50 for 50 Day 36: Books for Africa

It’s my 50th Birthday Celebration, Day 36. The background of this seemingly never-ending project: because I feel so blessed and have pretty much everything I could ever need, I am asking people to get involved with charities, if they are so inspired, in lieu of any fabulous birthday presents you were planning on sending me (or not).

I am featuring a different charity every day for 50 days leading up to my 50th birthday to give you plenty of chances to get involved. I started on May 18. I wanted to give a voice to different good works around the globe. If you ARE inspired to take action, please leave me a comment and let me know that you did. This is all I want for my birthday – to spread some love and kindness. One thousand thanks.

This charity is all about my favorite subject: books! When I went to Mexico, I was shocked to see how expensive and prized books were there. Books cost twice as much or more as they do here, and the pickings were a lot slimmer.

So Books for Africa seeks to fill a need in an information-starved place by sending books to – you guessed it – Africa. They do a good job, too, with administrative expenses being only .3 percent of their budget. They could give some CEOs lessons in efficiency.

From their website:
Books For Africa. A simple name for an organization with a simple mission. We collect, sort, ship, and distribute books to children in Africa. Our goal: to end the book famine in Africa.

It costs $9,800 to send a sea container to most major sea ports of books and computers to Africa. Your donation will enable Books For Africa to send even more books to children in Africa who are hungry to read, hungry to learn.

You can donate here. If you have a special relationship with a specific African country, there may be a project you can donate directly to.

Previously featured organizations:
Seed Savers Exchange
MAP International
The Fresh Air Fund
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Arghand
Impact Personal Safety
Kristin Brooks Hope Center
Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund
Light Up the World Foundation
Planned Parenthood
Doctors Without Borders
Heifer International
Team Rubicon
Kiva
The Carter Center
Bikes Not Bombs
Friends of Maddie
ProPublica
Surfrider Foundation
Livestrong
United Through Reading
Operation Shower
The Liz Logelin Foundation
KidSave
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Kids Vs Global Warming
Help a Mother Out
Direct Relief International
WriteGirl
Accelerated Cure for Multiple Sclerosis
Women for Women
Epic Change
Amnesty International