Worldreader is doing something that’s never been done before- bringing electronic books into remote areas in Africa giving students, teachers and families access to the entire world’s library.   Last week, we announced a contest where you can win a trip to volunteer with us in Ghana. eDreams.com, our travel partner, is sponsoring this contest by covering transportation, food and lodging. The winner will fly into Accra and will be met by a Worldreader team member, spend the night at the Novotel and spend the next day in the capital touring historic sites.  The next day the winner will be driven out to Ghana’s Eastern Region- to Adeiso and Kade, where we have 500 e-readers in 6 schools in the iRead pilot.  Then he/she will spend the next few days volunteering in the schools doing reading exercises and helping teachers.  The days will be long, and there might be issues that Worldreader will be working on, just like some we mentioned last week.  In addition, the winner will accompany a film crew into some of the children’s homes who Worldreader filmed last time- to talk to parents (like Doris, Deborah and DeGraft’s mother seen in the video) about how the e-reader is being used by the family. 

The hotel is Ju’niel Lodge in Osenasi- it’s where we stayed in December at the launch of the iRead pilot.  The trip won’t be relaxing in a vacation sense, it’s working long hours in a hot climate.  But you won’t go home the same!

To enter, you must submit a video of yourself explaining why you want to win this trip.  So far we’ve had some touching submissions from Spain, Indonesia, the US, Belgium, Singapore, and Russia–to name a few.  And why people want to volunteers varies as well: everything from a young peace corp volunteer who is specifically interested in how e-reader technology can improve education to a 76 year-old book-restorer who adores his e-reader and dreams of traveling to Ghana.  At the same time, we’ve received many e-mails from interested participants who say they would love to participate but not in a public way.  Sharing why they want to volunteer sometimes takes on a very personal note.  Given that we want to include all candidates and not leave anyone out, we will change the terms to not have peer voting and will extend the entry date until Friday April 1st to give everyone interested a chance to submit their video. Our goal is to find the right person and not leave anyone out.  The winner will be announced on April 4th and we’ll air the winning video on our blog.

Sumbit a video here: tell us why you want to volunteer with Worldreader and help us achieve our mission:  Books for All!