Celebrating World Book Day 2023: New books bring smiles to Zimbabwean children around Gonarezhou National Park!

At the end of 2022, a delivery of 56 boxes of books arrived in Zimbabwe, heading straight for schools around Gonarezhou National Park (GNP). Through a long-term partnership with Zambezi Schoolbook Project and Books For Africa, AWCF has been able to establish 108 fully stocked libraries and are now at the stage of replenishing and supplementing the libraries with fresh stories and educational books for the pupils.

This delivery has been distributed throughout 23 of the 44 school libraries that we have developed around Gonarezhou National Park (GNP).

Libraries are an essential part of the learning experience in rural Zimbabwean schools. A safe space for learners to study after hours with solar lighting and access additional literature and educational resources, schools with good libraries produce students with higher grades. AWCF’s library program has increased pass rates in most schools around GNP, improved the reading culture and improved the reading ability of many learners. Madam Kuzonyei from Dumisa Primary shared her thanks with us and explained, ‘our learners enjoy reading these books so much. Since 2017 our pass rate has been increasing on a year-by-year basis.’