"The whole
school here is happy you have come to help us," said Thamsanqa Protus Sakhela,
principal of this rural school of 487 students and 17 teachers. "I am positive
this will work."
Principal Sakhela
had very little experience using a library, so it was no wonder that he
had never used an encyclopedia index to find information. After Freed and
Kilcup explained how to use such an index he had every teacher in the schoolcome
to the library to learn the new skill he had acquired. At an assembly the
next day, the principal told his students of his experience in the library
and encouraged each of them to visit the library and share any knowledge
or skills they gained there with other students.
"If any students go to the library and learn something new," Sakhela said to students gathered for an assembly. "I urge you to share it with other learners and educators so we can all grow."
Nottingham Road is a small arts and crafts and farming community located near Durban on the coast of the Indian Ocean in the KwaZulu-Natal Province. Originally a Catholic School built in the 19th century, Nottingham Road Combined School was converted into a farm school to train black children on the duties involved in farming. With the help of a catholic priest named Shea O'Connor, the school was improved. Because he had to go to the government for funding, O'Connor upgraded the school against all odds. Under apartheid, the government opposed making black schools better, but O'Connor spoke on behalf of blacks who could not vote, and together with the community they built a better school. They have been making it a better place ever since. "These learners have sweat to build this school, Sakhela said. ěTheir parents have sweat to build this school. Even I and other educators have sweat to build this school. I am so keen on teaching because many of these learners walk 10 kilometers a day to get here."
When Freed
and Kilcup arrived, they had their work cut out for them. "There were perhaps
500 books, all old, most with a Dewy call number," Freed said describing
the library. "Many were in poor condition. Several sets of encyclopedias,
World Book and Collier's, almost all very old. The latest World Book, 1993
as I recall, was missing the first 10 volumes, but no one seemed to have
noticed. No periodicals. The room was cluttered and dusty."
In addition
to the books purchased by the school through the WLP Book
Certificate Program, the school also had several boxes of new and
useful books donated from the United Kingdom. While most book donation
to rural and underdeveloped areas is inappropriate and cost prohibitive,
this particular shipment had some useful materials.
Prior to this project, the library had been housed in a classroom so that it could only be used after school and between classes. The arrival of the WLP volunteers inspired the faculty to unanimously vote to hold classes outdoors so that a classroom could serve as a full-time library.
"We will do anything
we can to keep the library from being a classroom while at the same time
continuing to teach the best way we can," said Sakhela.
Because the teachers are already
under considerable stress, classes are large and pay is small, there was
need for the students to take some responsibility in maintaining the library.
"The learners feel like they are part of the library now, wanting to help
in any way they can," Sakhela said.
"These students, and almost certainly
most of their parents, had relatively little familiarity with books, much
less with libraries," Freed said. "Indeed, most of their parents are surely
products of an educational system that had as its stated goal to provide
blacks with only the minimum education needed for them to be farm workers
or laborers in the mines."
Several students, a teacher and one volunteer were all taught different aspects of maintaining the library. While the student assistance was appreciated and created a sense of ownership, Freed asserted the importance of having one permanent librarian for the sake of sustainability.
After two weeks of hard work, the results were clear. The library, which once housed 500 outdated, donated books and was only available when there was no class being held in the room, became a well organized collection of almost 2000 useful books ready for eager students to check out, complete with a classification system and signs and posters on the walls that made the place actually feel like a library.
"I have learned a lot from Art and Debbie," principal Sakhela said. "They are just part of us now. We feel that they have become part of the school."