Ready for Reading (RfR), a Rwanda-based nonprofit organization founded in 2008, is dedicated to teaching reading and literacy skills and providing learning, social and cultural opportunities for people of all ages. We believe literacy and education are a basic human right, the foundation for prosperity and in Rwanda, lasting peace. The idea of Libraries as more than buildings housing books, is a rare part of the cultural landscape in Rwanda, even in Kigali, the capital. In rural areas, if they exist, libraries are often just a collection of random books, usually worn and dusty, kept in a locked cabinet or cubby inaccessible to most. Ready for Reading (RfR) changed this library paradigm. With community input, we designed, built and in 2012 opened the 8,000 square- foot Library/Learning Center in Rwinkwavu, a rural community of 32,000 serving a catchment area of 330,000. In this place that had so little opportunity and hope the library quickly became the central gathering place for all ages of the community, nurturing the seeds of literacy, creativity and self-worth, a beacon of hope in this remote underserved corner of Rwanda. What RfR created and implemented in Rwinkwavu has become the country-wide model for community libraries and instrumental to their development in Rwanda.