Students in South Sudan may soon receive worn copies of books like “House on Mango Street” and “Ain’t No Makin’ It” from Grinnell students.
SGA started a book drive for Sudanese schools last week and will place bins around the school where students can drop off their used copies of books.
“The purpose of the drive is to collect books to send to universities in the newly forming country of South Sudan,” said Student Services Coordinator Que Newbill ’12.
Newbill started the book drive at the suggestion of Lee Burchinal, the Executive Director of the Sudan-American Foundation for Education (SAFE) and Professor of Sociology at the University of Iowa.
Burchinal founded SAFE in 1985 while he and his wife were teaching at the Ahfad University for Women in Omurdan, Sudan. Soon, the program expanded and started collecting books for educational institutions and nonprofit organizations throughout Sudan.
Now, SAFE sends around 10,000 books to Sudan each year. Grinnell students can easily contribute to this number. According to SAFE’s website, “Books in almost every academic discipline or field are needed.”
“We are accepting every type of book,” Newbill said.
From Grinnell, the donated books will be brought to a SAFE warehouse in Ames, and eventually shipped to Sudan. Meanwhile, students should look out for donation bins on campus.
“I am really excited for this book drive, it is such a simple way for people to be socially engaged on a global issue and this is completely within the social justice mission and values of Grinnell College,” Newbill said. “I hope this is an opportunity we can look forward to in the future.”
Japheth Odera • Aug 2, 2011 at 6:11 am
Great idea more needed to boost literacy for now and the future. More and more books, more and more literacy support.