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On February 20, 2019, I was invited by members of the Bar Association of Sierra Leone for a formal ceremony to show gratitude to Thomson Reuters and Books For Africa, and to acknowledge receipt of the shipment of books that were sent to Freetown by Books For Africa for their law library. The full collection of new latest edition law books was provided by Thomson Reuters.

Around the world, Thomson Reuters engages in efforts to strengthen the rule of law and help democratic values flourish, even in places where progress in these areas can be dishearteningly slow.  For the past ten years, Thomson Reuters has been helping Africa’s emerging democracies build the foundation for a civil society through its work with the non-profit groups Lawyers Without Borders and Books For Africa. 

Minneapolis attorney and former Star Tribune reporter Roberta Walburn and Chief U.S. District Judge for Minnesota John Tunheim discussed the late federal Judge Miles Lord at a special event Nov. 14 at Thomson Reuters. The program was a partnership between Thomson Reuters and Books For Africa’s Law and Democracy Initiative.

Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean, a shipping container full of books is currently making its way to a port of call in Africa, where it will be ushered through customs, and unloaded into waiting trucks. The books, thousands of them, will be distributed to children and adults across the continent, many of whom have no access whatsoever to technology. Books are the only way these people can read and learn — the only way, really, they can participate in the modern world.

The Books For Africa family joins the world in mourning the unexpected and untimely passing of former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on August 18th, 2018. BFA has been fortunate to benefit from a long and supportive relationship with Kofi Annan. He first heard of our work almost 20 years ago, and has been Co-Chair of BFA's Law & Democracy Initiative since its founding in 2008..

BFA recently delivered a container of 18,000 university-level and specialty books to Mozambique in honor of H.E. Carlos Dos Santos, keynote speaker at BFA's Words Change Worlds luncheon, and honorary chair of the 2018 BFA Summit Society! The container was generously sponsored by Thomson Reuters, who also donated a full law and human rights library to the Mozambiqe Office of the Attorney General that was included in the shipment.