Another Blow

The African Library Project (ALP) is an amazing project that allows people in the states to donate books to Africa at a relatively affordable cost. The project was raved about during our first phase of training. It was something almost every education volunteer took part in. Not only does Lesotho not have ANY books (in Sesotho or English), it was also a great way to get people at home involved in helping our villages. Peace Corps volunteers have brought over 60 libraries to this country in four years, 55 more just arrived in March. Each library is stocked with over 1000 books.

The problem is only about 25 libraries are functioning. As volunteers we are not sure why the libraries are failing. There are many reasons hypothesized as to why the libraries are failing, no exact answer. One of the biggest explanations the ALP team thinks the project is failing is because it is all volunteer driven. We work with someone at home collecting books, we pay for the shipping, we organize the books, we teach them how to use the books, and then we leave. The ALP team has been desperately looking for a Basotho counterpart for quite sometime but to no avail. Volunteer driven projects fail. Peace Corps projects need to be sustainable, this can’t be emphasized enough. Are you sick of that word yet? I sure am! When the Basotho work with you on a project towards a common goal they can take pride in accomplishing the objective.

The project has been suspended to get the now 115 libraries we do have up and running successfully before we add to the problem. It’s unfortunate, but it makes sense. The worst part is they sent all the new education volunteers (that’s me) off to our sites before they suspended the project. We talked to all of our schools about getting libraries and now we have to inform them it’s no longer. Are there other ways to bring books to the country? Yes, I am on it. They are considerable more expensive and mainly financial donations (through Books for Africa). The neat part about ALP is it allowed you to pair with someone you know in America who would then be responsible for collecting 1000 books and 500 dollars (for shipping). It got a lot more people involved—schools, churches, friends, and family. I really hate asking for money. Yes, the money would be going towards books. Writing a check into the oblivion is different from donating some of your favorite childhood books so another child in Lesotho can hopefully enjoy it as much as you did. Sharing books shares experiences.

I want to believe I am different, that I can make a library here work. What if I have the spark and fresh ideas it takes? After promising my students books how can I now deprive them of books? Seriously, I look at my life and think of all the things I had growing up. Then I think, wow, all you (children of Lesotho) want is books. You might eat a slice of bread a day but you want books. In America we ask for game systems, iPods, nice phones, cars, jewelry, name brand clothes, personal computers, TVs for each room in our house. I could go on. The point is, my students want BOOKS! With the suspension of the project it is going to take a miracle to get a library to my school in my two years time. Miracles do happen.