READ International - HRH Duchess of Cornwall and Her Excellency Mama Kikwete celebrate our One Millionth Book

Total books shipped to date

1,147,241 Books

« Back

HRH Duchess of Cornwall and Her Excellency Mama Kikwete celebrate our One Millionth Book

Yesterday, the Duchess of Cornwall joined the Tanzanian First Lady, Mama Kikwete (pictured with our Chief Executive, Hannah Mitchell, below), to celebrate our distribution of over one million books to over one thousand Tanzanian schools. Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete also attended the event to congratulate us on this phenomenal achievement.

Our One Millionth Book, kindly donated by Usborne books, was presented by The Duchess of Cornwall and Mama Kikwete to school children from the WAMA Foundation. READ International has worked with the WAMA Foundation to provide books for a selection of their schools since 2006.

The special guests met local students from Kilakala Secondary School in Morogoro, who had helped a team of UK volunteers to renovate their school library this summer. Sophie Cockcroft, a UK volunteer involved with this library renovation commented: “READ International is a youth led charity, with our focus on young people joining together to improve access to education. Literacy is vital to all young people, and even just one book can change the stories of a thousand young people. Working together we can make a difference to ensure all young people have the same opportunities.”

Young students from Kigamboni Community Centre performed an amazing arobatic display and local dances. READ International has worked with the community centre for the past 12 months providing key educational resources for their community education programme.

Hannah Mitchell, our Chief Executive, made a key address to guests and supporters:

“Your Royal Highness's and Your Excellency’s presence today adds immense value and recognition to our work. It symbolises the connection between the young people in the UK and Tanzania working together to drive forward change. Literacy is vital to all young people. Working together we can make a difference to ensure all young people have the same opportunities.

READ International could not have achieved the delivery of one million books without the support of many key partners who have believed in us since the very beginning in 2006. I should particularly like to thank our longest-standing partners - The Ministry of Education, The Karimjee Jivanjee Foundation, Usborne Books, METL, The WAMA Foundation, and the British High Commission.

A million books delivered to over one thousand schools in Tanzania has been a phenomenal achievement but it is still a drop in the ocean. There is so much more work to be done. We need to continue our work in order to achieve our shared goal of ensuring every young person in Tanzania is able to access the right books to support their education.”

The event has received coverage on the BBC and The Telegraph websites and made local newspaper headlines in Tanzania.

READ International is now working to distribute two million books. In Christmas Challenge week on 5^th December 2011 we will launch a new campaign as part of the The Big Give. We aim to raise £5,530 from our supporters. With match funding from The Big Give, this will be sufficient to fund the provision of textbooks in a supported learning environment in 20 additional East African schools. For more information on this and to donate please click here.