50 Years of Book Aid

Book Aid International is a charity that provides books for children and adults in some of the world’s poorest countries. It gets books into libraries so that everyone has a chance to read them. It’s not just public libraries either, but libraries in schools, hospitals, refugee camps and universities. How does it work? Nicola Cadbury explains.

This year Book Aid International is fifty years old. The reason for providing books to people in poor countries is simple – there are huge book shortages that affect everyone, from doctors, nurses and lawyers to teachers and pupils. A growth in education is going on in these countries, so that each year millions more children are enrolling for school. Sadly their schools don’t have enough resources to go around. Many children don’t get to see any books apart from the maths or science textbooks they share in class, so they find learning to read very hard indeed. This is where Book Aid International comes in. We get books into libraries so that everyone can read them.

Our work started in 1954 when Book Aid International’s founder, Lady Ranfurly, went to live in the Bahamas with her family. Lady Ranfurly saw that the local children didn’t have any books to read, unlike her own daughter. She asked her friends and family to collect up books for the local library, so that all the children could use them.

700,000 books supplied every year

This little project paved the way for a big book donation programme that grew until it became the charity that Book Aid International is today. We now supply 700,000 books to libraries and schools around the world every year. These days we are also very keen to support the local book trade. Many African countries have hardly any local publishing going on so they have to rely on imported books, which are very expensive to buy. We offer training and grants to help the authors, publishers, booksellers and librarians to work together for a strong local book trade. If this is in place then books will be more affordable and local authors will be able to have their books published so stories can be written that look at local characters and issues, which can be important for reader enjoyment.

RLRDP in Zimbabwe

One important part of our work is to ensure that every book we send is the right book and will get lots of use by eager readers. We are very lucky to be given thousands and thousands of books by UK publishers each year. We discard the ones we can’t use and sort the remainder onto the shelves of our library. Librarians then come along and pick the books that have been requested by a partner, for instance the Rural Libraries Resource and Development Programme (RLRDP) in Zimbabwe.

One of the ways of ensuring that the best possible books get sent out is for Book Aid International to invite a librarian from that organisation to come and pick books for themselves. Elizabeth Chisvetu came from RLRDP and chose 15,000 books to take back with her. She also received lots of training while she was in the UK and learnt new IT skills as well. Back in Zimbabwe the books were put onto the donkey cart mobile library, which takes books out to all the remote rural communities. The roads in rural areas don’t have a tarmac covering but instead are dirt tracks which are stony and uneven. This makes it difficult for a car or van to travel around, whereas the donkeys have no trouble. There are often petrol shortages as well. This makes the donkey cart a much more reliable method of transport.

As well as the donkey cart Book Aid International supports lots of different libraries in Zimbabwe and as part of this we’ll often provide collections of books for schools. Below, you can read the story of Uongai, a young girl living in the village of Benhura.

Uongai’s story

Uongai lives in Benhura, Zimbabwe, with her mother and father. They own a small area of land that they farm. Neither of her parents had an education, but they believe it is very important for Uongai to go to school. They want her to have every chance she can and an education that will help her to get a job in the future.

Until recently the library at Uongai’s school was equipped with only a small collection of old and tatty books. They recently received a donation of Book Aid International books delivered to them by a rural library service in Zimbabwe. Also their librarian was trained to help her promote and manage all the new books.

Uongai loves to read but she has little time to do so. Every day, she must help her parents on their small farm before and after school. Once her chores are done and she has completed her homework she sits down in the evening and reads aloud to her parents by the light of a kerosene lamp. Uongai’s parents look forward to her storytelling sessions as much as she does. She gets to practise her reading skills and her family get to hear stories from all around the world.

It’s interesting to think how Uongai’s story compares with our lives in the UK. I have about 250 books in my house – it’s a bigger collection than they used to have at Uongai’s school, even though there are several hundred pupils enrolled there. This also contrasts with most school libraries in the UK, since there are usually thousands of books to choose from.

Encouraging storytelling

Hearing about Uongai reading to her parents also reminds me of the nerve-wracking experience of being asked to read aloud in class. My parents used to read to me a lot when I was younger, but I’m not sure I remember ever having read to them. Often reading becomes a very private activity that is done in a quiet room alone or at night before going to sleep.

It’s a very positive thing to find ways to share our love of reading and storytelling – whether that’s by reading our favourite stories aloud or through drama or by taking part in big reading celebrations like World Book Day. On World Book Day this year Book Aid International introduced a new global element to the day and linked up readers around the world. Children in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the UK shared stories and linked lives in a cultural exchange project.

Children in twelve countries made postcards, featuring drawings and messages, with information about their local culture ranging from favourite football teams, to foods and fashions. All their postcards are being collected together for a website exploration of global cultures at www.bookaid.org/schools

Ten events took place in libraries all across the UK and each of these was twinned with a community library in the developing world, from Namibia and Nigeria to Mongolia and Palestine. The day gave school children a great chance to find out more about how people live around the world. Copies of the Encyclopedia of People (published by Dorling Kindersley) were donated and these provided a unique snapshot of modern life for more than 80 peoples inhabiting every region of the planet. The spectacular photography featured in this book gives an intimate view of a huge diversity of cultures within our fragile and beautiful world.

World Book Day provided a great opportunity for children to think about books in a wider context; to talk about the huge range of cultures and people reflected in stories, and to learn about the wealth of history handed down through generations via traditional storytelling.

Children at more than 450 schools also got involved to support us on World Book Day. Their fundraising events included fancy dress days, sponsored reads and book sales. Once we had received all the money it came to a whopping £53,000! That’s enough money to pay for more than 35,000 books for readers overseas. Thank you very much to any of you who got involved in these events!

Get involved!

Here are two simple things that anyone can do to support Book Aid International.

1. Buy a copy of our birthday book. Puffin have published a book of short stories, called Eating Words for Breakfast. It has contributions from some of the UK’s best loved children’s authors and illustrators, including Michael Morpurgo, Eoin Colfer and Benjamin Zephaniah. Stories from Ghana, Palestine, Uganda and Nigeria are also included in the book to give it a really global flavour. We get a donation for every copy sold!

2. Hold a fundraising event for Book Aid International. Every £1.50 that you raise pays for one more book to get into the hands of a reader overseas. Could you organise a sponsored read, a book sale, or a book swap event with your friends?

Find out more:

There’s lots of information on our website and we can send copies of our poster and information leaflets to anyone who would like them.

Website: www.bookaid.org

Tel: 020 7733 3577

Book Aid International, 39-41 Coldharbour Lane, London SE5 9NR

Nicola Cadbury is Head of PR at Book Aid.