Room to Read Blog

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.

Reconnecting with Mulenga: Zambia Scholar Looks to Bright Future

We first met Mulenga in 2008 during a visit to Zambia shortly after our program there started (see photo below).  Living full-time at the Lukwipa Basic School in the Chongwe District of Lusaka, Mulenga and over 100 other young girls participate in Room to Read’s Girls' Education program that includes educational support and life skills training. When John Wood met up with Mulenga recently, she was still an active participant in our program and had just returned from an educational summer camp with her peers that was organized by Room to Read.

Mulenga’s story speaks to the determination of young women who want to forge a life path different from past generations. Raising five children alone, Mulenga’s mother, who herself had only a few years of schooling, was forced to quit her job as a hairdresser because of severe asthma attacks.  Without Room to Read’s assistance, Mulenga would likely be forced to also quit school and work to support the family.

Instead, Mulenga has taken a very active role in her education -- two years ago, she beamed with special pride when she told us about her work as a library assistant in the school library. She’s now two years away from taking her national exam, which she plans to ace so she can enroll in university next.  As you will hear in her interview with John below, Mulenga would evenutally like to work in a bank, or perhaps she might even be the next staff member at Room to Read Zambia.  Regardless, Mulenga is determined to finish school at the top of her class and we have total confidence that she'll succeed!

Learn more about our Girls’ Education program and our work in Zambia.

Are You a Member of the Conspiracy For Good?

We have to admit, we were intrigued when we were invited to join something called the Conspiracy For Good (CFG) –- a first-of-its-kind interactive experience from the imaginative and Emmy award-winning mind of “Heroes” creator, Tim Kring. To hear him describe the project in his own words, click here.

The idea was to combine Tim’s storytelling abilities with Nokia's Ovi platform to create a dynamic experience using interactive theatre, mobile and alternate reality gaming and more, to empower you, the audience, to take real-life action and create positive change in the world. It’s a unique blending of fact and fiction that they call "Social Benefit Storytelling."

If you haven't yet been following the conspiracy, since June, users from all over the world have been logging on to www.ConspiracyForGood.com and following the interactive mystery of a school library in the village of Chataika, Zambia, where a teacher (Nadirah) has gone missing, a shipment of books has been hijacked and a shady corporation may be behind it all. Sound intriguing yet? Followers are playing along and uncovering clues online that are furthering the narrative, and in doing so, they are helping to eventually build a real-life library stocked with children’s books.

Confused? Stay with us because here’s where we come in…

Uniquely interwoven into the fictional plot, Room to Read has become part of the Conspiracy For Good storyline operating alongside Nadirah, the main character, and the CFG collective, or secret "members” that are fighting the forces of social and environmental injustice. The good news is that in the narrative, when the books are found and Nadirah is located thanks to the Conspiracy for Good, Nokia will establish five real-life Room to Read libraries in Zambia, including one to be built at the Chataika Basic School (which really exists!). Plus, Nokia will fund the education of 50 Girls’ Education Program scholars in the country.

The "real" books for the new libraries will be furnished by Room to Read’s long-time partner, the Pearson Foundation, an organization that has teamed up with Nokia to establish a one-for-one giving campaign, whereby a new English-language book will be donated to a Room to Read library for every digital book read online at www.wegivebooks.com.

Catch up on the storyline here and join the conspiracy today to follow the clues and see if you can figure out what's next as the plot thickens.

And don't think we haven't had some fun with this as well! Already some ingenious trackers have cornered Room to Read Founder John Wood to get to the bottom of things. Here's what he had to say about the Chataika situation and being a Conspiracy For Good "member" ;)

To read the official press release, click here

Father's Day Tribute: Not Even the Sky is the Limit for Her!

Like most fathers, France Shamilimo wants only the best for his children. And like most fathers, he works tirelessly to provide for his family, and he dreams of a happy and healthy life for them. But there’s something that sets France apart from other dads in the developing world: He’s raising the next Vice President of Zambia. Or so he hopes.

You see, France’s daughter, Sharon, is the only one of his eight children to attend school. He shamefully admits that the rest of his children have either dropped out of or failed in school because the family lacked money to purchase school shoes and supplies.

But for Sharon, he clearly has very high hopes. “Sharon has told me she would like to be a nurse,” says France, “but I see her working in a senior position in the Office of the Vice President.  I think she is capable of doing that job with the schooling she will now receive.”

His certainty wasn’t always so. Before becoming one of 81 girls supported by Room to Read’s Girls’ Education program, 13-year-old Sharon might have joined her parents and siblings tending to the corn and vegetables crops, two pigs, six free range chickens and two dogs on the family’s small plot of land in Chibango in the Chongwe District of Zambia.

But now that Sharon has the supplies she needs and guaranteed support through 12th grade thanks to Room to Read, France has big dreams for Sharon and is daring her to reach for the stars. 

“It is rare to have someone willing to support your child up to end of grade 12,” says France, “I am very happy for Sharon -– now, not even the sky is the limit for her!”

Sharon, too, recognizes how lucky she is and says, “Sometimes I pinch myself just to make sure I am not dreaming. Actually the day I was put on the program brought so much joy to me that I danced all the way home; I just couldn’t wait to tell my parents!”

Seeing the promise and passion in Sharon has only reinforced France’s commitment to her education.

He says, “I have hopes that at least my daughter will finish school and go to college. I have faith in her that she will erase my own shame. I will be able to raise my head in public because of Room to Read’s Girls’ Education program.”

In honor of Father's Day, please consider investing in our Girls' Education program and support a father's wish to give his daughter a brighter future.  If you are donating as a Father's Day gift for your dad or grandfather, after completing the donation process, you can print out or email a special Father's Day e-Card.

For more information about our Girls’ Education program click here.

To read more about Room to Read in Zambia, click here.

Zambia: The "Teacher Librarian"

Chingale Mudenda has been teaching for the past two years at the Lukwipa Basic School in Zambia. What she loves best, she says, is that she gets to teach children how to read and write. “I spend a lot of my time with the children in the library to help them improve their reading skills,” she says. One could scarcely miss the enthusiasm and passion on her face as she goes on to explain how she skillfully helped set up the library at her school following the librarian training she received from Room to Read. So it’s no surprise that as a result of her efforts, she became known as the "Teacher Librarian."

Asked what the new library has meant to the school, Ms. Mudenda says, “It is a valuable gift to our children. In the past, the school had no books at all. But now, thanks to Room to Read, we have nice story books and our children are excited to spend their time in the library reading.”

As she walks through the library to check on what’s going on, she is impressed to find children busy reading. When asked what her role is, Ms. Mudenda proclaims that her duty is to help and encourage pupils to spend time in the library. She talks enthusiastically about how the book-borrowing system is working and how she encourages children to borrow books and read at home with their families.

Ms. Mudenda is so passionate about enhancing children’s reading skills that she even enlisted helpers to ensure that the library remained open during the day. She took it upon herself to train two pupils as library monitors and another as a teacher library assistant.

“When I’m busy teaching, the library assistant takes over and the monitors help out during the students’ free time,” she says proudly.

Thanks to Ms. Mudenda leadership and guidance, students at Lukwipa Basic now have a library (with helpers!) they can depend on to offer lots of story books that will help them to develop good reading habits and a love of learning.

To learn more about our programs in Zambia, click here.

Room to Read Scholar in Zambia is Making the Grade

 

Meet Esther, a 15-year-old soon-to-be high school student thanks to Room to Read’s Girls’ Education program.  She’s gearing up for the national exams she’s required to pass in order to enter high school -– and she’s feeling pretty confident; so much so that she’s certain she will do well in math, her most challenging subject. 

“Math has been a tough subject for me, but after the tutoring organized by Room to Read, it is no longer a problem for me. I am very sure that I will pass the exams,” says Esther. 

As one of 107 girls supported by Room to Read’s Girls’ Education program at the school she attends in the Chongwe District of Zambia, Esther receives tutoring in math and other subjects as part of our holistic approach to provide academic support and life skills training to educate, motivate and empower girls in the developing world.

Like many families in Esther’s community, formal education is considered a luxury her parents cannot afford to finance. She is the third of eight children and her parents struggle to sustain their large family on her father’s income as a bus driver. That’s why Esther appreciates every ounce of support and encouragement she gets from Room to Read; she is committed to working hard and taking full advantage of the educational resources her parents never had.

According to Esther’s mathematics teacher, the study sessions are definitely making a difference.

“Until Room to Read began to help, Esther had been an average pupil with marked weakness in science and mathematics. The tutoring has helped her very much. She is now more confident and is going to make it to grade 10,” says Esther’s teacher.

Watch out high school, Esther is on her way!