"A" is for Africa
Funding
The project
What we are building here
Makutano Primary & Junior School sits near Kathonzweni Town in rural Makueni County. Its challenge is not a lack of enthusiasm for learning but a lack of resources to match it. Books & Beyond and A is for Africa propose converting a released 30ft × 25ft classroom into a library for 48 learners at a time, stocked with an initial collection of about 1,000 books spanning PP1 to Grade 9.
Project at a glance
453
Learners at the school
—
Books donated
Being counted
Kathonzweni
Makueni County, Kenya
Phase 3
Delivery phase
The journey
The Makutano Primary & Junior School journey
Every project moves through the same seven steps. Here is where this one has got to.
- The school asked — done
- We worked out what was needed — done
- Raising the money — in progress
- Collecting the books — still to come
- Building the library — still to come
- The doors opened — still to come
- Handed over to the school — still to come
Where we are now — Raising the money
We are still raising what this library needs. This is the stage where help makes the most difference.
What happened, and when
-
Date not recorded
We worked out what was needed
- Needs assessment completed
- Partnership proposal issued to A is for Africa
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Date not recorded In progress
Raising the money
- Fundraising, donor outreach and European school book drives
What changed
The Transformation
Drag the handle to see the same room before and after.
The after photo is not up yet
While it was being built
Most of this work was done by people who live nearby.
Where it stands now
No functioning library. Roughly 50 donated storybooks, mainly for Grades 1–3. No central place to store, catalogue or lend books. Classes run at roughly 45–50 learners each.
Kenya's curriculum
What the library means for learners here
Makutano has embraced digital learning — 52 government devices, though only about 25 still work and have to be shared between classes.
A library complements that rather than competing with it. CBC asks learners to research, question and create, and none of that is possible from a textbook alone.
Pathways this library supports:
🔬 STEM
🎨 Arts & Sports
How CBC shapes every library we build
Photos & Videos
1 item, in the order things happened
Around the school 1
Makutano Primary & Junior School, Kathonzweni
Who helped here
This library exists because these people said yes.