Literature For All

Players of People's Postcode Lottery have so far raised over £1.8 Million for Book Aid International, and the charity is using those funds to change millions of lives through reading. 

Book Aid International exists because around the globe, millions of people live in a world without books. Children grow up never knowing the joy of being read a story, students must try to learn with only a tattered text that they must share and adults cannot access the information that might help them create a more prosperous future. 

Books Save Lives

A single book can transform hundreds of lives. A phonics book can ensure class after class of children learn to read, one medical text in the hands of a midwife can save the lives of dozens of mothers and a beautiful children's book can bring joyful stories to countless youngsters. 

Thanks to players, 2018 saw Book Aid International distribute more brand new, carefully selected books than ever before. They sent 1.28 million books to thousands of libraries, schools, refugee camps, hospitals and universities in 25 countries.

But Book Aid International doesn't just send books. Through player support it also trains teachers and librarians in how to encourage children's reading, creates school libraries and refurbishes library spaces. This creates havens where children's reading can flourish. 

Inspiring Readers In Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is emerging from more than a decade of civil war and the Ebola epidemic. The country's infrastructure is in crisis and many schools were destroyed and looted. 

Sierra Leone is rebuilding, but too many children's experience of school is still a room crowded with students who must sit on the floor and learn from what the teacher writes on the blackboards. 

But thanks to our players, 15,000 children's classrooms have been transformed. Through Inspiring Readers Book Aid International has set up a school library in each school stocked with beautiful, brand new books. Teachers have been trained in how to use these books to support children's learnings and the charity has connected every school with a local children's librarian.

Teachers have seen a 61% increase in pupils' ability to read at grade level and children are discovering a new joy in reading and learning: 

11 year old Fatmata, a primary school student from Makeni, said, "Reading makes us feel happy. Sometimes when I read my book at home that I have borrowed from the school library my sister helps me know the words that I don't know how to pronounce."