grew out of a desire to give back to Uganda but its really a story of a young girl called Kapiipi. She requested for a book that was written by her uncle, a US professor of political science. But the book was for very advanced and for political scientists. She turned down money and other goodies appropriate for her age in favor of her uncles book--Regime Hegemony in Museveni's Uganda: Pax Museveni
ca. When asked why, she said, "...you don't understand uncle, there is nothing to read here". That night the idea was born to begin a non profit company whose goal would be to ship books from the States to Uganda and thus alleviate the scarcity of reading materials especially for the young people. Along the way this would help build a reading culture. The objective was to stock public libraries and those in primary/secondary schools. The founder, Joshua B. Rubongoya quickly teamed up with his good friend and attorney, Mike Pace who helped begin the long and arduous task of applying for tax exemption status from the US Federal government. Tax exemption was finally granted, October 2, 2012 and with that Books4Uganda, Inc. was granted 501(c) (3) status. Pace is on the board of the company. The story setting shifts to a bus ride in Glasgow, Scotland where I met Mr. Per Olof Kippel. a Swedish architect who signed onto the idea/project as soon as he heard the general idea. Per Olof is a board member! The summer of 2013 was devoted to setting up social media outlets and in particular providing an easy way to enable tax deductible contributions via the internet. This phase took shape while in Uganda during my leave away from Roanoke College. Several book lovers soon took up the idea, volunteering to do whatever it took to bring the basic idea to life on the ground in Uganda. They included: A Pacutho, A. Akatukunda, J. Nakibuuka and most notably, self proclaimed girlgeek and web designer, Eva Muhanguzi. Eva almost single handedly designed the website, page and linkedin pages. Pending financial contributions from well wishers, friends and relatives, the first container of books should arrive in Uganda by end of 2015. The story of Books4Uganda, Inc. continues to unfold both in the US and in Uganda as distribution centers are established and finally as young bright faces begin to make contact with the books. Used books will create a bond between young Americans and their counterparts in Uganda.
