African Library Project
Vikram Ruppa-Kasani says that he has always liked books. As he got older and he learned about people in the rest of the world, he wanted to give kids the same experience that he had had. So, at age 16, he led his Eagle Scout troop in Alpharetta, GA to do a book drive.
“I live in a helping community, and we want to promote literacy,” he explained
As a lawyer and library technical aide at Dublin Coffman High School in Dublin, Ohio, I have a special place in my heart for books and libraries. I often read six books at a time. I know that a love of books--of holding a book, turning its pages, looking at its pictures, experiencing new ideas and losing oneself in its wonderful stories--goes hand in hand with a love of learning.
At the same time, libraries provide a place for gathering and building a sense of community. A library provides information and educational opportunities for all people regardless of their economic status. Students and teachers can find each other there, make friends, and discuss ideas.
In May, a team from the US and Kenya celebrated a landmark event in ALP history—the distribution of ALP's first container of books for 32 libraries.
It was an important milestone for ALP, but our work in Kenya is not done. We are planning to send a second shipment to Kenya in early 2018 and are currently recruiting book drive organizers who can complete a book drive by December 5.
Click here and help us send a full container to Kenya!
We recently received a report from Project Humanity, our partner that had distributed books for 15 of the libraries located on Rusinga Island. Through visits and conversations with the teacher librarians, they learned how the libraries are being used. One common theme—children love reading the books, and they are requesting MORE BOOKS!
In 2009 my husband and I created Caleb’s Project to honor the short, but precious life of our son, Caleb Paul Zellner, who died before birth. His due date was December 26. Because I wanted to have a happy Christmas for my other children, I decided I should focus on something positive. And so we began to do a service project each year in his memory.
In 2017 Caleb’s Project is a book drive to create a library for Kamgere Primary School in Kenya.
The book drive began September 1. So far, the support of our family and friends has been amazing, but we are not done yet.
