The READ model focuses on using partnerships to strengthen impacts and bring the best programs and services to our communities. The Laxmi Narayan Community Library and Resource Center in Lamjung, Nepal is creating partnerships with local NGOs to ensure its community has access to critical resources. When it became clear a few years ago that the incidence of HIV/AIDS was on the rise in this community, the Center partnered with a local NGO to provide HIV counseling to more than 1,200 community members. HIV-positive individuals who previously needed to travel hours to nearby Pokhara to get their anti-retroviral drugs are now able to obtain them at the local Center. At another READ Center in Jhuwani, Nepal, Mr. Rakta Sapokta along with 20 other local villagers gained access to free treatment and medicine for tuberculosis through a partnership with the District Health Office. They have all made full recoveries. “I was about to die. I do not want to remember those days,” says Mr. Sapokta with a smile.
