Welcome to Diaspora's Giving Back Page
Diaspora Book Charity = All it takes is one book
Can you name 10 books that had a profound impact on your life?
Books offer inspiration, escapism and open our eyes as children and adults to a world of possibilities.
Now imagine life for a majority of children in Africa. Those fortunate enough to go to school and receive an education have to share a photocopied text book. Popular books that inspire young children in the Western World are neither affordable nor accessible.
We are setting up libraries for educational institutions in Sierra Leone where children can have access to books that will motivate them to learn and to believe in their own future.
Our aim: Changing the fate of children, One Book at a time!
Our First Beneficiary Institutions – Excel Scholars & Educaid
Excel Scholars (www.excelscholars.org) is for a non-profit organisation based in Freetown.
The project is run by a Sierra Leonean returnee and provides senior secondary school students with quality supplementary academic activities, programmes and support services. We received nearly 100 books donated by individuals for this project. The children received their books towards the end of last year and have been over the moon. Their teachers can attest to the fact that they are deeply in awe of all these amazing and memorable titles. We will continue to work closely with Excel and to collect book donations on their behalf.
Our second project, Educaid (www.educaid.org.uk), a charitable organisation based in Freetown, tries to give children from very poor backgrounds, many of whom were affected by the war a chance at a better life. We started collecting books for Educaid in September and have shipped some of the donated books to them at. We are still collecting books for Educaid. If you would like to donate, please go to amazon.co.uk and select from their wish list: http://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/1DMKF1TOOB15X/ref=cm_wl_search_2
Restoring a legacy and nurturing a positive interest in Sierra Leone's future leaders
Sierra Leone was once referred to as the Athens of West Africa and boasting the following historic institutions:
1. Fourah Bay College - the first ever modern university in Africa
2. The Sierra Leone Grammar School – founded in 1845, one of the oldest secondary schools in West Africa.
3. Annie Walsh Memorial Girls School – This school which was set up in the 19th century and produced the first girl to gain the full Cambridge School Certificate in West Africa, the first female Bachelor of Arts from Fourah Bay College, the first female Medical Doctor, and the first female Barrister-at-Law.
4. Bo Secondary School – Established in 1906 achieving high standards of education that resulted in students’ knowledge surpassing that of their locally trained teachers just five years after the school first opened.
According to the Human Development Report of 2007/2008, Sierra Leone has a 34.5% adult literacy rate, with less than 45% enrolment in secondary and tertiary education. These figures only reveal a fragment of the reality for the country repeatedly ranked last on the Human Development Index.
The West African School Certificate Examination or WASCE as it is known is taken every year by Secondary school pupils in Sierra Leone producing increasingly worse results each year. In 2008 only 7% of the 23,000 Sierra Leonean candidates who attempted the WASCE exams earned credits in four subjects or more which is the requirement for college admission.
At Diaspora, we feel that there is an urgent need for us to intervene where the country’s education system is concerned and we believe all it takes is one book per person. It’s that simple!
We will target a different institution, fundraising for their benefit and launching a book drive where supporters can donate relevant books. We have identified a number of institutions and will look at the needs of many more throughout Sierra Leone. If we receive overwhelming supporting we will increase the number of institutions that we target on a monthly basis.
Our next beneficiary institution is the Medical School Library - this is the only medical school in the country and has a poorly stocked library. It goes without saying that the students who are going through the doors of the University of Sierra Leone medical school have a huge role to play in their society. We have consulted with the institution and drawn up the following book list. If you are unable to order from the list, please submit similar titles and we will ensure that these are sent to the students who desperately need them.
Order books from http://www.talcuk.org/books.htm
| Product |
Quantity req'd |
Unit cost |
| ABC of Heart Failure |
4 |
£4.50 |
| ABC of Hypertension |
4 |
£5.50 |
| ABC of Otolaryngology |
4 |
£5.50 |
| BNF for Children 2009 |
2 |
£12.50 |
| British National Formulary (BNF) Number 58 |
4 |
£10.50 |
| Crofton's Clinical Tuberculosis (3rd edition) |
4 |
£3.95 |
| Directory of Teaching and Information Resources for Blindness Prevention and Rehabilitation (2nd edition) |
4 |
£3.00 |
| Essential Malariology (4th edition) BookPower edition (low cost) |
2 |
£9.99 |
| Human Anatomy (The Concise Handbook of) BookPower edition (low cost) |
4 |
£4.95 |
| Oxford Handbook of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (2nd edition) |
2 |
£13.50 |
| Practical Obstetric Fistula Surgery |
2 |
£5.00 |
| Pregnancy, Childbirth, Postpartum and Newborn Care: A guide for essential practice (2nd edition) |
3 |
£8.50 |
| Primary Anaesthesia |
2 |
£12.00 |
| Short Textbook of Public Health Medicine for the Tropics - BookPower edition (low cost) |
4 |
£5.99 |
| TB/HIV - A Clinical Manual (2nd Edition) |
4 |
£4.50 |
How can you help?
- To purchase books for the Medical School Library - Visit http://www.talcuk.org/books.htm and order any of the books listed above. These can be posted directly to our shippers - address below.
- For Educaid & Excel books - visit Amazon.co.uk and search for Diaspora Books Wish List ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/registry/registry.html?ie=UTF8&type=wishlist&id=D2IRX9HR30P9 ) – you can purchase books directly and they will be delivered to our shippers in the UK.
- Donate to Diaspora’s Book Project – Any amount you contribute will go towards the book project –purchasing, shipping books and getting them to beneficiaries at no cost to them - please email us for details on how to make a contribution.
- Become a Diaspora Book Charity Member – With a yearly donation of £100 or a quarterly donation of £25- we believe you can make a huge difference to people who matter.
- Pledge your support in kind to the Project - You may be in a position to offer non-monetary assistance which will help us to achieve our goals of acquiring donated books, and sending them to Sierra Leone.
And finally….
- We will update you on a monthly basis – as a supporter, details of how your donations are used will be sent to you regularly and reports from the people who matter, the children of beneficiary institutions will be submitted periodically.
- Tell your friends – if you can forward this email to a few friends, this will allow us to build our network and increase the support we receive from like-minded people like you.
You can also send your used books (in fairly good condition) or order any of the above books yourself and have them delivered at our shippers in the UK
In London: Diaspora Book Charity
C/o Eugene Sawyerr, Robert Claire and Co Ltd,
5/6 Discovery Business Park,
St James Road,
London, SE16 4RA.
For further information, please contact us at info@diasporabookshop.com or diasporabooks@yahoo.com |
