After years of attending school, the door to reading has finally been unlocked for Helen. Despite attending class on a regular basis, she struggled to grasp what was being taught, and she was too shy to approach the teacher to ask for help. So year after year, she went through the motions without ever learning how to read fluently. And as the years passed, it became more and more embarrassing for her to see how far behind she was falling.

We opened our initial library in 2018, and within the first year of operations, it was already clear that we would need more space. The community interest in our Library was growing each week, and our small room couldn’t accommodate all of the children who would come. We also knew that some day, we would expand our program into more schools and be more serving more children and teachers on a weekly basis.

Technology is rarely used in community schools. So when the parents at Joy Grace saw the teachers on tablets and smartphones during class, they thought they were neglecting their children and just playing on social media. They began to complain to the school’s director who had to call a school-wide meeting and explain to the parents that the teachers were using educational apps to help their children learn.