Dear Friend,
Books with Wings (http://bookswithwings.ca) is a volunteer effort to send up to date books to universities and other institutes in Afghanistan. The emphasis is on core libraries in specific disciplines. I’d like to call an organizing meeting in Winnipeg for 2006/7. If you are in a position to help out this year, please let me know which of the following dates would work for you. 5:30pm seems to be a good starting time for most people, and we should be finished by 7pm. Pizza and drinks will be available.


5:30-7pm on:
Wednesday October 4
Thursday October 5
Monday October 9
Tuesday October 10
Wednesday October 11
Thursday October 12


Please send back ALL of the dates that are plausible for you to me at GordonR@ms.UManitoba.ca. Then I’ll tell you where and when.


If you are not in Winnipeg, please at least tell me whether you are available to work on Books with Wings this year, or who may be taking over for you. Spread the word and send this message to anyone you think might be interested in helping.


We need to start by selecting the disciplines and schools of higher education in Afghanistan for whom we will collect books this year. There are still 5 medical schools, 7 health institutes (nursing, midwifery, and allied health sciences) and a school of pharmacy who as far as we know still have no modern books. We are also probably expanding outside of the health sciences this year to also include at least engineering, mathematics and chemistry. The key is at least one proactive volunteer to champion a field.


Here are some details of what we need to do, to make this less abstract. We need some fundraising this year, as we’re broke. For example, Herat University needs money to buy bookcases for the 1300 books we have en route. We have a wall full of books donated over the summer that need to be sorted (old/new) and the new ones catalogued. We have enough old books to run a book sale now. We need to find responsible contacts at each university or institute in Afghanistan that we want to help out this year. So there is lots to do immediately. If you have specific interests or skills, please let me know.


Thanks.
Yours, -Dick Gordon

Dr. Richard Gordon
GordonR@ms.UManitoba.ca
http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/medicine/radiology/stafflist/rgordon.html
Lab phone: (204) 789-3828; Cell phone: (204) 995-7125