None of our children have ever owned a book. Most of their parents have never owned a book either.
"It takes a village to raise a child"
Imagine that for a moment, a young brain, its neurons searching for new connection, connections built through new inputs, inspired by curiosity, that cannot access creative storytelling and imagination. How does a healthy adult mind develop fully out of this scarcity? The short answer, it’s a struggle. And the impact on society? Huge.
You didn’t grow up that way, neither did we. So we’re fixing it, and we’re excited to have you join us. We’ve published a guideline below. It is a working document. We would love to scale the program and welcome your support and ideas.
Please reach out on hello@littlelions.life, subject: The Slum Library.
A few things to consider as you choose which books to send:
📕 We’re looking for books for children aged between 2 - 13 years old.
📗 We have a preference for books that are high value, lower weight. Most books pass this bar, but occasionally you’ll find a book that is high weight, low value and not worth sending.
📘 When you’re choosing which books to send, just remember that our children have had NO books, so something that might feel not very interesting to you, will be interesting to them.
📙 Please only send books in English or Kiswahili.
🚗 Please only send toys that feel like they will last a long time, and are high value. Toy cars, lego, stuffed animals are great,
🃏 A tiny plastic toy from a Happy Meal is less interesting.
Our program is currently only operating from the UK, although we would love to get a similar program up and running in the US. Here is what to do when posting from the UK:
📦 Order your boxes off of Amazon, here.
🔐 Package up your books and toys as best you can, making sure that the boxes are well taped up.☎️ Contact the freight company at +44 20 8004 8661 to let them know that you are mailing boxes to them.
📬 Mail your box(es) to:
Jambo Cargo
Access house
1 Nestle avenue
Hayes London
UB3 4UZ
+44 20 8004 8661
Each box labelled
M Jaffer
Nairobi
Air freight.
✈️ Air freight - £7 per Kg and £25 handling fees per luggage at Heathrow. Delivery time is ten days.
📫 Make sure to put the delivery address as follows, and include your details as the sender so that we can let you know when we receive it all.
Belinda Tuju
Little Lions
Hse 32, Olympic Estate
Kibera, Nairobi Kenya.
Telephone number: 01150940390788537885/0723692930
There are 250,000 people living in Kibera slum, and millions more in informal urban settlements across Nairobi. You can never send us enough books and toys. We would love to build an ongoing relationship with you that results in you and your friends playing an active ongoing role in this migration of toys and books.
If that thought interests you, please let us know, either via belinda@littlelions.life or julian@littlelions.life
Finally, THANK YOU. Thank you for caring, for taking action over just words, and for joining us on this mission. We are deeply appreciative.
For just $600 per year, $50 per month, you can help provide school uniforms, supplies and nutritious meals to change the course of a child’s life by supporting their education.
DONE
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