The Good News – 4 Items
- The 3rd shipment of books to Rotary Club of Maloti in Lesotho was despatched on 24 June 2020. It comprised 9,114 books on 4 pallets with a transport cost to the Lesotho boarder of AUD3,577.23 Over 182,000 books have been shipped to Lesotho at a cost of AUD68,426.
- Recently the Springbank Secondary College was given a reprieve from closure, which also means that Books for Lesotho does not have to find a new operating location. Naturally we are pleased for ourselves, but also for all the parties that use the school buildings and its grounds. We wish the school well (as our position hangs on such success) as it continues to serve the community. (B4L made a submission to the official enquiry.)
- Budget vs income:
The 2019/20 budget was AUD13,604 while donations totalled AUD10,508. This was a credible result considering all the competing scenarios in the world at present. The deficit is covered by an earlier generous donation from Lang Foundation which the Board has kept in reserve.
Through regular giving, Mitcham Exercise Group donated AUD1,072.05 compared with AUD1,168 in 2018-19 – which is amazing considering the length of time the group has not been active due to COVID-19 restrictions.
An additional AUD1,510 was donated to allow B4L to be a sponsor of African Library Congress Summit held in Lesotho during March. - The Barn has been operating at full swing since re-opening on 29 April with volunteers keen to be useful again while taking precautions against the virus. Deliveries have continued over the period, but at a much reduced rate – books are now needed!!
THE FUTURE
The Board and volunteers recently held a planning session to consider future directions. The meeting concluded that an offer to open what would be a branch of B4L in Sydney would be explored. This opportunity has arisen due a Sydney-based person showing keen interest in the project. We know the need exists in Lesotho for more library books in schools, but any increase in annual quantity must be matched by in-country capacity to handle. This aspect is currently being investigated.
YOUR DONATION, PLEASE!
B4L receives “donations in kind”. One very generous contributor is Chris McEvoy in Melbourne who provides the fabulous cartons for our packers to use. As this newsletter is being written another shipment of cartons is on its way along with books that have been donated by schools in Melbourne. Thank you, Chris.
B4L starts another financial year confident that funds will be raised to cover the shipping costs of another 11 pallets of books for our current two in-country partners, Rotary Club of Maloti and Transformation Resource Centre. We look forward to your continued support.
Click here to make a donation.
YOUR DONATIONS AT WORK
Here are some more images from the March 2020 visit to Lesotho. The top 4 are from a school supplied with books by African Library Project; the lower 5 images are from 2 schools supported by Transformation Resource Centre with books from B4L and including Me’ Nthatuoa Mohapi, the TRC Library Officer:
David Linn
Chairman, Books for Lesotho Inc.