This November I will be travelling to Zambia to help The Musangu Foundation set up a Rural Community Library, identifying and training a librarian and recruiting community library champions to help support and manage the facility to ensure the library project is sustainable and a lasting success. We have been donated 1000s of books, but I need your help in raising funds to pay for all the equipment needed to make a room with books into a functioning and welcoming library for all of the community to enjoy and benefit from.

The Rural Community Library Project story…

Access to an education is one of the only opportunities young people have to end the cycle of poverty and attain a better quality of life. Books and good quality educational material are the cornerstone of a strong education system, they are paramount to a child’s learning and development – yet the vast majority of children in Zambia have never owned a book.

Books are very difficult to come by in Zambia and most schools have an exceptionally limited supply of reading materials. Literacy is not just important for children but for all members of the community - literate parents are more likely to keep their children healthy and see value in sending their children to school. Literate people are better able to access employment opportunities, and collectively, literate societies are better geared to meet development challenges. 

The Musangu Foundation plans to open a rural library that serves the whole of the community, allowing people to come in and access books, educational materials, run vocational workshops and English classes to benefit all. Over the past year, The Musangu Foundation has been donated over 3000 books by primary schools in the Luton area for the Rural Community Library Project, which will be located in a rural village in the Mazabuka district of Zambia. 

***See photos below from the Foundation's latest school visit***

The library will be designed to complement the local school curriculum to maximise the impact on child literacy with an emphasis on improvement of English language. Most secondary education in Zambia requires children to read and write in English, and The Musangu Foundation wants to increase the opportunity for children in disadvantaged rural communities to reach their full potential and complete their schooling. #lifechangers

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