a plug for south africa

one of my best friends and former college roommate is finishing up her peace corps experience in south africa in about five months. her experience has been incredibly exciting and productive from all that i've heard, and she's been doing incredible work developing curriculum for teachers around her home village.

she's long been working on developing libraries for her schools, and recently was accepted into grant program. of course, there's an expected contribution to receive the grant. in her own words:

Another success, was the acceptance of both of my schools into the Books for Peace Project, a collaboration with Peace Corps and Books for Africa. For each donation request, Books for Africa donates a shipping container full of 20,000 books. The only catch is that the receiving organization must fund the transport, which most organizations can't do alone. So two of my fellow PC volunteers decided to arrange for a program in which volunteers would share the burden of the cost, and the benefit of the books. Each school will receive 733 books but first each institution must raise R1900 ($190) and each volunteer is then expected to raise $270 per school on the PCPP website and $125 per school on the Books for Africa website from friends and family at home. This means that I need to raise $790 in total by 02 May 2009.

if you feel compelled to help her out, the link to donate is here. its a nice, direct way to donate to a definite need, and i can certainly attest to anne's ability to ensure the money is put to best use.