It’s the stuff of heroic legend. A rich man goes walking in the Himalayas seeking answers to Life’s big questions.  On a remote mountain path he meets a wise man and is enlightened to his true calling.

In this instance (which more or less followed the script) the rich man is an American executive, John Wood, and the wise man the headmaster of a Nepalese school. Ten years have passed since that fateful meeting. Now Wood says, 'Even if money can’t buy happiness - lack of money can.'

Vida Adamoli investigates

John Wood knows all about money. Before resigning in 1998 he was Microsoft’s Number Two in China, raking in $2 million a year. He had a beautiful house in Beijing, a chauffeur-driven limousine and gilt-edged business clients all over the world. He worked like a demon and the trip to the Himalayas was his first holiday in seven years. But he justified the long hours by telling himself that he ‘could sleep when he was dead’.

What changed John’s life was his encounter with the headmaster, a man passionately committed to the cause of education. John was so impressed he accompanied the headmaster on a two-hour trek to visit his school. What he found was caring teachers struggling against huge odds. The classrooms were bursting at the seams. Kids squashed together on long benches had no desks, no electric light and no resources. It was the ‘library’ that really got to him, however. It boasted twenty books - all backpacker cast-offs - one in Italian and the rest Danielle Steel-type fiction that children would never read. He asked the headmaster how they managed with a just a handful of adult novels for 450 kids? 'Perhaps, sir, you could help us to get more books,' the wise man replied.

The following year John was back – this time with 3,000 books in tow. The project was a joint venture between John and Dinesh Prasad Shrestha, a rural-aid worker in Kathmandu whom he had got to know earlier. ‘We should get serious about this,’ Shrestha told Wood. ‘We should be more organized and do this properly.’ John agreed and the idea for Room to Read was born.

Room to Read is a non-profit literacy organization. It has donated more than 1.2 million books, and established over 3600 libraries in Nepal, Vietnam, Laos, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and South Africa. It has also given scholarships to 2336 girls, published books in local languages, set up computer labs for kids and built schools. The organization is run on very pragmatic lines. Shrestha made it clear he wasn’t interested in a charity that ‘dropped into town, built a bridge and left it to fall down.’ John agreed, bringing to Room to Read the best practices of the corporate world. From the start they asked communities to contribute either muscle or money, often as much as 50% of the total cost. On one occasion a headmaster in Cambodia complained that his new computer centre was adding $100 to the monthly electricity bill. John was delighted. "When they feel a little bit of pain, they feel more involved, a bigger sense of ownership of the project," he said.
Read this great article to learn more http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4231192.ece

Or click on the video to hear it from the man himself.