Letter to Wansteadium: Books for Africa

Dear Wansteadium
In August 2013, a team of twenty Guides from East London will volunteer on a two-week safari adventure to Zambia and Malawi. We will be working with The Book Bus, a charity which aims to improve literacy rates amongst the world’s poorest people, by providing children with books and the inspiration to read them.

Malawi is the world’s thirteenth poorest country with a literacy rate of just 63% and one in six children affected by HIV/AIDS. The Book Bus has been working in Malawi since 2010 and works with a cluster of ten rural schools. The main problem with the children learning to read is overcrowding- some classes contain up to 100 pupils, so those who fall behind go unnoticed. When we volunteer with The Book Bus, we will travel each week day to visit the schools. We will work with small groups of children to ensure that they all receive the support they need.

The trip will cost £2,500, and to raise money we are holding a table top sale in St Gabriel’s Church Hall in Aldersbrook on Saturday 13th October, 10am-1pm. There will be toys, games, clothes and books on sale, as well as tea, cakes and a raffle.