Moving forward for Zambia's youth
We are excited to announce a major step forward for Lubuto's work in the coming years! We have been awarded a new grant, jointly funded by one of our current donors, the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa (OSISA) together with the UK-based charity Comic Relief, for a project entitled "Improving access to quality education in Zambia through the Lubuto Library Model." Over the next three years, this support will enable us to build on our existing programs and promote our innovative model of supporting children and youth to stakeholders in Zambia and around the world. Under this project, we will also be establishing the first Lubuto Library outside of Lusaka, in a rural area in Zambia's Southern Province. Our partner organization, Matantala Rural Integrated Development Enterprise, has been eagerly awaiting the construction of their Lubuto Library in Nabukuyu and we are thrilled to be embarking on this in 2013!
U.S. volunteers finish, pack and ship Nabukuyu's library collection
While OSISA and Comic Relief are making construction and establishment of our third library a reality, and World Vision is generously supporting the shipment of its collection to Zambia, the collection itself has been built and cataloged by hundreds of volunteer hours and books carefully selected and donated by supporters over the past several years. On June 1st, 13 of our volunteers, including their families and friends, packed up the collection and prepared it for shipping, fueled with coffee donated by our local Starbucks. On June 2nd, several volunteers from Gonzaga High School's AIDS Club packed the collection into a truck, and on June 3rd, the wonderful Frank Stearns transported the collection to Pittsburgh, PA, where it was most graciously and generously received by World Vision's shippers for the onward journey to Zambia. The photo above was taken a few years ago when we first met with the Nabukuyu community to learn what they wanted in their library, and they spontaneously showed us their approach to early childhood education!
Meet the Lubuto community: Given
Given, who is deaf and cannot speak, is around 11 years old. His mother died last year, and he lives with his grandmother and father. He comes to the Ngwerere Lubuto Library every day and has become a much loved member of the community. He used to have difficulties with sharing, playing and interacting with others, but being a part of Lubuto's supportive community has helped him overcome those problems and he communicates with staff and other children by gesturing and miming. The children used to be very impatient with Given but they in turn have learned patience and acceptance. He loves watching LubutoDrama presentations and enjoys LubutoLaptops. He is also becoming more and more interested in books. It is now common for him to ask to 'read' a book with an adult - he picks books with colourful pictures, points at the pictures and has a discussion through mime about the picture, for example imitating an animal or pretending to do the things that the people in the book are doing.
Please join us as a Sustaining Supporter
As a Sustaining Supporter, you will receive an email with each donation to keep you informed of Lubuto's latest developments, of which you are a key supporter. And as you know, this support gives thousands of children, who may otherwise never see the pages of a book, the opportunity to learn, communicate and grow in beautiful, safe and welcoming libraries, making a real and lasting difference in their lives. A modest donation charged to your credit card each month or quarter helps Lubuto tremendously.
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