After months of planning and weeks of shipment, the books have arrived and the Library Project is being implemented in Zambia. The first phase of the distribution plan is now complete, which has seen three communities initiate 10 new libraries each of which received 1000 books. EduSport's new International Liaison, Kelch, was one of the volunteers involved in the stock take of the container on 14^th December, and sent us an update:

“The stock taking was done by thirteen peer leaders from the three respective communities (K Town, Bauleni, and Chawama), and was supervised by the zone and site coordinators (KK, Kelvin, and Toxie)

We were meant to start around 8am but this was delayed as we had to wait for the keys to the container, but nevertheless soon mobilised everyone to unload the books from the container.

All books we gave out were divided evenly and we gave out 1000 books per school. We withheld the sports book because there were so few of them, so they are being kept at the container together with the remaining consignment.

Transport-wise the Edusport bus was initially intended to drop off all the books, but due to time constraints we had to use an extra van to speed up the process. Fortunately it never rained until late afternoon when we had finished! Initially we began with Bauleni for the delivery as it is the furthest community, then K Town and Chawama.

After delivery of the books to their designated communities, most of them were kept at the bigger school. For instance, Kalingalinga basic school accomodated all the books for all K Town schools until the following day when we had Sylvia collecting their consignment. Similarly, Bauleni accommodated for Swaz and Chifwema. Chawama was the only community which managed to deliver the books to its two respective schools.

The delivery also contained three laptops, which were allotted one to each community. The media showed an interest in this project, and arrived the next day to provide coverage. Even more media reporting is expected when schools open again, as communication has been poor whilst the schools have been on holiday”

What a great way to start 2010! A massive thank you to all who have helped in the library project.

Emailed extract from Kelch. Edited by Becky Maybury.