Books For Africa delivers education

Picture this: it's 20-plus years ago in a Ugandan classroom and a studious young girl is waiting patiently for her turn to read an out-of-date textbook. Twenty or so classmates also wait their turn to read quickly and take notes from the lone tattered learning material being passed around.

Tom Warth witnessed such a moment and decided he had to do something. That something became Books For Africa and its mission to gather books from the United States and ship them to Africa, where 40 percent of the 47 million kids have never been to a classroom.

Since its 1988 founding in St. Paul, Minn., this nonprofit has sent more than 23 million donated text and library books to 45 different African countries. Its commitment to creating a culture of literacy on the African continent is nothing short of inspiring.