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"Thank you for sharing this amazing place with me." - Iris Mwanza
An oasis of light in Lusaka
We have long known the threat that climate change poses to Zambia and the world. And for decades we have experienced with our fellow Zambians the frustrations of lack of power and connectivity. So years ago, when we applied to USAID for funding to renovate and expand the Model Library, we planned for a complete solar power installation, and put a down payment on Starlink satellite internet that was on the distant horizon.
The new facility was conceived not only as a safe space with great books and technology for all ages and lively, popular activities, but also as a sanctuary in a harsh and deprived environment. But little did we suspect that, in 2024, drought would bring power cuts to Zambian households of up to 21 hours a day. Or that Starlink would be ready to bring consistent and high-speed broadband to Zambia just in time for the library’s reopening.
It is hard to overemphasize the importance of the entire library compound being fully solar powered all day, every day. And how, because of that, high-speed internet is always available. You can imagine the impact this free and inclusive oasis is having on the lives of so many! It is truly living up to the name "lubuto."
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Welcoming our new friend Iris Mwanza to the Model Library
We enjoyed welcoming author Iris Mwanza and her husband David Lewis to the Model Library in August. Hadassah took them on a full tour of the library and introduced them to staff and the children. Iris had a wonderful time and commented “what an impressive, amazing oasis and safe space for kids and young adults.”
As deputy director of the Gender Equality Division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Iris leads strategy and investment for the Women in Leadership portfolio, and she has previously worked as a corporate lawyer in both Zambia and the US. She has now successfully turned her hand to writing a novel—the first, we hope, of many to come.
We’ve always been eager to bring the work of outstanding Zambian authors and publishers to the young people who come to our libraries. So we are particularly excited to share the voice of a prominent lawyer who fights for gender equity and is now creating the empathy for the victims of injustice that only storytelling can provide.
Author Namwali Serpell called Iris’ recently published first novel The Lion’s Den “an evocative, touching, and—in multiple senses—moving portrait of Zambian life and politics at a moment of great transformation. And in the tradition of Zambian storytelling, it shows us, it teaches us, how ordinary people like Grace, in extraordinary circumstances and under persistent forces of oppression, can nevertheless extend and bend the arc of justice.”
This well-received book, set in Zambia, has been longlisted for the 2024 First Novel Prize by the Center for Fiction. We feel sure that young adult visitors will enjoy reading and discussing it in the re-opened Model Library’s new Teen Empowerment Center. And we look forward to Iris coming and talking with them the next time she’s in Zambia!
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2022-2023 annual report
Our 2020 and 2021 annual reports told our stories of the Covid shutdown and the fire at the Model Library. These, among other obstacles, caused young people to be dispersed from their beloved libraries and to experience isolation. Lubuto has always understood that the solution to isolation is connection. Post-Covid and building of the Model Library in 2022-23 allowed us to focus on connection and re-connection with the children in our communities. Click here to learn more in our annual report.
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