If, like me, you are a voracious reader, then I think that this charity is something you’d like to support. You know that old saying, ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’?? Well…

I was introduced to Book Aid International by our school librarian, Sue, as on Thursday this week was World Book Day, and we’ve been having quite a lot of activities in school for this. One of the things that Sue does every year is run a sponsored read to raise money for Book Aid. Here’s the basics:

Book Aid International works in 18 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Palestine, providing over half a million books and journals each year to libraries, hospitals, refugee camps and schools.

Books are the basic tools of literacy and education yet millions of children and adults across the developing world do not have access to them.

Books can make a real difference to people’s lives. Farmers, nurses, mechanics, development workers and teachers all need books and information to support their work. Children and students must be encouraged to use books to develop their education and lifelong learning.

How much does it cost?

Every £1.50 that you raise pays for a book to get into the hands of a reader overseas.

What’s £1.50 to you or I? It doesn’t even pay for a fancy coffee at Starbucks. Club all those £1.50s together, and:

£320 pays for a case of books for a library service, university, hospital or school (each case contains an average of 240 books). If you raise £320 or more we can report back to you with specific details of the case of books that you paid for. Please bear in mind that we cannot assess the impact of the books until nine months after we have received your donation. If you allow your donation to be unrestricted we will use it wherever it is needed most and will supply a feedback pack with pictures of some of the many organisations we have helped during the previous year.

Now, Sue’s goal is for every kid in our school to raise just £1.50, which would mean about £1500 to send off to Book Aid. (It might also get some of the kids in school reading… But don’t tell them that!! 🙂 ) Most of the money raised will go to communities in sub-Saharan Africa, but Book Aid also has a small programme running in Palestine. This is to help those people who are forced to stay in their houses under curfew for long periods of time to have some meanins of alleviating tension and escaping – and what better way than through reading a good book?

Being a bibliophile and an English teacher, of course books are important to me. As a BookCrosser as well, I try to share my (over)abundance of books with others. Why not send them where they’re most needed? I’m going to give £1.50 for every book that I’ve read this year to the end of March.

What about you?