to support rural hospitals and, in particular, mothers and children.
Bonnie eventually became the Rotary chapter’ s president and supported its initiatives for nine years. But she didn’ t stop there.
LIBRARY IN A BOX
In rural communities with limited resources, Bonnie has pioneered ARES— a shoebox-sized, solarpowered server filled with Khan Academy videos, Wikipedia, TED Talks, e-books and other resources. This“ Library in a Box” is now installed in over 80 schools in Africa and several schools in Asia.
The ARES project also provides training for teachers on how to use the materials, so they are empowered to continue using it.“ Our goal is to do everything we can, have local people become successful, and then get out,” Bonnie explained.
In the pilot project, the ARES system was provided to a remote Kenyan school that ranked near the bottom nationally. After ARES implementation, the school moved into the top 30 nationally in the same year.
WRITE TO READ
Closer to home, Bonnie has supported the community-led Write to Read Project partnership between Rotarians, volunteers and Indigenous communities in BC. So far, there are close to 20 libraries offering books in Indigenous communities through this partnership.
LASTING IMPACT
Bonnie retired from teaching in 2003. Through Afretech alone, she estimates her work has reached 1,000,000 people worldwide.“ It’ s been a journey and it’ s been a privilege to be on it,” Bonnie said.“ And it’ s not over yet.”
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