SOME OF THE LATEST NEWS:
For more about Africa and literacy, read Doris Lessing’s December 2007 acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize.
Attention all U.S. donors: postal rates increased on May 14, making our work more difficult. The U.S. Postal Service eliminated the M-bag possibility, both surface and mail, for books to Kenya.
The most economical way to send your books from the U.S. is by FLAT RATE BOX. You can pick up these boxes free of charge at the post office or make sure you mail your books in a square box. Twenty pounds or less of books mailed to Kenya will cost $37 at the post office, or $35.15 if you purchase your postage online. But if the box weighs above 20 pounds, the cost spikes up because priority mailing kicks in. For example, mailing 25 pounds of books to Kenya costs $126.75. SO better to keep each individual box of books at 20 pounds or less. Otherwise, mailing your donations could become prohibitively expensive.
Donors from other countries and continents: please check your mailing rates.
THANK YOU for all your contributions, which are making a difference in this region.
12 Comments »
Leave a comment
HOW and WHERE to donate books or money (including what kinds of books to send, and what not to send.)
Wish Lists: Amazon, Powell’s, Swahili, Swahili, Somali, Somali
The language question: Why books in English?
Camel bookmobile photographs.
Camel bookmobile video.
Camel Book Drive on BBC Radio
The Camel Bookmobile reviews
Story behind the book, and invented mosquito quotes
Email from the real camel librarian, Mr. Farah.
Emails from donors.
Camel Book Drive 
[…] parcel post, which involves boat transport and arrives after four to six weeks. See more under Latest News. If you have those books piled in a corner and are planning to get them out the door soon, you […]
Pingback by Attention All Donors « Camel Book Drive | May 6, 2007 |
I am a published author in AMERICA. I am interested in donating in donating books to this book drive.
The shipping from Canada is NOT $37. I have been researching in depth and there is no cheaper way to send books to the camel library from canada other than canada post. This costs approximately $100 per 20lb box. You should really put this information on your website, because I collected 1500 books specifically for your cause based on the shipping information on your websiting thinking i could ship them for $37 and obviously that is not the case.
Yes, thank you, Jess. Most of you who have sent from other countries have checked your country mailing rate, but I do not have mailing rates from other countries or continents, so PLEASE check mailing rates. And if anyone has a suggestion for Jess, let us know, and thanks.
Just wanted to let you know that I will be shipping off a box of books tomorrow 9/6/08. I think this is a wonderful idea and hope to be able to contribute again in the future.
God Bless. Deborah in NY
Hi, I am an independent book shop owner in the British Channel Islands and I am also a huge HUGE fan of camels since trekking through the desert in Jordan earlier this year. What better I thought, when I spotted the Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton! Books and camels in one story! Then I began to find out more about the work you do in Kenya and I am hooked! Whatever I can do to help I will. Congratulations on your hard efforts and good work.
Good news for the Camel Bookmobile! An extract from the book was used to test candidates’ comprehension of English this year in a baccalauréat exam at the end of high school in France. So some of my students here have learnt about your wonderful project and about Kenya by researching on the net. We wish you continuing success with the project.
I ordered books from an American bookseller to be shipped to Tanzania. They said they cannot send books directly to Dar es salaam, Tanzania. I opted to send by consolidation to South Africa. This has been my saddest experience, at time of this writting I ordered books in August up to now. No books delivered… Almost impossible to get books from USA to Africa.
If US Postal can offer FLAT RATE BOOK for around $ 37.00 to Kenya, just close to Tanzania, then this is a welcome news.
However, my problem is how to find someone to act as my forwarder in America and go to US Postal and utilize this service.
Could possibly someone offer to assist to this? This could be a major business for someone interested to start small scale distribution services to importers from Africa and other parts of world.
03/13/2009 I have been looking at the website and see that there are no recent posts or updates. Is the camel book drive still active? I saw no new books listed on the wish lists of either Powell or Amazon. Sometime this year I hope to give some support to this wonderful mobile library service, but I need to make sure everything is functioning well (especially after reading the email comment no. 8, posted 11/11/2008, about the difficulty of getting books delivered to the library).
With all good wishes for the camel library’s success.
It is late in the year and I have 2 more flat rate boxes to send. I, too, wish to know if all is going well. The last shown on here is for last year. As soon as I hear, I will send the 2-3 boxes.
I have sent at least two boxes this year. I hope you received them. Thank you and my prayers are with you all.
Are you still taking book donations?
Our elementary school has collected books to send, and I wanted to make sure you are still receiving books at the same address before I ship them. We had a wonderful response, and I am looking forward to sending the books on to you.
Thank you,
Laura Adams