Westminster College looking for students to promote literacy in India

SALT LAKE CITY — Westminster College is recruiting students to continue the school's efforts to promote literacy in a poor village in India.

The first group of Westminster students traveled to Wai, in southern India, last May to hold a summer reading camp for children. This year's trip will take place in August.

The college is working with Room to Read, a nonprofit group that builds children's libraries in impoverished communities in Third World countries. The group's founder, former Microsoft executive John Wood, spoke at Westminster's 2009 commencement.

Room to Read has donated 300 books to the Westminster-Wai project, forming the start of an eventual library collection. For now, the books are taken from school to school in the area.

Students and faculty will return to Wai in August to build bookshelves and lead reading activities. Room to Read has already developed two new libraries in eastern India with books in local languages and English.

For more information, go to the Westminster-Wai program's Facebook page.

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