Rebuilding after the conflict : Mobile Library in the Tana Delta

From August 2012 to January 2013, the Tana Delta Sub-County was rocked by intense ethnic violence, which resulted in destroyed roads, disrupted education, and affected farming and livestock breeding. However, the local community in and around Idsowe (the base of the foundation) chose peace over violence throughout this period of unrest.

In the last half a year TRLF has been part of the Tana Delta Peace Forum set up by the office of the Deputy County Commissioner to address issues of Peace and Development in the Tana Delta. Being a major education stakeholder in area, TRLF is extending its programs to these communities. These programs are designed to mitigate the risks of future reccurrences of the senseless violence. Setting up a mobile library is the first of a series of programs designed to improve access to quality education. The library will service schools with the least developed education infrastructure and that were most affected by the conflict in 2012/2013.

The first session of the mobile library was kicked off on Friday 21 February at Buyani High School which was vandalized and forced to close during the conflict. Students will now be able to a access a library for the first time in their lives. The foundation will transport books to Buyani High School and Gardeni Secondary School twice a month. More schools will be added to the program in the coming months.

Here are photos of the first library session at Buyani High School.

Setting up the mobile library

Collecting membership dues and giving out the membership cards

Students from Buyani High School experiencing a llibrary for the first time in their lives. Thank you one and all for your books. You’ve helped open up their world !

Students from Buyani High School checking books out from the library they’ve ever experienced. Did you contribute these book ? We thank you !

They love their books !

Students from Buyani High School posing with the TRLF bus which transports the books to the school

We are starting to use online crowsourcing as a means of expanding our fundraising base. The funds raised there will pay for the cost of running the library for 1 year. Help us pay for this by giving generously on http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/mobile-library-tana-delta/

Mitumba Used Goods Collection 2014

Many of you are in the midst of spring cleaning this first weekend in January and have asked when we will be collecting the used goods for Tana River Life Foundation. Aside from the usual clothes, bags, shoes, bedsheets and curtains, I’d like to highlight that we also collect the following :

– old mobile phones which can be repaired and sold Tana Delta

– CDs / DVDs for recycling : content does not matter. They could contain music, movies, software, backups, or even annual reports

– empty CD / DVD covers for recycling

The venue and dates have been decided.

We’ll be at Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the same venue as the past 2 years from 22 – 30 March. Click here for a map of the location.

Click here to download the letter from Gabriel, the dates and times of the collection and a  list of items needed : https://tanariverlife.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/mitumba-2014-final.pdf

See you in March and Happy Spring Cleaning !

 

Thanks for supporting our Book Drives

Thanks for your generous contributions of books, time and energy. Over the last 3 years, we have shipped almost 15,000 books to the libraries built and supported by Tana River Life Foundation. Inspired by a single photo of empty shelves in a school library, we embarked on this project, which has since brought the joy of books to the community.

The photo that inspired the project to fill the libraries in the community

Students and teachers unpacking books shipped from Singapore. Book Drive 2009

Children of the community supported by Tana River Life Foundation enjoying the books shipped from Singapore. Book Drive 2010

The library shelves are no longer bare. Thanks to your support of the Tana River Life Foundation Book Drives, the students are able to enjoy libraries within their schools and communities

7770 books collected, sorted and packed to date. Thanks for all your help !

Two-an-a-half months after we started the book drive, we have collected, sorted, labeled and packed 7770 books. Thank you one and all who have helped us through spreading the word, digging deep into your collections, collecting from your friends, helping us sort, count, pack and label the books. This is our largest collection to date since we started the annual book drives for the libraries in the Tana River district in Kenya in 2009. We are humbled by your generosity.

This year our efforts were enormously helped by the media coverage that the National Library Board and Orchard Central / Far East Organization generously provided us with, in conjunction with the NLB Book Exchange and the OC Book Swop respectively. Thank you Fang Chin, Amy & team from the NLB, and Lay Kheng and team from Far East Organization.

Here are the newspaper articles that mentioned Tana River Life Foundation and our efforts to collect books for the libraries in Kenya.

ST Article June 6 – OC Book Swop

ST Article 18 April – NLB Book Exchange 2011

Lian He Zao Bao Article 18 April – Book Exchange 2011

We collected 1638 books at the NLB Book Drive

Thanks to all who contributed to the Tana River book drive. We collected 1638 books at the NLB book exchange on Saturday 16th April. Special thanks to Dennis Au and his team from RI, Fang Chin and the wonderful folks at the NLB, Julie, Geraldine, Jason & his daughter, Yew Hong & William.

Many thanks also to the folks who dug into their personal collections and organized book collections, we still have hundreds of books yet to be counted and sorted. I believe we’re well on our way to meet our target of 3000 books for the community library to be built and run by Tana River Life Foundation.

I was interviewed by both the Straits Times and Lian He Zao Bao at the book exchange. The foundation was mentioned in both the printed articles. Here they are !

Lian He Zao Bao – Book Exchange 2011

ST Article 18 Apr on NLB Book Exchange

More Details on TRLF Book Drive 2011

Thanks for your support of Tana River Life Foundation in the past couple of years.

It is that time of the year again to dig into our book collections to help fill the libraries at the schools supported by Tana River Life Foundation in Kenya. This year the books will be filling up the empty libraries at the new nursery & primary school that Gabriel is building and the schools that the foundation supports. As with the previous year, we will be leveraging the annual Book Exchange that the NLB is organizing.

Here’s a few ways you can help us :

1. Set aside books from your collection for contribution to the TRLF libraries directly. To do this, you would need to have books that meet the TRLF collection requirements. Please download this document : Tana River Life Foundation Book Drive 2011 – info to view the types of books needed. You have up to the end of May to hand the books to me.
2. If your books don’t meet the collection requirements ( eg. books not in English, are too old, pulp fiction, romantic novels, cook books etc ) you can take your books down to the nearest library between now and the 15th of April and exchange them for a Book Exchange voucher per book ( please check http://w16.nlb.gov.sg/page/corporate_page_visitus_AllLibraries for the full list of libraries, their addresses and opening hours. ). The library accepts up to 30 books each time. You can then pass the vouchers back to me before the 16th of April.
3. Volunteer to help us ‘shop’ for books during the exchange on Saturday 16th April. We’ll roster volunteers on 4 hour shifts between 8.30am and 6pm, and provide you with the vouchers and a list of our book requirements. You’ll then “shop” through the books available, check-out using the vouchers and bring the books to our collection table. You may have to do this a couple of times during the 4 hour period.
4. Help us collect A4-sized photocopy-paper boxes. This is the best size for packing, storing and transporting the books to Kenya.

Thanks so much

Book Drive 2011

We’re starting the Tana River Book Drive 2011. Do you have books that you’d like to give away ?
 
We’re collecting books for nursery, primary and secondary schools supported by Tana River Life Foundation, http://www.tanariverlifefoundation.org. Like previous years, we’ll be doing it in conjunction with the NLB Book Exchange on 16th April. If your have books that may not be suitable for the Tana River libraries ( eg. non-English books, pulp fiction ) you can take them to the local library between 2 to 15  April from 11.00am to 8.00pm and get a coupon for every book accepted. We’ll be collecting the coupons from you so that we can ‘shop’ for suitable books during the book exchange which will be held at the Plaza of the National Library building on Victoria street from 8.30am to 6.30pm on 16 April.
 
If your books are suitable for the Tana River libraries, please contact me, Iris Tay. We’ll arrange to pickup the books from you.
 
If don’t have books and would still like to help, we welcome contributions of empty boxes which used to hold A4 sized photocopier paper. The books will be packed and transported in these boxes as their small sizes make them easy to pack, transport and store.
 
We’ll have more details in the coming weeks. Watch this space ! Thanks !