Students create textbooks for children in Uganda

Eleven-year-old Katherine Parello enjoys school, but she easily could find more enjoyable things to do than lug her textbooks home to do homework.

Nearly 8,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, thousands of children in the African country of Uganda would be happy simply to have a textbook.

Thanks to the Books of Hope Uganda program, which helps American students create textbooks for less fortunate students at Ocim Primary School, Katherine and her classmates are helping bridge that gap.

The program, which also ships books to India, encourages students to design and create books about science, math, geography, reading and English grammar.

"We know we're making educational books to be sent to a place that's not having very good luck right now," Katherine said as she finished building her book about dogs. "That makes my heart feel good."

Books of Hope was created by Abha Thakkar, a Wisconsin resident and friend of Peterson parent Stacey Haen-Darden. Haen-Darden inquired about getting Peterson Elementary School involved and the reception, she said, was overwhelming.

During the 2006-2007 school year, Haen-Darden said the nationwide program collected more than 2,500 pounds of books, a number organizers hope to double this year.

"Bringing this to Peterson, we hoped to get about 60 books, but we're now on pace to donate more than 160," she said. "The participation and donations have been awesome from everyone."

She said many of the Ugandan students who will benefit from the books are "children of the night," who must travel to nearby cities to sleep to avoid rebel armies before returning to their village for school in the morning.

"These kids literally don't own a pencil, much less a book," Haen-Darden said. "These books will actually be theirs."

Kristina Hiller, 10, wrote two books about the seasons and weather conditions in Naperville so her Ugandan counterparts can compare their desert climate to another part of the world.

"We learn things every day, so it's fun to teach someone my age something that they might not know," Kristina said. "We just all hope they like our books."

Students and staff will gather again today to finish all of the books and have them laminated and bound. Haen-Darden said one child also will have their book selected to be hand-delivered to a student by Thakkar when she visits the region later this month. The remaining books will be shipped en masse.

Ten-year-old Evelyn Darden hopes her non-fiction book about the solar system and planets is selected to be hand-delivered.

"I'd be excited to see the student reading my book, so I hope it gets picked," she said.

Once the delivery is made, groups will receive photographs, a DVD of the delivery trip and any other letters or artwork organizers collect.

Video from last year's delivery can be seen on the group's Web site, www.booksofhope.org.