Our founder Sultan Akif was once a boy who could not afford a single book. He is now on a mission to build 100 libraries across the planet to light up lives with the brilliance of knowledge. His story and the videos of the build are below.

Boy in the Library - The story behind the mission

The Big Picture - Build Videos

Library #18: Negara, Indonesia

 

Library #17: Negara, Indonesia

Library #16: Raja Ampat Islands, Indonesia

Library #15: Raja Ampat Islands, Indonesia

Library #14: Denpasar, Indonesia

Library #13: Denpasar, Indonesia

Library #12: Primaria Escuela, Mexico

Library #11: Calidad, Colombia (Video coming soon)

Library #10: Bello Shelter, Colombia

No	Location	Status	Main Sponsor
1	Katmandu, Nepal	Completed	Experience Your Life
2	Himalayas, Nepal	Completed	Experience Your Life
3	Amazon jungle, Ecuador	Completed	(1) Linked Humanity (2) Major Alexia Shore (3) David Schwartz (4) EcoAndes Travel
4	Playa del Carmen, Mexico	Completed	(1) Ministry of Natural Resource, Emergency Services, Forest Fire and Aviation (2) Polani family (3) John Ribeiro
5	Niche-Ha Primary, Mexico	Completed	(1) Laurentian University - students from Faculty of Management (2) Experience Your Life (3) Leyendo (4) Rehana Akif (5) Anonymous
6	Niche-Ha Secondary, Mexico	Completed	(1) Laurentian University - students from Faculty of Management (2) Experience Your Life (3) Leyendo (4) Rehana Akif (5) Anonymous
7	Old Town, Panama	Completed	(1) University of Toronto (2) Mary Cranston & Kevin Spencer (3) Anonymous (4) Experience Your Life
8	Bello Mental Hospital, Colombia	Completed	(1) Experience Your Life (2) Anonymous (3) Anonymous
9	Medellin, Colombia	Completed	(1) Experience Your Life (2) Peter K (3) Jim B
10	Bello Shelter, Colombia	Completed	(1) Experience Your Life (2) Anonymous (3) Peter K
11	Calidad,Colombia	Completed	(1) Experience Your Life (2) Anonymous (3) Victoria V (4) Deborah S
12	Primaria Escuela, Mexico	Completed	(1) Library in a Week Gala Attendees
13	Denpasar, Indonesia	Completed	(1) Experience Your Life (2) St. Johns Ambulance (3) Castlebrooke Secondary School
14	Denpasar, Indonesia	Completed	(1) Experience Your Life (2) Castlebrooke Secondary School (3) St. Johns Ambulance
15	Papua, Indonesia	Completed	(1) Experience Your Life (2) Girl Guides of Canada
16	Papua, Indonesia	Completed	Experience Your Life
17	Giri Asih Negara, Indonesia	Completed	(1) Experience Your Life (2) Ranti & Hera
18	Negara, Indonesia	Completed	(1) Experience Your Life
19	First Nation Reserve, Ontario, Canada	August 2018	(1) Experience Your Life (2) Golden Brick Road Publishing House
20	Medellin, Colombia	September 2018	(1) Festival de Libros (2) Experience Your Life
21	Katmandu, Nepal	October 2018	Sponsors Needed
22	Himalayan Village, Nepal	October 2018	Sponsors Needed
23	Playa Del Carmen, Mexico	November 2018	Sponsors Needed
24	Morocco	December 2018	Sponsors Needed

 

In our founders own words "My name is Sultan Akif and I am the founder of ‘Library in a Week’. I left a successful, 17 years career, as a global executive with organizations like Microsoft and IBM to follow my dream of empowering youths. After building one of the largest youth empowerment annual events in Canada, it is now my mission to illuminate the far corners of the planet with the brilliance of knowledge; one library at a time. To give those that are left behind the tools to succeed and the power to dream. Connecting with my passion has been one of the best life decisions for me.

The mission of Library in a Week project is to make 100 libraries around the world in a way that drives real sustainable change - our project brings together the community to build the library rather than rely solely on external organizations. Our method is agile, cost effective and has a real impact! A key focus on my 17 years corporate career was to create large reusable solutions and land them globally; little did I realize that I was learning a very specific skill-set for something much bigger in life! I went to Nepal this summer to write my book on a very different topic – the transformation of my career from technology to youth empowerment. In an exciting series of events, I truly connected with my purpose and built two libraries. I libraries were completed in 4 days each in Katmandu, Nepal and Tal, Nepal. Tal in particular was a major undertaking as this remote village of 200 is deep in the Himalayas, only accessible by 5 days of walk or a treacherous 7 hours jeep ride from the nearest road.  The projects are defined below through a day 1 and day 4 picture followed by the video. 

I invite you to join us in the objective of making a real difference. It will be a life changing experience. The steps to the transformation are captured in my book which you can purchase on this website. The book is not designed to be a travel book. It is not a career map. It is not designed to give advice on topics that I have not experienced myself. It is designed to be a guide that you can use to travel deep within - to connect with yourself - with things that will bring joy and happiness for you. It is a very honest account of someone who sees the world very differently, who enjoys the positive energy of people and who believes that good people need to rise to the upper echelons to power so their goodness can illuminate the world. It is designed to ignite something deep within, that over time, enables you to glow with a flame that will not be extinguished."

Here is an extract from the book, written deep in the Himalayas,

“I am writing this story from deep in the Himalayas. Inspiration is everywhere. We just celebrated the inauguration of our library in the remote village of Tal. To give some context, it had taken me 5 days of walking on the famous Annapurna trek to get to this little village of 200 people. All the supplies had to be brought in by a treacherous jeep trek from 6 hours away including paint brushes, electrical equipment and books. There are no roads here or supermarkets. There are no bookshops here. We completed our project, from 0% to 100%; in a record duration of four days. This remains one of my biggest profession and personal accomplishments and I feel everything else that I had done in my life had led me to that point - including my 17 year career as a global technology executive, my travel to over 72 countries around the world and also my resignation from the corporate world to connect with my passion. More importantly, the story weaves through the journey of how I got to the beautiful village of Tal and the personal journey that empowered me to see the opportunity for what it was – a truly life changing moment. This story is focused on one deliverable - to empower you to truly embrace life.”