With a name like Read Naturally, it might seem obvious that we care about reading and books. This passion extends to supporting students all over the world, including students in Africa, where 40% of school-age children do not attend school. Read Naturally recently shipped a truckload of books to Books for Africa, an organization near the Read Naturally home office in St. Paul, MN.

The mission of Books for Africa is as follows:

"At Books for Africa, we believe that education is the great equalizer in the world, and books are at the foundation of a strong educational system. For many children in Africa, the gift of books truly is a gift of hope. Most African children who attend school have never owned a book of their own. In many classrooms, 10-20 students share one textbook. Many people in the United States take these educational necessities for granted, but children in Africa cherish books."

According to Dan Evans, Read Naturally’s Director of Operations, “We’ve donated to Books for Africa several times, going back several years, but this donation [of about 50,000 books] is by far the largest donation we have made. We selected them because they are local to us and because they have a very good track record of getting books into the hands of people who can really benefit from them. Their goal is to spread literacy throughout Africa, and our materials are perfect for spreading literacy! So there was a very close alignment of missions.”

Chelsea Rosendale from Books For Africa shared more about how Read Naturally’s donations will help children in Africa:

"Your donation will be packed into a number of containers going into upcoming multi-container shipments to Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, among other countries. The books will ultimately go to a number of subrecipients in each country and end up being distributed to smaller classrooms and community libraries, often in rural areas of these countries that are underserved and don’t have the resources to purchase supplemental reading materials. In our feedback surveys, we often find recipients report that literacy and library use improve after receiving shipments of books from us."

We are excited to partner with Books For Africa to spread literacy around the world! If you’d like to learn more about Books for Africa, please visit their website and share information about their mission with your students.