Jennifer traveled all the way from Sweden with her friend Tarlan to volunteer for two weeks with The Library Project.  They both were absolutely amazing.  They helped with fundraising at our annual fundraiser in Xi’an, China…..and they also helped us donate libraries to the Sichuan Province.  We all miss them very much, but understand that they have to go back to High School (boring).  Below is a blog that they have been keeping about their experience with The Library Project.  Their expenses were sponsored by Grycksbo Paper, a Swedish paper company that has been a huge Library Project supporter this past year.  A link to their blog and also Jennifer’s most recent post has been republished below.  Thank you Jennifer and Tarlan!

Their Blog

http://paperaid.wordpress.com/

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Hi again everyone!

Finally I am finished with my own story. The first thing I can tell you is that I am in love with China; Xi’an, the peoples, the children, Baoxing, the food, almost everything. During the last week I have been watching all the pictures from our weeks in China. – I have to say that I am missing everything.

When we came back from China it was so nice to meet my dear family and friends again, but in the same time is a part of me still in China. I have got one dream since I was a little girl. I have been dreaming about to working as a volunteer. And now, just turned 18, I am back from two fantastic weeks in China from a volunteer job with a great friend. So imagine my feelings when I now am watching myself beside all the children! I wanted to be a volunteer, I was a volunteer, I am a volunteer! What a fantastic feeling!

The two weeks in China went so fast, and it is first now, three weeks after we came back as I start to realize what we have done! I will say that I remember every day and night in China, but there are some special moments that I will never forget;

When we went to the second school, just 45 minutes from Baoxing, the school had already closed, so we packed up all the books with help from only a few students and some older relatives. When we started our way back to Baoxing and our hotel, we realized that the principal/headmaster was following us all the way down to the little village down the school. She invited us for dinner, but since we were late, we said no. She continued to invite us. It may sound like a weird moment to remember but for me it meant so much. If a person became so happy and thankful for some books, then all the works regarding the project felt so worth it. For us in the western world is all these stuff a usual part of our life’s, but for these people, is the books something new. I cannot imagine how hard it must be to teach a bunch of YOUNG students without the right books, or without any books at all!

Another special memory is when we one day went to a large Tibetan school. In the same moment as we went out of the car lot of students gathered around. They started to laugh and point at us! I have never been “famous” before, haha!

All the time we spent together with Jenny and Jocelyn (The Library Project’s “Country Director” and “Library Donation Lead”) was something very important for me. I have learned a lot from them during our days together. I am so impressed about their choices to work with an important organization; they are travelling around the whole China every year to help children!  They told us a lot of interesting facts about China, the people and the culture, they were also two really funny and kind girls, which made my whole trip in China easier.

All the time we spent with the young students makes me so happy. To see their smiles when we came and when all of them were carrying the books was great! It is in moments like that I realized how lucky I am in my own life; and how easy it is to give other people happiness!

I have now been home for three weeks, but one day won´t pass without me thinking about China. I have grown a lot during these weeks. To know that I am able to travel to the other side of the world with one friend, it feels great. I have been visiting villages and counties where people are living and studying in poor places. I have been traveling on roads that we in Sweden never would be using.  I have actually helped so many children during my weeks, together with Tarlan and the team I have helped the children to a better future. I have also been lucky to meet such amazing peoples! Tom, Jenny, Jocelyn, Nicole and Belinda at the Library-Project, Jenny at Grycksbo Paper and people like Lisa and Ivy in Xi’an!

These are my experiences from my weeks in China. You will hear from me again!

Love, Jenn

Grycksbo Paper have been huge supports of The Library Project through raising awareness and funds over the past year.  Their “G Print is ON” campaign just won the “Promotional/Sales/Marketing Campaign” of the Year at the PPI Awards.  Over the past year Grycksbo Paper helped support TLP through including us on the campaign that won first place, they donate all profits from their “I Love Paper” t-shirts, and have collected donations.  Grycksbo Paper even sponsored two Swedish High School students to come and volunteer with our organization for two weeks last month.  They are an amazing company.  Please take a moment to read their press release below, and check out their website.

http://www.grycksbopaper.com/

GRYCKSBO PAPER RECEIVES AN ‘OSCAR’

Grycksbo Paper has won the category ‘Promotional/Sales/Marketing Campaign of the Year’ for its ‘G Print is ON’ campaign at the PPI Awards 2009 gala in Munich. The main media channel for the award winning campaign is the internet and consists of humorous and surprising film sequences showing people struggling in a paperless world, as well as a campaign website with information and offers.

The PPI Awards are the paper industry’s equivalent to the film industry’s ‘Oscar’ awards. In the PPI Awards 2009, industry companies competed in ten different categories following earlier nominations. Grycksbo Paper was a nominated finalist in three of them: Promotional/Sales/Marketing Campaign of the Year, Business Strategy of the Year, and Environmental Strategy of the Year – Company.

Commenting on the ‘G Print is ON’ campaign’s success the judges said:  ‘This winning campaign has been described as outstanding and brilliant by the judges – an entry which shows an impressive marketing strategy, utilising digital media with confidence, while at the same time encouraging increased paper usage. It is a campaign with a clear target audience and specific messages which shows an outstanding breakaway approach.”

On receiving the award, Mikael Frölander, MD Grycksbo Paper, said, ‘It is absolutely fantastic that Grycksbo Paper was not only a finalist in three categories, but also that we won one of the most prestigious. It is important to get our message across about the advantages of paper and the printed word, for us, as well as for the whole paper industry.

‘Renewal is needed in the paper industry, so when the idea about a cheeky and humorous campaign using the internet came up, it was a logical step to take. We have got many positive reactions from our customers, as well as from the paper trade.’

Jaana Ahlroos, Sales and Marketing Manager at Grycksbo Paper said, ‘Winning the PPI Awards 2009 for the best Promotional/Sales/Marketing Campaign of the Year is a great honour for us. We are not the biggest paper company, but we were prepared to go outside the traditional box with this, the first digital media promotional campaign in the industry. The saying “Do not go where the path may lead; rather go instead where there is no path and lead a trail” fits us very well.’

The winning campaign’s film sequences showing situations where paper is the only thing that works can be found on the campaign site www.gprint.com/paperaid as well as on YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo.

An important part of the campaign is the support for “The Library Project,” which donates books and libraries to under-funded schools and orphanages in the developing world. On the site visitors can donate money as well as buy T-shirts, with profits going to “The Library Project.”

The Nexus, a student group at the Shanghai High School International Division, held a book collection on October 19-23 collectiong books for donation to The Library Project.  Take a look at the great photos below.

To date The Nexus have raised enough funds and books for three elementary library donations.  Check out the link below to their student group’s page on our website to see photos of some of the happy kids that have received a donation of a library because of their support.

http://www.library-project.org/nexus.html

A huge thank you goes out to everyone at The Nexus!

ABOUT THE NEXUS

The Nexus is a student organization founded by Stephany Phung and Emma Harada that was established in 2008 at the Shanghai High School International Division. The Nexus’ mission is to be an extension of The Library Project, reaching out to the people of Shanghai radiating from within the school. Their goal is to raise funds to support The Library Project’s mission.

To learn more about The Nexus, please check out their website at: http://www.library-project.org/nexus.html

Aston English was The Library Project’s very first corporate partner in China.  They believed in us, before anyone else did.  (Except of course my Mother, she believed in us right from the beginning…)

To date, Aston English has contributed to 67 elementary and orphanage library donations throughout China.  Aston has over 60 English language training schools located in 50 cities in China.  These language schools have conduced book collections for Chinese language children’s books over the past two years.  Aston and The Library Project then mobilize and empower their employees to locate rural elementary schools that need a library, get out into the local markets and purchase hi-quality furniture for the libraries, then distribute the books and furniture at the rural elementary schools.  Sounds crazy, but, Aston have completed 67 library donations in a little over two years.

The video below is probably the best representation of this process, and shows how Aston continues to make a huge difference in their local communities.  If you would like to learn more about this particular library donation, please check out John Mizell’s blog by clicking here. (John put together this amazing video.  Thank you!)

There is one question that we get almost every time we meet someone new.  This is one that we have a really hard to putting into words, which means our usual answer is something like: “Throughout China,” “Everywhere,” and my personal favorite, “Let me show you this map……”

Over the past TWO YEARS we have donated 170 libraries to rural elementary schools and orphanages in 19 provinces, in over 50 cities and counties.  The most northern donation is in Changchun, the most southern is just outside of Shenzhen, the most western is in the coutry-side outside of Urmuqi city in Xinjiang, and the most eastern is in Shanghai City.

Everyone at The Library Project is blown away that libraries were donated to all of these regions in just under two short years.  Unbelievable!

Shaanxi: Xi’an , Baoji, Ankang, Yanan, Weinan, Hanzhong, Xianyang
Chongqing
Sichuan: Chengdu, Guanghan, Guangyuan
Anhui: Fuyang, Hefei
Xinjing: Urmuqi
Liaoning: Dalian, Dandong, Shenyang
Jilin: Changchun
Inner Mogolia: Erdos, Huhhot
Beijing
Ningxia: Yinchuan
Shandong: Jinan, Linyi, Dongying
Shanghai
Jiangsu: Wuxi
Hubei: Wuhan, Xiangfan
Sichuan: Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangyuan
Guizhou: Guiyang
Yunnan: Kunming
Shanxi: Taiyuan
Guangdong: Heyuan, Qingyuan

TLP map of library donations