Donate books, encourage reading in rural Georgia

Walking Library brings books to Georgia's mountainous villages. Photo by N.Alavidze/Agenda,ge
Agenda.ge, 09 Sep 2014 - 15:56, Tbilisi,Georgia

People living in Georgia’s remote villages often are separated from the literary world but a new project has launched to allow the country’s rural population to rediscover the joys of reading.

A project to promote reading in remote villages of Georgia launched this month in a bid to popularise reading with those who lived in rural settings. Books will be offered to these people for free under the ‘Books For Every Village’ initiative.

The initiative was developed by Student Unity and implemented by a raft of organisations, including the state, local NGOs, private companies and the Patriarchy who blessed the project. ‘Friends of the Book’ was also heavily involved in the scheme.

At the presentation on August 1, those involved said the project would supply villages in Georgia’s five main regions - Imereti, Svaneti, Kakheti, Mtsketa-Mtianeti and Adjara – with books from August 14.

People can donate unwanted books to Wissol petrol stations, Smart supermarkets or Wendy’s fast food stores, as well as to Holy Trinity Church or Sameba Cathedral. The books will then be delivered to the regions by the ‘walking library’, who intend to reach every village in Georgia.

Currently, the ‘walking library’ is in the Borjomi reigon.

The ‘Books For Every Village’ scheme was chosen as the winning project in a contest run by the Children and Youth Development Fund.

Director of the Youth Development Fund Irakli Jorjoliani said this initiative was a great way to raise the profile of reading.

Soso Pkhakadze, president of Wissol Group, noted this project was not a one-time thing but would continue into the future but this would only be possible if the community rallied behind the scheme.

"I believe that the project must be followed by the masses in order for it to become even more large-scale,” he added.