The obstacles to education in Africa have recently become worse with the kidnapping of more than 200 girls from their school accommodation in Northern Nigeria. It is becoming increasingly dangerous to obtain an education in many parts of Africa. However, the kidnapping and the subsequent social media campaign to #BringBackOurGirls only highlight the reality that the majority of students in Africa have to cope with – a broken educational system. It is simply shocking, that the majority of students in Africa will go through primary school, secondary school and university without ever using a computer or accessing books in a library.

This is why Books To Africa International – a charity operating from A & S Self Storage in the United Kingdom – was established in 2012 to collect, sort and ship books and educational materials to teachers and students in Africa. The founders, who are Africans themselves, had to travel over 3,000 miles to the UK and pay thousands of pounds to obtain a good education due to lack of adequate educational resources in Africa. But even more depressing is the fact that many individuals and organisations in the United Kingdom continue to pulp books and throw away equipment that can be reused by students in Africa. According to one of Books2Africa’s Directors, “over 10,000 books were donated to us by a publisher who was about to pulp them. Most of the books were on numeracy and in brand new condition”.

This year alone, Books2Africa has shipped over 5,000 books to schools and community libraries in Morocco and Nigeria. “Today we are shipping 2,845 books to another project, a Local Government-run Primary School in Nigeria because we have to respond to the war against education. Education in Africa is being attacked by inadequate educational materials, incapable teachers and insufficient government funding”. Books2Africa aims to ship 1 million books to Africa by December 2015 as its contribution towards the Millennium Development Goals. To achieve this, the charity needs to ship more than 62,500 books every month at a cost of £15,000 per month. Consider becoming one of B2A’s Sponsors by giving at least £5 a month and help them win the war against education in Africa and put a book in the hands of every African child.