THE JOURNALS PROJECT
July 2006
Successful shipment of 2 tonnes of Journals, by air this time. It has overtaken the sea shipment, but at a
cost which is 3 times higher! The
British Council is now in the process of distributing the Journals. Many thanks for all your generous donations
of journals and money.
If any readers have experience
with shipping goods overseas, the Project would greatly appreciate their
assistance, with knowledge of procedures or a contact to a reliable sea
shipping company. Please contact journals@cambridge-quakers.org.uk
July 2005
We sent a shipment via sea, which
in theory should have been much more cost effective. However as Ethiopia
is land-locked, the shipment had to travel through a third country in a part of
the world not without its difficulties.
The shipment was delayed, temporarily lost and then located in the docks
at Djibouti. In the last 2 months I have been trying, with
the British Council in Addis Ababa,
to assemble the paperwork to allow collection of the shipment by an agent, for
delivery to the British Council in Addis Ababa. At the time of writing we are still not quite
there, but at last I think I know what is needed.
November 2004
Six months ago, we were unsure
whether the Journals Project could continue beyond the end of this year. As we
said in the annual report for 2003, we were not raising sufficient funds to
send all the journals that were being donated. We knew that universities, hospitals
and schools in Ethiopia
still needed technical, professional and scientific journals, so we appealed
for more financial help.
The good news is that many of you responded very generously to the appeal. This
autumn we sent out 2 tonnes of Journals, and we
already have almost enough money to send another shipment. On this basis, the
work of the Journals Project can continue next year. We hope that donations of
journals and of money will continue to keep pace with one another.
August 2004
The largest shipment to date
(over 2 tonnes) is ready to go and just waiting for a
good price !
September 2004
With the reopening of a cheaper
airfreight route, we were able to send our largest shipment yet.
June 2002 to November 2003
Two shipments of journals to Ethiopia
were sent, totally 2.7 metric tonnes at a cost of
approximately £5700. Journals continue to be distributed with the assistance of
the British Council in Addis Ababa.
The more general journals are sent to regional health centres
and schools, while the more specialist are given to
the University in Addis Ababa. We
continue to be assured by our contacts in Ethiopia
that the recipients welcome and value the journals that we are able to send.
September 2001
The Journals Project has
continued with collections of journals, fund raising and shipments to Ethiopia.
In June 2001 a shipment of approximately 800 kg, giving a
total of approximately 1600kg for 2001. The current shipping cost is
approximately £2 per kg, and donations have kept pace sufficiently to allow the project to proceed. We have received donations
from three charitable trusts (Hewett-Driver Education
Trust, The Philanthropic Trust, and the Rowen
Charitable Trust) and several generous donations from individuals and
continuing support from Quaker meetings. The projected turnover for this year
is of the order of £5000, for a target of 3 tonnes of
journals shipped.
Events of September 11 2001
put a major constraint on the project: Airfreight charges rose dramatically as
airlines retrenched. In particular British airways closed the recently opened
direct route to Addis Ababa
January 2000
We are preparing the first
shipment of approximately 300kg of Journals for sending to Ethiopia.
We plan to dispatch this towards the end of January / early February. From here
we hope to maintain shipments twice yearly.
March 2000 to August 2004
The website disappeared, but the
project didn't ! We shipped a total of several tonnes to Ethiopia
despite occasional outbreaks of fighting between Ethiopia
and Eritrea.
November 1999
We have raised sufficient funds
for our planned first shipment.
Return to the Journals
Project home page.