More Books for the Camel Bookmobile

Over the December break I finally made it to the Post Office with two more boxes of books to send to the Camel Book Drive in northeastern Kenya. The success of the book drive has resulted in the Garissa Regional Library receiving more than enough books for their current needs, so the donation focus was moved to a library even further out into the bush, to the town of Wajir.

Some of the books were donated by Paideia students and teachers. Some were extra copies of books we already have in the collection. Exciting additions to the shipment were two new picture books, In the Time of the Drums (a Coretta Scott King Award winner) and Dancing the Ring Shout!, written by Paideia parent Kim Siegelson. While collecting books to send, I had seen Drums on the Book Drive's Amazon.com "wish list." Cool! Kim graciously came to the office to inscribe copies of the books especially for the readers of Wajir.

The recent change in shipping policies meant that it costs a lot more to send the books (International Priority Flat Rate instead of the very inexpensive Mail Bag), but they travel much more quickly (by air rather than surface mail). I hope that they arrived before the current post-election violence.

The Kenyan librarians have reported that Garissa and Wajir are not experiencing the same level of unrest, but operations in the country are at a standstill. I especially hope for all the people of Kenya that the political situation is resolved and that peace returns to their daily lives.