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Invitation for Online Event: Travel Around the World with Bookworms in the Nest Ft. Takaaki Shirai

Traveling time: July 11th, 2020 (Sat.), 15:00-16:00 (Japanese standard time)
Meeting point: Online (It will be livestreamed in our Youtube channel and Yoshimi’s Facebook page)
Things you need to bring: Yourself, ready to sit back, relax, and enjoy!
Ticket fee: free (donation with PayPal and through bank accounts will be highly appreciated)

Takaaki with his violin and Yoshimi in front of a bookshelf

Hello, it’s Yoshimi here.
As many of you know, I am sort of stuck in Japan since the end of March.
About a month ago, as I was playing around in the world of social media, I ran into livestreaming of my high school classmate, who now is a professional violinist.

And…
here we are!
We decided to put together a mini concert.
He will play violin,
and I will read short stories and folk tales from Braille books.
We will take you around the world with music and stories.
This time, the session will be in japanese language, but hope you can enjoy the violin and the whole atmosphere.

Takaaki will be in his home studio in Tokyo,
and I will be reading from my bedroom in Kochi.
Sometime during the event, we will also call in our colleagues in Rang Mai Library in Phrao, Chiang Mai.

Places that we plan to visit

    Japan
    China
    The UK
    And a few other countries

Here, you can listen to “A whole New World,” covered by Takaaki.

About Bookworm Foundation
I set up Bookworm Foundation (formerly known as Always Reading Caravan) back in 2010.
We have three main projects:
1. Library with mobile library activities located in Phrao, Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.
2. Early childhood literacy centres for hill tribe children near Phrao.
3. Noon Noon Books (production of universal design picture books for children with and without disabilities)
Please feel free to visit our website here.

Call for Support
Thanks to the strong team in Phrao, Bookworm has been able to continue working throughout lockdown period in Thailand.
But most work related to fundraising had to be stopped because we have been heavily depending on personal fundraising where I would go and meet potential donors in person.
To keep Bookworm up and running, we really need your support now.
Every Yen, Euros, and dollars count.
During the event, you will be able to chip in using “busking” function.
But if you rather want to concentrate on the virtual world travel, you can always donate through PayPal before and after the event.
Or, you could also transfer your donation to our bank accounts in Thailand and Japan.

PayPal
アークどこでも本読み隊
(This is name of our organisation in japanese)
E-mail: yoshimi.in.kochi@gmail.com

Bank account in Thailand
Bank name: Kasikorn Bank
Branch: Central Festival
Account No: Savings Account 043-8-15111-7
Account Holder: Bookworm Foundation
SWIFT CODE: KASITHBK
Address: 99,99/1-2 Central Floor 3, Road Superhighway Chiangmai-Lumpang, T. Faham, Muang, Chiangmai 50000 Thailand
Tel: +66 53-807-605

Bank account in Japan
Bank name: Mizuho Bank
Branch: Takadanobaba
Account No: Savings Account 1954538
Account Holder: あーくどこでも本読み隊

Contact us!
Please feel free to get in touch with me!
E-mail: yoshimi.horiuchi@gmail.com
WhatsApp / Facetime: +66 83 542 7283
Twitter: YoshimiARC
Line ID: YoshimiARC

Please come and give us moral support!

Spontaneous Story-telling in Suphanburi Province

On Oct. 30-31, I visited a village in Suphanburi province again, to get to know this community a bit more, and to talk about what this village and ARC can do together.

 

I got on the shared wagon (rot-tuu) from Victory Monument. It took around 2 hours to reach the Khao Shang Mak Temple, where Aj. Wiboon, the bookworm of the community came to pick me up with 2 nieces of hers.

 

Aj. Wiboon welcomed me warmly and we had a nice and cozy dinner over her homemade tamarind nam-prik and fried fish. Her house is located near a canal, and surrounded by many trees. I enjoyed much fresher air compared to that of Bangkok, and the chorus of little insects all around. The songs of crickets mingled with voices of frogs always make me miss home.

 

After dinner, the little girls and her friends who came to stay there came peeping at me. I knew it. They saw me carrying 3 enormous books that I carried all the way from Queen Sirikit Convention Center in Bangkok, and couldn’t wait till opening them.

 

So the time they usually watch TV turned into spontaneous story-telling time. We all enjoyed reading from the beautiful picture books, and they brought out their own books afterwards. It’s funny that reading stories to each other brings up a totally new side of the book. Of course, reading by oneself is fun too, but to share it with friends and family is something different.

 

After kids were put into bed, Aj. Wiboon and I taled a bit about our reading activity. She wants to open two rooms of her house to be made into public library in the village: one room for storing books, and another for reading room. Luckily, her house is located just between two villages, so we can invite children from both communities. I also shared ARC’s wish to include all kids, including those with disabilities, and she agreed to work with public health centers to ask for information about children with disabilities. Just before we were about to collapse out of sleepiness, we decided to work on our first trial mobile library activity in December. She generously offered to let volunteers stay at her house, and promised any necessary assistance.

 

Next morning, we hurriedly ate some rice soup for breakfast, packed up, and went altogether to the nearby temple. The children really enjoyed the ride at the back of the track. They were screaming like anything every time the car makes a thrilling twists and turns.

 

As we reached the temple, people were already gathered around, chanting. So we sneaked in, and the kids and I got to introduce ourselves after the chanting. It’s a small community temple, and they seem to get together quite regularly. Totally different from those gorgeous-looking temples were tourists often go. We had a very nice lunch there with all the vegetarian dishes that each person brought from home, and here it comes again, the spontaneous story-telling.

 

It was even more fun this time because we had more children. And there was P’Nuch, a very lively story-teller. Children were so eager to read each line that they even started to reserve their favorite pages 🙂 I asked Aj. Wiboon to videotape it, and it will be soon available for you to watch on Youtube.

 

What I feel great about this village is that there are so many community members who are willing to help us. P’Nuch, the story-teller, happens to be a master-graduate from Silapakorn University, and majored in ceramic art. She promised to help when ARC goes back to do the caravan activity in December. There is another powerful leader, Uncle Pan-yaa, who has lived in the village for decades. He said he will tell local folk tales and legends in the community. How lucky we are to find such a perfect village!

 

Anyone in Thailand and wants to join us on our caravan in December in this village, you are most welcome na! Please write to us at

bookworm@alwaysreadingcaravan.org

I will make sure to come back and tell you how the caravan went in December…