My Nonprofit Reviews
HenryBMN
Review for Books For Africa, Inc., St. Paul, MN, USA
In 2003 a Books for Africa staff person heard I was going to Africa to visit friends and asked me to look in on a few recipients to see how they were doing with their books. Perhaps it was a thinly-disguised attempt to get me hooked, but it captured my heart and mind. I met so many wonderful hardworking people and kids, from a refugee camp in Botswana, to the Rotary Club in Mzuzu Malawi, to a school building project in Eshowe, South Africa, all of them confident and passionate that education was the way to develop every person's complete potential. We're not giving people a handout, we're giving them tools to be better family members and community and world leaders. Books for Africa is a simple idea, efficient and effective, that changes the future for millions, yes millions, of people.
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I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
I've walked into empty libraries where there are a few old magazines and no books, and I've walked into the same libraries a year later where there are fifty kids reading and studying. I've been to law schools where forty graduate students share a single book, and I've been back to see them with a library of thousands of books. When I ask what Books for Africa could do better, the number one answer is "MORE BOOKS!"
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
Books for Africa has challenges to confront: we don't have many agriculture books, thought agriculture is the number one subject in Africa. We lack books in native language. We need to navigate the transition from print to electronic media that is happening in the US already. We need to work to a sustainable model where books are locally written, edited, printed, and distributed without us.
Will you volunteer or donate to this organization beyond what is required of board members?
Definitely
How much of an impact do you think this organization has?
Life-changing
Will you tell others about this organization?
Definitely
How did you learn about this organization?
a friend of a friend
What is its top priority in the long run?
to end the book famine in Africa
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2011
