Announcing CSCA-Gondar Council’s “Holiday Giving Challenge-2023”
Our Challenge is Simple = Supporting school and donkey libraries in Gondar Ethiopia, Corvallis' sister city
... and putting books in the hands of children
What are donkey libraries?
Donkey libraries are donkeys that have been equipped with harnesses to transport books to form a mobile library. Each donkey, and their library, is cared for and managed by a trained donkey librarian. The donkey libraries travel to isolated schools where they lend books to children to support their learning and to teachers to enhance their lessons. The donkey librarians support children with their reading by holding group story reading sessions during their school visits.
“Having the Donkey Library in our school is so important. It gives me a chance to read books and learn more from the books I am reading.” Kalkidan, 12 years old, Sirba Village School
“The Donkey Library has benefited not only the children, but also the rural school teachers who sometimes borrow books from the Donkey Library and use it inside the classroom to teach their children.” Mr. Ashenafi, a teacher at Sirba Village School
Meseret School Library (Gondar, Ethiopia)
Franklin Elementary School , here in Corvallis recently developed a school to school exchange program with Meseret Elementary School in Gondar in which students and students for each school enter in activities together to learn, shares their cultures and develop global understanding and friendships with each other. Because of this relationship, we chose Meseret Elementary School (pictured here on the right) specifically because of new construction of a library at Meseret Elementary school. The library building will be funded by a US donor who was a former pupil at the school. The school serves 1,860 pupils from Kindergarten to Grade 8. We ( CSCA-Gondar Council) are joining our partner charity in Gondar, Together We Learn- Ethiopia, to raise the funds to fully equip the library with books at this school. With your generous donation, we can meet this challenge for this school.
Your DONATION will be MATCHED by several anonymous donors. Thank You!
Why are we supporting school and donkey libraries as our fund-raiser this year?
Because…
…few schools in Gondar have libraries in their respective schools and in rural areas, donkeys are used to carry books to those schools
…access to school libraries and books and reading engagement are interdependent and equally important in supporting student learning and literacy.
…students who learn to read early in life stay in school longer and succeed in an improved quality of life
