BFA and Thomson Reuters Celebrate 100th Law Library Shipped to Africa

Books For Africa and Thomson Reuters recently celebrated the shipment of their 100th law library to the African continent with the recent delivery to the Supreme Court of Namibia. With this shipment, BFA has sent law libraries to 23 different countries in Africa.

To mark this achievement in the partnership between BFA and Thomson Reuters, which dates back to 2009, BFA Executive Director Patrick Plonski, Board President Jote Taddese and Law and Democracy Initiative Director Lane Ayres joined former Minneapolis Mayor and Thomson Reuters VP for Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships Sharon Sayles Belton.

Congratulatory letters from former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison were received and read aloud. Mondale, who co-chairs the BFA Law and Democracy Initiative, wrote that providing law books "has a transformative impact well beyond the classroom or courtroom," as it "helps strengthen the rule of law and thereby improve the lives of thousands of people and their communities." improve the rule of law and transformed the lives of millions of people." See former VP Mondale's letter here, or Attorney General Ellison's letter here.

Board President Taddese thanked Thomson Reuters and its 6,000 emplooyees, adding that "when you place a book in the hands of an African child, you are not changing the life of just that person, but the lives of others that you have not even met."

Read more detailed coverage by Tom Gitaa in the Mshale newspaper or view more photos from the event by Jeannette Appold Photography.