SLU students collecting children's books for Malawi

CANTON — Camels and college students are joining forces to spread literacy.

A St. Lawrence University student group is helping to set up a library in Malawi. The Islamic Culture Club is collecting children's books to donate to the Camel Book Drive, and its members have a way to go before their May deadline.

They began collecting books in February and have a few boxes stored away in members' dorm rooms and other spots around campus.

They've collected about 100 books so far.

"We already have a ton of books in storage. We've had a lot of monetary contributions from people on campus, so we hope to buy quite a few," said sophomore Ashley N. Hartz, one of the drive's organizers. "You have to have at least 1,000 books to donate."

Miss Hartz discovered the Camel Book Drive after reading "The Camel Bookmobile" for a first-year class. The novel is based on a true story about a library in Kenya that travels around the country on the back of a camel.

After reading the book, she decided to get involved with the organization last year. Working by herself, she collected about 2,000 books to send to Botswana, a country north of South Africa.

This year, she got the Islamic Culture Club involved and it began doing the same thing for Malawi, a small country in southwestern Africa.

Malawi is not an Islamic country, nor are most of the members of the club Muslims.

"We wanted to do something that would make a difference. We heard about this and we were just like, 'Wow,'" said club member Jason S. Vengersammy, a sophomore. "If we do the same thing (as Ashley) but with the manpower of an organization like the ICC, we would see different results."

Since the beginning of the drive, the club's 20 members have been calling libraries and schools to solicit donations and carrying collection tins around campus, asking students for a few dollars or spare change.

"That we've found to be very effective," Mr. Vengersammy said. "College students, you have to poke at them a little bit."

The club is relatively new; it started a few years ago, but membership fizzled out and it disappeared. It reorganized and was recognized officially by the university this month.

It has held an event to celebrate Eid, the Muslim holiday marking the end Ramadan, and regularly collaborates with other cultural clubs on events.

Though the books members are collecting are written for children, they might be read by an older population as well. The country has a literacy rate of slightly more than 60 percent, according to the CIA World Factbook.

The club is looking for books with simple subject matter; it is sensitive to worries that what it is doing could be a form of cultural imperialism.

"We don't want to send religious books. We don't want to send books about technology they wouldn't have. Nothing to try to westernize," Miss Hartz said. "We want a lot of books that teach the ABCs or colors. They love animal books — something they can relate to."

To get involved in the drive,

e-mail Miss Hartz at anhart08@

stlawu.edu.