The Children in the Wilderness Zambezi team was thrilled to have received yet another shipment of books from the ever-so-generous Books for Africa team towards the end of 2022.
Just over 17 tonnes of the most wonderful and extensive variety of books were shipped to the port of Beira in Mozambique, after which they travelled 1,307km by road all the way to our team here in Victoria Falls.
The process of distributing began during the first term of 2023, and already 630 boxes of books are mid-way through being distributed to 20 of our rural schools and community literacy centres here in Zimbabwe.
With many of these schools being quite far off the beaten track the CITW team often have to find alternative ways to get these books to their final destination. This was seen at a recent distribution when a few men from the community helped the CITW team for an entire morning, using their humble ox cart to transport the boxes from the furthest place our car could drive all the way to the school.
Multiple cart trips were made to get all of the boxes to the end, and the community members were more than happy to lend a helping hand (and donkey) to ensure that every box of books got to the school, knowing that these were going to hugely benefit every single child within their community.
So far the books have been a very welcome surprise to all of the schools we have delivered to, with many being completely overwhelmed by the generosity, and expressing their gratitude to all of us at CITW and the Books for Africa team.
Most schools and centres each received about 30 boxes of books, which equates to around about 1,350 books, and CITW Zambezi can be sure that each and every book will be put to good use. With so many lasting benefits, we would like to once again give thanks to Books for Africa for their ongoing support over the years. It is very much appreciated, and by passing on these resources to schools, children for years to come are given the valuable gift of literary resources – opening their minds to thousands of new worlds.
