Books 4 Africa

This programme commenced in its pilot form in 2008 in conjunction with a secondary school and their feeder primary schools in Chippenham, Wiltshire.  Such was the success of the pilot books4Africa was formally launched later that year to run in parallel with its sister bikes4Africa

This is jole rider’s second programme in support of its mission-
        “changing lives through education”

Books4Africa is a simple programme delivering unwanted books from the UK to schools in Africa. It is in Africa that these books are born again, this time boosting learning, literacy and creativity, whilst at the same time enabling African children to gain a better perspective on the world in which we all live and share

Most schools in The Gambia do not have libraries; and couldn’t fill a modest cupboard with the small amount of books they do have

Through two supporting campaigns called
          “My Favourite StoryBook” and Story Book Day,
promoting book collections in school and in the workplace, books meeting our Book Spec criteria eventually arrive from donors, including churches, primary and secondary school students and companies

Our printed bookplates, pasted inside each book, carry a special and personal donor’s message for the book’s next reader  

And the books collected are not only storybooks.  
Books meeting the Book Spec include pictorial books, reference books and even text books, which are carefully screened to ensure that only books fitting The Gambia curriculum are shipped.

The books are sifted, sorted and boxed for their shipment to Africa, together with library equipment, fixtures and fittings, and other teaching and learning aids.

On arrival, the consignment is received by our sister charity, at jole rider’s Learning Development Centre [LDC] in Sifoe.

At the Centre the books, and the array of other materials, are allocated to their new home schools and distributed with the help of the Gambian Ministry of Education.  

Additional furniture is supplied where necessary and help is provided to properly establish a library from scratch.  Help is also provided to train and meet the salary cost of a librarian.

All of this equates to a tremendous boost to learning and education.  
The proof of this is already available in a small school in Kartong.  It was here that the first 2000 quality books were delivered in 2008, thanks to schools in Wiltshire, to form a library that not only the school now enjoys, but the whole village community too.