For three weeks in August 2010, my colleague and I (we are the two librarians at Norwood School in Bethesda, Maryland) visited Mwika, Tanzania, a small village on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. We were there to work in the Mwika Community Library which was started with books from the World Bank Book Project by former Norwood parents Young and Sadikiel Kimaro. The Kimaros recently retired from the WB and IMF and moved back to Mwika, Kimaro’s birthplace, to put in action the experience gained during their careers. Their first goal, made possible by the World Bank Book Project, was to provide a library for the people of Mwika, a place where books are extremely rare and even textbooks are shared and not allowed to leave the school.
Opening day of the Mwika Community Library in 2009 was celebrated with joy and blessings. Thanks to the World Bank shipment, which the Kimaros had underwritten and some additional modest donations from Norwood, there were at least a few books in every major discipline as well as a smattering of classic literature and children’s books. There is no Internet access in Mwika and the library has only one old desktop computer, but an Excel spreadsheet works just fine as a searchable library catalog. Anenci and Ebenezer, two Mwika residents, were hired as librarians. Neither had any library experience. In fact, no one in Mwika had ever been in a library before and everyone was thrilled, even if not quite sure what to do with it. Several men began to come in every day to read the newspapers available in Mwika for the first time through the library and some students came regularly to do homework and browse the shelves, but the Kimaros knew there must be ways to increase library use.
The Kimaros timed our visit to coincide with a new WBFN Book Project shipment of books for Tanzania. We worked alongside Anenci and Ebenezer, explaining library practices, creating a biography section, and dividing the newly expanded children’s collection into picture books and early readers. Overcoming their initial feeling of protectiveness over the books, Anenci and Ebenezer greeted library patrons asking what they could help them find. Visitors were intrigued by the new library displays showcasing books on particular topics. More children came in to browse the new books in the bigger and better organized children’s section and the brand new young adult section. Library use has surged to an average of 100 patrons a day and frequently every chair is full.
While in Tanzania, together with the Kimaros we delivered several boxes of books from the Tanzania shipment to the Vunjo School, a secondary school in a small town about one hour’s drive from Mwika. It was a highlight of the trip to see how eagerly the teachers tore into the boxes to see what books had arrived. They all hoped to find resources to use in their classes. The Vunjo School does have a library which consists of about five small bookcases with books that appear to be from the 1950s. Most were tattered and musty. We could not imagine that any of those books were useful to today’s Vunjo students and we understood why the teachers were so thrilled by this shipment. One teacher made a special impression on me. He teaches computer classes at Vunjo– primarily keyboarding and word processing to prepare his students for the day when the Internet arrives. This young teacher searched in vain through the boxes, hoping to find some computer books. I explained to him that most computer information is now available online since computer books become obsolete almost as soon as they are published. This was hard for him to hear. His dedication to his students was palpable. Fortunately, many other teachers did receive valuable resources in the shipment. History teachers were especially thrilled by the selection and math teachers were excited to discover some Mathematics, Algebra, and Geometry text books.
From what I saw in Tanzania, the WBFN Book Project is a remarkable and important resource whose positive impact on schools and communities is too great to be measured. When a friend who is a member of the Kenyan Parliament heard what I had been doing in Tanzania, he asked me if a library can be started for his Maasai constituents in northern Kenya. I told him that I was certain this could be accomplished – all because of the WBFN Book Project!
A note from two libararians from Norwood School in Bethesda, Maryland