Helping Bring Books Where They’ve Never Been Before
Camel library update, May 11, 2008
Fifteen months after it began, efforts from individuals, authors, book festivals, libraries, bookstores and book clubs to contribute to the camel library have been enormously successful. Books have poured into this corner of northern Kenya, and will bolster education and literacy efforts for many years to come. Many thanks to everyone involved for building a bridge and helping bring books to this remote region.
Current efforts are focused on raising money so that local people can collect their folktales and traditional stories and then have them published, likely in Somali. This idea was the brainchild of Louise Allison’s book group in Australia that read The Camel Bookmobile and then considered the best way they might help the real camel library. This will allow an area in transition to preserve and place value on traditional ways. Mr. Farah has formed a committee to look into how much money will be needed for this project. See his email below and be in touch if you have any questions or comments. Thank you!
Dear Masha,
Thank you very much for your telephone call yesterday. In fact, we are grateful to the kind response we received from various donors. We can now proudly say as a result of your tireless effort in making the camel library success, the children of northern Kenya have all the reason to smile. They now have an oasis of books. In Garissa, we have received about 5,500 copies, including Swahili books. Mrs. Warfa in Wajir has also told me that the response is overwhelming and she has 30 cartons of books that she recently received. She estimates them to number about 1,400 or so new copies. She is opening the boxes one by one for proper processing, and after she opens all the boxes we shall know the actual number. We have also organized a reading tent competition in Bute, Wajir and Garissa. The idea is to inculcate early reading culture to our youngsters. It was quite an experience and the participating children enjoyed it. Among the activities were painting, story-telling, reading, essay writing, reciting poems, etc.
Lastly, the idea of collecting and writing the local stories has been received with a lot of enthusiasm. I have so far formed a small committee to handle this, and I’ll be the chairperson. As an individual, I also wish to write about what I intend to call “The Caravan of Hope” about the camel service, from loading to providing the service, as well as illustrated. Our current need is funds to conduct the research and the origination of the stories and folktales. We are also exploring the possibility of starting a model Somali village where we collect traditional Somali cultural artifacts. This could later be a source of income generating that will help the camel library service. Thank you.
UPDATE FROM KENYA, Feb 12, 2008:
UPDATE to let you know the continuing upheaval in Kenya has NOT affected the Northeast Province where the camel libraries are based. See latest email from Mr. Farah below. Books and money continue to reach this area. Your donations have helped the camel library expand from Garissa to Wajir, further to the northeast.
The Wajir librarian, Mrs. Warfa, said she has received about 500 book donations as of January 2008. Thank you!
The camel book drive began as an effort by authors in February 2007 and has broadened to include generous booklovers of all stripes, including businesses, libraries and publishers, book groups and individual readers. If you donate a box of books or money, please contact us so we can add you to the donor list.
Any questions? Send us an e-mail.
Michael and Bettina Jetter, authors of The Cancer Code.
Katha Pollitt
Jean Sasson
Ellis Avery
Janey Volden
Carol D. O’Dell
