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A law book can change a life. Donations from 117 law libraries to 24 African countries have changed millions of lives and helped to establish the rule of law across the continent, says Lane Ayres, director of the Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative of Books for Africa.

On the occasion of its Georgia warehouse party, Books For Africa received a set of 10 Law & Democracy Libraries from its partner, Thomson Reuters. Executive Director Pat Plonski and Board President Mike Essien were on site to observe the delivery.

The Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative began as a result of the chance meeting of two neighbors, who just happened to be lawyers, at a neighborhood potluck back in 2008. Lane Ayres is a retired assistant Hennepin County attorney. Tom Pfeifer is an executive at Thomson Reuters.

In March of 2021 the Gambian Ministry of Justice sent photos and information about the Thomson Reuters reference law library we had sent them. We at Books For Africa were excited to receive this information as it completes a story started 15 months before.

Books For Africa lost a dear friend on June 18th when Vivian Mason passed away. Vivian helped create the law book program for BFA, which was launched in 2008. BFA is planning to ship a law library to Ghana later this year in Vivian's memory.

At a time when authoritarianism is growing around the world and basic liberties and freedom of the press are under attack, it is important to continue to develop and strengthen the rule of law. A cornerstone of the rule of law is education, from grammar schools through law school. As our dear friend, the late Kofi Annan, former U.N. secretary-general, often said: “For hundreds of millions of individuals, literacy is the bridge from misery to hope.”