ALP not only creates libraries; it also stays in touch with our African partners to be sure the libraries are working effectively. And when possible, helps make them even better. On a recent trip to Lesotho, Amy Jo Carson and Ashley Kahn found a fun way to reorganize one library and celebrate literacy in the community.
One of the libraries we visited was to the Kick 4 Life’s Hope Community Center. Kick 4 Life is a football club dedicated to social change through HIV/AIDS education and care, sport, and a thriving social enterprise.
The library had been housed in one of their conference rooms but was not being utilized to its full potential. We decided to host a library reorganization party for the community, the members and the Kick 4 Life Academy boys.
The boys knew that Lesotho could develop a reading culture through picture books, writing, and obviously, reading. They split up into two groups where they either drew a story or wrote about the importance of implementing and developing a reading culture. We also hosted a spelling bee, where the final word was “photosynthesis”.
U.S. Ambassador to Lesotho, Matthew Harrington, and his son, Ben, joined the fun and festivities. Both are avid bibliophiles themselves and strongly support African Library Project’s mission. Together, we completely reorganized Kick 4 Life’s library and labeled levels of reading and genres. We concluded the day with a celebration of literacy and goodwill in our library community.
Start Your Own Book Drive
Read our Book Drive Guidelines to learn all you need to know to collect, sort, pack and then mail your books to our warehouse, where they will be containerized for shipment to Africa. Your goal is to collect 1,000 appropriate books and approximately $500 for shipping and related costs. Double this and you can start two! Triple it and… you get the idea. To get ideas from other book drives — how they’ve collected their books and raised their funds.
We ship books all year round. Our typical calendar is:
- Ghana in February
- Botswana in March
- Malawi in June
- Kenya in July
- Uganda in August
- Lesotho in September
- Sierra Leone in October
- eSwatini (Swaziland) in November