Somewhere Between Success and Failure

I wanted to write a post about the projects that have done and have succeeded in my community.  I titled it Success Stories and wrote about the school orchard and the library I set up here.  Yet the longer I watch these projects the more I doubt whether I really consider them a “success.”

PCVs are obsessed with this one word, sustainability.  We are trained that we are here to do sustainable work.  We aren't here to build clinics and schools; we are here to transfer skills by working with local counterparts.  A lot of PCVs still do projects on their own, or projects that are unsustainable by nature, but I have chosen not to.  So for the first year of my time here I just observed and taught, trying to figure out what my school would really benefit from.

One of the things my co-workers kept talking about was having a school library.  A PCV in my village before me applied for an ALP (African Library Project) library.  She wanted it to be a community library and was going to place it in the community center.  Before she could do so a storm blew off part of the roof and so they decided to put the library in the primary school which had many extra classrooms.  There the books were organized, alphabetized, put away, and locked up, never to be seen again (okay, so I'm being a little dramatic).

My co-workers told me that they had tried using the library but having it in the primary school made it difficult to use.  The primary school, apparently, refused to share the books with the secondary school.  The primary school never used the library and my co-workers told me that the teachers were stealing the books.

So after much thought and talking to my principal I decided to bring a few hundred books to the secondary school and see how it went.  My principal and I want to the primary school together and spoke to the primary school principal about taking books and a few book shelves.  She reluctantly agreed (no one argues with the American).  She found the key, opened the door, and my principal and I took a quick look around.  The shelves were half empty and very dusty.  My principal told me that the last time she was here the shelves were full.  That day I took about 500 books and started organizing them.

In January this year my principal and I came up with a borrowing policy and general rules for the library.  It was her idea to chose a student to be responsible for the library instead of teachers and we picked the student librarian together.  And we opened the library.

Since then the library has been going well.  Students feel comfortable in the library and go during break, lunch, and free class periods.  Sometimes they bring books to study, sometimes they pick up a book to read.  And my co-workers encourage students to go to the library to read.

A library is so important in a place like Qhalasi.  My students get excited to go to the local camp town, some of them have never left the district.  Their worlds are so small.  Some of them have internet phones but they only use it to download music and Facebook.  Their worlds are so tiny and through reading they can learn about so much more.  Unfortunately this is the case for most areas in Lesotho and so volunteers like myself see a library as something that could change our kids’ lives.  But most libraries that have been established in Lesotho have been forgotten as soon as the PCV leaves.  Reading, most Basotho say, is not part of their culture.  Also, Basotho value the books in the library and many times prefer to preserve them by locking them up than using them.  And some of this could very well happen at my school.  The library is less than a year old, still interesting.  Next year the students may not find it so new and fascinating and stop using it.

One of the hardest parts of leaving Lesotho is letting go of everything that gave me a purpose these past two years.  After December there’s nothing I can do to ensure the library continues being used.  That’s something I have to leave for the people, my colleagues, who stay.  I hope that they have realized the value of the library and keep it going.  Only time will tell.

Our small library with desks, chairs, and three book shelves.  Since this picture I've added another book shelf and at least a hundred more books.

With some of my students who use the library regularly.