Featured Tour Operator: Myths and Mountains

India Social Development

READ: Rural Education and Development Launched in 1991 in a remote Himalayan village by Dr. Antonia Neubauer,
founder of Myths and Mountains adventure travel company. Headquartered in Incline Village, Nevada on the North Shore of Lake

Toni, traveler, humanitarian, and teacher, is the guiding spirit behind
Myths and Mountains, and founder of READ Global, a nonprofit global
organization dedicated to empowering communities by increasing literacy
and access to education through the creation, advancement and
leveraging of a replicable library-based model for sustainable economic
development. This year, READ Nepal was selected as recipient of the
2006 Access to Learning Award from the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation. Toni received the Walk the Talk Global Citizen Award.

For more than 20 years, Toni has traveled within Asia and
Southeast Asia, getting to know the people and their way of life. These
intimate experiences are the heart and soul of every Myths and
Mountains trip, and this is what makes each journey so unique. Toni
speaks five languages, holds a Doctorate in Educational Administration
as well as a Masters in French Literature, and has visited 57 countries
around the world.

READ partners with rural villagers to build self-supporting library community centers

that become the nexus of regional activity and development.

More about READ Social Development Project in India…

Caste, unemployment, poverty, lack of access to technology, poor schools and under motivated teachers are factors hampering rural development in India. Villages need to be viable places to live to stem the out migration to the cities. Library community centers with technological capacity and Internet capabilities will link rural areas to the outside world. Community based organizations, connecting villagers to groups providing training in various skills, and promoting education for women and girls are keys to rural development and empowerment. Utilizing a library community center as the catalyst for involving communities in problem-solving and decision-making, helping them to take control of their own destiny, and providing access to communication and technology that link them to other parts of India and the world is at the heart of the READ mode

Stay tuned for more mindful travel updates!
Kathy Dragon