Books Abroad Donation of 50 000 Books

Donation of 50 000 Books to 42 Primary & Secondary Schools and Two Local Universities

The shortage of reading and school textbooks both in most of our disadvantaged and even urban schools still remains a thorny issue in Zimbabwe. To help ease the situation, last year our organization therefore approached Books Abroad a Scottish based charity, for help with books. They responded positively and were eager to help us out. Discussions on how to go about the project began. They sourced 50 000 books which they planned to ship to us. This is a mammoth task as it requires sourcing the right books and sorting and then preparing them for shipping.

Anyway, when the Books Abroad Team had managed to put the books together, funds were required to ensure that the books were shipped. It was then we had been constantly in touch with a fellow Zimbabwean, Mr. Washington Magaya who is based in the U.K and runs a charity called Sands of Faith Child Foundation (SFCF). He expressed interest on coming on board. His organization then provided £3 000 towards the shipping of the books. Together with the funds provided by Books Abroad, the consignment of books was then shipped to our headquarters in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe where our team was eagerly waiting for them.

Upon arrival in Bulawayo, we asked a colleague based in the city, Dr. Themba Nyoni to allow us to use his premises to store our books while we worked out the modalities on how we would distribute them. Once that had been done, our team hit the ground running. We assigned members to the respective districts that we support. It’s amazing how our team managed to pull it through without a program vehicle as this project was one massive assignment.

All in all, after we had finished our task, we had managed to distribute books to a total of 42 primary and secondary schools with a total of 19056 (nineteen thousand and fifty- six children. The schools are located in Bubi, Bulawayo, Imbizo, Matobo, Mutasa, Tsholotsho and Umzingwane. We also managed to assist two national universities, that is, the National University of Science & Technology (N.U.S.T.) in Bulawayo together with Lupane State University in Lupane District. It was exciting to see the endless smiles from the children, teachers, and parents and even from the members of the responsible authorities at each and every school that we gave books to.

We wish to take this opportunity to thank our U.K. partners, Books Abroad and Sands of Faith Child Foundation for their marvelous support. We wish to point out that if purchased locally in Zimbabwe, these books would cost close to USD 500 000 if not more, a situation that makes this project a worthwhile investment. It is with this background in mind that we feel extremely indebted to our U.K. friends. A number of the schools we assisted are already in the process of establishing school/community libraries so that the books we gave them could leave a lasting impact. We also wish to thank Dr. Nyoni for letting us make use of his premises at short notice. Without his kindness we would definitely have ran into storage problems. Thank you all who helped us and may you continue walking with us as we continue to shout, “No Child Shall Be Put Down By Poverty”.

The following are some of the pictures we took that help provide a vivid chronicle of the project that covers three provinces namely Manicaland, Matabeleland North and South.