The Chinese curse, to live in interesting times, has never been more apposite than now. But for all the challenges brought by the Pandemic, it has also blessed our human interactions: kindness has become a primary focus for all of us because our shared humanity comes to the fore.

Nal’iBali is nothing if it does not exemplify an ambition to do good; its purpose is selfless, its goal is to give to those without, the liberating impulse of narrative and imagination, to allow children to feel the beauty of friendship and to give them the tools with which they might know others, and see themselves, through the gift of literacy and the liberation of reading.

Nothing more or less - this is what we do. Covid-19 will undoubtedly ask us to double our efforts and to do more with less. We have started to recalibrate our goals, to revise our systems, reflect on our goals and repurpose our structures.

All of this is done not to satisfy the redrawn business practices of our model but to make us more focused and more pro-active in the development of a singular achievement: to gift the joy of reading to the greatest number of children.

Benjamin Trisk