Book Shipment to Sierra Leone


In June Dr. Alusine Jalloh, founding director of The Africa Program at The University of Texas at Arlington, presented 18,473 new books (humanities, science, engineering, math, social sciences, business, and economics) with an estimated value of over $500,000 to over sixty universities, public libraries, polytechnics, high schools, and public research institutions across Sierra Leone. This is part of a long-term effort to improve education in this small West African country. Sierra Leone has just emerged from a decade-long civil war that left as many as 200,000 people killed and widespread destruction of the country's infrastructure.

The partners of The Africa Program on the book shipment included Books For Africa, Mercy Corps, McGraw-Hill, the Sierra Leone Library Board, Arlington (Texas)-based African American churches, and Texas-based non-profit Sierra Leonean organizations (Sisters of Sierra Leone, Tegloma, Leone Knights Social club, and Sierra Stars Soccer Association).