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As 2020, with all of its challenges, draws to a close, a Minnesota nonprofit is celebrating some good news. A longstanding effort focusing on donating books to communities across the African continent saw its 50 millionth item sent this week.

Before the end of the month, a child in Ghana will receive a book called "Kofi Loves Music," by Artika Tyner. The book, a story about a little boy's love of music and family, will be the 50 millionth book donated by St. Paul nonprofit ¿ìèÊÓƵ to students and people across the continent. The book will travel from the Twin Cities all the way to Ghana along with thousands of other books.

Local news provider KSTP recently visited ¿ìèÊÓƵ's warehouse to cover the success of reaching the milestone of sending the 50 millionth book to Africa. Check out the coverage in the video!

When I visited a new library in Uganda in 1988 and discovered its empty shelves, I had no idea that 32 years later Books For Africa (¿ìèÊÓƵ) would be shipping its 50 millionth book to the African continent.

¿ìèÊÓƵ — a St. Paul nonprofit founded in 1988 that is the largest shipper of donated library and textbooks to the African continent — this month will mark its 50 millionth book sent.

¿ìèÊÓƵ (¿ìèÊÓƵ) will be shipping its 50 millionth book to Africa by the end of 2020. Quite an achievement for a Saint-Paul based organization that started in 1989 with a simple mission: End the book famine in Africa. In 1988, Tom Warth visited a library in Uganda and saw that books were almost non-existent, and the few that occupied the shelves were tattered and worn. Returning to Saint Paul, he started ¿ìèÊÓƵ in an effort to provide education through books to African students of all ages.