200 Free Street
PO Box 356
Fowlerville, MI 48836
Books for Schoolchildren in Nairobi
 | ||||
Christian Resources International
Sharing the Light of God's Word With the World
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2008
Subject: Story about books
I was up at Pistis School yesterday and walked past the doorway to second grade. The girls were in there crying, and the boys looked angry. I couldn't imagine what all the fuss was about and they told me, "They've taken ALL OF OUR BOOKS AWAY!!!"
Sure enough, the shelves were completely bare.
As it turned out, they had just been taken down the hall to the computer room for a day or two to be entered into a spreadsheet and given a barcode number.
I got the ladies working on the data entry to bring a couple of boxes of already-processed books back into the class for the time being and to explain that the books would be back soon. The commotion immediately died down. And an update on the nitty-gritty of the continued book sorting:
We also installed two more of the computers yesterday down in the room where the book boxes are being opened and sorted. The electricity often goes out at Pistis, but the generator keeps the lights on in the storage room. So now the ladies can keep entering in the books day and night if they want to, and without having to carry the boxes up to the school first. Which should also help with congestion in the computer classroom, where we're also installing more computers as finances permit to pay the computer guy. We should be getting a couple of volunteers during the April break to finish the job. We've also decided to hire a NEGST extension student to coordinate the big book organizing job. It looks like the whole process should take about a year and a half if we have someone working four days per week, and volunteers to help. The librarians at NEGST think that's an optimistic assessment...
We are continuing to find treasures in each box. It is quite amazing! My mother has been a professional librarian with a master's in library automation, so she's been advising us a bit (she also lives in Kenya and runs a home for street boys). She thinks we will likely have the best primary school library in Nairobi. She has been an advisor to many of the expensive schools in the area and says she has yet to see such a nice collection.
Finally, a couple of fun pictures:
Each class has now been taught the fine art of handling books properly. Mrs. Njuguna popped into the baby class a couple of weeks ago, to find them all sitting quietly in a circle with their new books. She quietly snapped a couple of pictures with the camera you sent.
Thanks again very much!!!
Christi
Read this fun email from a friend in Nairobi:
