PBS高端访谈:美国为非洲援赠图书 激发当地阅读兴趣（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: Next tonight, feeding a hunger and stoking the appetite for reading in African schools and libraries.

Fred de Sam Lazaro has this report.

It's the latest in his series Agents for Change.

SELENA HAMER, Books For Africa: So, pretty much what we do is, we get donated books from schools, libraries, people in their homes who like to hoard books, like myself.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: It's a typical Saturday morning, and Selena Hamer (ph) is training in a new shift of volunteers on how to choose which materials are suitable to send overseas.

About six million books are delivered to this football field-sized warehouse in Atlanta every year.

Dozens of volunteers come in to sort through the piles.

And, eventually, some three to four million make it out of here, destined for libraries and schools across Africa.

The organization is, aptly, called Books For Africa, and over the past 30 years, it has sent more than 41 million books, donated by schools, libraries and textbook companies, to 53 different countries.

It all began when a Minnesota bookseller named Tom Warth, on vacation in Africa, happened to visit a library, says the group's executive director, PatPlonski.

PAT PLONSKI, Executive Director, Books For Africa: Library that had no books in it, had a building.

It card catalogs, had a librarian, and had virtually no books.

So, he came back home to Minnesota, met with some of his book partners, they got together, sent a few books, and, again, that was 41 million books ago.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Today, African schools and libraries send Books For Africa a wish list.

They agree to pay for the shipping on oceangoing ships in bulk containers to minimize costs.

We visited the White Dove School in Rwanda, a private school for economically disadvantaged girls which received a crate of books for its library three years ago.

Students here said the variety of books have made them enthusiastic readers.

AURORE IZERE, Student: I wasn't truly interested in reading, but when I came here to White Dove, I got to know to love books and read them.

JESSICA KOMUGISHA, Student: Reading has developed my vocabulary, because, before I started reading, I wasn't really good at speaking English.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Of course, not all books that are donated are culturally appropriate to send to Africa.

SELENA HAMER: No self-help, no travel guides, no American history, no Santa, Easter Bunny or Halloween.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Warehouse manager Jeremy Bostwick says the organization has learned to become more selective over the years.

JEREMY BOSTWICK, Books For Africa: They may ask us to remove anything that has anything to do with magic.

Also, we have been asked on a couple of occasions not to include any computer books that say for dummies, because there's something lost in translation there.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: So what is popular?

JEREMY BOSTWICK: We have probably proliferated Danielle Steel to almost every corner of the African continent.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The fact that the books are so American appealed to some of the young Rwandans we interviewed.

PEACE IGIRANEZA, Student: The more you get to read the books of America, you get to discover what really America is.

You get to know the culture, the history of America.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Others wish there were more books about Africa, rather than the predominantly American narratives they read.

LOANE MWIZA, Student: A girl in an American high school going to a university in America, while those African books, it talks about situations that happen in Africa, which you relate to more.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: You would like to see more of that?

LOANE MWIZA: Yes.

PAT PLONSKI: We are seeking to provide more books in local languages and more I.T. books.

And, again, I think local language books are best provided locally, but we at Books For Africa exist because the ideal doesn't exist.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: In the meantime, Books For Africa has begun experimenting with sending donated e-readers and digital books to Africa.

Eventually, that technology could exponentially increase the number of publications sent overseas.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Fred de Sam Lazaro in Atlanta, Georgia.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Fred's reporting is a partnership with the Under-Told Stories Project at University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

朱蒂·伍德瑞夫：然后，今晚，非洲学校及图书馆开展活动，用久旱的甘霖，激发阅读的欲望。

弗莱德·德·山姆·拉扎罗报道。

这是他Agents for Change系列的最新力作。

塞勒娜·哈默，Books For Africa：所以，我们做的大多是，从学校、图书馆和个人手中获取捐赠书籍，这些个人喜欢囤积书籍，就像我自己一样。

弗莱德·德·山姆·拉扎罗：这是个典型的周六早晨，塞勒娜·哈默正在对志愿者就如何选择适合发往海外的图书进行培训。

每年这个位于亚特兰大的仓库大约会收到六百万册图书，而这个仓库大约有足球场大小。

整理这些图书的志愿者多达数十名。

最终，他们会选出约三四百万册图书，发往非洲的图书馆和学校。

该组织名为Books For Africa，这个名字恰如其分，在过去的30年里，它已经向53个不同的国家捐发了超过4100万册图书，这些图书由学校、图书馆及教科书公司捐赠。

该组织的执行董事帕特·普朗斯基说：“这一切全部始于一位名叫汤姆·沃思的明尼苏达州书商，当时他在非洲度假时碰巧参观了一家图书馆。

帕特·普朗斯基，执行董事，Books For Africa：这座图书馆空无一书，就是一栋大楼。

它有卡片目录，有图书管理员，但几乎没有书。

于是，他回到了位于明尼苏达州的家中，遇到了他的一些书伴，他们一起，发了几本书，后来几本书就变成了4100万本书。

弗莱德·德·山姆·拉扎罗：今天，非洲的学校和图书馆会为Books For Africa寄希望书单。

为了降低成本，他们同意用散装集装箱发货，并支付远洋船舶的运费。

我们参观了卢旺达的白鸽学校，这所学校是一所女子私立学校，收的都是经济境况不佳的学生，三年前这所学校的图书馆收到了一箱书。

这里的学生们说，各种各样的图书激发了她们的阅读热情。

奥罗尔·伊泽尔，学生：以前，我对阅读并不真的感兴趣，但当我来到白鸽学校的时候，我知道了要热爱书籍，阅读书籍。

杰西卡·科米吉沙，学生：阅读扩大了我的词汇量，因为在我开始阅读之前，我并不是很擅长说英语。

弗莱德·德·山姆·拉扎罗：当然，从文化角度来讲，并非所有捐赠的图书都适合寄往非洲。

塞勒娜·哈默：自助不行，导游不行，美国历史不行，圣诞老人不行，复活节兔子或万圣节也不行。

弗莱德·德·山姆·拉扎罗：仓库经理杰瑞米·博斯威克说，该组织多年来学会了如何更加具有选择性。

杰瑞米·博斯威克，Books For Africa：他们可能会要求我们不要发出任何与魔法有关的东西。

此外，有几次，他们请我们不要发出任何含有傻瓜一词的电脑书籍，因为有一些东西在翻译中无法呈现。

弗莱德·德·山姆·拉扎罗：那么，受欢迎的有哪些呢？

杰瑞米·博斯威克：在非洲大陆，Danielle Steel的足迹很可能遍布每一个角落。

弗莱德·德·山姆·拉扎罗：这些书展现了鲜明的美国特色，吸引了我们采访的一些年轻的卢旺达人。

贝斯·伊格拉尼萨，学生：你读的美国图书越多，你就越会了解真实的美国。

你会了解美国的文化和历史。

弗莱德·德·山姆·拉扎罗：其他人希望能阅读到更多讲述非洲的书，而不是他们读过的，以叙述美国为主的书。

罗恩·米维扎，学生：一个美国高中的女孩去了美国的一所大学，而那些非洲的书，它谈论的是发生在非洲的事情，这与你更相关。

弗莱德·德·山姆·拉扎罗：你想多看看关于非洲的图书吗？

罗恩·米维扎：是的。

帕特·普朗斯基：我们正在努力提供更多的当地语言类和IT类书籍。

而且，我认为本地语言类书籍最好是由本地来提供，但我们Books For Africa提供了，因为本地提供，这个理想根本无法实现。

弗莱德·德·山姆·拉扎罗：与此同时，Books For Africa已经开始尝试向非洲捐赠电子阅读器和电子书。

最终，这项技术可以成倍地增加向海外援发的出版物数量。

PBS NewsHour，我是弗莱德·德·山姆·拉扎罗，佐治亚州亚特兰大报道。

朱蒂·伍德瑞夫：弗莱德的报道与明尼苏达州德克萨斯圣托马斯大学的Under-Told Stories Project合作进行。