Books 2 Africa

BOOK DRIVE 2007

During a family visit to South Africa a few years ago, we were shocked to see how empty the shelves were in the public library where my mom used to
check out books when she was young. When we asked the librarian why there were so few books, we were told that with all the changes taking place in
South Africa, money was allocated to other, more important needs, such as housing and medical assistance, rather than to the acquisition of books.

To compound this, about 50 % of the people there are living below the poverty line, and with a unemployment rate of 23.3 % (according to the CIA
World Factbook), what little money people have is spent on necessities such as housing and food. The pleasure of owning a book is limited to the
upper income groups. I started wondering if the situation in schools would be any better, and discovered that there are in fact many schools, especially
in the rural areas, that are in dire need of books.

During April of 2007, after I gave it some careful thought, I spoke to Mrs. Kim Garrett, my principal at WASHINGTON JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL in
Bentonville, to start a book drive to collect books for needy schools in South Africa. I asked the teachers and students at the school for contributions.
Both students and teachers responded enthusiastically and some teachers donated small prizes for students who brought in books. Even our school's
Quiz Bowl team got involved.

The book drive went very well, and approximately 1,100 books were collected. I was fortunate enough that a cargo company in South Africa agreed to
ship the books to South Africa free of charge. The books were shipped to South Africa and arrived there in July of ‘07. Once the books arrived there,
they were distributed by Mr. Roland Jones, a member of the Rotary Club in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa, to schools he felt could put the
books to good use.
Right: The children at this primary school in Barberton, Mpumalanga
received some of the books. Their teacher said that they started cheering
when they saw all the books and could not wait to start reading
through them. The other books went to various schools in the Barberton
area.