Books for ZAMBIA

http://www.lubuto.org/

A Professor Helps Raise a Library in His Native Town in Zambia

By Ryan Brown

Well after midnight one night in 2006, Mwizenge S. Tembo was walking through his family's village of Nkhanga in eastern Zambia when he noticed the darkness was broken by a single light coming from his nephew's hut.

Curious, Mr. Tembo, who is a professor of sociology at Virginia's Bridgewater College, asked the boy the next morning what had kept him up so late. "Reading," he said. But when Mr. Tembo asked what book, his nephew shook his head. He didn't have any books, he explained. His reading material was the stack of notes he had taken that day in school.

"I thought, Oh man, that is really bad," Mr. Tembo later recalled. The encounter with his nephew reminded him of his childhood in the same village in the 1950s and 60s, when the closest he came to books were the beat-up textbooks he and his classmates read aloud in school because there weren't enough of them to go around. He didn't have a wide supply of reading material until he went to college, first at the University of Zambia and then at Michigan State University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1987. And although much had changed for his hometown in Zambia in the decades since, the lack of reading material remained constant. The closest library to Nkhanga was more than 120 miles away.

In a country where the adult literacy rate was over 70 percent, Mr. Tembo thought that was unacceptable. So he gathered the village's leaders together and began to devise a plan to build a library. And when he returned to Bridgewater, Va. (population 5,200), he marshaled another set of chiefs—professors, church leaders, and students—to raise the money and collect the books the library would need.

From there, the plan lurched forward in fits and starts. In 2007, a local middle school held a book drive that netted 800 books. But shipping them to Zambia drained the project's coffers, and when the books continued to flood in—including a collection of more than 100 works of English literature donated by a retiring Bridgewater College professor—they were shunted into storage in Mr. Tembo's basement. The teetering stacks stayed there until last October, when another Zambian expat heard about the project and volunteered to pay to send the books to Zambia—from her house in New Jersey. A group of Bridgewater residents scrambled to set up a caravan of cars to drive the 3,000 books there.

And then there was the matter of the rain. Each year in Zambia between November and April daily downpours made construction nearly impossible. So the building rose piecemeal—a foundation in 2007, walls in 2008, a roof in 2009.

But Mr. Tembo, who teaches courses on African culture at Bridgewater, says that despite the slow-going construction, he never had trouble drumming up interest in the project among his colleagues and students. "When he talked about this library, his passion for it lit mine," says Larry C. Taylor, an assistant professor of music at Bridgewater who organized a fund-raising concert at his church.

The library has never had a single large donor, Mr. Tembo says. Instead he strung together donations of $20 or $50 until he had enough to wire a few hundred dollars to Zambia for the next phase of construction.

In the village itself, the project met with more skepticism. One woman asked Mr. Tembo if she would have to pay to read the library's books. When he said no—that you borrow and read the books and then return them—she initially didn't believe him. "It seems so obvious to us," Mr. Tembo says. "But it's not if you live somewhere where libraries are just a rumor."

Five years and $45,000 after it began, Mr. Tembo's library is approaching completion. The 3,100-square-foot brick building has taken its place at the center of the village, with nearly 4,000 books shipped from the United States waiting in battered boxes to fill its shelves—when it gets shelves. And then there is the matter of a staff. That library 120 miles away has to send a librarian to do the cataloging and teach local volunteers how to take care of the facility. But by making it a volunteer operation, Mr. Tembo says he hopes to stress that the library belongs to the people who visit it.

"The idea was not to build a monument, but something the community will use," he says.

Check out the following link for one librarian's response to her encounter with Zambian library resource shortages, now with two working libraries and seven more in the planning stages - each autonomously run. http://www.lubuto.org

Along with a growing collection of digitized Zambian stories!
http://www.lubutocollections.o...

War and Peace in Sierra Leone

The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara with Susan McClelland is a riveting novel for older students. It is Mariatu's personal narrative of how war devastated her country and effected her personally when she was attacked by child rebels.
This is a powerful book to put in the hands of North American youth, to help them better understand the reality of war - what it can do to individuals and families.
Mariatu is now working with UNICEF and trying to better conditions for children in war-torn countries.
When I finished reading this well written novel I felt that I have to do something. Check out Mariatu's website: www.mariatufoundation.com to see what you can do to make a difference.

BookEnds

BookEnds helps to bring children and books together in North America.
Check it out:

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/BookEnds-launches-a-beautiful-new-web-experience-.html?soid=1103573877466&aid=1K2pCUEbI0w

Books for children in SIKKIM (India)

http://www.sikkimhimalayanacademy.org/

Perched on the slopes of the Himalaya in an ancient Buddhist kingdom, the Sikkim Himalayan Academy provides education, encourages personal development and creates a home for some of the poorest children in the region.

These children come from very poor families and are used to having very little. Their behaviour in class is good and they are motivated to learn and are hard working. They are very happy and friendly and usually polite and uncomplaining.

They wear school uniform and change after school although they have few clothes and flip flops are normally their only shoes even in the very cold weather.

They own very little, no toys or books, no TV, radio or music but singing and playing drums and other homemade instruments are popular. They use whatever they find in the surrounding environment to play with and make up games. They also help with chores like collecting firewood and wild fruit, vegetables and nuts.

The school was started by a Dutch woman and some local teachers. The nonprofit organization will be grateful for any monetary donations, which will be used to buy clothing, school supplies, food, etc. A list of other items needed, and information on how to make money transfers, is available on their website.

Sikkim Himalayan Academy
Bhuriakop Busty
P.O. Bhuriakop
West Sikkim 737121
India

From Harlem to Kenya

http://litworld.org/litworldorg/2011/6/7/spark-a-litsummer-contribute-to-the-litworld-summer-book-dri-1.html


LitWorld is a nonprofit organization working to cultivate literacy leaders worldwide through transformational literacy experiences that build connection, understanding, resilience and strength. LitWorld joins together with teachers, parents, community members, and children to support the development of sustainable literacy practices across the world.

You can support them by buying books on their amazon wishlist.

Books in MYANMAR

A few years ago I was lucky enough to visit Myanmar, a beautiful country with lovely people. The International School I visited helped to produce books for local children through Yinthway, a Myanmar organization dedicated to bringing books to children.
http://www.yinthway.org/yinthway-childrens-books
Check them out and see how you can sponsor the print run of a book in the local language.

If you travel to Myanmar, be sure to take along pencils, sharpener, paper and books. Colorful picture books, especially nonfiction with little text, will be a welcome gift to many.

Also check out this website to see how you can help support literacy and learning in Myanmar:
http://www.friendscm.org/fundraising.html

Coins for CAMBODIA

The Canadian Coins for Cambodia project is the vision of my friend and school principal (former teacher/librarian!) Anne Mackie and Chhourn and Srey Poev Im, three people who had a goal to see Cambodian children have a brighter future by providing education and improving living conditions.
They are in their fifth year of operation and have a number of goals for the village and school including improving access to education and living conditions for children in outlying villages.

Achievements of the past five years include sponsoring several of the poorest families enabling the children to attend school rather than work in the rice fields.


WHAT YOUR DONATION CAN PAY FOR:

$10 pays for school supplies for 1 child for 1 year
$30 a month sponsors a student from an outlying village
$50 pays 1 teacher salary for 1 month
$200 pays for a new well
$500 buys a cow to assist with the rice crops

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Canadian-Coins-for-Cambodia/119058711471316