Thank YOU, Teachers!

It’s easy to forget to take a break from our daily routines to say “thank you” to those who teach and inspire every single day—toiling away in the classrooms of the world to build the minds and characters of the next generation. So it was especially humbling when we received a link to a video from our partners at RBI in the Philippines, in which a number of their educators thanked us for our little contribution to their efforts to meet the needs of some of the most vulnerable students in the world.

Particularly moving for us were the words of Mrs. Rhoda Nocum, an educator at Bagong Silang Elementary School in Caloocan City, Philippines, who said, “Thank you so much for SIL LEAD project and RBI. Because of this Bloom project, I was able to discover that I have talents in making short stories for my pupils and we are looking forward – that there will be more stories to be put in the Bloom library and can be easily accessed by the visually impaired pupils in the near future.”

We may be blushing a little as we share this, but we’d love for you to take a look at the video and see how some of these amazing teachers are making an impact on under-served visually impaired children.

When SIL LEAD was first announced as the winner of the Book Boost: Access for All Challenge back in April of 2018, we had this to say about the project:

“Launched in October 2017, the Book Boost: Access for All Challenge was a direct response to the shortage of quality books in accessible formats for children who are blind, have low vision, or experience other disabilities that impact their use of printed materials. One of the major barriers to increasing access to accessible reading materials is the cost and complexity associated with creating new materials that are “born accessible,” as well as retrofitting existing books into accessible formats, a standard practice in the current production process.”

We updated you on the progress of our project in October of 2018 in our post, Bloom Books for Everyone, telling you about our Executive Director Dr. Paul Frank’s trip to the East Asia conference for the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI), and highlighting the wide range of organizations working together to make this project a reality.

Our goal in sharing the above video from RBI is not to toot our own horn, but to once again emphasize that we’re just a small part of a larger effort to enable real, on-the-ground work to happen in schools and communities around the globe.

So even though we know it’s not “International Teacher Appreciation Day” (October 5), or even World Gratitude Day (September 27 – or Every Day of the Year, depending on who you ask), we’d like to say a great big “Thank You!” to teachers everywhere. We’re grateful for your work, and grateful to play a small supporting role in your amazing efforts to help children, one lesson at a time.