Meeting Jennifer Campbell, Lubuto Volunteer

After visiting the Lusaka Public Library, I went back to the Lubuto Library at Fountain of Hope to meet up with Jennifer, a recent graduate from Sarah Lawrence University, now working at Lubuto Library as a volunteer. Jennifer arrived last April and will stay a total of ten months. Visiting her during the Thanksgiving holidays is her friend from the states, Kristen.

Kristen read books to a large group of children while Jennifer met with local teachers working in the OLPC Zambian Language Literacy Programming Project. The program is funded by a grant from the Gates Foundation and involves the use of OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) laptops to create games and programs to teach reading in Zambian languages. Before we left the Lubuto Library at the Fountain of Hope, Jennifer and I also got a chance to discuss the various projects happening at Lubuto, the constant ongoing challenge of finding funds and grants, and a bit about her personal experiences a a volunteer.

Then Kristen, Jennifer, and I headed out in a taxi to visit Lubuto's new library in the Garden District of Lusaka, housed within the Ngwerere Basic School compound. This new library celebrated its grand opening earlier this November and is still receiving finishing touches. Jennifer told me that it was the government that contacted Jane Meyers about building a library here, in the Ngwerere school compound.

Jennifer explained to me that, essentially, the library and all the books now belong to the school. It will be the Ministry of Education that pays the salaries of the teachers serving as librarians, although Lubuto is hoping to find a volunteer to help with training and interacting with the children. All of these factors contribute to the sustainability of the library, insuring its continuance through the efforts of the local community and The Zambia Ministry Of Education.

The buildings are the same style as the Lubuto Library at the Fountain of Hope. The collection of books is beautiful, most of the books look new, including several large picture books on Africa and a full set of the World Book encyclopedia. There are fewer books in local languages than at Fountain of Hope, Jennifer explains that not many books are published in the local languages and it is a challenge to locate those few available. Further illustration for the need of such projects as the OLPC project described above.