Once again Bruce and I are off to Tanzania to visit our friends at the Chalula Community Library. It's a trip that has been postponed twice for various reasons but yesterday we got two of our shots (ouch!) for Hep-A and tetanus and next week, typhoid. We've been very lucky, health-wise, on all of our trips, but better safe than sorry!

We will fly new York to Dubai, Dubai to Dar es Salaam for approximately 19 hours in the air. As always the challenge is to help the library acquire books for both the students and the teachers. The books and materials we need are in either English or Swahili. Sometimes we buy them at home and bring them. We also visit a publisher in Dar es Salaam and then take our purchases on the 9 hour bus ride from Dar to Dodoma, and then the 1 hour ride to Mvumi Mission! It's definitely an expedition! With no electricity in the village, there are no e-readers (;-) so pretty much everything has to be brought to the village by us.

This time we're bringing school supplies, educational posters and battery-powered cd players for music and spoken word cds. If anyone is interested in finding a good home for all those children's audiocassettes and cds that their kids have outgrown contact me at !

One person who has helped us tremendously in this effort is our good friend Andrea Wall of the PEN Trust. Andrea spends approximately half of the year in Dodoma,Tanzania working for the PEN Trust which helps to collect and distribute books to schools and libraries. Andrea visits the Chalula Community Library as often as she can and we'd be lost without her.

Please visit the PEN website www.pentrust.org and consider making a donation to either PEN or to www.favl.org in the name of the Chalula Community Library. These organizations have few or no full-time employees, they do no large-scale fundraising and virtually all contributions come from friends of friends - so there is no large overhead to support.

Jambo,
Last year Bruce and good friend Paul Thibault had the opportunity to go back to Chalula and visit our friends in Mvumi - this summer it will be my turn!

Paul has since gone on to humanitarian work in Haiti and Bruce has been involved in the publication of a major new cookbook called Modernist Cuisine. There have been changes at Chalula, too. Headmaster Henry Lyandala has been promoted to Ward Education Coordinator (congrats, Henry!) and he has been replaced as Headmaster by Mrs. Mohammed, one of the wonderful teachers at the school. We are thrilled that these two dedicated teachers have risen in the ranks and we are certain that the children of Chalula Primary School are in good hands!

Our plan is to return to Tanzania in August - hopefully with a volunteer who will stay on for an additional week or two after we leave. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Friends of African Village Libraries at www.favl.org.

I'd be sorely remiss if I didn't mention our good friend Andrea Wall of the PEN Trust. Andrea spends approximately half of the year in Dodoma,Tanzania working for the PEN Trust which helps to collect and distribute books to schools and libraries. Andrea visits the Chalula Community Library as often as she can and we'd be lost without her.

Please visit the PEN website www.pentrust.org and consider making a donation to either PEN or to www.favl.org in the name of the Chalula Community Library. These organizations have few or no full-time employees, they do no large-scale fundraising and virtually all contributions come from friends of friends - so there is no large overhead to support.

Kwaheri,
Rosemary (and Bruce)

--Salaries for Grace and Joram were paid.

--Clothing and shoes leftover from Bruce’s visit were delivered to Joram.

--Pens leftover from Bruce were given to Joram and Grace for the library.

--Joram is very excited about attending the Dodoma Regional Library course.

--Anton came from Dodoma town and killed the majority of the bees – a few still remain but they do not seem to be a problem. 15,000/= from Bruce was paid for removal.

--19 dictionaries were given to teachers.

--12 dictionaries were given to the library board committee members.

--23 dictionaries were given to the Nyemo Group, which is a group that meets at the library to discuss the care and rearing of goats.

--19 dictionaries are left for gifts.

--Upon arrival, one full table of students was looking at newspapers and said they enjoyed them very much.

--There is a wide variety of newspapers both for teachers and for younger students. They included: Nipashe, Mwananchi and Majira for older students and teachers and Spoti, Championi, Dimba and Bingwa focusing on sports and entertainment for students.

--The 20,000/= given by Bruce during his visit has run out and I gave them another 28,000/= for the 23 days of March. The average price for the newspapers is 700/= per day and the driver has asked for an increase from 300/= to 500/= shillings to pick up the newspapers and use the funds for chai in the morning. Joram picks the newspapers up at the bus stand at the end of the road leading to Chalula.

--The Library Scholar Program has been started and it seems the students are enjoying the extra attention and responsibility very much! They were all called from their classes to take a picture and to meet us.

--When I looked at the shelf it was in disarray but Joram said the Library Scholars come at the end of the day and re-alphabetize all the books that students have left on the tables instead of students re-shelving themselves.

--Joram said no funds were left for their incentives, so I paid him 5,000/= to cover the initial students.

--The Jambo Means Hello activity has also started with 31 students receiving a copy of the Moja Means One book and 38 students receiving a copy of Jambo Means Hello book.

Wednesday Story Hour has also been implemented with three weeks of Storytime led by Joram and one week of Grace leading a coloring activity.

There are six groups that regularly use the library. They recently had 23 students with their instructor from the Institute of Rural Development from Dodoma. Many of the students were impressed with the library and most said that even their secondary schools did not have libraries to use.

The boxes of books from the Darien Book Aid Project were picked up from the Dodoma post office. There were 53 books altogether and they have been processed and added to the shelves. Joram said Henry was planning on writing a thank you letter but I urged him and Grace to do something with the kids such as a simple page saying Ahsante with many kids signing their names and that I would send it for them.

Books delivered in September were added to the book inventory list and added to the shelves as well.

• March 1 = 65 students
• February 26 = 62 students
• February 25 = 75 students
• February 24 = 78 students
• February 23 = 75 students
• February 22 = 49 students
• February 19 = 33 students
• February 18 = 34 students
• February 16 = 73 students
• February 15 = 28 students
• February 12 = 26 students
• February 11 = 33 students
• February 10 = 75 students
• February 9 = 66 students
• February 8 = 99 students
• February 5 = 99 students
• February 3 = 46 students
• February 2 = 28 students
• February 1 = 13 students

Solar tube lights – six are working in the main room, one is working at the Librarian’s Desk area and the one in the store is no longer working.

Update – BFA books left the Atlanta warehouse on Friday, February 26th and will be arriving in Dar Es Salaam on May 4th. A portion will go to the high school and a portion to the Regional Library.

Rosemary had written to me about a Pen Pal Program and said that the students had done one before. I mentioned it to Joram but he had no recollection. So, if the US letters are ready, you may send them to PO Box 831 and I will introduce them on my next visit.

More marker pens were requested for student drawing and for teacher manipulatives.

Get Involved:
As always, contributions may be sent to:
Chalula Library - Friends of African Village Libraries
PO Box 90533
San Jose, CA 95109

Book contributions (children's books, biographies, reference, classic fiction, romance preferred at this time) or pen pal requests may be sent directly to the library:
Chalula Community Library
Chalula Primary School
PO Box 993
Dodoma, Tanzania