Books For Africa receives new and used book donations for primary through post-secondary levels from public and private schools, libraries, publishers and the general public. Donated books are sorted and processed for shipping by volunteers working at BFA’s warehouse in St. Paul, Minnesota, US. The books are shipped in units of 25,000 in 20-foot sea containers, at a cost of U.S.$9,500 per container—or about 38 cents per book.



BFA’s parner organisations in Africa are responsible for making sure that the books are delivered to the appropriate schools and libraries in their areas.

Children, Education.

Since 1988, BFA has shipped more than 10 million books. They are on once-empty library shelves, in classrooms in rural schools, and in the hands of children who have never held a book before. Each book will be read over and over and over again. When the books arrive, they go to those who need them most: children who are hungry to read, hungry to learn, hungry to explore the world in ways that only books make possible.


To date, Books For Africa has shipped books to the countries of Botswana, Cameroon, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Maili, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.