KTDA Foundation receives books from donors for empowering communities around tea growing zones. Corporate Affairs members sort out books for dispatch to Kangaita, Imenti and Gitugi libraries
The International Book Project, USA, has donated to KTDA Foundation a consignment of books that will be stocked in three libraries being set up by the Foundation and its partners.
The books were received by KTDA Foundation Manager, Jaki Mathaga, on behalf of Kenya Tea Development Agency Holdings (KTDA-H), after they arrived in Nairobi in a forty-foot container on September 17, 2015. About 19,000 copies will be shelved at community libraries in Kangaita, Gitugi and Imenti while the rest have been donated to some schools around the country.
The Books for the Community project is aimed at empowering the youth and promoting literacy in tea-growing areas, and is part of KTDA’s Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative (CSI) under its education pillar. The books came in at a time when KTDA and partners had just finished constructing the libraries that are hoped to improve the standards of education across all levels amongst learners in tea growing zones.
The Kangaita library is a joint collaboration between KTDA and a Japanese tea buying company, Zensho Limited, as part of their initiatives to improve literacy amongst the community. The Gitugi library is a project of KTDA Foundation and Taylors of Harrogate while Imenti library is a project of KTDA Foundation and the Fair Trade Movement.
An additional 15 cartons of social studies books and story books have been donated by the Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB) to support these efforts that promise a new beginning for these communities. Currently, the books are being sorted and verified by KTDA Foundation and will be dispatched to the three libraries ahead of the official opening later in the year.
Ms. Mathaga said that libraries harbor the foundation of knowledge, books – which scholars have fed on over the years – to provoke thoughts and generate creative ideas that have led to the creation of new innovations. She added that books are “temples of reading” where “a fair proportion of thoughtful books are taken and digested.”
“Books enrich human minds with knowledge such that we can create any possibilities that drift into our imaginations. Libraries inform thinking, which in turn inform creativity and innovation. Without libraries, the world would drag its feet in its quest to fulfill the needs of human beings,” Mathaga said.
The KTDA Foundation supports education and advocates for a reformed future society. The Foundation has sponsored 240 students to advance their studies in various secondary schools in the country. The Foundation is the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of KTDA-H.