated by the public. Stay tuned as we chronicle their journey to and use in the refugee camps in Chad, where learning English is viewed as a "road to freedom."