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The adventure of the books

Kids in Ethiopia love their books.

They love to read about nature, adventure, animals, science, and everything in between. Most children in Ethiopia don't have books to read at home or school, but--thanks to recent generous donations to Ethiopia Reads--some lucky students now have libraries at their school where they can read and study many different books. They read, read, read until the books are worn out.

Kind people from all over the U.S. and the world collect books for the students in Ethiopia. Sometimes they have book sorting parties, where friends and families come together to pack up boxes.

Montview Presbyterian Church in Denver, Colorado is having a sorting party in these pictures. They packed up thousands of books and sent them on their way.

Books then go to a LeAnn, a volunteer in Kansas. She catalogs, sorts and stores the books and when they reach around 40,000 books, LeAnn and her husband pack them up and forklift the boxes into a shipping container. It's a lot of work and can be really exhausting!

Then the shipping container sets sail across the Atlantic Ocean. A couple months later it arrives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Thanks to "program general" donations, which aren't restricted to a specific project, huge trucks and equipment move the container to a place where staff and volunteers unpack the boxes.

From there, the boxes are delivered to Ethiopia Reads libraries in schools all over Ethiopia.

The boxes are unpacked and books are placed on book shelves.

Guess what happens next...