Books for Africa
Seattle, Washington, USA

Ending the World Book Famine

It is common across the African continent to see five or six school children sharing one book. Empty library shelves are a constant reminder of Africa's desperate need for printed materials. With illiteracy rates as high as 74.8% in some African countries, we are accepting responsibility for our world community by bringing books to many countries in Africa and around the world.

Mona's Children

‘Mona's Children’ is a formal, registered student organization at the University of Washington. Working under our parent organization, The Mona Foundation, the name Mona's Children is used in memory and respect of Mona and all that she stands for in the promotion of education. In 2004, the goal of the four founding members was to “fill a few bookshelves in Africa”. What sprouted out of this humble idea has now filled dozens of bookshelves in four countries in Africa, respectively Kenya, Swaziland, Tanzania and Ghana.
25,000 books to Kenya
25,000 books to Swaziland
25,000 books to Tanzania
25,000 books to Ghana
A major focus of the project has been to expand to the greater University of Washington community in hopes of ensuring the continuance of this project. We are happy to say that there are now 8 committed members of the Mona's Children organization.

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Partnerships for Books

In 2004, we collected over 28,000 books on our university campus and throughout the Seattle community. We collected all kinds of books of all genres, however, not all of these books were appropriate to send to Africa. We linked with the following two organizations to be assisted with both the book sorting/shipping process, as well as with financial assistance:

Books for Africa is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that seeks to “end the book famine” in the African continent. It receives book donations from publishers, schools, libraries, individuals and organizations. These books are collected, sorted, and shipped by Books for Africa to the African port where they will be picked up and distributed by volunteers from the recipient non-profit organization. Online: www.booksforafrica.org.

Better World Books is a national program that does fundraising in the name of any non-profit organization in order that the shipped books can be received in Africa by that organization. The fundraising is done throughout the country in the form of book drives. Books are collected, sold online, and the proceeds are donated directly to Books for Africa. In this way, approximately 8,000 donated books make it possible for 25,000 books to be shipped to any location in Africa. Online: www.betterworldbooks.org.

In 2004, the four members spent 3 months in costal Kenya distributing the books with the assistance of the non-profit, “East African Center”. 22 different schools and organizations benefited from the shipment of books, and it was one of the most fulfilling experiences for the four volunteers. In 2005, Mona's Children sent 25,000 books to Ghana, as well as three volunteers to Ghana to distribute these books to schools and libraries all over the country.

From 2005 to 2007

With each shipment of books, something new was learned about the dynamics of development work and the importance of implementing and supporting sustainable projects, rather than temporary or one-time initiatives. For 2006, we chose to support independent projects that were smaller in scale, but more meaningful in their ability to contribute to the development of the respective communities receiving books. The sites were in Jamaica and Guatemala.

The projects are not only about sending books, they are about empowering community leaders to be able to contribute to the learning and education of their villages/communities. Each site that has been selected has demonstrated a great need for educational resources to support an already established grass-root initiative. It is our goal to be able to support these grass-root initiatives to realize their true potentials, and to use our capacities and resources to make these visions a reality. The project volunteers for 2006 were: Anisa Ghadrshenas, Diana Aycinena, Julia Lowe.

We have now developed book projects with local libraries in Jamaica and Guatemala. Currently Sara Kaufmann-Fink is collecting books to raise money for the science laboratories in the ADCAM project in the Amazon. She has organized and is in the middle of another University of Washington book drive to support this project. This time Mona receives $1.00 for each book collected and sent to Better World Books.

How You Can Help

Please contact us or send your tax-deductible contributions to:

Mona Foundation
13922 64th Place W.
Edmonds, WA 98026
(425) 743-4550
Email: monafoundation@monafoundation.org
Online: Contribute Online with your Credit Card Here

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