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Year 2024:

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February 20th 2024 - MRSU5164030

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March 25th 2024 - NAM6806539 - Books Only

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May 22th 2024 - NAM6918363

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Year 2023

Another Successful Year

Mostly shared space with other shippers to save costs.

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March 1st 2023

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March 18th 2023 - Full Container of Books

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April 25th 2023 - Mix With Yuba Stuff

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May 2nd 2023 - Crew T-shirts and 1/2 Lister Santa Rosa

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July 9th 2023 - 1/3 Books with African Shipping

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August 18th 2023 - Full Books

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August 31st 2023 - 1/2 with Ngara

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September 23rd 2023 - 1/3 Books 2/3 African Shipping

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October 19th 2023 - Households

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November 20th 2023 - Households

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December 12th 2023 - 1/4 Books 3/4 African Shipping

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December 13th 2023 - Full Books

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Year 2022

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• January 6th 2022: Our first container of the year was shipped.

• April 5th 2022: Our second container was loaded after a few cancellations. We were 2 months late but hoping to catch up.

• April 28th 2022 : Another shipment was dispatched, and offloaded on 15th September 2022. The director of Makatabas, Gerald Mbugua had traveled to Kenya from the USA and was able to help with the offload.

• July 31st 2022 : Another Shipment went out. Gerald was in Kenya to help with the offload when it arrived in October 2022.

• September 9th 2022 : Another shipment was dispatched.

• September 15th 2022 : Same Vessels as Sep 9th 2022.

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Our 2022 in review:

• Covid Cases have reduced significantly and masks for fully vaccinated people are not required in most places.

• Libraries are going back to their monthly or quarterly sales. (Yes we do buy quite a bit of books to spice up things).

• Bookstore donations are increasing. The only challenge is the Port of Oakland. We make bookings but we are informed that there aren't any empty containers on loading day.

• All in  all we are staying positive to our cause and living one sunrise, one sunset at a time.

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Year 2021

Another year the world was ravaged by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Shipping charges doubled. We shipped 9 Containers irrespective.

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• January 29th 2021: First container of the year. This was an easy book easy ship container before all the port drama started.

• April 14th 2021: This is not a misprint. There was literally no container available all of February and March and waited until Mid April to ship. Tons of storage charges accumulated and I ended up with 2+ full containers of books ready to be shipped.

• April 25th 2021: The minute we got an opportunity to ship, I sent out these back to back.

• May 31st 2021: The Maktabas group lost the matriarch our mother who was the pillar behind our project and we were home from Mid April. Our great friends helped with the collection and shipping

• July 24th 2021: Things were starting to ease out and we shipped one more container.

• August 12th 2021: Summer time tends to bring more books because kids are home and the weather is warm so we tend to fill more containers. We shipped another container barely a month from our last one.

• October 5th 2021: Our most expensive shipment ever. We could not get containers from our usual CMA and Mearsk and decided to try our Hapaq. We ended up paying $6400 for shipping from our usual $2950. Makatabas director Gerald had traveled to Kenya and was present to receive this container that was offloaded on January 5th 2022.

• October 7th 2021: We had remnants from the previous container and due to the uncertainty of containers, we were offered a container and loaded the half books and half households from a fellow shipper. Gerald was still home when this container was cleared in Kenya and we offloaded it on January 23rd 2022.

• December 6th 2021: We did not ship anything in November and so loaded this in December to get home in February.

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Year 2020

Despite Shipping Disruptions due to Covid - 19, we managed to ship  6 Containers.  ​

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• ​November 3rd 2020: Our final container of the year. It's amazing that we still managed to ship out 6 containers during a pandemic. But with determination everything is possible. Hope everyone stays safe and wish everyone happy holidays. Lots of gratitude to our donors, team and cheerleaders. We hope 2021 brings us health and more resources.

• September 10th 2020: By now people had almost learned to safeguard themselves from covid-19 but we had lost over 200,000 people in the U.S. Bookstores had slowly started to reopen and we were doing half thrift buys and half bookstores. Slowly we got another shipment out.​

• July 15th 2020: Mid Summer bookstores still closed but we got creative and started going to thrift stores which tuned out to be super good sources for books. Only problem is we had to spend money to buy the books but somehow we managed to fill another container and ship it out.​​

• May 29th 2020 : Covid was at peak. Most Libraries and bookstores were closed but we had more books in our storage here and we loaded another 40ft.

• April 11th 2020 : Here covid-19 was nor here nor there. Everyone did not know how bad it would get and companies were starting to ask their employees to work from home. We thought on our end that if this got any worse, ports and seas would shut down so we quickly loaded a 40ft and dispatched it with our fingers crossed.  Kenya banned any entry of goods such as shoes and clothes but luckily books were allowed in. Our shipment got home on June 24th 2020.​

• January 11th 2020:First container of 2020 and before we knew what was about to hit us as a world. We had just come from home and met with a few of our recipients and given the project a clean bill of health based on feedback. We donated a few more books to schools that needed more and got back stoked for another eventful year. The container got home in March and the clearance process was flawless.

 

Year 2019

We Shipped a Record Ten 40ft Containers in 2019.

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• February 19th 2019 : Our First container of the year left Port of Oakland on February 19th and got to Kenya on April 11th. The goal is to send double the number of 40 foot containers we sent last year.

• May 1st 2019 : Saw our 2nd container loaded and it got home mid June.

• June 12th 2019 -  Our 3rd Container was loaded and got home on August 1st 2019.

• July 3rd, 17th and 31st 2019 - The Triplets left for Kenya. Yes you read that right. Our book donors went on some adrenaline rush. During Summer, kids are made to clean up their shelves, parents are home clearing out the garages and they take these books to the bookstores and exchange them for new reads through the entire 3 month break. So July alone we had a record breaking 3 shipments in a single month. The July3rd and July 17th container were so close to each other that when the July3rd container got to China, it was offloaded and loaded on the ship with the July 17th container and they both got to Port of Mombasa on September 10th 2019. These 2 were the first containers to be offloaded into our newly leased humongous warehouse. The warehouse can accommodate up twenty 40ft containers and will provide ample space for sorting our books. Our July 31st Container was the 6th container of 2019 and docked into Mombasa on September 26th 2019 and we offloaded it on October 2nd 2019.

• September 6th 2019 - Our 7th container was loaded in Hayward with an ETA of November 7th 2019 into Mombasa. 

• October 2nd 2019: The same day we offloaded  our July31st container, in Kenya we were in Hayward California loading and sent out our 8th container of the year. The driver called 2 hours later to say that it was too heavy when it rolled on to the scale. We went to the Port of Oakland at 8pm and offloaded about 100 boxes and crossed our fingers that the person guarding the scale the next day will let it sail through. We never heard back from the Port of Oakland folk so they must have just loaded the container and all it's 90,000tons.

• November 2nd 2019: We loaded our 9th container. We did this on a Saturday in a record 3 and a half hours Having learnt the lesson about weight on the previous one, we were a bit careful and shorted it by about 100 boxes and it went right into the port with no issues. The container was offloaded on January23rd 2020.

• November 27th 2019: Our 10th and last container of the year was loaded. It has a docking date on February 2nd 2020.

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Year 2018

 Shipped Five 40ft Containers 

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• Our first container for 2018 was delayed by 2 months because of the issues we had clearing the December one. We shipped it out on May 23rd 2018 and is expected in Mombasa on July 29th 2018. We have a new system where containers are going to Nairobi by SGR and eagerly waiting to see how this goes. In the meantime we have updated our gallery with books going to Daisy school in Gachie, we also donated books to two schools in Muran'ga where a young man called William Kimani helped raise funds from his school to build shelves for Paul Mbiyu and Nyaga schools in Muran'ga. Other beneficiaries were Jacaranda Primary, Machakos country schools, Kenya National Hospital Cancer Palliative Care center, Kamiti and Lang'ata Womens Prison. among others.

• Our 3rd container went out on August 3rd 2018 and got home on September 21st. It was finally cleared after a month of back and forth and rigorous re-verification processes.

• Our 4th container was loaded on October 4th 2018 and is expected home around November 18th 2018. We had this container cleared with no issues and in our storage on December 23rd 2018.

• Our 5th and final container of the year left port of Oakland on November 9th 2018 and we got it in our storage on January 14th 2019 by the same agent who cleared the previous one.

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With the right agent, clearance of containers can be smooth and very efficient. 2018 was by far the most successful year in terms of quantity shipped. We learned lots of lessons on what to do and what to avoid. Our journey continues and hope 2019 finds us healthy and vibrant to ship even more containers.

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Year 2016

Shipped two 40ft Containers

• A 40ft container that shipped early January 2016 went to Karia, Lioki, Kanjai, Kiaria and tons of other schools. 

• On September 2016 we had a very dramatic shipment as we ambitiously requested the shipping company to bring the container at 12:30pm. We loaded the container until 8:30pm . The container was filled to capacity and got home around November 2016. We are working with customs to allow us to bring books to Kenya duty free and we are making strides. There is a Florence law that allows for free duty on library books and are trying to be qualified under it and be fully registered as a 501 (c) (3) in Kenya too.

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Year 2015

Shipped two 20ft Containers

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• In 2015, we shipped 2 (two) 20ft containers of books and some these went to Giathieko primary school, Mitahato primary school, Gathirimu and Kambui Girls high amongst other schools.

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Year 2014 

Paid a Shipping company to ship a few boxes 

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• In 2014, Maktabas shipped 96 boxes measuring 24x24x28 inches. We have expanded our reach to other schools including Riamute, St. Vincent De Paul Nursery/Rehabilitation Center and Miguta School. In addition to providing the books we have included school supplies which too are lacking in these facilities. 

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