Providing Christian Literature to Areas of Need    

History of Book Aid
 

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In the mid-eighties, the audacity of one young man, deeply moved by the plight of the poor in Africa, startled the world. He challenged the red tape which hindered aid getting to those in need, and with the famous LIVE AID concert he began to raise millions of pounds which was soon translated into food, clothing and equipment for the hungry and needy in Africa. He was, of course, Bob Geldof.

But what Bob Geldof doesn't know to this day, is that his action was the inspiration for another Bob to find a way around a problem that had been troubling him for some time.
Bob Hiley and his wife Ada had already served for many years with CLC (Christian Literature Crusade) and Bob had travelled extensively seeing at first hand many areas which were suffering a famine of a different sort - a lack of books of all kinds - but especially of Christian books and Bibles.

Research which they were conducting for CLC at that time confirmed and underlined the tremendous need. Most of the countries concerned had already been without adequate supplies of books for more than ten years and this was having a serious effect on education both in the secular and Christian field.

Deeply concerned Bob tried to alert Christians in Britain to the plight of what had formerly been fine Christian bookshops in the English-speaking African countries. He called together leaders of African missions who confirmed his findings and who shared how difficult it was to help in the current situation. After independence many British missionaries had been recalled from Africa and the responsibility for the local Christian bookshops had become that of the national church in each country.

With the missionaries no longer there, a lot of outside support and finance had also been lost. At the same time these African nations began to experience many internal problems of unrest, wars, and most of all, poverty. It became increasingly difficult for them to feed their people never mind finding foreign currency to import books!

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To set up a rescue operation in the face of such colossal need was daunting but Bob, with the backing of EMA (Evangelical Missionary Alliance), TEAR Fund and the sympathetic cooperation of CLC, launched a pilot project "BOOKS FOR AFRICA" which injected an initial £100,000-worth of new Christian books into Nigeria and Zambia in partnership with Christian bookshops in those countries.

The books were paid for in Britain with donated money, but the African booksellers made payment at affordable prices within their countries, thus overcoming one of the major hindrances to a free flow of books - the difficulty of obtaining foreign currency to pay outside suppliers.
 

Whilst assessing this pilot project a letter arrived from Nigeria:

"Our need for books is so desperate that if we do not get help immediately we will have to close about fifteen of our bookshops - that is, 45% of our operation. In 1981 we were importing (and able to pay for) an average of two to three 20-foot containers of books a month.

This has now dropped to two containers A YEAR! Our bookshops are ghosts of what they used to be. To make matters worse, people's hunger for Christian literature is increasing...we are in a serious dilemma. Won't somebody do something for us?"

Christians in NIGERIA and ZAMBIA who had received these first shipments were delighted, but one thing had become apparent. The need was much greater than had even been imagined and other African countries, on hearing what had been done, also sent appeals for help. At around 100,000 books to fill a container, the mind boggled at what was going to be needed.

But God had it all in hand (as usual!). A Christian leader in UGANDA wrote, pleading for help but he said: "Our people are too poor to afford new books. Why don't you send us your old ones?" And this is just what we did! His letter opened the door to BOOK AID as it is today. Since that time Christian books and Bibles for needy areas all over the world have been coming in to the program. Some of the books have been new, donated by publishers and suppliers, but by far the majority have come from British Christians who have given generously to help the worldwide church.

Bob Hiley would be the first to acknowledge that this is God's doing and it is indeed marvellous. It is also a TEAM effort, mobilising many Christians throughout the UK. Around 200 Christians act as "Collectors" - these are the backbone of the work - some are themselves Christian bookshops, or churches, others are individual Christians who are willing for BOOK AID to make it known that they will receive books from local donors. The books are eventually passed on to BOOK AID's larger warehouses and from there shipped overseas.

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Other Christians offer help as volunteers in these larger centres where the books are sorted and packed for shipment. With a small "core" team of only a handful of full-time workers who trust God for their finances BOOK AID relies greatly on help from the Christian public. It is hard work but the encouragement which comes in letters of gratitude and thanks from recipients overseas makes it all worthwhile.

Now, TWENTY-ONE years on, we have been taking stock and want to tell you that at the end of last year (2008), we had shipped over 25 MILLION hand picked Christian books and Bibles, thanks to the magnificent generosity of Christians in the UK and even further afield. It has taken an enormous amount of work by volunteers to accomplish this.
 

Thank You All!

But we have been thinking that 'thank you' is not enough - you need to know that your continued help with donations of books, finance and time really does make a difference. We have definite proof that it has! BOOK AID's purpose is to encourage Christian bookshops in needy areas to remain open and to eventually resume normal trading practices with national and overseas publishers.

We look forward to the day when BOOK AID will no longer be needed and although that time has not yet come there is evidence that some of the worst hit shops are now able to purchase new books and are looking hopeful again. A major chain of African stores summed up BOOK AID's part in their new found hope in this way: "Your organisation has contributed immensely to the success our company has made since the restructuring started some ten years ago. We sincerely thank BOOK AID for being part of our success story."

So as we adjust to changes that are taking place in some areas and respond to new pleas for help in other places we listen to what is coming back to us: "Please continue to send the wonderful used books along with the new ones as this makes it possible to supply books at very low prices to the Christians here who are so keen to read them." In view of continuing problems of widespread poverty, political upheavals, and other factors, it looks like BOOK AID's help will be needed for some time yet.

But we are getting there! Praise God!


Where do the containers of books go?

Over the last twenty-one years (up to December 2008) 252 20ft containers have been sent to eighteen different nations - Nigeria [82]; Ghana [32]; Uganda [22]; India [18]; Kenya [14]; Zimbabwe [13]; Zambia [11]; Malawi [10]; Sierra Leone [9]; Cameroon [8]; Guyana [7]; South Africa [6]; Liberia [5]; Jamaica [4]; Tanzania [4]; Philippines [3]; Barbados [2]; Papua New Guinea [2].
 

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