{"id":490,"date":"2009-04-29T21:24:31","date_gmt":"2009-04-29T13:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rice4life.sg\/bulletin\/?p=490"},"modified":"2009-04-29T21:24:31","modified_gmt":"2009-04-29T13:24:31","slug":"long-beach-woman-helped-create-library-in-cambodia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rice4life.sg\/bulletin\/current-affairs\/long-beach-woman-helped-create-library-in-cambodia\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach woman helped create library in Cambodia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; vertical-align: top;\"><script><\/script><script><\/script><span class=\"articleimage\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.contracostatimes.com\/portlet\/article\/html\/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=2416093\" target=\"_new\"><span style=\"text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;\"><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/extras.mnginteractive.com\/live\/media\/site204\/2009\/0428\/20090428__PN29-CAM1.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"203\" \/>Children of all ages in rural Takeo Province, Cambodia now have a library and books to call their own. (Photo courtesy of Caitlin Ishigooka)<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana;\"><script><\/script><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">LONG BEACH<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\"> &#8211; One sign came when she couldn&#8217;t enter the existing library because the floor was covered with six inches of rice that had been put there to dry during harvest season. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">Another was the selection of volumes, such as the organic chemistry textbooks, in English, that a well-meaning but obviously clueless charity donated to the rural school in the poor farming community. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">Still another was the abundance of books in French and English, but the paucity of books in Khmer. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">So, Peace Corps volunteer Emi Caitlin Ishigooka from <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">Long Beach<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\"> jumped at the opportunity to create a new library when approached with the idea by the director of the Cambodian school where she was teaching high school English. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">A 26-year-old UCLA and Poly High graduate who will attend USC graduate school in public administration in the fall, Ishigooka recently returned from a two-year stint as one of the inaugural group of Peace Corps volunteers assigned to <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">Cambodia<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">While she has come back to the U.S. with the usual bucketful of stories about life in a village with no running water, strange encounters with the local fauna and edible delicacies such as fried tarantulas, it is the library she built in her second year abroad that has the most meaning. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">In the truest of the people, by the people and for the people tradition, Ishigooka says that from the outset she wanted the students to be the driving force. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: Verdana;\">&#8220;From the beginning they had a major say,&#8221; Ishigooka said. &#8220;They gave me the titles and subjects that interested them. I did keep one Norton Anthology, though.&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">Ishigooka applied for a grant from the Peace Corps, eventually raising about $3,500, including $300 or $400 from the students and the families themselves. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">Once a new non-produce storing building was found, students began cleaning and decorating the new facility, including painting a large mural of the world on the wall. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">&#8220;With the grant money, we were able to get books for all grade levels,&#8221; Ishigooka said. And they were able to get them in Khmer: novels, history, poetry, even an edition in translation of Harry Potter. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; vertical-align: top;\"><span class=\"articleimage\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;\"><span class=\"articleimage\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.contracostatimes.com\/portlet\/article\/html\/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=2416092\" target=\"_new\"><span style=\"text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/a><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/extras.mnginteractive.com\/live\/media\/site204\/2009\/0428\/20090428__PN29-CAM2_300.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana;\">Students at the school where Peace Corps volunteer Emi Caitlin Ishigooka raised funds for a new library decorated the space with a large mural of the world. (Photo courtesy of Caitlin Ishigooka)<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">The library was also outfitted with a listening center to help students with languages and other learning areas. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">For Ishigooka, as important as getting the actual volumes, was giving the students a sense of ownership and responsibility for the library. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">This included students volunteering to staff the library, setting schedules and actually be there during operating hours, along with maintaining the facility. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">&#8220;This was built by an incredible group,&#8221; Ishigooka says. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">The best part, was &#8220;to see students make it their own. Now the student librarians are leaders and role models. And in the process we were promoting volunteerism, which for a Peace Corps volunteer is pretty phenomenal.&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">As she sits at a Starbucks near the Traffic Circle and begins to renew her relationship with coffee, finds a job, visits with friends, checks text messages, prepares for graduate school and negotiates with her mom for use of the car, the 26-year-old is very much back into the hectic flow of life of an young American woman on the upward career and educational track. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">But a part of Ishigooka will always be in <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">Cambodia<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">, beyond the retainer a rat absconded with. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">When Ishigooka looks back, she hopes she left something lasting and tangible. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">&#8220;The kids are are so proud and took such good care of (the library) that I&#8217;m confident years from now it will still be there and be a big part of the school and community,&#8221; Ishigooka says. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"vertical-align: top;\"><span style=\"font-size: 7.5pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;\">Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.contracostatimes.com\/california\/ci_12249133?nclick_check=1\">Contra Costa Times<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Children of all ages in rural Takeo Province, Cambodia now have a library and books to call their own. (Photo courtesy of Caitlin Ishigooka) LONG BEACH &#8211; One sign came when she couldn&#8217;t enter the existing library because the floor&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rice4life.sg\/bulletin\/current-affairs\/long-beach-woman-helped-create-library-in-cambodia\/\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rice4life.sg\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rice4life.sg\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rice4life.sg\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rice4life.sg\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rice4life.sg\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.rice4life.sg\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":491,"href":"http:\/\/www.rice4life.sg\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions\/491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rice4life.sg\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rice4life.sg\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rice4life.sg\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}