Book Drive for African Library Project

We have always felt lucky to have grown up with access to books and literature. In Lesotho, a country in Southern Africa, students are not as fortunate. COVID-19 has exacerbated the literacy gap and communities are left without books and libraries. Most crucially, students without access to libraries haven’t been able to develop their reading and writing skills when they are primed to develop them most. 

From May 20 to June 7, WPGA is holding a book drive with African Library Project: a nonprofit literacy organization. Our aim is to collect 1,000 books to create a community library in Lesotho. Through the drive, we hope to raise awareness about unequal access to literature around the world. Further, we hope to form meaningful and lasting bonds with our partner school/community in Lesotho. 

You’ll see donation boxes in the junior and senior lobbies. Please only bring books written in English, and make sure your donations are aligned with the guidelines below.  

Once the library is shipped and established, African Library Project works with a net of dedicated partners within Africa to transport the library to each community. Their partners provide training on how to set up and run a library in a rural community and also follow up to evaluate the use of our libraries and encourage good library practices. Our goal is to make sure the library remains active and continues to enrich those who need them.

Click here for our fun promotional video! The ALP organization also has guidelines on the types of books to donate:

Donating a library creates far-reaching and generational impacts for students and their families in Lesotho. We are so thrilled about this drive! Thank you for supporting literacy around the world!