Northshore Charter students promote global literacy with African book drive

Published 9:05 am Friday, January 9, 2015

Northshore Charter School recently collected 1,000 books to send to Timbi Primary School in Botswana, Africa, during its African Library Project.

The book drive began on Nov. 10 and ended on Dec. 10. Northshore students collected books for pre-school through fourth grade.

It was a schoolwide project at Northshore Charter. Students boxed the books and then sent them on their way to Botswana.

Timbi Primary School is located in the Tutume North district and currently has 15 teachers and 395 students. Northshore was the only school to be matched with Timbi Primary School.

“Our kids enjoyed it,” Northshore Charter School African Library Project Coordinator Sherry Burton said. “NCS takes pleasure in helping others.”

The African Library Project is an all-volunteer organization that starts libraries in rural African countries, and U.S. volunteers organize book drives and ship books to African countries.

According to the African Library Project’s Facebook page, the organization’s grassroots approach mobilizes U.S. volunteers, both young and old, to organize book drives and ship books to a partner in Africa. Its method makes a concrete and personal difference for children on both continents.

The African Library Project was founded in 2005.

According to its Facebook Page, the African Library Project has completed 1,4111 libraries in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Cameroon, Lesotho, Nigeria, Bostswana, Swaziland, Malawi, Ghana, South Africa and Sierra Leone. The organization has donated more than 1.5 million books.