Reaching refugees

In refugee camps, books are never easy to find

Right now, more people are displaced from their homes than ever before.

Every day, more and more families arrive in refugee camps worldwide, often with only the clothes they are wearing and the few possessions they have been able to carry. 

For those families, the value of books cannot be overstated.

A non-fiction book can help children hold on to their potential, or can help adults believe the life they have always wanted is still within reach. A story book can help whole families escape the trauma of the journey they have endured together. 

So we’re more determined than ever to reach more refugees – and especially women and girls, who face the greatest barriers to reading and learning.

How we reach refugees

We’re already working with partners across Africa, Europe and the Middle East to offer thousands of people who have fled conflicts the chance to read and learn. 

In Greece, our partners create safe spaces where refugees can take time away from the stresses of camp life, and our books give people the chance to learn and take time for themselves. Since 2016, we’ve provided 39,963 books to refugees in Greece.

We also support refugees sheltering in Africa. Kenya and Uganda alone host almost three million refugees and asylumn seekers. Many arrive not speaking English, and must learn the language as well as a new educational system while also facing over-crowded classrooms with only a few few tattered textbooks. Through our Reading for All programme, we’ve been able to create 117 refugee school libraries across both countries, supporting 125,895 young refugees. 

We also have partnerships with organisations that support refugees and internally displaced people in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Nigeria and Uganda. And, in Cameroon, our portable Discovery Book Boxes help children learn, wherever they are.