Books Galore

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Way back in October when I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do with myself at work I wrote some emails to charities that distribute second hand books to Africa. One of them got back in touch saying there was a possibility they could help. I kept meaning to chase this up but it was one of those things that seemed permanently stuck at the bottom of my to-do list and I never got round to it. Last week I was called out of my office as someone was here to see me. Low and behold there was a van there with a delivery of five big boxes of books. Good ones as well; mainly proper early reading books.



Last Thursday was Eleanor’s (the new VSO volunteer who has come to do the same job as me) first day so we set away trying to sort them out. It took us ages. There are hundreds! Many with multiple copies. We’re hopeful that this means that with a little bit of training guided reading groups might hit region 6. Schools here just don’t have books like this for children to practice their reading. I can’t tell you how excited I am. It’s like Christmas! I was also excited to discover a copy of the first book I ever read in my first class at school. It was called Look, the only word in it being the word Look. Not the most riveting of reads but you have to start somewhere.



It got me thinking about how many clear outs I had in my classroom where I threw boxes of resources and old books away. It didn’t occur to me that they could be used in a place like this. So here’s the website for the charity that brought them out: www.jolerider.org They’re a UK based charity. They also distribute bikes which are brilliant for getting children to school who have a long distance to travel. Definitely something to keep in mind if you’re having a bit of a spring clean.

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