One day more than 20 years ago, Tom Warth was visiting a friend in Jinja, Uganda when he and his hostess came upon the local library. The barren shelves and well-worn books prompted Warth to do something about the library's destitute state. Upon returning to America, he spoke to the Minnesota Book Publishers' Roundtable about his idea to send books to Africa. Thus, Books For Africa was created in 1988.
With the goal of promoting literacy in Africa, Books For Africa collects, arranges, and ships books donated by schools, publishers, libraries, individuals, and organizations. The books, which would otherwise go to landfills, are tirelessly sorted by volunteers according to age and subject. Since its establishment, Books For Africa has sent over 24 million books to rural schools, orphanages, community resource centers, and adult literacy programs in 46 African countries.
Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan once said, “Unfortunately, today many schools across the continent remain in need, and millions of children and adults are still without access to books and the tools to reach their full potential.”
Books For Africa believes that books are the basis of a sound educational system and will therefore continue working to end the book famine in Africa.
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