News

Barb Houle loves teaching psychology at Riverland Community College.  She also loves making a difference in the lives of people in Eswatini, Africa, formerly known as Swaziland.

Abdirahman Kahin has no trouble sleeping. You’d think the owner of Afro Deli would, considering how much he fits into his schedule. Aside from managing three — make that four in the spring — Afro Deli locations across the Twin Cities, Kahin recently sponsored the shipment of more than 110,000 books to Somalia and Djibouti through the St. Paul-based nonprofit Books for Africa.

Local students, the Alliance Française and Books For Africa have joined to collect and send French-language books to students in French-speaking Mali in West Africa.

As a child growing up in rural Africa, Nonku Adumetey did not have access to books. When she became a mom and found herself living in Rogers Park, Adumetey was disappointed to find that while access to books was no longer a problem, she was unable to find books that represented diverse characters like her own toddler-aged kids.

For Northfield’s Charlie Cogan and Cerif Keita, donating French-language books to students in West Africa is all about building amities — friendships.

Two years ago, Amir Doctry and his students in the Global Citizens class at Renaissance at Rand Middle School began a unique project.Known as G.L.E.A.N., the Global Learning Exchange of All Nations, the project is a partnership of schools and students representing nine countries who work together to provide help to schools in Tanzania and get to know each other in the process.