BFA News

Darfur Children in a Refugee Camp Located in Chad.

Between January 2004 and May 2005, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) established 12 refugee camps in the border region between Chad and Sudan for Sudanese refugees fleeing the armed conflict in West Darfur. These camps are home to 250,000 registered Sudanese refugees.

In January 2008, UNHCR delivered 157 cartons of books, donated by Books For Africa, for English clubs, youth clubs, school libraries, and cultural centers to all 12 camps. The UNHCR reporting officer stated, "English is a language many wish to learn – it is viewed as a “road to freedom” by refugees from Darfur."

Top Students from the Msalato School for Girls in Tanzania.

Students from the Msalato School For Girls in Dodoma, Tanzania, recently received books from Books For Africa. The students visited Books For Africa’s partner in Dodoma - Poverty Eradication Network (PEN) Trust. This delegation of girls represented some of the highest-testing students at the school. “We believe that girls’ education is critical to advancement in Africa and the students at Msalato School represent the next generation of leaders in Tanzania. So making sure that students like these have access to high-quality text and library books is an important priority for us at BFA,” said Books For Africa Executive Director Patrick Plonski.

BFA Executive Director was honored to meet with the First Lady of Tanzania.

Patrick Plonski, Executive Director of Books For Africa, met on April 9, 2008 in Washington D.C. with Tanzanian Ambassador to the United States H.E. Ombeni Sefue and Tanzanian First Lady Mama Kikwete. Plonski and the Tanzanian delegation discussed collaborative activities over the past 20 years which have resulted in the shipment of 71 containers of school and library books to Tanzania. Mama Kikwete thanked all Books For Africa supporters for their provision of books for Tanzania and discussed opportunities for shipping additional text and library books to Tanzania. Books For Africa will have shipped over 20 million textbooks to 40 African countries in this, its 20th anniversary year.

Berbera College Library in Somaliland receives books from Books For Africa.

"Your books are making a difference to the library. Most of the books in the library were sent by you. Now it looks like a library!!! At last you see how this could give hope to lots of people. People like you and groups like yours make great difference in the lives of many people on this world. Now a small source of knowledge is created in the middle of Berbera. Other groups from Holland helped us with the building. Many thanks for your kind donation to the people of Somaliland." -Dell Marie Wergeland, Director, Compassionate Resource Warehouse

Visions In Action, awarded a grant from USAID Africa Education Initiative, implements a "Million Book March" program in Liberia working with Books For Africa.

Students attend the kickoff of the Million Book March at an elementary school in Monrovia, Liberia. USAID Africa Education Initiative funded a grant to Visions In Action, who is partnering with Books For Africa, to ship one million books to Liberia. Each primary school will receive 500 books, and each secondary school will receive 2,000 books.

Librarians at every school in Liberia receiving books through the Million Book March program will attend a two-day Library Management workshop conducted by Visions In Action. Each school will also receive a copy of a Library Management Workshop booklet to be used as a reference for school librarians and teachers.

Posted March 11, 2008 • Permanent Link