The Library car in Gwanda Zimbabwe



The Library car used for transports of the book boxes out to the schools in the region around Gwanda. I was going with a car once, visiting the library. A young woman drove the car to very rural and far out schools. I was most impressed by the knowledge of the nature that the driver had. Suddenly she saw a stone beside the road, backed (do you say retarded the car a few meters and turned into a road you hardly could see. I had never found the way out to that school!

I am still waiting for some comments! Please let me know if you have more to tell about this library or  other library out in the world, or even in Sweden!
Love to you all from Kersti later sunday evening.


The site in Central Gwanda for the new Library

The Library Yard in Gwanda when the Central Library wasnt built yet.

The Library Yard in Gwanda when the Central Library wasnt built yet.
When I met Jackson for the second time, it was in February 1994 when my husband Börje and my father Lars-Erik visited me in Zimbabwe, we went to Gwanda and Jahunda and looked at the Library. It was, by that time, in one of the school houses to the grammar school. Now there is a branch library to Edward Ndlovu Memorial Library.
After lunch, Jackson took us to the site in central of Gwanda where the library is situated today. Jackson talked about the design of the coming library. I could never believe that all these visions would come true. But when I came back to Gwanda a couple of years later, the first wing of the building was completed.  And 2005 a lot more of the buildings were there. And now it is time to come back and look at all the lovely buildings that are built now according to all photos Jackson sent to us which will come up in this blog later on.

This was all for this week. I hope some of you who are following this blog will write comments, or contact me with your thoughts about Edward Ndlovu Memorial Library. Photos and Memories is also welcome, to make this meeting point for the Library all round the world.

Love from Kersti

Jackso n med oss till den  ce

Reading a newspaper

Reading the newspaper in the library

Reading the newspaper in the Library seems to be very common all over the world. This photo could as well be taken in any library anywhere! Newspapers are important to inform people what is going on. In Sweden lots of people give up there subscriptions on a daily newspaper and say they can read the news on the computer as well.
That's a possible scenery in the world where everybody has a computer and internet is working.
If it is possible to have a working internet connection in a library like Edward Ndlovu Library, people could read newspapers from all over the world and get a lot of influences and opinions from other countries and people. Isn´t that the main purpous of a library?


Of course there are other important things for a library.  

As a School Librarian I can see that my work is divided into three parts. On is to give the customers possibilities to take part of information. That could be to read a news paper, to look in an encyclopaedia or read a book about the certain question.

The other part of my library work is to give the customers a good book to read, that is suitable for how much they can read, what they like to read or what they don't know that they would like to read.

The third part of my daily work is to organize the library. To read books so I can recommend them to the customers, to buy the books, to organize them in library.  If I succeed in this three parts I think I am a good Librarian and it leaves me time to develop the three parts.


I still long for comments! Several people have told me that they read the blog but don't want to communicate by comments. And as long as people read the blog it is good. Still it would be stimulating to get comments.


Love to you all this cloudy Saturday morning, where I am sitting  here in Sweden writing, but my mind is in Gwanda!



 


Book Boxes are sent out to the Rural Schools




 Around 30 schools in the Gwanda District get Book Boxes in the  begning of the School Term. Each school year is devided into 3 parts. In every  box  there are around 250 diffrent books at different levels. Some are in Ndebele but most of them are in English.  It is very popular to recieve the book boxes and they are very much used during the school year. It is a hard job to go through all the boxes, mend broken books and replace worn out ones. It is always welcome to get as many new books as ever possible. In the beginning we thought of creating book depots out in the district. Then we would not need to  transport the boxes to far. At the moment I dont know how far that  idea is fulfilled. Now boxes are sent into the main library in Gwanda to be repacked  and retund out to schools in the region again, which in this way get library books. A lot more books wil be needed. When a box reach a school one of the teachers  will be responsible for the box  with books and how it is used.

This way of working with the students reading skill and get them to love reading does not differ over the world. But in my daily work as a school librarian in a small town in the south of Sweden, it is much easier. One reason is that money are put aside for buying library books for the students and also that we have a lot of books given out in Swedish every year.

With greetings from me, sitting out in my small garden filled with roses in full bloom. It is 9.10 in the evening and still you can sit here and read in near full day light.
Kersti
 

Zimbabwe, the map and the flag



Map of Zimbabwe
 


The Map and the Flag of Zimbabwe

VISION AND MISSON

The Edward Ndlovu Memorial Library
Vision
The Edward Ndlovu Memorial Library strives to be the leading information resource centre in Matabeleland South  Province, providing quality sevices to individuals, communities and institutions that promote sustainable educational, social and ecconomic development through creative problem solving, thereby serving as a model for Zimbabwe.

Mission
Edward Ndlovu Memorial Library believes in the power of information as a catalyst for development. Hence, we make adequate, relevant and up-to-date information available to all people without discrimination, we assist the people to use the information effectively, and we stimulate a reading culture among the society that broadens horizons and minds.
Edward Ndlovu Memorial Library pursues the preservation of the historical and cultural legacy of the region thus upholdning the use of local languages and keeping local history alive.

This text is written by Jackson Ndlovu for the Library in Gwanda.

Kersti

The Library in Gwanda

A picture from inside the library in Gwanda

The Library in Gwanda started in 1992, in a school, in a suburb to Gwanda, named Jahunda, a part of Gwanda where a lot of people lives in small houses.
1994 I visited Gwanda together with Jackson Ndlovu (and my husband and father). Jackson showed us the spot in central Gwanda where the new library were to be built. He also showed us the plans how it would be in the future. And now 15 years later they are about to reach the goals. The new library started with one building, with a big hall filled with books, newspapers, administration, toilets and so on. The library is open every day monday to friday in daytime. Schools are coming in, people some there to read the news paper and there is a photo copier to be used for a small sum. In Jahunda there is a branchlibrary working  a few days every week. Some years ago  Jackson and I made a website how it all started. You can read it on http://www.gwanda.se/lib

We would be happy if you make comments on this blog and help us o make it to a meeting place for allof us, all over the world, who are inrested in the development of the Edward Ndlovu Memorial Library in Gwanda. We are also looking for people that are intrested to write about the Library and the schools in and around Gwanda. Just contact me, send your photos, texts, links thoughts and so on, and I put it into the blog.
Kersti in Hässleholm Sweden, but in mind back in Gwanda and in the Library!

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