As mid-term tests continue and school projects and finals loom, many students dream of being far away from their text books. Rotaract is willing to ship the books as far away as North Korea for free.
Rotaract, a Marriott School-sponsored club and extension of the International Rotary Club, is assembling efforts to ship used textbooks to North Korea. The project, led by the international service division of Rotaract, has partnered with Asian Foundation's "Books For Asia" program in an effort to give North Koreans the tools needed to bring the country out of the economic situation they are in.
"The North Korean economy is really struggling," said vice-president of international service Daniel Conger. "They don't seem to be able to pull themselves out."
The idea to help came to Conger while serving a mission in neighboring South Korea.
"These are great people, they are very industrious and they have wonderful hearts; I don't know of any one else that has kinder and more pure hearts than the Korean people do," Conger said.
Because of the current regime, international humanitarian aid efforts are stymied and some forms of aid never reach the intended population at all, Conger explained.
"Supplies have typically been used to feed the military instead of the people who need it most," Conger said.
The idea behind sending books is two-fold: it is a supply that will not be intercepted by the regime and divided among the military, and secondly, the books enable students and future leaders of business to brainstorm solutions to the nation's problems, Conger said.
The partnership with "Books For Asia" and donations from private donors will cover the costs of transport, shipping and other associated costs, leaving students and teachers free of obligation beyond donation of used texts.
Stacey Mork, a secretary for the Rotaract club, said she hopes to see donations from several sources in Utah valley.
"We have just established a partnership with the BYU Bookstore who will accept text book donations," Mork said. "We're hoping that all the students at BYU get involved and donate what they can."
All text books are welcome in the drive, with a special focus on books involving the sciences, technology, medicine and economics. Texts accepted should be published as recently as 2003.
The club goal is to collect 10,000 books by August 2009.
Stan Miller, a member of the Provo Rotary Club, applauds the efforts of the current volunteers and previous students.
"College kids have a certain energy level that seems to wane as we get older; there is nothing better than college kids for enthusiasm and willingness to give, particularly BYU students," Miller said.
Students interested in participating or donating can contact Daniel Conger at dconger2@gmail.com or visit http://marriottschool.byu.edu/clubs/rotaract/
Copyright Brigham Young University 27 Oct 2008
