Today marks the end of seven days national mourning declared for Nelson Mandela in Zambia. Over the past week, Lubuto Libraries have been places where children came to reflect on what Mandela meant to them.
Read MoreOur libraries are more than places where you find an excellent collection of books. They are also places where children can come to find a way to express themselves in our different programs. Some children come to the library because it is a safe environment.
Read MoreOne of the activities that we do at Lubuto is connect with children living and working on the streets. This week, I joined our outreach team from FOHLL at Lusaka’s Soweto Market and read The Three Little Pigs with children we met at the market.
Read MoreOur two Lubuto Libraries in Lusaka continue to draw large numbers of children. The libraries complement the formal education system by providing high quality collections and programming to all children, especially vulnerable children.
Read MoreConstruction of the third library is in the early stages. Excavations are being completed; on Monday we hope to start building the foundations.
Read MoreIn the last few weeks we've had some very important meetings at the Lubuto Library Project in Zambia. First I was invited to the work planning meeting, where the management team scheduled all the work that Lubuto will be doing on all of its projects and programs over the next year.
Read MoreAs reported previously in our newsletter, Lubuto has received a grant from the All Children Reading partnership to develop our LubutoLiteracy program. This could not come at a better time for Zambian children, since the government has recently announced that all teaching in schools up to Grade 4 should be done in local languages.
Read MoreLast week saw our fourth LubutoDrama performance. As is now usual, the groups from both libraries came together to perform and celebrate their achievements. I didn't think that things could get any better than our third performance, a month or so ago, but I was wrong!
Read MoreI would like to share some of the highlights of the past month: - The Lubuto Outreach team is gaining the trust of the girls at Vision of Hope and our visits there are becoming increasingly vibrant.
Read MoreLast Thursday was World Book Day. To commemorate this I showed the boys at Fountain of Hope Lubuto Library how to make their own mini books from a sheet of A4 paper and we spent a happy morning creating our own masterpieces.
Read MoreAs part of our outreach program we have begun to work with Vision of Hope, a residential centre for girls who live and work on the street in John Howard Compound, Southern Lusaka.
Read MoreFrom 18th - 27th February, Mike Lee ran a workshop at Ngwerere Lubuto Library on programming using Etoys with the OLPC laptops.
Read MoreOn Saturday 23rd February, both of the LubutoDrama groups met for the first time at Ngwerere Lubuto Library (NLL), and each performed a play for the assembled audience. I was at Fountain of Hope Lubuto Library (FOHLL) in the morning, helping the group to get ready.
Read MoreI arrived back in Lusaka a few weeks ago, and since then have been caught up in a whirlwind of Lubuto activity! It is a very busy but very exciting time. My role with Lubuto has been developed, so I will now be spending time in both of the libraries in Lusaka.
Read MoreI am currently on my Christmas/New Year break but just wanted to write an update of a couple of the things that have been happening in the Fountain of Hope Lubuto Library over the last month or so.
Read MoreOn November 3 and 10, LubutoMentoring program had its two wrap-up sessions at both of the Lubuto Libraries. The Reading Room was full to capacity.
Read MoreA couple of weekends ago we celebrated the finale of the LubutoMentoring programme. All of the 120+ kids who have been involved were invited to an event where they gave us some evaluative feedback on the programme, and received awards and certificates to help them celebrate their success.
Read MoreA little while ago my counterpart Kasela and I were invited to attend a 3-day workshop on Helping Grieving Children at Fountain of Hope. It was a really interesting course and we learnt a lot about the different kinds of grief that the kids we encounter...
Read MoreOctober 24th was Independence Day in Zambia. It was a Bank Holiday, but some of the boys at Fountain of Hope asked me if I would still come to see them – and how could I refuse? I would have missed them too much if I had sat at home all day on my own anyway!
Read MoreOn 24th September, Fountain of Hope was privileged to receive a visit from Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, the Princess Royal. As part of the visit, she came into the Library (I was told in advance that I would have 4 minutes to give her a tour...
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