African Library Project recently partnered with Firm Foundation Education Trust (FFET). Through them, we are providing libraries to two early childhood centers that serve refugees from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
FFET is a grassroots (CBO) Community Based Organization based in the economically challenged West Nile Region of Uganda. FFET focuses on promoting literacy by helping to establish school libraries and organizing reading activities. They work closely with our schools’ head teachers and the district education office.
With the help of these organizations, we have already seen an influx of applications from schools in Uganda that are in need of student libraries. Two libraries that stood out to us, in particular, were Joy Early Learning and Daycare Centre located in the Northern Uganda and Queens Way Education Centre in Northwest Uganda. Both Joy Early Learning and Daycare Centre and Queens Way Education Centre libraries serve a diverse population, some of which include communities of refugees. It is the first time African Library Project has worked with libraries that directly serve refugees.
“We are in the North Western Uganda and one of the communities hosting refugees in Uganda. It is a community with multicultural diversity because our region borders with South Sunday in the North and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the West,” Victoria Aldiri, Director of Joy Early Learning and Daycare Centre, stated in her African Library Project library application form.
“We have a vision to provide inclusive and international quality early childhood education and care for children within the community and beyond,” Aldri continued.
Queens Way Education Centre is in the Moyo District in the West Nile Region of Uganda. The district shares a border with South Sudan and it’s known as one of the least developed districts in the country, hosting around 300,000 South Sudanese refugees.
“Lack of resources, especially reading materials among the host-refugee communities has made it difficult for these communities to increase in reading, writing and English grammar and receive a quality education for their children…” Ezra Remo Weleya, director of Queens Way Education Centre wrote in their library application form.
In today’s day and age, it is important we reflect on the exceptional work being done in multicultural communities across the world to increase access to information, and in our case, storybooks. With the socio-economic complexities these regions are facing, coming by storybooks for students has been difficult and, at times, impossible. African Library Project is honored to serve communities that share our core values and work daily to serve others.
If you are interested in hosting a book drive, we are seeking early childhood libraries for Uganda. Visit our Start a Book Drive page to learn what libraries in Uganda still need to be matched. The mailing deadline in November 1, 2019.