Many homes in Europe and North America have large collections of books which have been read and loved but are no longer needed. People wonder if they could have a second life supporting education in schools in Africa. Logic suggests that this would be an obvious way to overcome the dearth of books in African schools. However, our experience suggests that shipping books is often not helpful and can even be detrimental.
Just a few years back Isaac Newton received an unsolicited delivery of many boxes of books from North America. With no shelving space to display the books and, given their peripheral relevance to the curriculum, the boxes of books remain to this day lining an entire wall of the already cramped headteacher’s office.
Over the years, UHST has received many enquiries from supporters to see if we can make use of their old books. Shipping costs and logistical problems have generally got in the way but there are a number of good reasons why it is not a good strategy.
Inappropriate content
In the immediate post-colonial period, the Ugandan curriculum and examinations reflected those in the UK and British textbooks were widely used. However, in the 63 years since independence great strides have been made to create a curriculum that is relevant to children growing up in Africa. Today, courses have been tailored to meet local needs. History focuses on Africa before and since colonialism. Geography has a strong emphasis on African landscapes and land use. Economics looks at the work of African banks and regional trading blocs such as the East African Community. English emphasises the works of African writers. Even Mathematics and the Sciences sets problems and applies concepts in African contexts.
Page with locally relevant content from a Ugandan English course book
European and North American textbooks are often of little relevance in Ugandan Schools. There is a growing body of impressive novels by modern African writers such as: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chinua Achebe, Miriama Bå, Aminatta Forna, Wangari Maathai, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Wole Soyinka. These take primacy in Uganda schools over mainstream modern and classic European and North American works.
At primary level, there are many wonderful books that might appear to be appropriate in Uganda but few have African role models or images and many make cultural references that mean little to children brought up in a village in rural Uganda.
2. Shipping Costs and Logistics
As a small charity with no paid staff, we do not have the time or resources to take in and ship books to Uganda. The logistic of packing and shipping are difficult enough at this end, but arranging sorting, collections and transport in Uganda is beyond the capacity of the Humanist schools. Furthermore, the expense of shipping makes it more practical to buy books from Uganda bookshops.
3. Impact on Local Publishing
Uganda and East Africa has a small but growing publishing sector. It commissions books of all kinds from local authors and provides income in the form of royalties. Furthermore, local publishers supply bookshops in Uganda, East Africa and beyond.
Sending second-hand and remaindered books from outside the country risks undermining this important embryonic sector.
4, Condition and Suitability of Books
As well as being irrelevant to schools, donated books can be outdated and, if soiled and damaged, do little to stimulate a love of books.
Organisations such as Book Aid international are no longer willing to accept donations of second-hand books for the reasons given above. Other charities, such as Oxfam, welcome donations of books, which they sell in the UK and use the proceeds to fund their development work. These days in Uganda it is possible to buy attractively produced full-colour textbooks, children’s story-books, novels and factual books written by local authors and tailored to the national curriculum. At UHST we feel that it is better to put funds in school accounts in local bookshops so that they can purchase these more appropriate books and support the emerging Ugandan book industry.
The first donation that Uganda Humanist Schools Trust gave to a Humanist school was £400 to buy books.
Opening books from Kampala bookshop
In the 17 years of our existence, we have prioritised the provision of books in schools by giving each school a dedicated annual allowance to spend.
In the early days, a teacher in one school said, “Why are you buying us books? We can tell students all they need to know.” While the standard of exposition and didactic teaching in Uganda is very high, it is not sufficient. Education in Humanist schools must equip students to become self-confident individuals who are equipped to do well in the adult world and make informed decisions in all aspects of their lives. Being able to read well is crucial to this. Reading empowers young people. It enables them to research and understand complex information, to examine the voracity of arguments and test them by reference to the best available evidence. Without these abilities, young people may fall prey to charismatic and persuasive individuals who may not have their best interests at heart. We saw this at Kanungu, where 800 people came under the spell of a deranged Ten Commandments evangelical preacher who led them to their deaths by burning in a locked church.
The schools’ initial focus was on buying textbooks to enhance learning in individual subjects. Books were kept in storerooms. They were scarce and precious, and their use was carefully regulated by a school librarian. Students were only allowed to borrow one book at a time, and this required the deposit of their school id card, which was given only to students who had paid their school fees. Often teachers did not have access to the textbooks, and this made it difficult for them prescribe out-of-class reading tasks for students. Class sets of books are still rare. Yet unless there is at least one book between 2 or 3 students it is difficult to organise textbook-centred learning activities within a normal lesson.
With restricted access to books, it was difficult for students to develop fluency in reading. We tried to overcome this by instituting a Reading for Pleasure Programme. UHST provided schools with money to buy attractive, well-written fiction and non-fiction books. Students were invited to read a few books over time and to choose a favourite one to write and talk about to other students. We had hoped that this would spread the reading habit.
Annual competitions were held and students giving the best presentations were awarded dictionaries. This proved for a time to be highly motivating.
For a young man named Cornerious Matege at Mustard Seed school, winning the Reading for Pleasure competition was life changing. It turned him on to reading and fired his enthusiasm for study. He went on to get good grades in his examinations and went on to university to study English and Education. Since graduating he has returned to Mustard Seed School where he teaches English and is patron to the students’ “Debaters and Writers Club”.
Mustard Seed School’s “Debaters & Writers Club” with Headteacher, Owen Kafambe, and English teacher and patron Cornerious Matege
The long school shutdowns during the Covid pandemic put an end to many school activities, including the Reading for Pleasure Programme. Though one or two schools are trying to revive it. But there are problems. With over 4000 students in the Humanist schools supported by UHST we are finding it difficult to keep up with the demand for books. So far in 2025 UHST has given grants of £5000 in books – but this is little more that £1 per child/student per year. As student numbers have grown, we are starting to fail in our historic mission to flood the Humanist schools with books. Consequently, very few classes have sufficient textbooks to enable them to be used for learning tasks within lessons. Instead, children must compete for access to the limited stocks in the school library. Furthermore, the imperative to buy textbooks has tended to push out the purchase of attractive fiction and non-fiction reading books to support Reading for Pleasure.
We are determined to rectify this situation. Each school has been asked to formulate a Book use and Reading Strategy document (links to these are below). UHST undertakes to do all we can to raise the funds need to raise the status of reading, which needs to be a distinguishing characteristic of Humanist schools, which place so much emphasis upon critical thinking and rational enquiry.
If you or your group would like to support the book development programme in the Humanist schools we would welcome donations towards this. Long-term commitments as standing orders or repeating donations on PayPal would be particularly helpful. Full details of how to make donation can be found here: https://ugandahumanistschoolstrust.org/donate/make-a-donation/.
Please note: We direct funds to school accounts in Ugandan bookshops. This enables schools to buy books that are locally relevant and supports Uganda authors and publishers. Our experience is that books shipped into the schools from abroad are rarely appropriate and little used.
Humanist Clubs are thriving in the Humanist schools in Uganda. Membership is voluntary and students join to have fun with friends while carrying out good works in school and in the community.
The current Chair at Isaac Newton’s Humanist Club is Mumbere Rafert. He was introduced to Humanism at Kasese Humanist Primary School and has gradually embraced a Humanist outlook on life. Rafert is a charismatic leader and has attracted over 100 members to the club. He has introduced formal committee procedures with agendas, minutes and reports to work out their action plans. They put signs up around school reminding students of the 10 Humanist Commitments. In the community they carry water and food for frail elderly people living alone, they give talks in local primary schools about Humanism and they have a number of health initiatives in the villages around. The group composed their own Humanist anthem which they sing at meetings and events. Below are some pictures of them at work:
Rafert addressing Humanist Club
One of the Humanist signs
Taking care of the frail elderly
The clubs are doing such a good job in promoting Humanist values that UHST has started to make available small levels of financial support to encourage their efforts. Each club is asked to work out a realistic programme of activities based upon the 10 Humanist Commitments outlined by the American Humanist Association. Below is the proposal that we will be funding from the children at Katumba Parents’ Humanist Primary School.
Children of Katumba Parents’ Humanist Primary School beneath the 10 Humanist Commitments
Posted: July 24, 2025 by Steve Hurd
Why sending second-hand books to Africa is unhelpful
Many homes in Europe and North America have large collections of books which have been read and loved but are no longer needed. People wonder if they could have a second life supporting education in schools in Africa. Logic suggests that this would be an obvious way to overcome the dearth of books in African schools. However, our experience suggests that shipping books is often not helpful and can even be detrimental.
Just a few years back Isaac Newton received an unsolicited delivery of many boxes of books from North America. With no shelving space to display the books and, given their peripheral relevance to the curriculum, the boxes of books remain to this day lining an entire wall of the already cramped headteacher’s office.
Over the years, UHST has received many enquiries from supporters to see if we can make use of their old books. Shipping costs and logistical problems have generally got in the way but there are a number of good reasons why it is not a good strategy.
In the immediate post-colonial period, the Ugandan curriculum and examinations reflected those in the UK and British textbooks were widely used. However, in the 63 years since independence great strides have been made to create a curriculum that is relevant to children growing up in Africa. Today, courses have been tailored to meet local needs. History focuses on Africa before and since colonialism. Geography has a strong emphasis on African landscapes and land use. Economics looks at the work of African banks and regional trading blocs such as the East African Community. English emphasises the works of African writers. Even Mathematics and the Sciences sets problems and applies concepts in African contexts.
European and North American textbooks are often of little relevance in Ugandan Schools. There is a growing body of impressive novels by modern African writers such as: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chinua Achebe, Miriama Bå, Aminatta Forna, Wangari Maathai, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Wole Soyinka. These take primacy in Uganda schools over mainstream modern and classic European and North American works.
At primary level, there are many wonderful books that might appear to be appropriate in Uganda but few have African role models or images and many make cultural references that mean little to children brought up in a village in rural Uganda.
2. Shipping Costs and Logistics
As a small charity with no paid staff, we do not have the time or resources to take in and ship books to Uganda. The logistic of packing and shipping are difficult enough at this end, but arranging sorting, collections and transport in Uganda is beyond the capacity of the Humanist schools. Furthermore, the expense of shipping makes it more practical to buy books from Uganda bookshops.
3. Impact on Local Publishing
Uganda and East Africa has a small but growing publishing sector. It commissions books of all kinds from local authors and provides income in the form of royalties. Furthermore, local publishers supply bookshops in Uganda, East Africa and beyond.
Sending second-hand and remaindered books from outside the country risks undermining this important embryonic sector.
4, Condition and Suitability of Books
As well as being irrelevant to schools, donated books can be outdated and, if soiled and damaged, do little to stimulate a love of books.
Organisations such as Book Aid international are no longer willing to accept donations of second-hand books for the reasons given above. Other charities, such as Oxfam, welcome donations of books, which they sell in the UK and use the proceeds to fund their development work. These days in Uganda it is possible to buy attractively produced full-colour textbooks, children’s story-books, novels and factual books written by local authors and tailored to the national curriculum. At UHST we feel that it is better to put funds in school accounts in local bookshops so that they can purchase these more appropriate books and support the emerging Ugandan book industry.
Posted: July 23, 2025 by Steve Hurd
Urgent Need for Books in Humanist Schools
The first donation that Uganda Humanist Schools Trust gave to a Humanist school was £400 to buy books.
In the 17 years of our existence, we have prioritised the provision of books in schools by giving each school a dedicated annual allowance to spend.
In the early days, a teacher in one school said, “Why are you buying us books? We can tell students all they need to know.” While the standard of exposition and didactic teaching in Uganda is very high, it is not sufficient. Education in Humanist schools must equip students to become self-confident individuals who are equipped to do well in the adult world and make informed decisions in all aspects of their lives. Being able to read well is crucial to this. Reading empowers young people. It enables them to research and understand complex information, to examine the voracity of arguments and test them by reference to the best available evidence. Without these abilities, young people may fall prey to charismatic and persuasive individuals who may not have their best interests at heart. We saw this at Kanungu, where 800 people came under the spell of a deranged Ten Commandments evangelical preacher who led them to their deaths by burning in a locked church.
The schools’ initial focus was on buying textbooks to enhance learning in individual subjects. Books were kept in storerooms. They were scarce and precious, and their use was carefully regulated by a school librarian. Students were only allowed to borrow one book at a time, and this required the deposit of their school id card, which was given only to students who had paid their school fees. Often teachers did not have access to the textbooks, and this made it difficult for them prescribe out-of-class reading tasks for students. Class sets of books are still rare. Yet unless there is at least one book between 2 or 3 students it is difficult to organise textbook-centred learning activities within a normal lesson.
With restricted access to books, it was difficult for students to develop fluency in reading. We tried to overcome this by instituting a Reading for Pleasure Programme. UHST provided schools with money to buy attractive, well-written fiction and non-fiction books. Students were invited to read a few books over time and to choose a favourite one to write and talk about to other students. We had hoped that this would spread the reading habit.
Annual competitions were held and students giving the best presentations were awarded dictionaries. This proved for a time to be highly motivating.
For a young man named Cornerious Matege at Mustard Seed school, winning the Reading for Pleasure competition was life changing. It turned him on to reading and fired his enthusiasm for study. He went on to get good grades in his examinations and went on to university to study English and Education. Since graduating he has returned to Mustard Seed School where he teaches English and is patron to the students’ “Debaters and Writers Club”.
The long school shutdowns during the Covid pandemic put an end to many school activities, including the Reading for Pleasure Programme. Though one or two schools are trying to revive it. But there are problems. With over 4000 students in the Humanist schools supported by UHST we are finding it difficult to keep up with the demand for books. So far in 2025 UHST has given grants of £5000 in books – but this is little more that £1 per child/student per year. As student numbers have grown, we are starting to fail in our historic mission to flood the Humanist schools with books. Consequently, very few classes have sufficient textbooks to enable them to be used for learning tasks within lessons. Instead, children must compete for access to the limited stocks in the school library. Furthermore, the imperative to buy textbooks has tended to push out the purchase of attractive fiction and non-fiction reading books to support Reading for Pleasure.
We are determined to rectify this situation. Each school has been asked to formulate a Book use and Reading Strategy document (links to these are below). UHST undertakes to do all we can to raise the funds need to raise the status of reading, which needs to be a distinguishing characteristic of Humanist schools, which place so much emphasis upon critical thinking and rational enquiry.
School Reading Strategy Documents
Katumba Parents’ Humanist Primary School
Isaac Newton Humanist Schools
Kasese Humanist Schools
Eagle’s View Humanist Primary School
Mustard Seed Humanist Schools
Make a donation..
If you or your group would like to support the book development programme in the Humanist schools we would welcome donations towards this. Long-term commitments as standing orders or repeating donations on PayPal would be particularly helpful. Full details of how to make donation can be found here: https://ugandahumanistschoolstrust.org/donate/make-a-donation/.
Please note: We direct funds to school accounts in Ugandan bookshops. This enables schools to buy books that are locally relevant and supports Uganda authors and publishers. Our experience is that books shipped into the schools from abroad are rarely appropriate and little used.
Posted: April 7, 2025 by Steve Hurd
Support for Humanist Clubs
Humanist Clubs are thriving in the Humanist schools in Uganda. Membership is voluntary and students join to have fun with friends while carrying out good works in school and in the community.
The current Chair at Isaac Newton’s Humanist Club is Mumbere Rafert. He was introduced to Humanism at Kasese Humanist Primary School and has gradually embraced a Humanist outlook on life. Rafert is a charismatic leader and has attracted over 100 members to the club. He has introduced formal committee procedures with agendas, minutes and reports to work out their action plans. They put signs up around school reminding students of the 10 Humanist Commitments. In the community they carry water and food for frail elderly people living alone, they give talks in local primary schools about Humanism and they have a number of health initiatives in the villages around. The group composed their own Humanist anthem which they sing at meetings and events. Below are some pictures of them at work:
The clubs are doing such a good job in promoting Humanist values that UHST has started to make available small levels of financial support to encourage their efforts. Each club is asked to work out a realistic programme of activities based upon the 10 Humanist Commitments outlined by the American Humanist Association. Below is the proposal that we will be funding from the children at Katumba Parents’ Humanist Primary School.