U.S. Embassy Donates Books to Ethiopian Educational Institutions and Libraries

November 15, 2007
No. 53/07

[U.S. Embassy, Addis Ababa] – United States Ambassador to Ethiopia, Donald Yamamoto, today presented over 30,000 American textbooks to universities, libraries, and other educational institutions and libraries throughout Ethiopia.  Donated by the Brother’s Brother Foundation (BBF) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the books are new and are the same books in use in universities and high schools across the United States.  The subjects of these textbooks are mainly medicine, information technology, business management, the sciences, art and literature, and English.

Speaking at a press conference at the U.S. Embassy attended by representatives of the nine universities receiving the books, Ambassador Yamamoto said, “In this year of the Ethiopian Millennium, the U.S. government and the American people are making a special effort to support education at all levels in Ethiopia.  For the youth of this country, education is more important than ever in enabling them to face the challenges of development and integration into the global economy and we are pleased to support that effort.  These books provided by Brother’s Brother Foundation symbolize the people to people connections that make the Ethiopian-American relationship so strong and it is one that will only grow stronger with the next generation in the new Millennium.”

The nine colleges and universities receiving books are the Public Service College of Oromia, the PAN Abyssinian College, the Universal Medical College, CPU College, Admas University College, Queens College, Bethel Medical College, Atlanta College, and Medco Bio-Medical College.  BBF provided these books at the request of the receiving institutions and the shipment to Ethiopia was funded by USAID.

BBF is a non-profit organization that provides books, food, medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, and other humanitarian assistance around the world.  Since its founding in 1958, it has provided over 58 million books to more than 25 million students in over 50,000 academic institutions throughout the globe.  It is the largest distributor of privately-donated books in the world.

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