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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Avid young readers and Harry Potter fans Keira Nolting, 10, and Aiden Drew, 7, enjoy borrowing books from their well-stocked school libraries.

They reason that children in Ethiopia deserve to experience the same opportunities as children in Canada.

Ten-year-old Keira Nolting, left, and seven-year-old Aiden Drew are co-operating to raise money to build a library for children in Ethiopia by hosting a book sale Feb. 28 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Northern United United Place. Nolting is in Grade 4 at St. Joe's and Drew is a grade two student at N.J. Macpherson. - Daron Letts/NNSL photo

The two elementary students are co-ordinating a book sale at Northern United Place Feb. 28 in an effort to raise money for a children's library in the West African country.

"It's sad that some kids don't get to read," Nolting said. "Ethiopia is one of the most needy countries for libraries in the world. With a library, the children would learn more because books have a lot of information."

Although Ethiopia's economy and quality of life improved substantially since the horrific and much-publicized famine of the mid 1980s, many children in the country still lack basic necessities, including access to education.

"They are putting a lot of effort in," said Clarissa Spence, a friend of both students who is supplying baked goods for the upcoming sale. "They enjoy reading and they want people to understand that not everybody has access to books, whether it be for education or entertainment. Reading and writing is freedom."

Drew addressed students and teachers with a prepared statement about the project during an assembly at his school earlier this week. Nolting wrote letters to business owners and school administrators to ask that they display coin jars this winter. The coin drive continues until March 14. "Last Friday we had only $100 and now we have $349.75," Drew said on Tuesday afternoon. "We need to raise $3,000."

The money collected will be contributed to the construction of a library in Wolliso District, Ethiopia. . The construction will be done with assistance from Canadian Feed the Children, an organization that connects caring Canadians like Nolting and Drew with development projects throughout the global South. In 2007, the organization directed 86 per cent of its expenditures to programming, 10 per cent to fundraising and four per cent to administration costs.

The book and bake sale runs from 1 to 3 p.m.