Children of Manamoc

I have always been passionate about reading, and have been fortunate enough to travel around the world and see many places. My favourite happy place that I love going to each year is Amanpulo, a small hotel on an island in the Philippines. I am so grateful to all of the staff there that really are the backbone of the place, and without which the hotel would definitely not be possible. Many of the staff come from the neighbouring island, Manamoc. Literacy is a big issue for the adults there, and although Amanpulo has founded a charity, it mainly supports the high school students. I gained my love for reading when I was young and surrounded by books, so as a way of saying thank you and giving back to everyone on the island, I have decided to build reading nooks in the two kindergarten classrooms. Many of the young children dislike reading, as the only books they have are the academic books they need to learn to read, and the children need to be able to read in order to move up a grade. By building reading nooks and filling them with academic, fun and picture books they will hopefully learn to love reading and begin to read in their spare time instead of viewing reading as a chore. For this to happen, I will need to put in shelves in the corner, buy a variety of english and local language books and put in beanbags so they can sit and read books. My goal is to buy 300 English books and 300 Philippino books. I aim to have this finished by Christmas holiday as a present for the kids. Please help me in this exciting project!