Books for Africa Growth

2006 Guatemala Book Project

We worked toward establishing a library to be shared by the community of Buena Vista, a squatter settlement in Guatemala City, and two neighboring villages. While in Guatemala this summer we spent some time with a community leader from Buena Vista and heard about the efforts of a group of local women to build a school in their neighborhood that could be run and staffed entirely by people raised in that area. By establishing self-sufficiency and employing local teachers, the group hoped that these teachers would have an invested interest in the overall well-being of the community and be able to relate to their students. They expressed great interest in supporting literacy in the school and the entire community by having a small library that all residents would have access to. In support of these goals, we have been working on this library project ever since returning to the United States.

We raised funds in the United States and obtain the books in Guatemala. Books bought in Guatemala will be more culturally relevant, by local authors, and in correct Spanish. This will avoid the cost of transporting the books from the United States to Guatemala. The women specifically requested a computer for the library, and we will provide them with one. The project volunteers are Laura Felice and Diana Aycinena.

Objectives

To improve the quality of and access to education for the residents of Buena Vista and its neighboring communities, we are supporting the efforts of a school whose mission is to provide access to education in a community otherwise lacking in such opportunities. Access to books greatly increases the efficacy of a broad education.

To support the efforts of local women to improve their community and the environment in which their children are raised. Our project supports the initiative taken by a local women's group to fight the poverty and oppression that have been perpetuated by a lack of opportunity. By educating the members of their community, the women hope to create self-sufficiency and initiate a cycle of improvement.

To create a library that will be completely administered by and for the community. The library will be the result of an initiative taken by the community rather than an idea imposed upon them. This will be reinforced by the community's input in the selection of books for the library.

Project Plan

We conducted book drives in Seattle and surrounding areas, as well as San Francisco and Minnesota and sold them to used book stores or online. This money was taken with us to Guatemala. Relevant books collected in Spanish were brought with us to Guatemala to supply the library. We were in continual phone contact with Marta Julia, the community leader in Buena Vista while we worked on the project here. We were in Guatemala in September 2006 to complete the project.

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2006 Partnership with Better World Books

The Mona Foundation and Better World Books will collaborate to supply much needed books and other written materials to several community libraries being established in Jamaica and Guatemala. These local communities have been in direct contact with the Mona Foundation requesting help in providing books and book shelves. The local communities will provide the land and physical building for the new libraries. These communities are in desperate need of educational resources and materials. Through joint organizational efforts, the Mona Foundation and Better World Books will be financially supporting purchases of books and bookshelves for these libraries. And this is just the beginning!

By running campus book drive throughout North America and Canada, Better World Books utilizes the value of the used book to fund socially responsible literacy initiatives worldwide. Books are collected from colleges and universities on behalf of several non-profit literacy partners and the books are either donated directly or offered for sale online with 100% of the profits (revenues less all costs) going to support Better World Books’ non-profit literacy partners, which will now include the Mona Foundation. For every college level textbook (in good condition) published within the last five years that is collected on behalf of the Mona Foundation from a Better World Books’ sponsored book drive, $0.50 will be donated directly to the Mona Foundation.

Literacy and education are THE key to breaking the cycle of poverty and dependency that so imperils the lives of hundreds of millions of people. To become involved, individuals may contact the Mona Foundation about donating college level textbooks or organizing a campus book drive. Individuals may also visit the Better World Books’ website to purchase books, recognizing their purchase supports local and global literacy initiatives, including the Mona Foundation.

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2005 Ghana Contacts and Publicity

Mona's Children linked up with a university program in Ghana called Ashesi University http://www.ashesi.org. “Ashesi University Foundation, a non-profit, publicly supported US corporation as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code. Ashesi University admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students of the school.” We worked closely with a Ghanaian student here at the UW who provided us with great local contacts in Accra, as well as throughout the country. The Peace Corps has also been of great assistance in locating schools and libraries in need.

We were fortunate enough to have good media publicity in both 2004 and 2005. The story of Mona's Children has been published in local papers in Seattle and San Francisco, as well as appearing on local news stations 3 times. In 2005 there will be a story in the academic journal, “The Chronicle of Higher Education”. In addition, the project was honored by being put on display at the UW Leadership Symposium. The publicity helps not only with fundraising, but also in spreading the message of Mona's Children. It has provided opportunities for members to share their thoughts on the importance of education, and also the necessity of social responsibility.

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2005 Our Trip to Ghana

We spent one month working on distribution of the books in Ghana this summer. From the moment we arrived, we were given some of the greatest opportunities to explore and understand both the country of Ghana, and the role that development work is playing therein. The project was over-all a great success, allowing us to distribute 25,000 books to 23 sites all across the country. These sites ranged from villages of a few hundred people sharing a small community library, to larger urban schools and libraries (mostly in slums) that opened up to tens of thousands of people.

The books arrived in the port city of Tema, and within 3 days, they were cleared through customs, and were dropped off at Ashesi University in the capital city of Accra. The 3 of us who were able to make the trip, Anisa, Julia, and Anna, were working closely with students and staff at Ashesi University Foundation (ashesi.org), and with their help, we unloaded and sorted through 25,000 books in less than a few days.

Transportation of the books was initially a problem, but the Ministry of Education was extremely generous and donated a large semi-truck for us to use for the entire month, and a car to ride in to follow the truck. We spent the next 3 weeks going on trips that would often last up to several days taking us to random villages and cities we could not even pronounce. Each time we arrived at these communities, we were greeted and welcomed with such joy that it always overwhelmed us. The extent to which these communities had prepared for our arrival and the arrival of the books was extremely touching. Many of them had already fundraised money to build bookshelves. We were almost always greeted by a village chief; who would sit and share with us stories of his village, and the history of his people.

There was such a level of humanity that each of us experienced when we would sit with these people and share a meal, and hear their stories. In Ghana, like most of Africa, books are like gold. People's faces light up at the prospect of learning and it was an incredibly humbling experience for us to share those first moments when the books arrived with the people who had been waiting for them. It was very difficult to leave Ghana, but I know that each of us has taken away moments and feelings that made all of the hard work worthwhile. Not to mention, we came back with a bit more muscle in our arms!

For this trip, the Mona's Children volunteer distributors were
Anisa Ghadrshenas: Environmental Health and Business majors
Emily Lemagie: Physics and English
Julia Lowe: International Studies and Microbiology majors
Anna Spessard: International Development major.

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2004 25,000 Books for Tanzania

In the winter of 2004-2005 Mona Foundation's college group, Mona's Children, who have gathered books for schools around the world through their “Books for Africa” program, raised the funds to ship 25,000 books to Ruaha. Read more about this on the Ruaha School pages.

2004 25,000 Books for Swaziland

In 2004 the new library of the Setsembiso Sebunye High School in Mbabane was constructed. Shortly after its completion, a shipment of 25,000 books arrived. The books were provided by Mona's Children which is a “Books for Africa” program of the Foundation. It was quite a celebration as a workforce of hundreds turned out to unload the 420 heavy boxes. The school has arranged with the Ministry of Education and a library organization under them to distribute between 10,000 and 15,000 books to other schools. Read more about this on the Setsembiso Sebunye School pages.

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2005 Ghana Funding

This year $7,000 was raised to cover the cost of the distribution in Ghana. An exciting addition this year was our Read-A-Thon! Through the University of Washington Pipeline Project, a middle-school student from the Seattle Girl's School was identified who was interested in doing a community service project, and she decided to hold a read-a-thon for the girls in grades 5-7. Students solicited sponsorship from parents and neighbors to support “Books for Africa”, and in turn, the students agreed to read a certain number of books, or for a certain amount of time. The girls raised over $900.00 in two weeks, and the student, Lisa, is eager to do the project again!

Our Latte for Literacy this year was also a wonderful event that raised $1200! Here is the group of Mona's Children together at this event.

2004 25,000 Books for Kenya

The trip to Kenya was a huge success. An email from a Peace Corp volunteer in Kenya, Steve Diamond, gives cheer to our hearts: “The project has been a success in our community. I catch people on busses, on the corner stoop, and in other places reading books from our efforts. Teachers are coming into the community libraries to further their educations, and parents encourage their kids to go hang out with a book. They sometimes sneak in as well, but adults are a bit shy and fairly illiterate compared to a youth. Regardless, villagers who have never been to school can appreciate a picture, map, or poster. The look in their eyes when trying to comprehend the world map is humbling, for most the idea of Kenya as a country is a lot to process. We thoroughly appreciate your time and dedication to this project. It has changed this community.”

An email from Adanwomase confirms the service we offer the world: “Adanwomase, the village I serve in, built a library so that every student in Adanwomase could improve his/her reading skills and learn more about the world through reading. Unfortunately, the town ran out of money for books and so the library stands empty. The community is very excited about the books coming. Currently there are basically no books in Adanwomase and students therefore cannot read well at all. They need to practice reading but the resources simply are not available right now. The books will arrive in time for the start of the coming school year and each day (M-F) from 8:30am - 2:30pm six different classes will come to use the books. There are four schools in Adanwomase (with a total of 30 classes of students). Therefore, each class will get to use the library one hour per week. After school closes on the weekdays (and on the weekends) community members and serious students can come to the library to read/study. The few community members with proficient English-speaking skills have agreed to help teach student/adult reading classes at night using the books you provide. For the initial three months (while the community members are getting used to having a stocked library and while the library staff is getting trained) the books will not be allowed to leave the library. However, starting in 2006 we will institute a book lending policy so people can read at home. We will keep very close check on the books, ensuring that no books get stolen or lost. In short, the town plans on using the books to the max. The library will be a center of learning and personal development in Adanwomase. We are all very grateful for your generosity.”

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