Blog

It’s back to school season and the Ngwerere Lubuto Library is not short of the excitement from the children. So, we've chosen to call it "Back to Lubuto" season.

One of the joys of visiting a Lubuto Library often is seeing familiar faces. The experience is enhanced by interacting with people you’ve seen around but never really got the chance to talk to. Under normal circumstances, this should be a happy experience but my meeting Naluyele for the first time actually had the opposite effect. It made me quite sad.

I run into lots of people in Zambia who ask me what I'm doing here. It's a fair question, and so I tell them: I'm a librarian-in-training, conducting collection evaluation research in children’s libraries. And more than once now the person I'm talking to has looked at me with bemusement and a little bit of pity and said, "A librarian? But here we don't have a reading culture."

I couldn’t wait to meet Zefe and Nolasco when I first heard their story from Brenda at Fountain of Hope regarding how they “stole” school.

The other day there was a girl sitting in the insaka. The insaka is one of the library buildings, a small, round, open space where children often gather. It's a "lobby" of sorts, 

I am one of those weird people who loves public speaking. I find it invigorating. Even more than public speaking, though, I love reading. So it comes as a surprise to no one when I say that I love storytimes-- they are public reading, shared experiences in which I can make a story I love come alive for a group of children. 

Library users at Ngwerere Lubuto Library have been using Wikipedia for Schools and the World Book Encylopedia (digital) for over a month now. I’ve spent some time at the library observing the use of these e-resources and interacting with users. 

Last Saturday, at Ngwerere Library, LubutoDrama members performed a play inspired by Umba Soko's Who Saved ThePrince in which a group of village elders save a prince from a big snake.

Our new Regional Director, Lieke Berghauser Pont, reflects on the recent Youth Day Celebrations at Fountain of Hope. On Wednesday March 12th, Youth Day was celebrated at the Lubuto Library at Fountain of Hope. 

This week, youth from our two Lubuto Libraries graduated from the mentoring program. They had gone through 12 lessons designed by Dr. Lawrence Mukuka, a Zambian Sociologist, and delivered by trained library staff.

Today marks the end of seven days national mourning declared for Nelson Mandela in Zambia. Over the past week, Lubuto Libraries have been places where children came to reflect on what Mandela meant to them. 

Our libraries are more than places where you find an excellent collection of books. They are also places where children can come to find a way to express themselves in our different programs. Some children come to the library because it is a safe environment. 

One of the activities that we do at Lubuto is connect with children living and working on the streets. This week, I joined our outreach team from FOHLL at Lusaka’s Soweto Market and read The Three Little Pigs with children we met at the market.

Our two Lubuto Libraries in Lusaka continue to draw large numbers of children. The libraries complement the formal education system by providing high quality collections and programming to all children, especially vulnerable children.

Construction of the third library is in the early stages. Excavations are being completed; on Monday we hope to start building the foundations.