Wandi Steward, Project Director
The Afrikan Baby Book Project began in 2020 during the height of Covid when founder, Wandi Steward, on a casual visit to a children’s home in Arusha (Tanzania) noted with dismay, that the children only had access to decommissioned textbooks and storybooks donated from the west. The books were ancient, tattered and contained unrelatable characters and storylines that did not align with their African experiences or values. The Afrikan Baby Book Project emerged from this encounter.
After purchasing the entire inventory of a local author to deliver Afrikan Heroes to the school, Wandi with support from the Whittier Sunrise Rotary Club, Omega Psi Phi’s, Omicron Rho Chapter and Delta Airlines donated 200 Tanzanian authored books to 14 different orphanages in Arusha. The response of the children and their caregivers was so overwhelmingly positive that Wandi was moved to do more, hence the birth of the Afrikan Baby Book Project.
The Afrikan Baby Book Project collects Afrikan-inspired books containing positive Afrikan characters and leadership role models for distribution to pre-school and primary school children in Arusha (Tanzania) and Kigali (Rwanda). Each Afrikan Baby Book delivered is carefully considered for it’s potential to enhance the child’s self-esteem, self-determination and self-reliance
The Afrikan Baby Book Project seeks to enhance literacy initiatives by delivering culturally appropriate children’s books that more accurately and positively impact Afrikan children’s perceptions of themselves and their environment.
We invite you to contribute to the long-term development of the Afrikan continent by donating Afrikan Baby Books that will spark curiosity, inspire confidence and creativity, while encouraging compassion and critical thinking.
Since 2020 the Afrikan Baby Book Project has served over 1,200 children, from pre-school to 14 years old at,
- 12 villages
- 4 literacy centers
- 2 beauty salons
- 2 Little Free Libraries
- 2 Day Care Centers
- 1 primary school
In Tanzania and Rwanda.
Book drives led by schools, faith-based organizations, fraternities/sororities and civic organizations have been the backbone of the Afrikan Baby Book Project’s success.
Please contact Wandi Steward at wandi@worldspacefoundation.org to learn how you and your organization may contribute to the Afrikan Baby Book Project to SUSTAINABLY elevate literacy and alleviate poverty in East Africa.
Your monetary donation to the World Space Foundation (to defray the cost of obtaining and transporting the books) may be submitted here:
Tanzania & Rwanda
The Afrikan Baby Book Project seeks to alleviate brain drain in East Afrika by enhancing literacy initiatives with culturally appropriate children’s books.
Container-loads of ancient western books promote the current famine of Afrikan authored books and negatively impacts Afrikan children’s perceptions of themselves and their environment. The Afrikan Baby Book Project collects Afrikan-inspired books containing positive characters and role models for distribution to primary school children in Arusha(Tanzania) and Kigali (Rwanda). Each Afrikan Baby Book delivered is carefully considered for it’s potential to boost the readers self-esteem, self-determination and self-reliance.
We invite you to contribute to the long-term development of the Afrikan continent by donating Black Baby Books that will spark curiosity, inspire confidence and creativity, and encourage compassion and critical thinking.
A project of the World Space Foundation in concert with the Whittier Sunrise Rotary Club.