Collaborations for Development - Books for Africa

On this World Pulse platform over the last few years, it has been important for me as a long-time member and supporter of this platform to read and comment upon the stories of women working for a better future.

Kenya has been one of the countries I have enjoyed visiting. In 1977 and again in 1983, I had opportunities to travel widely to its diverse regions. In the 1990s, several visits were work related as I attended conferences and meetings traveling up to Nairobi from Mozambique and Angola where I was assigned with UNHCR.

This year, I have been fortunate to converse with quite a number of Kenyans, from this platform as well as UN and NGO personnel working on sustainable development issues. I have spent quite a bit of time reviewing the UN Civil Society Conference stakeholder activities.

SDG5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls is a sustainable development goal (SDGs) that all of this platform members are working on, and needs more work to fully achieve the best outcomes possible by 2030.

So now, I'm pleased to launch this initiative on World Pulse, collaborating with a number of members, as well as local NGOs to fund-raise and get a 40 foot shipping container filled with books and supplies delivered to Kenya to assist with education in rural communities.

Read some of the comments from people in rural Kenya who are eager for this initiative to succeed:

Comments from Stakeholders:

• Children:
• "We need more storybooks and novels to help us improve our English. The books we have are very few." – Student, Primary School.
• "Science books would be really helpful. We want to learn more about biology and technology." – Student, High School.
• Teachers:
• "Our students need books that align with their interests and educational needs, especially in language and science." – Teacher at Secondary School.
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• Local Chief:
• "Providing a variety of books, including those on practical skills like home science and crafts, will help our community members develop useful skills." – Chief

Click this link to read a story about a 2021 Books for Africa deliver to Kenya https://www.booksforafrica.org/news/boy-who-harnessed-the-wind.html

I'll stop here to review some important points - A) Stories help to make people aware of problems and issues - this World Pulse platform is being heard around the world; B) Collaborations make things happen - look around your community to identify who is making good things happen. Reach out to them and give them a hand; C) Learning must be LIFE-LONG - never give up on learning and always be involved in building your skill sets and gaining real-time experience.

I was going to go on to point Z) but have a call coming in from a local university student who I have been talking to about how we might work together to raise funds for this container shipment.