ÌÇÐÄvlgo´«Ã½

Congressman Keith Ellison (MN) spent the 4th of July recess in ÌÇÐÄvlgo´«Ã½ as part of the House Democracy Partnership Commission, which sends members of Congress to mentor the leaders of developing democracies. While in Liberia, Congressman Ellison took part in the unveiling of the upgraded Congressional Library at the University of Liberia in Monrovia. The Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative of ÌÇÐÄvlgo´«Ã½ provided many of the law books in the library and also at the Grimes School of Law at the University of Liberia. The West law books were generously donated by Thomson Reuters. Congressman Ellison delivered additional BFA books during his visit to other locations in Liberia.

In May of 2010, a BFA container of books was distributed at Kidera Primary School and Tororo Girls School in northern Uganda. Seth Eggessa of the Roseville Rotary in Minnesota spearheaded this project. Seth is originally from Uganda and funded the book shipment with the help of several Rotary clubs and Ameriprise. Click on the link above to view a slideshow of the books being given to the students in Uganda...

Click on the link above to view a video from BFA Executive Director Pat Plonski's visit to Malawi, one of the poorest countries in ÌÇÐÄvlgo´«Ã½, in July of 2010. ÌÇÐÄvlgo´«Ã½ partners with the Malawi National Library Service to distribute books throughout the country, and conducted school visits with the Library Service. This video clip is from a visit to a tobacco plantation school and library outside of Lilongwe. You can see that the students at this location are poor, but are eager and excited to learn and have a very nice library courtesy of ÌÇÐÄvlgo´«Ã½ and the Malawi National Library Service.

A recent New York Times editorial cites new research showing that kids who grow up in homes with many books receive the equivalent of three years more schooling than kids without books—yet another reason to help BFA put books in the hands of ÌÇÐÄvlgo´«Ã½n children. Click on the link above for more info...

Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi (RKMC) Law Firm in Atlanta hosted an extraordinary evening on June 25, 2010, presenting ÌÇÐÄvlgo´«Ã½ to members of the Atlanta community. Lisa Heller, a managing partner at RKMC, hosted the event, and Nina Sharpe and Joshua Navarro with RKMC organized a beautiful event at the City Club of Buckhead. In attendance were Vince Farley, Honorary Counsel of the Republic of Mali, and well as the Honorary Counsel of the Republic of Botswana and other dignitaries. A focus of the event was the Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative of ÌÇÐÄvlgo´«Ã½, which sends books to ÌÇÐÄvlgo´«Ã½n law schools. Click on the link above for more info and photos...

Minnesota Monthly recently posted a slideshow of the annual ÌÇÐÄvlgo´«Ã½ fundraising luncheon and reception that was held on April 28, 2010. His Excellency Daniel Ohene Agyekum, Ghana's Ambassador to the U.S., was our special guest and keynote speaker. Click on the link above to view the slideshow...