Shakawe School Project (Rachel Corney) - Botswana

Project Goal: $20,645

Current Progress: $8,870 (43.00%)

Books for Shakawe is a project aimed to help provide books and supplies to the Shakawe Senior Secondary School in a rural village in Botswana, Africa. The boarding school houses over 700 students (ages 15-18) from neighboring villages to ensure they have access to reliable and quality education. The school team works hard to motivate and nurture their students' learning, however there is a severe shortage of books and school supplies.

I have had the pleasure to work as an English Teacher at Shakawe Senior School for the past several months and will continue living here until October before returning back to the United States. While the teachers do their best to give their students a quality education, they are constantly facing obstacles due to the lack of books and resources. The school has a beautiful library with endless potential, however due to a lack of finances, the shelves are mostly empty with little furniture inside.

After talking with the teachers and administration, I decided to create a project to help fill the school library with reading materials to aid in the students’ academic growth. English is one of the official languages in Botswana, and is commonly used in most careers and in government. Due to the importance the English language plays in the schools and country, I have created ‘Books for Shakawe’ to help build up the library's book collection to create an inviting and inspiring environment to learn. Books for Africa would not only fill the shelves of this library, but also the Primary School’s library, the small public library, as well as ensure every family in the village has books in their home.

The students in Shakawe have incredible potential and dedication to their academics, however they are consistently held back due to limited reading materials. I also created the Library Social Club, which is a group of senior students dedicated to exploring the wondrous world of books, and will be the main team to help handle the books brought in by Books for Africa along with the staff. Please consider donating to this project so we can fill the village with leisure novels, textbooks, and crucial school supplies. Thank you so much for any amount you can give!

Contact: Rachel Corney, rcc7tx@virginia.edu