Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Cotham.
Working with family and friends from a church basement, William helped gather and ship to Uganda over 160,000 books which helped build over 200 libraries in schools, health centers, orphanages and communities in Northwest Uganda. Beginning in 2010 and continuing on through today, William, working with others at Chapelwood United Methodist Church, in Houston, built these libraries in the Zombo District in Northwest Uganda.
The project began with the discovery from previous trips to Uganda by William, including approximately twenty village meetings conducted in connection with Orphan Support Africa, that the local people uniformly thought that education was their greatest need. As the project started, the hope was to gather enough books for a handful of libraries, but due to a lot of people’s generosity, plans were quickly scaled up.
From the experience at Chapelwood, it was concluded:
(1) It was both possible and very practical to collect books here in the United States, ship them to places like East Africa and distribute them to various communities and schools;
(2) The books are treasured by the local people, including students, teachers and adults and viewed as the means to a better future; and
(3) The collection of books in the United States represents a tangible way to involve people here in the plight of these extremely poor and needy people. Volunteering and donating here will involve those who never have the chance to travel to a place like East Africa. On the other hand, some who volunteer here will have their interests piqued enough to choose to travel to places like East Africa.
Today, they remain an all-volunteer organization and they work out of a space near the Houston Food Bank where they sort and then arrange to transport many thousands of books a year. They are actively working in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Jamaica and are looking to expand to additional countries. In addition to community and school libraries, they have also begun work in African prisons, where they have established some of their most highly used libraries.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We have two different types of challenges. First, we have the challenges that any non-profit has of fund-raising and securing enough volunteers to get our projects done. Second, we have the more interesting set of challenges involved in bringing meaningful libraries to communities that, for the most part, have no experience with libraries and, often, are just beginning to develop a reading culture.
On a larger level, our chief challenge is getting local people to care about people in distant developing lands, with which they may not, at first glance, have a lot in common. People are not used to thinking they can make a meaningful difference in the lives of people so far away and we try, book by book, to show them it is possible to make a remarkable difference.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Good Steward Global Initiative – what should we know?
Good Steward exists in order to address the book famine that exists in many developing countries by creating libraries, community, school and mobile, through the use of volunteers and donated or very low-cost books. In doing this, we try to get the absolute most out of any resources and help we receive and thereby embody the principle of the Good Steward.
We have a fundamental faith in the proposition that ignorance is the greatest cause of poverty and underdevelopment and that books organized into libraries is one of the greatest resources that any community can maintain.
Unlike many non-profit organization, we don’t ask our supporters to “write checks and hope” we do good with them–we ask supporters and volunteers to help us, when they can, make that happen–all the way up to meeting books in places like East Africa and helping us to establish libraries with them.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
A strong desire to use our intellect, talents and resources to improve the lives of people in the developing world through the promotion of literacy.
Pricing:
- A $10.00 donation can ship a box of 20-40 books to a library in the developing world.
- A $100.00 donation can build a sturdy permanent metal shelf that can accommodate 250+ books.
- A $10,000 donation can ship a 40 foot container with 1,000 boxes of books to East Africa.
Contact Info:
- Address: Good Steward Global Initiative
535 Portwall
Houston, Texas
77029 - Website: goodstewardglobal.org
- Phone: 1-832-460-4022
- Email: goodstewardglobal@gmail.com
- Facebook: Good Steward Global
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