I met a little boy named Robel in the first free library for children in Ethiopia. Like many children who come there, he is from a very poor family. This family of five lives on about 30 cents a day. Robel has been coming to the library regularly ever since it was opened three-and-a-half years ago. Back then he held the books upside down because he couldn’t read at all.
Now Robel is the star reader at the library. He has read all 150 of their books in the local language, Amharic. Thanks to English classes at the library, he has also read several English books. Whenever they get a new book, he reads it to the other children.

I asked Robel what he wants to be when he grows up. “A pilot,” he said, “or maybe a librarian.”  Read More