REBECCA Casas Sagot, 51, may look like any educator you meet.
But wait ‘til you see her own version of little free library. The Little Free Library, the Wall Street Journal said, has become a global sensation. It is a nonprofit organization that supports the worldwide movement to offer free books housed in small containers to members of the local community.
Rebecca, who loves to read together with her children, established her own little free library in 2014. The family built a “little house” outside their fence where they could place the books. Anyone who would love to read can just get books and return them after reading.
The Sagot family in Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte has the same vision and mission to build a healthier community. For all the members of the family, they would like to emphasize the values of being honest and responsible.
Children can just drop by and read books and return them after use. For Rebecca, their little free library serves as an inspiration and as a reminder that everybody is capable of bringing positive change.
“We only have to share and have a heart for others. Let’s all have access to reading books and eventually become sharers of stories,” she said.
The idea was her personal choice because when she was still a classroom teacher she used to conduct buklat-aklat in barangays.
“I brought along with me some high school students I trained to be storytellers and they helped me for some read aloud sessions for the kids,” Rebecca said.
She started with her book collections in her little free library until her friends living abroad donated books.
When the Sagot family registered to the Little Free Library movement, they were told that it was the second registered little free library in the Philippines.
They started with just 100 books composed of children’s encyclopedias, modern time novels such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series, and magazines.
Now they have more than 300 book collections coming from donors. They categorized the books as kids’ delight, teeners’ choice, goodies for the oldies, and all-time favorites.
She also added American corner where she placed the books donated by Dr. Dawn Rogier, an English language officer of the US Embassy in Manila.
These 300 books can no longer be accommodated in the little free library so she changes the books weekly.
Since there is no enough space in the library for the 300 books, Rebecca plans to create a mobile library to the disadvantaged areas. She wants to revive the buklat-aklat session even once a month only starting this November.
She has started organizing volunteers to join her in her advocacy to promote literacy and love for reading. These volunteers are teachers from different schools in DavNor and some elementary, high school, and college students. They come in book character costumes as seen in the celebration of their first anniversary last August 31.
As an official steward of the Little Free Library, the Sagot family wants to advocate literacy with emphasis on honesty and responsibility.
Rebecca, a Career Executive Service Eligible, is an education program supervisor in Davao del Norte division. She started as an English teacher in 1988 then became a school administrator before she was promoted as English supervisor and the manager of the Learning Resource Management Development System of DepEd DavNor.
In 2015, she revolutionizes the participation of teachers to the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) in DavNor. She’s an E-Teacher Exchange Alumna of the US Department of State.
Rebecca is married to Rey, the municipal engineer of Sto. Tomas. They have five children namely Rey Joseph who is working in a private firm, Mary Kristine who is a Project Development Officer in DepEd DavNor, Mary Karyn who is a Kindergarten teacher in DavNor, Mary Joy who will be graduating in her BS Accountancy course in Ateneo de Davao University, and Raye Jeremiah, a Grade 7 student in Sto. Tomas National High School.
Rebecca is an epitome of a description of a teacher – someone who can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love for learning.
“Nothing compares to the joy of being able to help kids develop the love for books and genuine love for reading through the Little Free Library. Building healthier neighborhood is indeed worth celebrating,” she said.