Nope your way to better aid decisions

Library Renovation Project

As an exercise, the Literacy Project PCTs (that’s us, the Peace Corps Trainees) renovated the Tongovawia school library. The school is on Pele island, which has no electrical grid (small home solar setups are common) and no cars. We worked under the direction of Helen, the school librarian. The library needed additional shelves, and the books needed to be cataloged, organized and reshelved. A library committee was formed for the ongoing governance of the library, and new signs and labels were created. These tasks were led by several PCT committees assigned to different areas, such as cataloging, etc.

The Tongovawia school librarian, Helen, with Amy, the PCT project lead for this project

Helen was great, excited to have the help, and easy to work with. We did our best with Bislama, her English was even better, so we were able to communicate well.

We also renovated the reading corner in each of the two classrooms.  The reading corner posters were a group effort.  The flowers and leaves were cut out from pages of discarded books.

One challenge was the size of the library. It is very small (about 7’ x 12’), and the room could not be expanded. That is a very small space when all the walls are lined with bookshelves, and all books must be easily accessible. There was enough room for another bookshelf, and since the library was short on shelf space we built one.

All of the Literacy PCTs in the renovated library

Another challenge was the quantity and condition of books. Vanuatu had received donations some years back, in the form of boxes of random books. Many of the books were cast-offs from other libraries, including partial sets of encyclopedias. Many were in poor condition (torn pages, missing covers), and many had water damage and mildew.

Let’s say an organization sends only fine quality books, no chaff at all. But is there a plan and resources at the destination to actually do something with the books? Is there a building? Shelves? Is there someone with library skills to turn the books into a library, and to manage it? If not, the boxes of books will sit, get water damaged, and mildew. More garbage. (The librarian we worked with had only been at the school for a few months when this was written. The boxes of books arrived years ahead of her.)

We needed the better part of the afternoon to haul 12+ wheelbarrow loads of damaged or garbage books out to the shed.

If you are considering donating books to a developing nation, give it some thought and planning first. All of the books in poor condition are discarded. But discarding books in a developing nation is not like discarding them in the U.S. You can either burn them, throw them out, or dump them somewhere.

Let’s consider each of these. One, books are really really hard to burn. It takes forever, and the books must be constantly churned or they just don’t burn. They are paper, but densely packed with no air flow. Ever tried burning old boxes of paper? Two, there is no trash service here. The villagers would have to figure out how to ship the books back to Port Vila so they could be handled with other municipal waste. This is really expensive and a poor use of money and resources. There simply is no garbage service in the rural areas. The third option is that the books will be dumped or buried somewhere. For now, we put them all in a corner of a tool shed.

So when an organization sends garbage books to a developing nation, they’ve just made their problem (getting rid of garbage books) somebody else’s problem. And they’ve magnified the problem because getting rid of books in a developing nation is a more difficult and expensive task.

How to Nope your way to better aid decisions.

• “A set of encyclopedias from 1965 is better than nothing.” Nope.
• “A pop up book where some of the pop ups are torn is better than nothing.” Nope.
• “A book with writing or no cover or torn or missing pages is better than nothing.” Nope.
• “A ton of books is better than a box or two of really good ones.” Nope.

Challenges during the project included shortages of things like ink, scissors, copies, markers and tape. To use the printer to make copies (before the ink ran out), we had to fire up the generator first because there is no electricity. I probably don’t need to say this, but there was no neighborhood copy shop or office supplies store. No shortages were critical, and by staying flexible we were able to keep the project going and finish on time.

On opening day, the entrance to the library was beautifully decorated by school staff with flowers and greens
from plants surrounding the school

PCT Angela brought in groups of students for library orientation, which included library rules and how to check out, check in, and take good care of library books

Community member Anna, excited to see the renovated library

A string band played at the event.  This is a good example of Vanuatu String Band music.

We worked on the project for a few weeks, and completed it late on the last day. A grand opening was held the following day, attended by many members of the community, some of the chiefs, parents and students. It was great to see the community interest in the library renovation. None of us had to sell anyone on the importance of a good library, and my host father even wanted to know if anyone (not just the school children) could check out books. There is already talk of building a new, separate library building which will be accessible to everyone in the community.

Also of note

Partway through the project, on June 17, 2017, Vanuatu's President Baldwin Lonsdale died at the age of 67 from a heart attack. He was a beloved president and well-known in Vanuatu and internationally for his strong anticorruption efforts. Tomorrow, July 3, Vanuatu is holding an election for the next president.