BOOKS WITHOUT BORDERS

The Inspiration Behind My Initiative

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My mind wandered and wandered ‘off through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost over a year,’ just like Max as he sailed to ‘Where The Wild Things Are,’ and then my mind wandered ‘back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day and into the night …’

Or that is what it felt like to me, in the midst of thinking about an initiative for my future learning space to affect real change for refugees in challenging global contexts.   During this time my thinking kept returning to something my lecturer; Dr Adam Staples had said, something about passion.  If I was to make this work then I needed to focus on something I was passionate about, something that I could really put my heart and soul into.  Something I really believed in.  Something I really valued.  To me, that something is books, or more importantly words, sentences, stories… They evoke in me a sense of passion and purpose, desire and delight, meaning and merit…

And so, I now had a focus, but my thoughts now turned to sailing through nights and days and in and out of weeks and almost over a year ruminating over the logistics of how I could share my passion for books in a space that was not face to face.  Would it be possible to send books halfway round the world?  Would they get there? Was this really the true intention behind my idea?  Would it be possible to do this on a ‘shoe string’ as it were?  At little or no cost?  Would it be possible to start a real refugee library, or perhaps a virtual one?  A book depository?  My thoughts and ideas swirled around and around… and so, I kept returning to the core concepts of Teachers Without Borders until at last my idea emerged…’Books Without Borders.’  

An idea that I could initiate, an idea that I could achieve at no cost.  An idea that could be shared all around the globe, and more importantly, with those that really needed it to be shared… “Just press send to the world Mummy,” said my seven year old!  And yes, my little one is right, just press send to the world.  An idea that I really can make happen.  

And so, my little idea, my work in progress towards a future learning space will, with purpose, perseverance and passion become a present learning space.  A space to share stories, to read for refugees and to affect change in a challenging global context.