Books for books
Children from one of Africa’s poorest countries are set to benefit from a special book sale organised by Warwickshire’s Youth Offending Team (YOT).
The YOT team are gathering good quality, second hand books for their ‘Books for Books’ sale, which will take place on 15, 16,17 June at Rugby Library. The proceeds from the sale will be used to buy much-needed schoolbooks for children from the Bwengu village. Malawi is one of Africa’s poorest countries and children in Bwengu, many of whom are orphans, face an uncertain future.
Young people from Warwickshire who are on court orders will be involved in ‘Books for Books’ as part of their reparation work. YOT workers thought up the idea of selling old books to buy new and the young people will help by sorting and pricing stock, setting up the sale and clearing up afterwards.
Rugbeians Sue and Tony Melia founded the Bwengu-project in 2006. Through local fundraising, the couple initiated the renovation of a school in Bwengu for 2,000 children. Sue works as a sessional worker for the Youth Offending Team between trips to Malawi.
Sue Melia said: “People in Malawi face very real and substantial problems but we believe that that everyone working together can make a real difference.”
Heather Shilling, Warwickshire County Council’s Operations Manager (Interventions) for YOT, added: “The young people that we work with are trying to make up for the offences which they have committed and our work with charities helps them to make a positive contribution. The Bwengu-project is improving the lives of children in Malawi and everyone is proud to be helping such a worthwhile cause.”
The YOT team has been supporting the Bwengu-project since January 2006 and operations manager Heather Shilling was so moved by the charity that, when she got married recently, she encouraged friends and colleagues to donate to the fund rather than spending money on wedding presents. Friends and colleagues of YOT have already raised enough money for an additional classroom to be built at the school in Bwengu in June.
If you would like to donate books to the ‘Books for Books’ sale please contact YOT on 01926 476921 to arrange collection or delivery. All of the money raised will be spent on books with no management cost taken.