"Little by little the bird builds its nest"
This Haitian proverb seems relevant to the project I was able to join in September 2014. With the organization
Hearts and Hands for Haiti - we set up a school library in Tarasse near Gonaives, Haiti. Now 400 children have a library full of books to increase their learning and fuel their imaginations.
It's a little library, but it is a start.
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| Brenda and I giving the teachers a library orientation |
Tarasse School, Haiti now has a library. As we were giving the teachers a tour of the library, they expressed great joy at having all these books to use. One teacher asked if we could return to give instruction on how to incorporate the books in their classroom instruction and principal Cherismond Delva, said that he had never dreamed that he would have such a library at his school.
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| Tarasse School library |
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| View from the library |
Our team --6 people from Raleigh, NC and me the sole Canadian, arrived at Tarasse School to find out that the library--on the 2nd floor-- wasn't ready. The roof had to go on and the shelves needed paint, construction dust was everywhere. But that didn't stop us.
Our team set up a work room in one of the new classrooms downstairs. We cataloged approximately 650 books--many we had brought with us and some books were from Cherismond's office.
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| The library team: Sarah, Janet, Paul, Mindy, Mieke, Anne and Brenda |
We worked hard in 32-35 degree heat and high humidity. We had battery operated fans to help move the air around--all I can say is--it was really hot and muggy but everyone was cheerful.
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