Anahuvafen - an initiative by a Maldivian family who holds a dear love for books and aims to spread the love of reading - has announced that they are holding a book collection drive on Saturday.
Saturday's book collection drive is being held to collect books - both new and used - for school libraries in ADh. Dhangethi and Mahibadhoo.
Anahuvafen is seeking donations of books in both English and Dhivehi for school-aged children.
Donators can drop off books at Lonuziyaaraiy Park between 10am and 3.30pm, and again between 8pm and 10pm on July 26, Saturday.
Anahuvafen has already collected over 1,400 books which have been donated to schools in Th. Dhiyamigili, B. Kudarikilu and S. Hithadhoo.
Anahuvafen founder Naim Ibrahim said that the initiative began with donations first collected for Dhiyamigili School.
"Dhiyamigili School's Principal is a friend. So out of curiousity, I once looked into how many books the school's library has. It turns out that, although an inventory would show about 500 to 600 books in stock, only 200 or so are relevant and of interest to school aged children. This is a very dismal amount in a school that teaches grades 1 through 10," Naim shared how Anahuvafen came to be.
"So we decided to try and see how we can help, to contribute books as per our capacity. We are based in Malaysia, so we collected books from friends and family and shipped them to Male', where we then arranged for the books to be delivered to the Dhiyamigili school."
Since then, Anahuvafen has been consistently collecting books donated by like-minded book lovers and arranging for their delivery to schools across the country.
"People generally like this idea, they are very receptive to it," Naim said.
Even beyond book drives, Anahuvafen is ready to accept book donations at any time. Anyone interested in donating books are encouraged to reach out to them via their Facebook page or email.
