Books For Africa founder completes Gambian trek

Tom Warth, the founder of St. Paul-based Books For Africa, finished his walk across Gambia this morning.

Warth, of Marine on St. Croix, posted the news on his Facebook page. He told the Pioneer Press before he left that he was undertaking the 20-mile walk to highlight the lack of books in that West African country.

Warth, 76, founded Books For Africa in 1988. He and his walking partners are distributing some of the 44,000-plus books they've shipped to Gambia to schools and universities.

Warth's route took him along the unpaved, pothole-filled Trans-Gambian Highway, from the Senegal border on the south to the Senegal border on the north.