I am so proud to serve Lubuto Library Partners as a member of its board of directors. This amazing, committed organization represents the very best in library practices and programs in one of the most challenging environments – sub-Saharan Africa. Yet it is this very challenge that makes LLP successes in transforming the lives of vulnerable children so remarkable and rewarding.

I first met Jane Kinney Meyers, LLPs founder, at a USBBY conference in my home town in 2009. I was instantly impressed with her and with the work LLP was doing in Zambia, as well as its potential for the future. I watched in awe as my daughter spent the next year working for LLP, as Program Development Director, helping to open what is now the “Model” library in Lusaka and saw firsthand the transformative power of LLPs libraries, collections, and programs on a community of bright, vulnerable, yet hope-filled children.

Over the years, since my visit to Zambia, I have supported LLPs cultural programs, donated school fees, proudly displayed LLP artwork in my office, and even hosted a local fund raiser to support Lubuto youth. My commitment to LLPs mission to transform Africa’s next generation through enlightenment and enrichment remains steadfast.

It’s been thirteen years since I met Jane, and in that time LLP has grown exponentially. It has served over 162,000 children and youth in over 1.65 million visits to its open-access libraries which include reading rooms, tech hubs, teen centers, and early learning centers. In fact, the Model Library in Lusaka is now Zambia’s busiest. As in the very best of libraries the world over, LLP programming offers its visitors education, psychosocial support, economic empowerment, health information, and opportunities for creative self-expression while simultaneously providing training to teachers, staff, and volunteers to carry on the LLP model to reach even more children and youth.

Won’t you join me in supporting the important, life-changing work of Lubuto Library Partners? There are so many ways to give. You, too, can help make a difference in the lives of these amazing kids who are fighting so hard for a better future!

Shelley Campbell