Meet John Wood, the World’s Biggest Literacy Hero
In just 13 years, Room to Read has given away 12 million books and opened 15,000 libraries in the developing world. This is a pretty remarkable feat, yet founder John Wood feels he and his team have just scratched the surface.
When Room to Read reaches 10 million kids in 2015, Wood said in a recent interview, they "will probably celebrate for a night then take a deep breath" and ask themselves how they can reach 20 million and then 30 million kids.
A comment such as this gives us a glimpse into the mind of John Wood—a tireless rainmaker who left his cushy job at Microsoft to make sure millions of children across the developing world learn to read.
Wood chronicled the beginning of his adventure in the book Leaving Microsoft to Change the World and has just published his second book, Creating Room to Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy. This book, he said, "is about taking the organization to scale."
While the book exposes what they've done wrong along the way, and what they've done right, the children whose lives have been touched by Room to Read are at the heart of the story. There are kids in Vietnam, Nepal, Laos and several other countries who perhaps would never have learned to read in their native language if it wasn't for John Wood.
"Literacy," Wood said, "is an absolutely critical issue."
"It’s overlooked as an issue in the developed world," he said, "because 98 percent of the illiterate people in the world today are in developing countries."
This is why Room to Read is active in 10 developing countries with plans to expand.
Wood spoke passionately about giving children a chance to succeed in our interview and when asked if he had one wish, without skipping a beat, he said:
"I wish we could create a world where no child will ever again be told you were born in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you therefore did not get educated."
At Room to Read, he said, they believe this idea "belongs on the scrap heap of human history" and he and his team "intend to put it there."
Related Stories on TakePart:
• Media That Inspires: John Wood, Founder of Room to Read
• Literacy Day: 10 Celebrities Share the Best Book They've Ever Read
• Horrific 10 Percent Literacy Rate Prompts ACLU to Sue Michigan Schools
Jenny Inglee is a Los Angeles-based journalist and the Education Editor at TakePart. She has taught English in Vietnam and tutors homeless children in Los Angeles. Email Jenny | @jennyinglee | TakePart.com
