A friend of mine, a teacher at a special-needs school, and her roommate are taking a stab at illiteracy by organizing a program to collect 15,000 books for a school in the Ethiopian village or Kersa Ilala. They've found someone to pay the shipping, but need a lot of books. I get the impression that if the response is good enough, they'll probably expand it to help other needy schools. After hearing of their plans, I offered to set up a contact form for them so that they wouldn't have to reveal their email addresses (exposing them to spammers). I also posted something similar to a flyer they had typed up.

If you'd like to help with the effort, please follow the link above and pick something to do from the "We need your help" section.

Providing books for the children of Kersa Ilala to read will help them to learn to read, to develop a love of reading, to develop a thirst for knowledge, to expand their minds to ideas they simply won't find in the lives they now live, and build a bridge to greater opportunities for their future.