Books for Uganda

Hi, my name is Zhara Florez and this is my first fundraiser. I'm an English school teacher majored in Literature and a strong advocate of reading and making sure that children have access to books regardless of where they are. I recently traveled to Uganda as a tourist and got to visit some amazing places, one of them being the Bigodi Community located in the Kibale region. We visited an organization named Bigodi Eco Tourism and Research Center which aims to teach the surrounding community how to integrate agriculture and conservation into their daily lives. Their mission is to use conservation as a tool to enhance economic growth. They have one community library which is open to people from Bigodi and its surroundings (around 3000 inhabitants). While visiting their community I realized there were many children and yet their library had very few books (barely any as you will see from the pictures). Since opening, they have only received one book donation.

Uganda is currently still on lockdown because of the Covid 19 crisis, meaning that schools are closed and there is very little for children to do.

As a person who grew up relying on books as an escape from my personal hardships, it broke my heart to see that these children can't do the same because of the lack of resources.

All money raised will be used to buy books to fill this community's library and hopefully other surrounding communities that are in need of books. All books will be bought from Uganda to make sure that the funds are used locally and that they reach as many people as possible.

Children have the right to books. Books equal imagination, and imagination is the key to hope and to believing in a better world.