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Books & Beyond
a collaborative project of the Newark Collegiate Academy (Newark, New Jersey), Indiana University’s Global Village Living-Learning Center (Bloomington, Indiana), and the Kabwende Primary School (Kinigi, Rwanda)
Follow the Books & Beyond project, our trip to Rwanda, and more!
Project Overview:
Books & Beyond engages Global Villagers and Newark Collegiate Academy high school student in authoring, illustrating, publishing and marketing children’s books and/or a collection of short stories. Working in small pairs, IU’s Global Village students mentor Newark Collegiate Academy high school students and together the partners develop children’s stories to be sent to Rwanda. These books, along with teacher training guides and professional development workshops at Kabwende Primary, serve as models for the Rwandan students to create their own books. The Rwandan students’ books will be sent back to the United States, compiled in an anthology with the existing stories from New Jersey and Indiana, and will be sold with the profit from the books returned to Kabwende in Rwanda.
The Partners:
 The IU Global Village Living-Learning Center is a residence hall for 112 students interested in learning languages, cultures and increasing global awareness. Twenty five Global Villagers are participating in the Books & Beyond project as writing partners, fundraisers, grant-writers, videographers, and researchers. Participants are majoring in Linguistics, Languages, Education, Policy Analysis, Non-Profit Management, Business and more.
 Newark Collegiate Academy is part of the TEAM Charter Schools. Located in Newark, New Jersey, TEAM Schools mission is for every student to go to college. With only 9% of Newark residents receiving a higher education, these students are rising above the odds. Newark Collegiate Academy students are 96% African American and 4% Hispanic; they attend school from 7:25 am-5:00 pm and 4 hours on Saturdays. Sixteen NCA students are participating in the Books & Beyond project.
 The Kabwende Primary School located in the Ruhengeri Province of Rwanda serves 2000 students ages 5-17 years old. Students go to school for half a day where they share 1 textbook for every 4 people. Even without electricity these students are determined. Studying French, English, reading and math they hope that with their education they can create a better life for themselves and their families.
We also work closely with Professor Beth Samuelson from the IU School of Education, the Office of Mentoring & Leadership Development, CeLTIE, and the Department of Telecommunications.
Highlights from the Books & Beyond Rwanda trip (June 2009):
A team of 11 students, teachers and staff spent two weeks in Rwanda during June 2009. The team
- delivered 1900 books (one book per student) to the Kabwende Primary School in Kinigi, Rwanda;
- conducted 2-days of teacher training workshops for the 27 teachers at the Kabwende Primary School
- taught informal lessons in the Primary 4, 5, and 6 classes;
- hired an on-sight instructor to provide teacher training at Kabwende Primary School through December 2009;
- met with regional officials to discuss the project and future goals; and,
- provided resources (dictionaries, pens, pencils, paper) for the students at Kabwende to author and illustrate stories about their home and community.
Join Us:
If you are interested in learning more or are able to make a donation, please contact Lauren Caldarera, Assistant Director, Global Village Living-Learning Center, 812-855-4264 or lcaldare@indiana.edu.
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