Kindles with thousands of free e-books donated to Ethiopian Students 

While many of us may take books and reading for granted, many people in developing countries don't have that simple privilege.

Downtown Church in Columbia is trying to change that by putting 1000 books into the hands of students in Ethiopia.

"There were American missionaries in the 1960s and 1970s that gave my father an opportunity so if not for them, I would still be in Ethiopia probably," said Pastor Amos Disasa.

Now 30 years after his family came to America, the pastor and members of Downtown Church in Columbia are traveling halfway around the world to help students in his native country.

"One of the things they lack is books, they don't have access to a lot of educational materials, but a lot of the students speak and read English," said Disasa. Taking actual books to the African country would be very expensive, so they came up with a different way to get the literature to the students.

Disasa said, "We've got access to technology here which will allow us to put 1000 free e-books onto one Kindle and we can put that Kindle into a backpack." A total of 8 people are going on the 2-week long trip along with the fifty Kindles.

Disasa hopes this mission will not only help young students in Ethiopia, he also hopes his congregation will also get a better understanding of how lucky we are.

"I think God has put enough stuff into this world for everyone to be satisfied, to be educated, and to be healthy," said Disasa. He said, "So we see trips like this as a way to share out of our abundance and to also widen our perspective about the world."

The group leaves for Ethiopia September 26th and returns October 8th. The pastor says they are in the planning stages of potentially expanding the Kindle Ethiopia project in the future.