Why I became a librarian

The original story I posted about why I became a librarian got deleted so I am posting the story again using an article that was published for an online magazine in Australia. 

I'm just a nerdy librarian who wants
 to read books to kids in Africa

School libraries in Zambia are about as common as giraffes in Canada. If you look in the right places you can find them but they are not naturally a part of the environment.

In 2009, Seeds of Hope Children's Ministry, the Canadian NGO that I am affiliated with was building  a school for more than 120 HIV affected children in Ndola, Zambia.[i] I volunteered to set up the school library. Since I didn't have any librarian training, I registered for the Library and Information Studies program at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, BC.  In June 2012 I received my Library Technician diploma. After much packing, planning and organizing Grace Academy High School now has a well equipped school library. 

 Seeds of Hope (SOH) looks after children affected by and infected with HIV. Caring for these children is an insurmountable task that includes medical care, food, housing, education and most of all love. It was a privilege to be involved in the task to set up a library for this special group of children.

I have made yearly trips to Zambia since 2001 when SOH established a home for children orphaned by the AIDS crisis. During the first years we were more concerned with giving the children quality of life before they succumbed to illness as a result of AIDS but in 2004 anti-retro viral medication drastically changed their circumstances. Children who weren't expected to live into their teens became healthy and began to thrive. SOH had to start planning for the futures of these children. They established a boarding school called Grace Academy on a 55 acre plot of land just outside of the city of Ndola in the Copperbelt region of Zambia.

This Zambian grandmother cares for 11 grandchildren.

A library isn't the most pressing item on the list when deciding how to help orphans and vulnerable  children (OVC's) in a developing country. But we all know that once the very basic human needs of OVCs are met there is a need for education and information to provide hope for a future. A well equipped library is an integral component to providing a good education for children. Unfortunately there is an extreme lack of libraries in Sub Saharan Africa, including Zambia. I am convinced that libraries have an important role in alleviating poverty in countries like Zambia. I wrote a research paper about this that I presented at the Pan-African Reading-for-All Conference in Botswana in June 2011.

Reading for All Conference. It was cold
 in Gabarone, Botswana in June

Funding for libraries is almost non-existent in public schools in Zambia and if a school does have books they are often locked up for safe keeping. One school—Baluba Basic School—near Luanshya has 1,000 pupils and only 800 books. This means if 800 students each take one book home, 200 children are without a book. When I visited this school and asked to see their library I was told that the room was locked and the teacher with the key was absent.

We donated extra books to Baluba Basic School

For  Grace Academy library we collected approximately 8,000 donated new and gently used books in Canada. Volunteers helped me sort through the donations and divide the books into fiction, non-fiction, reference and textbooks. We packed the books into 110 banana boxes collected from grocery stores (banana boxes are sturdy, stack well and are uniform in size). We kept a general record of the titles we packed but we did not have time to make a detailed list. Ideally I would have liked to catalogue the books before shipping but a container became available sooner than expected and there was only enough time to pack up the books.

In September 2012, a team of eight volunteers—two of us library technicians and the rest willing helpers—travelled to Zambia to set up the library. We had two short weeks to get the books on the shelves, start the cataloging and hire a librarian.

We spent time organizing the books, stamping, sticking on spine labels and barcodes and taping. We had brought all of our supplies with us, including book ends. Meanwhile carpenters were still finishing some of the shelves and building the desk for the librarian.

We chose to use an open source integrated library system called OpenBiblio, designed for small libraries it was fairly easy to install and it was free. There was no internet available so we could not import MARC records.

We had refurbished bar code scanners and one of our team members donated a laptop. We also managed to purchase a printer/photocopier in Ndola. The library room is part of the annex of four laboratory rooms across from the high school, this room is a perfect size, has windows, electricity, a secure door and a good roof.

Meeting with Zambian librarians

One of the big questions we had when planning our trip to Zambia was will we be able to hire a librarian? Finding and hiring a librarian in two short weeks in Africa seemed difficult to do.  Anyone who works in libraries understand how important it is to have a librarian to connect the resources to the patrons. We wanted the library to come to life and be a vibrant component of the school. I sent out an email to the IASL International Development SIG and Dr. Barbara NcNeil, University of Regina connected me with Mary Chipanshi, Nursing Liaison Librarian at UOR. Mary Chipanshi contacted her niece who works for a company in  Zambia, she gave my information to the records manager, Lazarous Musitini who made arrangements to meet me at our project. Mr. Musitini  brought Mwansa Mwape, a recent library studies graduate from the University of Zambia. I am grateful for the IASL SIG group that made it possible for me to connect with Mr. Mwape and we were extremely pleased to hire him. He began his librarian job immediately.

When we interviewed Mr. Mwape for the job, one of the most important questions was What do you think about having a large part of the collection being made up of fiction books? This question came to our attention after another Zambian librarian who was helping us declared we had far too many fiction books for an academic library. I had to explain that in North America we encourage students to read a lot of fiction knowing that in order to create life-long readers we must instill a love for reading in the children. When children read for pleasure they naturally become better readers. Zambian acquaintances have told me that reading is considered an activity for academics—the idea of reading for pleasure is not part of the Zambian culture.  Mr. Mwape told me that he had been taught by a professor from America who explained the importance of encouraging reading for pleasure.

Last minute purchase the
 Guiness Book of World Records was a hit.

The library is now open, the librarian is cataloging the rest of the collection and he is training the volunteers. Best of all he is facilitating the borrowing of books and encouraging the children to enjoy reading. While we were setting up the library we let the students help us, this made our job busier but the reward was watching the children as they would work on a book—they would eventually take a second look at the book they were working on  and start to get absorbed with the content.

I am thrilled to think about the possibilities that are in the library, the potential for learning and creativity that can be sparked and the love for reading that is now being passed on in a part of the world where a library did not exist before.

And that is why I became a librarian.

Piloted by the Gospel

Saved on a missionary ship

by Elsemieke Wishart

When Cindy Wade began working at North America Indigenous Ministries (NAIM) based in Abbotsford, she had no idea that NAIM had a connection to her mother that dated back almost 60 years. It wasn’t until Cindy started reading the book Blessings of Obedience by William W.Lottis, that she read something familiar to her. The book tells how NAIMwas started by a seafaring missionary called Cap Stabbert  and his ship called Willis Shank, named after a man who died at age 31 while bringing the Gospel to the indigenous people of North America. 

Cindy’s mother, 70-year-old Maryann Burchart remembers when her daughter brought the book home. “…She told me ‘I’m reading this book I think you might know something about this,’ and I remember being flabbergasted, reading about the Willis Shank and all the names that I knew.”

Maryann knew about the ship because as a little girl she lived inShearwater, an isolated town on British Columbia’s rugged west coast, the Willis Shank would drop anchor there. It was the most exciting event for Shearwater’s inhabitants. “I can’t describe the excitement,” said Maryann. “The ship used to come in; we never knew when it would arrive. There was excitement beyond anything...We would hear the music come over the water, Blessed Saviour Pilot Be, and we would just drop what we were doing and run to the wharf.” 

The Willis Shank went to all the communities up the coast with the purpose of ministering to the aboriginal people who lived in isolated towns and villages. The ship was equipped with medical and dental services, staffed by doctors and dentists, but the main purpose was to bring the Gospel to the people.

Maryann’s parents ran a Sunday school but had no real fellowship with other believers. “There weren’t other Christians in the community so that gave us a real link.” When the Willis Shank came in, a service was held on the ship that was open to anyone who wanted to take part, and Maryann did just that. “That was where I accepted Christ as my saviour.” She was 10 years old and the moment is indelible in her mind as the moment when she was saved. “Then my dad was baptized by CaptainStabbert in the ocean.” This memory is precious to Maryann especially since her dad passed away from a heart attack when she was only 11.

Shearwater, a former air force base, had a sawmill and, in the summer,gillnetters and trawlers. Maryann’s dad was the accountant at the marine works, and the family lived in Shearwater for three years without ever leaving it. 

“Shearwater had no real amenities – a little tiny store but you wouldn’t get fresh milk or anything, that had to come up from Bella Bella, we would have to get a boat and go over and get our groceries,” Maryann recalls.

There were 10 to 12 kids in the whole community, they were taught in a one-room school. When children reached Grade 9 they had to move to Bella Coola to attend high school. Library books were shipped in from Vancouver Public Library. Because it was a former airforce base every house had an air raid shelter in their backyard and the children would play in the old mess hall. “We would lay plywood down and roller-skate as much as we wanted.” There was no electricity, the town was powered by a generator. Maryann loved her life there—the freedom and living by the ocean. 

This story comes full circle when, 60 years later, Maryann’s daughter Cindy began working for NAIM. Maryann, who had retired from working at the Surrey School District, enjoyed helping out at the office. “I volunteered at NAIM for two months, from there they asked me if would be willing to work for them.” Maryann worked in the accounting department and filled in for the receptionist when needed, but she recently retired due to health concerns. 

"You couldn’t work with better people,” says Maryann. “It’s family. It’sChrist-centred – we all stop and pray if something comes up.”

Maryann remembers the excitement when missionary ship the Willis Shank arrived in Shearwater, and she remembers the song Jesus Saviour Pilot Me; the words ring true as God’s faithfulness is evident. He has been leading Maryann from the time she was a little girl, giving her heart to Jesus on a ship, to 60 years later working for the same ministry that is still faithfully bringing the Gospel to indigenous people in North America. 

NAIM supports missionaries who minister the Gospel to First Nations people in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Washington State, New Mexico and Baja Mexico. naim.ca