Books Distributed in Northern Togo

Books For Africa shipped a 40 foot sea container of books to Togo this year as part of the Ellothyebooks project, and a part of this container has reached Dapaong in the far north of the country.

The two organizers on the Togo side of this Books For Africa project in northern Togo both have Minnesota connections! Akebim Moise Hezoue was a Mandela Scholar at the Humphrey School a few years ago. While there, he befriended Tom Warth, the founder and champion of Books For Africa. Charlie Cogan, another sponsor of this project, is a member of the BFA Board and long time supporter of the organization.

The books are all donated by publishers and students and a mix of people, and are a mix of English-language and French-language. The entire container shipment also included 20 solar reading lamps and 5 e-readers.

Several recipients provided comments on the impact the book shipment has had for them and their community:

We have been looking for books to equip our school library to give the opportunity to our students to read and improve their academic work. When EDULCOD-Togo and AJA-Togo came to our school to offer us the books they received from Books For Africa, we were overwhelmed with joy. We did not know some people or institutions like Books For Africa were thinking of us here in Togo. I would like to say a big thank you to BFA team members and assure them that these books used with good care

- Rd Eric Vass, Principal Collège Don Bosco

Before finding a book to read, I had to walk a long distance to reach the only library in our area where the rare books we could find were even torn and some pages lost.  I am excited to see a library is created in my community thanks to the support of Books For Africa. I will no longer walk distances. Merci Books For Africa.

- Daniel, a student in northern Togo

We have some libraries in our community but no one is visiting them because they are not equipped. We are very happy to receive these books from Books For Africa. We will use them with good care. I am convinced people will start visiting our libraries now.

- Kokou Monkli, Director, Arts and Culture Atakpame

Check out our photo album of distribution in Dapaong!