Schools for Salone and Books for Africa supply 20,000 books to schools in Sierra Leone
Freetown, Sierra Leone (November 2009) – 20,000 arrive and 980,000 to go!  The goal is 1 million books in the hands of students throughout Sierra Leone and Schools for Salone, with the help of Books for Africa, Masanga Children’s Fund and the Sierra Leone Book Trust are just the folks who can do it.
Schools for Salone, formed in 2004 in Seattle, Washington, USA, is a prime example of former Peace Corps Volunteers and the US Sierra Leone diaspora, working together with their Sierra Leonean counterparts and connections from those days to continue their commitment to the country where they once lived and served. Over the last 5 years, the efforts of this dedicated group have spanned the ocean and successfully built 11 primary schools, numerous water wells and repaired 1 secondary library in rural Sierra Leone. They have also presented teacher training programs, soccer clinics and, this November, completed the delivery of the 1st of hopefully many more containers of books.
Books For Africa (BFA), the world’s largest shipper of donated English language text books to the African continent, delivered the 40-foot container of text and library books to Freetown port in collaboration with the U.S. non-profit Schools For Salone (SFS). The container is being processed by Masanga Children’s Fund and Sierra Leone Book Trust in Sierra Leone.  The shipment of more than 20,000 books includes a pallet of new law books published by Thompson Reuters, 3,000 university textbooks, a specialty metallurgy collection, and about 18,000 books for elementary and secondary schools. The larger community will also benefit from access to these reading materials, opening up a world of ideas, critical thinking and self-esteem. The books are donated by publishers, schools, libraries, individuals and organizations; collected, sorted and packed by volunteers at Books for Africa by age and subject. Books for Africa was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
“Most African children who are able to attend school have never owned a book of their own, and many classrooms share one textbook between 10-20 students,” said Patrick Plonski, Executive Director of Books For Africa. “Access to education is one of the only opportunities young people have to end the cycle of poverty and attain a better life. Schools For Salone is a motivated partner, passionate about enriching lives and restoring hope in Sierra Leone, and we are grateful for its involvement in this mission.”
“It is precisely the connection and dedication of all these people that is a big reason for the success of this project and of Schools for Salone,” says Cindy Nofziger, Executive Director of SfS (http://schoolsforsalone.org/). “We are a great example of why the US Peace Corps is so important and how our relationships within the country help to make things happen.”
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