OUR WORK

We believe that through education disadvantaged children will be equipped to rise above the impoverished conditions into which they were born.

ABOUT ABCA

Australian Books for Children of Africa Ltd (ABCA) is an Australian registered charity which commenced operations in 2003 which has a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status with the Australian Tax Office. Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible. .

ABCA makes books available to disadvantaged African children living in areas where books are scarce or too expensive. Working with committed African educators, ABCA distributes fiction and non-fiction books sourced in Australia to schools in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique, Congo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Most of our work is carried out by a dedicated team of volunteers in Australia and Africa.

ABCA has to date provided over 300 000 books to over 291 African schools and organisations dedicated to promoting literacy and a culture of reading.

  • Collection of books and other educational material

  • Communication with African schools and other organisations

  • Australian Schools Programmes

  • Sorting and Packing books

  • Shipping books to Africa

  • Customs and clearing

  • Distribution of books in Africa

  • Supporting African educators

Happiness is a book each with stories and beautiful illustrations.

Shirley and Lesley-Ann • Teachers, Inkosi Albert Luthulu Central Hospital

OUR WORK

Australia

  • We source books and other educational materials from schools, libraries, publishers and households.

  • Our sorters carefully sift through books donated and cull any books that do not match our strict quality, age and content criteria.

  • Our packers stamp each book with our unique ABCA Koala and then pack books into boxes ready for shipment to Africa.

  • We communicate with shippers to organise transport of books to Africa at the most cost effective price.

  • We work with our African distributors and educators to ensure that any books or material donated are appropriate to their needs.

  • Through our Australian Schools Programme we work with Australian students from Primary to Secondary schools to inculcate a respectful culture of giving which includes books donations and fundraising activities.

  • In certain limited circumstances, we provide mentoring to African educators.

Africa

We work with our African representatives to determine who should receive ABCA donations. In particular we seek out African schools and organisations where  educators are driven to provide the best possible education despite the lack of adequate resources available to them.

Our African representatives keep in contact with recipient schools and organisations in order to monitor whether books donated are appropriate for the students needs and are adequately protected and preserved.

To date ABCA has distributed books to South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia,Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.