Books for Abrehot Library – (Jote Taddese) – Ethiopia

Project Goal: $15,000

Current Progress: $2,800 (19.00%)

In January 2025, my wife and I traveled to Oromia, Ethiopia with our two boys, ages 19 and 9 - and visited Abrehot Library in Addis Ababa (Finfinnee). This is no ordinary library. An architectural masterpiece. A symbol of possibility.

It’s the largest library in East Africa.
Ranked among the top 10 libraries in Africa.
Home to thousands of local and international research papers.
Architecturally stunning - inside and out.

We walked every one of its four floors, awed by the beautiful design and energized by the sight of so many young people - students, dreamers, scholars hungrily reading and researching.

But as we moved between the bookshelves, our excitement was met with a sobering truth: many shelves were sparsely stocked, and much of what we found was outdated.

My 19-year-old picked up a book on Artificial Intelligence (AI), written in 1986.
My wife found a nurses’ hygiene manual, from 1948.

My 9-year-old showed me a timeless children’s book titled “Thank You, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.!” It still had a stamp from Still Elementary School in #Georgia, USA. Thank you, #StillElementary, for your donation. You may not know it, but your gift traveled across the ocean and reached young dreamers in Africa’s capital.

Yet, despite the grandeur of #AbrehotLibrary, its collection of books is outdated, limited, and understocked. This world-class library deserves world-class books. And we can make that happen.

We’re living through the #AIHype but there’s no substitute for books and reading. Books develop critical thinking. They teach us to question, to wonder, to build slow wisdom in a fast world.

I returned to Minnesota knowing I could help. As a board member of Books For Africa, I’m shouting out this call for action to ship 22,000 high-quality books to Abrehot Library. The end-to-end cost is $15,000. That’s less than $1 per book to ignite minds and empower the next generation of African leaders.

Will you join me? Whether you’re able to give $15 or $5,000—every contribution helps. Let’s make sure the shelves of this magnificent library reflect the brilliance of the young minds walking through it.

Contact container captain Jote Taddese:

Email: jote.taddese@gmail.com
Mobile: 612-281-7817