I was excited to get an update from the team about the plans to officially launch the Kibera Library, which are currently underway, and which we expect will pick up momentum in the coming month. The project, since its inception in 2011, has grown into an important resource for the community within and around Kibera.
We partnered with the community of Kibera to lobby the government of Kenya for land to construct the library. We then invited the partnership of Kenya National Library Services (KNLS) to manage the facility as a sustainability measure. All the while, our friend Dr Caroline Lightowler remained in close contact with the local community to identify viable location for construction of the library facility. She has remained our contact with our development partners – the Alistair Berkley Trust Family.
The products and services at the centre prepare the young for the future
During the early stages, the team was really challenged by people who believed that the facility would better be used for other purposes, including setting it up as a health centre. The Alistair Berkley Trust came in as a donor, and funded this unique pilot, which would challenge the notion that knowledge is a secondary need to people, especially vulnerable communities. The Trust funded the first and second phases of the library, which was opened to users in 2012. The second phase is currently being kitted with equipment.
A resource for the community
The library has proved to be an invaluable resource to the community which is increasing beyond access to available literature. It has provided a well-equipped centre, with the support of additional donors and well-wishers, where about 20 schools from the area can have their library lessons and interact with a variety of books and content that bring their lessons to life. It currently has a stock of 11,213 books on its shelves. In addition, it now has huge following by an adult population that has interest in livelihood based subjects – trade and life skills that can be applied day-to-day.
The facility has also provided a place where the imaginations of young children can be stimulated in reading sessions and the love for books planted in their young minds. A group of girls from the neighbourhood schools came together, using this space as their base to regularly meet up and talk about everyday issues that affect them. And most recently, the space has given more than 280 young people an opportunity to come together, and get training in life skills that they need and a chance to graduate into the National Youth Service system.
One thing became clear to me; the infrastructure we helped set up was a crucible filled with a lot of potential and topped up with a lot of uncertainty about the direction it would take at the point of inception. And by working closely with the staff members in the library and opening up to listen to the community’s most pertinent needs, we have been able to demonstrate the impact information access can have in improving livelihoods and providing alternatives to securing better livelihoods for people.
Facilitating knowledge exchange, embracing openness and stimulating imaginations on how information can be converted into currency has helped adopt the library as an essential part of the community. The number of community members using the facility has grown to an average of 300 people per day. The staff there now regularly gets all manner of requests for information that might seem trivial, but which has the potential to change lives.
The finished facility of the Kibera Library
Services now provided include the Tablet Hour program (computer programs for children on Tablets) where children can learn how to access educative software preloaded for revision by e-Limu, who collaborates with Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) curriculum development department. It also provides adult, junior and institutional lending; reference; user education; outreach to primary schools; special programs including mentorship for pupils; inter-library lending; consultancy services; advisory library services; practical training for students on attachment; HIV/AIDS information dissemination; and language programs through book clubs.
The direction the library and particularly the knowledge node, is taking speaks to the importance of our work as knowledge brokers, and the importance of making our knowledge products as relevant as possible to the people we serve: our beneficiaries. The facility is used to organise motivational talks for the youth; it hosts a girls’ club as well as inter-school reading club competitions, talent shows, debates, and reading tents to name a few. A cultural corner in the library will help preserve collections of indigenous artefacts, knowledge and content.
Our vision is a region where all people have the necessary knowledge, skills and opportunities to access equitable, affordable technology, both through the hardware we provide, which is an important enabler, but also through the technical knowledge & skills that help them improve their well-being. The needs may vary greatly, depending on the context, but we need to work even harder to ensure that all of our programmes take a deliberate effort in growing our knowledge activities, in order to reach as many as possible with the lessons we take with us from the field. The growing utility of Kibera Library is a testament to the impact access to knowledge, as a resource, can have to a community.
By doing this, we will ensure that we will continue to respond to the most pertinent needs of the communities we serve. We look forward to its official launch, and to working with even more like-minded programs and organisations such as the National Youth Service, to build on this momentum and change lives.