SO MANY BOOKS!

People who hear about the need for books often collect them from their friends and neighbors to donate. Others collect books as a hobby and share them with us, or do book drives through their churches or schools. The more people who hear about what we do, the more individual book sources we have!

Whether public, school or church libraries, we rely heavily on them to provide us with books that they may be purging or replacing. If you have a local or school library, feel free to contact them to see if they will give you the books they are getting rid of. Then contact us to coordinate collection.

Some books are better tools for reading than others, especially for students at varied reading levels. There are also reading games that are invaluable for helping students learn sight words and other important reading concepts, as well as solid Biblical teaching. These books and resources on our  Amazon wish list  can be purchased and sent directly to KanKen for shipping to Kenya. 

While we concentrate heavily on elementary reading materials, we generally serve students up through grade 8. Teachers and adults in the community also make use of the library. So, while our greatest need is for early reading levels, books at all levels are welcome. 

All students in Kenya learn English in the government schools. However, many are in the early stages of reading in general, and reading English is a new challenge. Providing English to Swahili and Swahili to English dictionaries helps students who are navigating two languages to learn new vocabulary. 

Because there are students at different reading levels, reading success is important. While the majority of the library books are in English, having books in both English and Swahili allows students to get comfortable reading in both languages and further develop a culture of reading.  

Teachers at the local schools are finding the library to be a wonderful supplement to their textbooks because students can go to the library to do extended reading on varied topics. Students also love reading these books on their own. So, books on science, math, geography, history, etc. at different reading levels are perfect for donating.

One of the biggest tasks we have at KanKen is reviewing every book that is donated before it is catalogued, labeled and shipped. We scan books for sound Biblical teaching (if relevant), inappropriate content, and any references to macro-evolution, in particular. We also ensure there are no culturally inappropriate references or unsuitable war/violence related content. 

• Whether you are donating your own books or collecting from multiple people, gather all of the books and put them in sturdy boxes. 
• If possible, ensure that all books are in good condition and discard any that are not.
• If possible, do a cursory pre-sort for content and sort books according to reading level.
• Call KanKen at (913) 206-3399 or email kankenconnect@gmail.com to schedule a time to deliver the books. If you cannot bring the books to us, we will schedule a time to pick them up.
• If mailing books via media mail, send to: 787 Kentucky Road, Princeton, Kansas 66078

If you have a library that would like to donate its discarded books to KanKen, please have them contact us at (913) 206-3399 or email kankenconnect@gmail.com to schedule collection or provide us with their contact information so we can reach out to them. 

CLICK HERE TO SHOP from KanKen's Amazon wish list. Select the items you want to purchase and check out. The KanKen gift registry address should be selected for shipping. 

There are several types of specialty books that we buy personally to place in the libraries. These include the Swahili books, relatable African stories, government school curriculum books, and others. If you would like to give towards the purchase of these specialty books, you can make a donation HERE and designate your gift in the comments sections.