News

Harry Lerner led a tour of the Lerner Publishing Group Warehouse in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on April 28, 2010, with special guest His Excellency Daniel Ohene Agyekum, Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States. Ambassador Agyekum was in town to give the keynote at the annual Books For Africa fundraising luncheon. Lerner generously donated another pallet of books for a BFA shipment. Click on the link to view a slideshow of the warehouse tour.

The U.S. Embassy in Kigali is distributing a shipment of over 22,000 BFA books to 41 schools throughout Rwanda. Stuart Symington, U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda, is shown is this photo handing out books to students at Groupe Scolaire Mukamira in Nyabihu district, Northern Province. “Learning is good and interesting when you share with others. Make sure you read those books to your brothers and sisters,” he advised the students. Click on the link above to read the full story in The New Times, a Rwandan daily.

Books For Africa was honored to welcome His Excellency Daniel Ohene Agyekum, Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States, as the keynote speaker at the annual BFA fundraising luncheon on April 28, 2010, at the St. Paul Town & Country Club. In honor of the Ambassador’s visit, Books For Africa is sending a 40-foot sea container of 22,000 books to the Ghana Library System to promote literacy. At the signing ceremony with BFA President Tom Gitaa, Ambassador Agyekum said, “I would like to express my government’s commitment to working with you [Books For Africa] on this.” Click on the link above to view a slideshow of the events...

Here are photos of the children and teachers from Life Christian Academy in Eldoret, Kenya, who received a 40-foot shipment of BFA books in July 2009. The students at Life Christian Elementary School in Tacoma, Washington, USA, worked for three years to raise the money to build a K-8 Christian school in Eldoret, Kenya. Then they worked for another year to raise the funds to ship them the 20,000+ books. Jackie Matthews of Life Christian Elementary School in Tacoma, Washington, reports: “They were so very excited to receive the books. Many of the students had never held a book in their hands before this shipment arrived!” Click on the link above for more info and to view more photos…

Books For Africa was a proud sponsor of the African Development Center of Minnesota gala on April 10, 2010. The African Development Center has for several years running been recognized as the top provider of small business loans in Minnesota, and the gala recognized these achievements. Pictured above at the gala are Hussein Samatar (Books For Africa board member and Executive Director of the African Development Center), Pat Plonski (Executive Director of Books For Africa), and Tom Gitaa (Board President of Books For Africa and Publisher of Mshale).

In February 2010, Lane Ayres, director of Books For Africa’s Law & Democracy Initiative, visited law schools and legal organizations in Ghana and Liberia. The most memorable time was the day he spent at the Grimes Law School in Monrovia, which received the first shipment of West law books from Thomson Reuters in January of 2009. (Dean David Jallah is pictured above.) Everyone gave testimonials as to how the books had improved teaching and learning at the law school. To view a slideshow and get more info, click on the link above...