Book Project

The books have arrived!

GNBA members worked with the community over the past five years to gather over 20,000 books to send to Kenya. These books were reviewed for condition and content, and stored in donated warehouse space. They were sorted and targeted for primary schools, secondary schools, and colleges. Most were going to Bura, with some boxes going to Esabalu, the sister city of our neighboring group, Amesbury for Africa. Specifically:
Primary schools: Kidaya-Saghaighu, Mwashuma, Kilulunyi, Mrugua, Zare
Primary, Mbagha, Nyolo, Mnamu, Mwavunyu, Mlughi
Secondary: Mwanjila Youth Polytechnic, Ngami Secondary
Colleges: St. Mary's Teachers Training College
and in Nairobi:  Rudolph Steiner School (Mgatha) Mabarak and Moi Universities and Hotel School
—as well as destinations in Esabalu.

The educational books were sorted by category, and we tried to insure that at least one dictionary was sent to each school. We had books covering nursing, engineering, mathematics, English, English literature and geography, among other topics. We also sent children's books and adult fiction.

Once the books were boxed, labeled for destination and packed onto pallets, the pallets were transported to IMEC in Salisbury for loading onto a container with medical equipment that we had earmarked for Bura. The container was trucked to a ship, the ship sailed in August 2005 from Boston, and eventually arrived in Mombassa, Kenya on September 18th, and, despite tireless efforts ahead of time, including personal visits and constant correspondence, stayed on the docks for over six weeks while new red tape was created to navigate through. The container was finally cleared at great cost, and an efficient team from Bura got it quickly transported four hours overland to the village, where everything was reported to be in good condition. The villages were planning a gift ceremony for January 5, 2006.