Executive Director Patrick Plonski Meets With Books For Africa Partners in Tunisia and Djibouti
Books For Africa Executive Director Patrick Plonski recently traveled to Tunisia and Djibouti to meet with partners and conduct site visits of book distribution sites. In Tunisia, Plonski met with officials of the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Diplomatic Academy), Ministry of Health, Ministry of Culture, and Ministry of Education. In particular, the Diplomatic Academy was very appreciative of the law library shipped to them courtesy of Thomson Reuters, and the Health Ministry was very appreciative of the medical books sent courtesy of Merck/MSD. One container of medical and law books was shipped to Tunisia in 2025, and a second container was just shipped in May of 2026 containing largely k-12 books. Tunisian officials expressed interest in receiving more books from Books For Africa in the future. Click on this link to view photos of the Tunisia leg of the trip: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCTVow
Following the Tunisia site visits, Plonski traveled to Djibouti to conduct a site visit of books shipped in 2025. A site visit was conducted at the Ecole Nitobe School. The site visit at a local primary school was extremely well-organized and well-received as this school and partners thanked us for the books received. The US Ambassador to Djibouti, Cynthia Kierscht, was on site participate in the visit as was Djibouti’s Minister of National Education. Click on this link to view coverage of this visit by Djibouti National television (the site visit begins at 21:10 minutes into the story): Watch this video to view the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Nlv02SkzNXA&t=20s&ra=m
Members of a Minnesota delegation were also on hand for the visit. St. Paul, Minnesota has a sister city relationship with Djibouti, which was also noted. The Minnesota delegation and Books For Africa were thanked for their support for educational opportunities for students in Djibouti. “Our entire Minnesota delegation was very impressed by the excitement of the students and staff of the school for this visit, and the attendance by such high-level representatives of the Government of Djibouti and the U.S. Ambassador. It really brought home to all of us the importance of the Books For Africa initiative,” Plonski said. An additional 40-foot sea container of books is scheduled to be shipped to Djibouti in the months ahead. Books For Africa has shipped over 250,000 books to Djibouti historically.
Plonski also participated in a Serving Our Troops event at the U.S. military base at Camp Lemonnier. This event culminated in a steak fry for U.S. service personnel with over 2,000 steaks served. While attending this event, Plonski participated in discussions with U.S. military personnel about coordinating activities in distributing books to schools and orphanages served by the U.S. military in Djibouti.
Click on this link to view photos of the Djibouti portion of the trip: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCTRSx