AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE KIGALI PUBLIC LIBRARY (AFKPL)
- AFKPL Introduction
- AFKPL Board of Directors, Officers, and Staff
- AFKPL Brochure (pdf)
- AFKPL Donor Benefits Scheme (pdf)
- AFKPL Events
Introduction
"There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration."
-- Andrew Carnegie
The American Friends of the Kigali Public Library (AFKPL), a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, is committed to aiding the construction of Rwanda's first public library in the nation's capital, Kigali. The AFKPL was founded in February of 2001 by Zachary Kaufman and includes Board Members, Officers, Staff, and Active Members from the United States, Canada, Europe, and Africa. For a brochure from the AFKPL, please click here.
The AFKPL is working with the Rotary Club of Kigali-Virunga, Rwanda, and Marshall Scholars for the Kigali Public Library in this effort to counter the striking scarcity of books and the resulting lack of a culture of reading. For decades Rwanda suffered from isolationism, violence, and extremism, culminating in the 1994 genocide in which approximately one million Rwandans were killed. One American historian of the genocide, Philip Gourevitch, notes that "the dead of Rwanda accumulated at nearly three times the rate of Jewish dead during the Holocaust. It was the most efficient mass killing since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
For information on joining the AFKPL, please click here.
For information on contributing to the AFKPL, please click here for a donors' scheme and corresponding benefits and please click here for information on making your donation.