Library Supplies Hit the Road: Zambia Team's Creative Transport Solutions

At Room to Read, our entire staff subscribes to a roll-up-your-sleeves work ethic that we refer to as “GSD” (Get Stuff Done). Because many of our programs exist in very remote areas, even the most basic tasks, such as delivering furniture and books, become incredibly challenging. In order to get stuff done, our country teams often have to be creative and innovative in their implementation approach. Arnold Mumena, Reading Room Program Officer in Zambia, shares some of the creative transport solutions he devised in order to ensure the children in Zambia have well-stocked libraries.

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As a former teacher for almost 18 years, I was very excited to be hired as one of Room to Read Zambia’s first employees in 2007 because I firmly believe that access to education is critical for all children. However, the cost of doing business in Zambia is very high, which means our library program expenses can be costly, including the transportation of our supplies. Though most Room to Read offices can rely on community partnerships, in Zambia, we generally use the direct implementation approach and, except for limited help from the government, we do it all ourselves.

In 2010, we expanded into Kafue, a district south of Lusaka. The district is vast—almost 500 km, butting to the east with the Republic of Zimbabwe and to the west with Zambia’s central province. The eastern part is hilly with mountainous features such as the Zambezi escarpment and Munali hills, creating scenic beauty but also pushing the costs of road construction and maintenance very high. To get to our projects in the east, one has to first travel along the bumpy hill roads, then cross the Kafue River by river pontoon and drive through a wild animal park before finally reaching the schools where our libraries are situated.

After surveying more than 50 schools in the area, I decided that in order for the Reading Room program to succeed—especially in the remote lower Zambezi area—our team needed to get creative, which meant it was time to involve partners! I organized meetings to introduce the Reading Room program to the local community and invited many people, including the staff from ZAMBEEF. ZAMBEEF is an international food production company in Zambia and West Africa. They have vast estates where they grow soy beans and corn and also have many cattle ranches all over Zambia.

Their engineering manager, Mr. Banda, attended one of our meetings and was so excited about the library program, he offered to help. ZAMBEEF trucks come to Lusaka fully loaded, but then generally head back out to the provinces empty. Why not fill the empty trucks with library furniture to distribute to our new libraries?

In September, the first batch of furniture was ready for dispatch. I called Mr. Banda and asked if they could help with transporting the furniture. He didn’t hesitate and immediately asked for quantities, location of our office and when the trucks could come. The next day, a huge truck pulled up in front of our office, so I gathered as many people as I could to load the truck with tables, chairs, bookshelves and boxes and boxes of books. ZAMBEEF delivered the furniture to all schools, traveling over hills, across the river and through the wild animal area without any breakage. They even paid the pontoon fees!

We received a larger, second batch of furniture in October. The rains were threatening, and we had no storage space, so we had to get the furniture to the schools before the rains wreaked havoc. I decided to make a trip to the Zambia army headquarters and request transport assistance. Major Chipili called back the next day and committed to send a truck the following week. As promised, a military truck with a group of soldiers pulled up to our office—coincidentally, two were librarians from the base—and soon the truck was loaded with furniture and on its way to make deliveries to several schools. They even returned to our office for a second load!

While great progress had been made, there was still furniture to be delivered. Next, I called the Zambia police, who responded by making a delivery to a school. Then I thought of the schools themselves and contacted the head teachers, some of whom worked with the PTA and community, to pay for a truck to deliver the furniture and books for the children anxiously awaiting access to their new library.

Looking back, our team not only saved on transport costs and prevented our furniture from getting ruined by the rains, we also learned an important lesson about asking for help—from local business, the military and the schools themselves. Partnerships make us more effective in our work and connect us to our community. The Zambia team will continue to walk on the partnership path.

Learn more about our programs in Zambia on our website.

Comments

[Thang (Room to Read Vietnam)]

It's such a brilliant solution. Thanks for sharing and keep up with your great works.

[Mtaic60]

Great work!

[AutoTransport NYC]

Zambia Team's Creative Transport Solutions is very good and very happily... I like and now im very glade feel....This is a great progress...

[cheap sunglasses]

Hi...Your post really got me thinking man..... an intelligent piece ,I must say.