Book bonanza for Tongan readers

Children in Tonga have thousands of books to choose from after a wonderful book drive as part of Volunteer Impact Week.

Children in Tonga have plenty of books to choose from after Volunteer Impact Week.
Children in Tonga have plenty of books to choose from after Volunteer Impact Week.

The University’s inaugural Volunteer Impact Week (VIW) in June saw about 500 people participate in many voluntary events. One of those was donating to the Books4Tonga charity, and the books are now sitting on library shelves in Tonga being explored by readers of all ages.

Thanks to the generous donation of about 7,000 books from the University of Auckland community, Books4Tonga has now established its first libraries in a number of villages. Volunteers were involved in donating, collecting, packing and shipping off the boxes.

Teaching Fellow and Books4Tonga board member Sione Taufa and Group Services team leader Herena Newall at the Business School managed the collection site there as part of the University-wide book drive. “It was just informal networking initially, asking a few people on our floor and around the building if they had books to spare, but we were amazed at the response,” Herena says.

When other sites popped up at other faculties, the donations grew dramatically.

Founder of Books4Tonga Cynthia Wallis Barnicoat says some of the planned 20 village libraries are now up and running, including one in an old store in Nukunuku, on the main island Tongatapu, and one in the storeroom of a hall in Ahau. Local schoolchildren helped stack the shelves and a number of businesses and agencies from New Zealand, Australia and the US have helped with logistics and transport.

“Tongans know that enhancing their English skills can bring better futures, but for many, books are unaffordable,” says Cynthia. “Working together we are all changing this.”

Alumni Relations Manager Joel Terwilliger says he was blown away by the book drive, and the whole VIW initiative. “It’s amazing how when people collectively take action on issues they care about, the impact we can have.

Books4Tonga is a good example of how we can change a corner of the world pretty easily. It gives us real impetus to try more events next year.”