• Age: 0 to 18
• Grade: p to 12
• Reading age: 0

In their own words and drawings Nepalese children describe the changes that have taken place in their lives since the Rugmark program gave each of them an opportunity to stop working and attend school. Their stories recount how they were delivered to carpet factory owners in Kathmandu, where they worked as virtual slaves. These children vividly remember the day their lives changed for the better -- the day a Rugmark inspector came into the factory and asked them whether they wanted to go to school. The children describe their fear of the unknown, the loneliness of being taken to a school where they knew no one, and finally the joy of having sufficient food, clean water, the opportunity to learn, the time to play, and the chance to fulfill their dreams for the future.

Their stories are candid, honest, moving and ultimately hopeful and inspiring. A map, glossary, list of resources and historical note provide context for the testimonies.

In 1999, at the age of sixteen, Tanya Roberts-Davis traveled to Nepal where she collected the childrens' poems, drawings and stories assembled in We Need to Go to School. Tanya has been a children's advocate since she started raising money for Oxfam in primary school.

Tanya Roberts-Davis' profile page

We Need to Go to School is a good treatise to inspire or encourage political activism in children.

School Library Journal

This is one of the most moving and gripping books on child labor that it's been my privilege to read. The beautiful web of stories and poetry reveals, with unexpected emotive power, both the tales of horror and the abiding hope of the Rugmark children.

Stephen Lewis

A moving account of child labor today.

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