The Book Wish Foundation

Cord is proud to be chosen as first partner of The Book Wish Foundation, a US based nonprofit organization providing financial and material support for reading-related programmes targeting people in crisis around the world.

Book Wish was formed in October 2007 by Lorraine and Logan Kleinwaks, in response to a Washington Post article describing the lack of books in Gaga refugee camp in Eastern Chad, where Cord has been working for the past four years.

Lorraine, a former grant reviewer and program specialist for post secondary education, gifted education, and vocational training at the U.S. Department of Education, and her son, Logan, have created a website charity aimed at helping Sudanese refugee students in Bredjing, Treguine and Gaga camps who are looking to higher education- and who currently work with a handful of English Language textbooks from the l950’s.

‘Life for the refugees is at a terrible standstill,’ says Logan. ‘After years of world wide attention, their basic survival is still dependent on international aid, and they still cannot return home. We want to help them break through the stagnation. Education can help them take steps forward, where there is no possibility of taking steps backward. Knowledge, once acquired, is a possession that cannot be taken away. That is why we believe Cord's education programmes are so important. Education is progress. It might be the only way the refugees can progress.’

‘‘We are focussing on people in crisis because they may face problems so grave that reading relief is not a major component of the aid they receive, although reading may have a great positive impact on their lives. Refugees, internally displaced people, school-aged children not in school, the homeless, the critically ill, and the desperately poor are among the populations we aim to reach,’ adds Lorraine.

Staffed entirely by unpaid volunteers, the Foundation guarantee that all money and goods donated for specific projects or Wish List items will be used only for those purposes. Incidental costs, such as for office supplies, are not funded through these targeted donations.

Already the Foundation has provided 250 English Language teaching manuals and study books for

Cord’s secondary school students in Bredjing and Treguine camps; books heavily discounted by Oxford University Press, and flown out to Chad with the generous help of Air France.