News

The late Kofi Annan, the former United Nations Secretary General and a son of Africa, once said: “Literacy is quite simply the bridge from misery to hope.” That sentiment is nowhere more important than among the youth of Africa, which has the youngest population in the world. Some 225 million Africans are between the ages of 15 and 24, a number that is expected to more than double in the next 40 years, according to the United Nations.

Books For Africa, which has sent more than 40 million books to the continent including many from a warehouse in Atlanta, has landed a partnership with the African Union, the multilateral body bringing together 55 nations. 

Mandela Washington Fellow, Wilfried Mbamba, handed over tablets to five medical students studying at the University of Namibia (UNAM)’s School of Medicine at the Hage Geingob Campus, last week.  Wilfried Mbamba is one of 700 young African leaders that recently visited the United States of America during this year’s Mandela Washington Fellowship program.

African diplomats will talk business Friday with Minnesota business-and-trade officials at a private luncheon at the University Club of Saint Paul in connection with the 30th anniversary of St. Paul-based Books For Africa. That evening at the Nicollet Island Pavilion, Arikana Chihombori-Quao, ambassador of the Embassy of the African Union, will address the anniversary gala to celebrate past accomplishments and encourage deeper cultural-and-commercial ties.

Books For Africa partner BetterWorld Trust has produced an extensive and detailed impact assessment of a joint project spanning two years and five African countries.  This partnership delivered over 110,000 books to schools and libraries across Africa!