How This Yale Student Collected 6,000 Books to Fight Global Literacy Gaps

Elham vividly remembers the moment her family uprooted their lives in Ethiopia to start anew in the United States, chasing the promise of greater opportunity.

Growing up, she was no stranger to the stark inequalities back home—especially in education. But what surprised her was discovering similar patterns of racial and socioeconomic disparity in her new country.

This inspired her to co-found Sum of Changes - a community-led initiative that has collected and redistributed over 6,000 books to underserved communities across both the U.S. and Ethiopia.

Here’s her story.

#1: What is Sum of Changes? How did it begin?

My sister and I had the idea. We were thinking about the inequality that was rampant back at home. Literacy rates are increasing in general, but they’re still very low in Ethiopia. At home, we noticed our family had a lot of spare books and we thought these books could really help others instead of sitting untouched on our shelves. That inspired the initial foundation for Sum of Changes.

So we began brainstorming the different organizations and places people could donate books.

#2: Wow - 6000 books. How did you source them?

We started small. We made phone calls to local stores like Safeway, asking if we could leave a labeled donation box for a week. We had a small note explaining what Sum of Changes was — and to our surprise, our first box filled up in days.

That success was so motivating. It encouraged us to place boxes everywhere we could. We posted on our neighbourhood app and offered to pick up books directly. Teachers who were retiring, families moving, and neighbours cleaning out shelves all contributed.

Schools were another major source. We realized that many will review their collections annually and discard books. We asked if we could donate the discarded ones, and most schools agreed.

Once we had a large volume, we searched for organizations who were already shipping books abroad or distributing them locally.

#3: What was the biggest logistical challenge?

Our biggest logistical issue actually pushed us to change our direction. Surprisingly, sourcing the books was pretty straightforward. It was sending the books out which gave us the most problems.

That put us into a place of: what do we do now?

We decided to pivot by focusing on helping people here locally as well. Both places — Ethiopia and the U.S are our homes. It would be unfair of us to prioritize one over the other because both places have helped us so much.

So having the logistical issue of sending out books actually helped us refine our impact.

#4: Why books over other forms of education?

Books felt like the foundation of learning—accessible, lasting, and impactful. Before starting Sum of Changes, we researched Ethiopia’s education gaps and found a 2017 USAID study highlighting the country’s untapped youth potential.

Education was always our focus, so we also collected school supplies—everything from notebooks and backpacks to glue sticks and folders—through our partner organizations.

#5: What left a lasting impression on you?

My most memorable moment has to be when we placed our first box at the first store for the first time. We had low expectations - but genuinely, it took less than a week for the box to be overflowing with books.

I really can’t encapsulate my feelings after seeing that in just one word. It wasn’t just happiness, but also pride in my community. I was so thankful that people wanted to come forward and help others without even having to speak to a person about our initiative.

And it makes me feel really happy for the younger kids as well who want to pursue a project. Whether it’s something like a book drive or not, I’m happy knowing that they will also have that community and support.

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