16 de junio, el Día Internacional del Niño Africano

Every year since 1991, the 16th of June has been the day where we celebrate the Day of the African Child. This day was instituted by the Organization of African Unity to commemorate the 1976 student protests in Soweto. Thousands of students took to the streets to protest against the poor-quality education they were receiving. The protesters were met with a violent answer, more than a hundred people were killed and more than a thousand were harmed.

Nowadays, this day serves as a way to reflect on the circumstances that millions of African children face, forced to deal with political instability, wars, hunger, and an ineffective educational system.

To commemorate this day, at Libros de las Malas Compañías we want to show our utmost compromise with the inhabitants of the different African countries. Through our Black Series and Mini Black Series, we collaborate with different non-profit organizations in many parts of Africa. Below you will find a summary of our books that help specific projects through their earnings. If you wish to read more about the projects we collaborate with, we suggest taking a look at our catalogue’s page regarding the books mentioned.

Part of the earnings from our book The Dragon that Ate the Sun are destined to an alphabetization project in Senegal, through which adult women are given the chance of receiving an education. Another of our books, Tales of the Hedgehog was made in collaboration with the Saharawi people, who receive a part of the money made with every sale through royalties; it will be up to them to decide the project that they want to fund to help their people. The Rabbit Tales is a recollection of stories that give a voice to the African albinos, that’s why we considered that the best way of showing them our support was with our projects in Mozambique, with which we help albino women.

We also collaborate with the non-profit Zerca y Lejos thanks to our book The Book of the Jungle of the Baka Pygmies. When purchasing this book, you are collaborating with an educational project in the south of Cameroon, homeland of the baka population from whom these stories came. Thanks to our book The Zebu-Man and the Little Sister we are collaborating with Agua de coco, a charity that focuses on international cooperation, sensibilization and education as means for progress. We work with them to bring education to communities in Toliara and Mangily in Madagascar.

Lastly, our project Read with Africa is also worth a mention, with it we aim to connect Spanish children with African kids of similar ages. In order to achieve this, we established that the books from our Mini Black Series (Yimulimuli and the Dragon, Five Hedgehogs and a Goat, and Five Rabits and Other Animals) were going to be a two-in-one purchase from the customers. Each time anyone purchases a book from that collection, they are actually purchasing two books, one for themselves and another one that we will send to African kids to read in their language.