About Us

Pelican Post is an exciting new postal service that allows you to send books directly to schools in Africa.

Mission:

Our mission is to inspire and educate young minds in Africa by providing a channel for people to send books directly to schools in Africa to help stimulate a culture of reading and learning in every school we work with.

Goals:

The project is currently in its pilot phase and is focussed on supporting 12 schools in five African countries.

The six-month pilot phase runs from 9th July to 9th January 2010. The goal for the pilot is to send 20 copies of several specially selected early learning books and children's novels to 12 different schools across the five countries chosen for the pilot. After the pilot phase is complete, we will expand the number of schools, books and countries covered.

With your help we can achieve this and send a minimum of 3000 books to Africa by January, impacting thousands of children.

Books:

The books are all in English and are culturally appropriate for African children. Considerable effort and thought has also gone into drawing up a final selection of proposed reading books with each of the project's partners and with the charity Book Aid International. Book Aid International have years of experience in coordinating the distribution of books and other appropriate reading materials throughout Africa and the rest of the Developing World. Read more about Book Aid International.

Schools:

Currently we have limited the pilot project to 12 schools with whom we have developed a working relationship, and who have expressed a direct interest of becoming involved. As a result, we are able to closely monitor progress as to the number and type of books received within our target schools and understand the impact the books have.

Background:

The scheme was launched in June 2009 and is the brainchild of Nick Johnson, who was initially inspired to do something to help literacy in Africa following his personal experiences of working in a school in Uganda with Raleigh International.  Several years later and following a chance meeting with Anita Roddick, Nick subsequently put his idea into action whilst undertaking a self expression and leadership course run by Landmark Education in London.

The Pelican Post Project is not supported or affiliated with any religious or political organisations. We are simply a group of friends participating in a community project with an ambitious goal to see what difference we can make to an identified group of communities through our individual networks of friends and colleagues.

To help us achieve our objectives, we have sought advice and support from a number of charities involved in the distribution of books and in raising education and literacy levels in Africa. For more information on the partnering charities please visit our links page.

Why the Name "Pelican Post"?

We have chosen the Pelican as the symbol for a number of reasons. Firstly, the Pelican - despite often being associated with coastal regions - is widespread throughout equatorial and sub-Saharan Africa and in many areas can frequently be seen on inland lakes, river banks and other waterways in central Africa.

Secondly, it seems to be a fitting metaphor for our postal project. Pelicans are one of the largest and heaviest birds on the planet. Yet despite their size and bulk, they are still able to travel great distances to search for new fishing and breeding grounds. It may take them some time to get there but wherever there is fish to be found, they eventually settle.

Like the Pelican, our project aims to have a spectacular impact by playing the numbers game. The more individuals involved in the project, the greater the impact in raising literacy, hope and imagination for an innumerable number of lives.

Every now and again a small idea comes along which has the potential to make a big difference. The Pelican Post is one of those. I'll certainly be supporting it and I hope many others do, too.