Interview with Books for the Barrios founder, President and Executive Director, Nancy Harrington
by Marjorie Coughlan*

In 1981 Nancy Harrington and her husband Dan, founded Books for the Barrios to bring books and other resources to children in the Philippines, and to provide schools and libraries to house them. Since then, they have sent more than 10 million books, which are shipped every few weeks in 40-foot containers. Through their commitment to Book for the Barrios, they are not only saving tons of books from heading for landfill each year, but also transforming the lives and aspirations of thousands of children.

Nancy and Dan live in Concord, California.
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Can you tell us the background as to how and why you founded Books for the Barrios to provide books for children in the Philippines?

We were a US navy family stationed in the Philippines from 1981-86.  Our sons were four and six years old when we first arrived there and it was a great opportunity for them to experience a different culture. We traveled all over the country to very remote areas and because I’m a teacher we would always go to the schools, where we would see that they had no resources – and that’s how we started, as a family, to seek ways to help.

Do you work in other countries?

Our primary thrust is the Philippines but when we receive really good quality books in Spanish I find people that are going to a Spanish-speaking country and I donate them; or, for example, I know of a woman who treks in Tibet and we give her books to take out there.

Who are some of the different people who get involved with Books for the Barrios?

All types of people are involved in our work.  We have one part-time employee in the US and two-fulltime in the Philippines; and we have many people who volunteer for us - they are our lifeline.  They coordinate deliveries of books and the work we do with schools in both countries.

We have school-age groups of children who come on field trips.   Through giving practical assistance in loading up books, as well as fundraising they do through their schools, children are empowered to think globally and act locally. We try and help them realize that children all over the world are just like they are – except when they go to school.  They have families who love them, they love spaghetti and ice-cream, they fight with their brothers and sisters... The line of demarcation is when they go to school and, in the case of many Filipino children, there’s nothing on the walls, very few text books; they never have any quality supplementary material.

In fact, working with children in the US is an important aspect of our work. Children and young people of all ages come and help us, from pre-school through college; we have religious groups, girl scouts and boy scouts and children from all sorts of backgrounds.

In September there is an annual “week of caring” when businesses and companies donate their day to pack books and be involved with our work.

The Before and After photographs on your blog show just what an impact you have had in improving school facilities.  Can you tell us about your vision for and involvement in the Models for Excellence schools? 

We have developed 46 world-class schools, spread throughout every province in the Philippines, called Model of Excellence schools, each catering to between 500 and 3,000 children. We supply them with all their learning materials, a complete library and, when we can get enough computers, with a computer learning centre.  The first school opened in 1984 and our last model school - and perhaps our last school, period, due to funding restrictions - was developed last year.

We wanted to shake up the methodology of teaching by memorization and introduce the importance of comprehension and fun in the learning process.  We’ve introduced a meaning-centered curriculum. It’s had a huge impact! To support that, we set up a teacher training programme through the Models of Excellence schools and trained 8,000 teachers over 4 years. They then took what they’d learned back to their schools and passed it on to other staff, so the effect has multiplied through the whole country.

We still follow through on pupil and staff development and work hard to develop a culture of reading – most of the teachers grew up without reading anything.  So, for example, as well as providing classroom resources, we send out professional development materials too.

What are some of the cultural awareness concerns one needs to be sensitive to when sending books from one country to another?

When we started, an official in the Philippines accused us of trying to colonize the country again and so I am personally responsible for every book that goes out there, to ensure that there can be no grounds for such concerns.  We do not send any American history or biographies; and we don’t send any religious books or any foreign language books. It’s not a problem that all our books are in English because English is the second language there.

How often do you go to the Philippines?

We go to the Philippines every year for about 6 weeks and we travel all over the country.  Sometimes we visit places unannounced; sometimes we are accompanied by security personnel down in the areas where there are terrorist cells but, up until now, we’ve had no problems at all. Meanwhile, we have shipments of books and materials going out in 40 foot containers every 5-6 weeks. 

What are some of the particularly special moments you’ve experienced with children receiving books?

Every time we put a book in front of a child who’s never seen a book before it’s pretty amazing for we know that their life is never going to be the same. Normally many children will quit school by grade 6 but the drop-out rate is going down dramatically, especially in our schools.  Often, when we donate books to children, and indeed to teachers, they break down and cry because they realize that there’s somebody out there that really cares about them.

To date you have founded four floating libraries – Could you please describe these libraries and tell us where they are and how they operate?

The floating libraries are all in a rainforest area called the Agusan Del Sur.  These children had no school, nothing, and because there’s a very good governor, Maria Valentina Galido Plaza, we’ve been able to develop four floating libraries.  These are boats which provide a library service in rural areas, floating from one little village to the next.

I’ll never forget our visit to Agusan Del Sur, only a year after setting up our project there.  We saw such amazing results - the children writing beautiful letters and so desperate to learn.

How has the global economic downturn affected Books for Barrios?

The global economic downturn has affected us terribly.  We operate on a $160,000 a year budget and we’re down to $52,000 so, who knows... We still try and fundraise and get grants but we are struggling. We ask for $5 per person when the children come - and we ask them to raise that money; then we ask the schools to do little fund-raisers too. We used to hold dances to raise money but we're gettting a little old for that now!

We press on through complicated bureaucracy and typhoons and all kinds of natural disasters, of which there are many in the Philippines.  We pray and we work as hard as we can because we really believe that the only way to combat conflict and terrorism is through education.

What does it mean to you to have devoted the last 28 years to Books for the Barrios?

At times, I think back to all the things that we’ve missed in our lives – vacations and what my kids  have not received –  but every time we go over there, we realize that this has definitely been a providential calling. It’s a 24/7 situation and we know what we’re doing is right.

And what does the future hold?

We don’t know.  We don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to go on. We need someone younger, with boundless energy, to come forward and take up the reins!

*Marjorie Coughlan is PaperTigers' Associate Editor .

Posted October 2009

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