Library: Final Touches

One of our biggest endeavors during our time here has been to teach kids that reading can actually be fun. Gracious donors have given hundreds of dollars to buy new books for the children and they loved it! The books we were able to purchase are set in their culture and at their reading level. We have also made an effort to work with the teachers in organizing the existing library in the hope that they will continue to follow our lead after we are gone. Also, the 3 of us have read a TON while we have been here and I believe that our simple example has led children to understand that reading can be a pleasurable experience during their free time. 

I really wish that we had thought to take a "before" picture of the L'Esperance school library. Otherwise, you will never fully grasp the gravity of the task laid before us as we began to sort through the hundreds upon hundreds of books on the shelves. There were wasps, rats, lizards and other strange bugs living in every nook and cranny of the place. Mice had eaten holes in many of the books. Germans had donated hundreds of books in the hope that maybe someone would be able to understand and read them. No one does. The teachers editions were mixed in with Goosebumps chapter books and one large set of books had a very provocative, racist title which we quickly threw away. After days of work, hours of sorting, and the help of many excited teachers and willing students, our job was complete. 

                                Kid's Library

We had the kids carry the hundreds of unwanted books down to our house where we told them they were free to take what they wanted. I've never seen so many children get so excited about owning books that aren't even in a language that they understand. We told them that all the books they didn't want would be used in a huge bonfire this Friday night. That made them even more excited.

We even took the chapter books and put them in a separate library for the teachers and all of their teacher's editions went onto shelves that Travis built for the staff room. 

                           Teacher's Library