Think of Ethiopia and poverty, drought, war and famine may spring to mind. But there are many fantastic community development projects underway there, and we are proud to support the local organisations doing this important work.
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Gechi Public Library, Ethiopia |
We are collaborating with CODE Ethiopia, a local organisation working to strengthen literacy and improve the reading abilities of children. In different regions of Ethiopia they have built and stocked 82 rural village reading rooms with both books received from us and their own children's publications in local languages. They provide training in library development and community newsletter production. As well as books, CODE has supplied 500 locally made kits to each reading room to encourage new readers. Each kit contains a pencil, eraser, notebook and ruler - the kits are pounced upon when they arrive in libraries!
"Reports from reading rooms indicate that some children have better performance in school work as a result of Book Aid International."
Tesfaye Dubale, Executive Director, CODE Ethiopia
The British Council are another key partner in our Ethiopia programme. They provide support to public libraries and schools such as the National Archives and Library Agency and the Abebech Gobena Orphanage and School.
Abebech Gobena is an inspirational woman. She started her work after rescuing two orphaned children, who she found crouching beside their dead parents' bodies during the drought in Wollo in 1980. She now supports about 280 children with free education, healthcare, uniforms and other assistance for their growth, and Book Aid International books are helping to support the children's education.
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Visiting Awassa College of Health Science |
In 2009 Book Aid International also started working with two new organisations: the Ethiopia Knowledge and Technology Transfer Society, who will support community libraries and a prison library in the Addis Ababa area, and Ethiopia Reads, where books will go to their children’s libraries and donkey mobile libraries.
We are also supporting students in higher education through Addis Ababa, Awassa and Jimma Universities.
Requests for book aid
Our programme in Ethiopia is currently under review. Requests for book aid are not accepted at present.