Pictures of South African Learners!

It has been a while since I posted any pictures of my trip. There are some wonderful ones of the children I saw, the animals in Kruger National Park, and the people I spent so much time with! Hopefully, I can get some of the up here!

Below are pictures of children and teenagers I met at two schools in Free State, SA. They are students who received books from my school last year. And the students at Naperville Central will be sending more books to the same schools again!



A young poet from Hlajoane Secondary school stands with me and his school librarian. This young man won 2nd place in a college poetry contest. His inspiration came from the books we sent!


This shot is of part of the student body at his school. They all stood patiently during an outdoor program to celebrate my visit. There was even a vocal ensemble which sang a song they wrote about fighting over the few books they have & not having enough books!


This shot if of some of the teachers at one of the primary schools I visted. This one also received books from Naperville.


It was a delightful surprise when these young Southo (soo-too) dancers performed for me when I visited their school.


These young boys were having a great time celebrating my visit. Their smiles were a joy to experience!

Post trip update

Hi Everyone!

My feet have not yet returned to earth from my amazing adventure. And life has certainly been hectic since I returned. I have a some problems uploading more photos from my trip to this blog. I have a feeling the ones I posted previously took up too much space!

At any rate, many people have been interested in what I did and where I went. Two newspaper articles have appeared in the Naperville papers. One was in the Daily Herald (Saturday, Oct. 22). It is viewable online at until Saturday, Oct. 29th. The second article appeared in the Naperville Sun (Monday, Oct. 24). It is also available online at .

I thought each writer did a nice job capturing different angles of my adventure.

Today was another high point! I met Kathryn Harris, director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library this morning. Kathryn assisted me via phone and e-mail prior to my trip. She attended the LIASA conference LAST YEAR and was able to travel around South Africa doing workshops and programs similar to what I was asked to do. We had a wonderful time comparing pictures and stories face to face! She is a delightful and amazing woman!

(If you have never visited the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library or Museum in Springfield, IL, it a MUST SEE! Kathryn has significant input and influence in how these buildings were developed, designed, and built. The resources available to the public are phenomenal!)

Well, I did promise to continue my account. I left off with heading for Nelspruit and the LIASA Conference. Our embassy group arrived in Nelspruit on a Sunday evening. We had a few problems with our accomodations - the guest house claimed they had overbooked and now had no room for us! They had someone come to guide us to another guest house that could provide for us. Once we dropped off luggage and picked up keys we drove to the conference venue at the local "teknicon" (technical college).

Upon our arrival we discovered that MY hotel accomodations for the conference had already been arranged for (and paid for) by the conference committee...and at the Mnotwene Sun Hotel (4 star!). I also learned the conference committee had arranged for special transportation for me and the other three international guest speakers!

Fenghua (the Public Affairs Officer from the embassy) wasn't happy as she thought the conference committee wanted the embassy to pay for this which they had not included in their original grant. However, the conference contact assured her that the embassy wasn't being charged for my accomodations during the conference. They had needed only the grant money for my transportation to and from the conference. All other expenses were covered by their conference committee.

So, my luggage (and Fenghua's) had to be fetched from the guest house and brought to the new hotel which was absolutely lovely!

The hotel lobby was welcoming and comfortable.


We also had a bell captain who was Zulu and sometimes appeared in native dress!

My time is up for now. More later! And thanks for checking in and keeping up with my adventures!

Back Home, But What a Trip!

Hi Everyone!

I am back at home and recovering from jet lag. But what memories! It is hard to cover all the wonderful experiences I had and to share with you just what I saw and felt.

There were times when I was frustrated that I could not either access the Internet or upload pictures to this blog while I was gone. My schedule was so busy!

Let me give you a bit of my schedule:

As you know, when I arrived in Johannesburg I stayed with one of the Embassy officers, Feng Hua Wang. She guided me through my visits to speak to school librarians in Pretoria (at the Embassy) and then to school librarians in Johannesburg. I also visited two schools in the township of Soweto. (The elementary school has a principal who has taken the initiative to find private funding so his school has a library, librarian, working and up-to-date computer lab with teacher, and a science lab. The high school had practically nothing in terms of facilities. Their library is used as a staff room now and they have almost no resources.)

Here are some pictures from the two schools.
(This is the elementary computer lab, funded with a grant from the Bill Gates Foundation.)
(This is from the high school - students were assembled to hear a speaker when we dropped by.)

(This is what used to be the high school's library. It is now a staff work room.)






From there we (me, Selaelo Ramoleta - the IRC Director in Joburg, and our driver Jacob) drove to Harrismith in Free State, met my friend Raspby and several of her colleagues for dinner. The next morning we visited two schools (in Qwaqwa) which received books from us, and presented to more than 65-70 school librarians at a workshop.

At the primary school receiving some of the books we sent I encountered the entire student body in the courtyard where they sang, danced, and held up posters of welcome and thanks. I also met their librarian, heard a little boy tell me one of the stories he read and listend as a little girl read one of the stories she liked.


At the high school receiving some books I met one girl (Puso Mamello) who really enjoyed one of the books we sent. She showed me a passage which impressed her greatly. At that school's "assembly" I heard a young man read a poem he wrote (inspired by one of the books we sent) which won him a poetry contest! An ensemble of students also sang a song they had composed about their desire to have more books as they don't have enough. Both the song and poem were in the Sotho (soo-too) language, but the gist of their contents was explained to me.

From Free State, I was driven to Bloemfontein airport (three and a half hour drive) through the Golden Gate National Park. (I saw two ostrich and some amazing scenery!) From Bloemfontaine I flew to Durban.

While I had two days and nights in Durban the time was tightly packed with activity. I was met by the driver for the Consul General who delivered me and MOST of my luggage to the Edward Hotel right on the beach. I was in a panic when I discovered he forgot to leave one bag containing my computer cables and speeches! Later I also realized my compter's CD-ROM drive was missing. (It was a most anxious night!)

The next morning I called the friend who had driven me to the airport - and she had discovered my drive in her car. It apparently fell out of my computer. Also, when I was picked up at the hotel for my morning adventures my missing bag was in the car. I spoke to about 30 school librarians and teachers at the U.S. Consulate in Durban then accompanied Feng Hua and the IRC Director (Thula) to a meeting with the Specialist Director at the Institute of Technology, Durban. From there I was taken to another college campus to open and attend the Kwa-Zulu Natal School Library Association conference. (I only had to speak ten minutes, but told them about the Illinois Library Study.)

It was a fun time because I heard two other presentations, attended their Exhibits Reception, participated in a surprise auction, and then was delivered back to my hotel. The next morning a delightful couple - Andrew & Di - friends of one of the KZN librarians gave me a wonderful tour of the Durban area. In the afternoon and evening I was driven around and entertained by a children's author from the same conference. I saw the extremes of Durban's population and living conditions as well as learned a lot of interesting facts about the city.

Thula and I flew out of Durban about 8:30 am for Johannesburg. From there we joined up with Feng Hua, Selaelo, and a driver and headed for Nelspruit where the LIASA library conference was being held.

I think I will stop here and continue more of the adventure later.

Thanks so much to all of you who kept me in your thoughts and prayers. They did make a huge difference in my adventure. God certainly was watching out for me and providing for all my needs - even before I knew I had any!

Later,
jane

I have arrived!

Well, I am finally here in South Africa! I arrived about 8:45 pm local time at the Johannesburg airport last night. The ride was long, but not boring! My seatmates on each leg of the journey were friendly and very nice.

My US Embassy contact, Fenghua Wang, met me and took me to her home in Pretoria. She is a most hospitable hostess and also very busy. Not only is she taking me under her wing, but she has only been here two months - having transfered from Kenya. She is a former academic librarian in the US and is now an information resource officer for the embassy.

My first presentation was to day at the Embassy. Forty-five teacher/librarians came to hear about "Information Literacy Skills". I used part of one powerpoint and then spoke in response to many of their questions. They seemed pleased with my words and many of us in Illinois (and beyond) can empathize with the challenges many of them face: moving from a classroom to being in charge of the library with no training; doing both classroom and library; few sources and lots of needs. Half the audience have NO computers in their schools. The other half have one or two, or are expecting to get computer labs in their schools by 2013!

One other problem South African librarians have is having eleven official languages to deal with - in the classroom and in the library! And we think bilingual education is a challenge!!!

I think it was helpful for them to know we in the US have faced and still face some of the same problems and challenges they face here. There is comfort in knowing you really are not alone. (They liked the term "solo librarian" for those who have no support.)

Tomorrow I speak in Johannesberg and visit two schools in Soweto (one has a library and the other doesn't), before driving to Harrismith for the night. Then Wednesday I will visit three of the schools we shipped books to and I will speak there at least once or twice. I will get to see and visit with my friend Raspby while there.

I am writing from the Library (IRC) in the Embassy while I wait for Fenghua to finish up a meeting. The director here is Mark Dobson. He is assisted by Sean Newman their reference specialist and webmaster. Delightful people!

Guess I had better go for now. They have to kick me out for security reasons.
Later,
jane

Schedule Update Includes Safari!

Time is quickly running out! Just a little over a week from now I will be crisscrossing South Africa. What a schedule too!

Here is what the current schedule looks like:

Sept 19 - Arrive Johannesburg (catch up on sleep)
Sept 20 - Pretoria: afternoon reception and one-hour speech to 50 librarians.
Sept 21 - Johannesburg & Soweto: visti 2 schools in Soweto; program and speak to librarians and administrators in JOhannesburg; drive to Harrismith with Embassy staff (where Raspby lives)
Sept 22 - Qwaqwa: visit three schools which received books; program and speak; fly to Durban
Sept 23 - Durban: program and speak to school librarians and administrators
Sept 24 - Sightsee in Durban; return to Johannesburg
Sept 25 - Drive to Nelspruit with Embassy staff
Sept 26-30 - LIASA Conference; Monday & Wednesday Friday morning plenary speech; overnight in Nelspruit (maybe a little sightseeing?)
Oct 1-2 - Kruger National Park Safari (evening drive on Saturday, morning drive on Sunday); shuttle bus to Johannesburg airport
Oct 2 - Depart for USA

Now, if I can only get my speeches written and my suitcase packed! (Got one shot and anti-malaria pills last week, so the health stuff is taken care of!)

These next ten days will be very busy with work stuff and home stuff - all apart from getting ready for The Trip. (Like a quick trip to Philly for my grandson's christening, answering telephones for the Billy Graham telethon, giving orientation presentations in about fifteen classes, etc.) Should keep me from getting bored!

Gotta go for now. I hope you will check back in about two weeks to see where I have been in SA!
Jane

Travel Update

Hi Everyone.
Time is passing quickly and so is my departure date! The e-tickets have come and I depart Chicago on September 18th. I will travel through Amsterdam and then on to Johannesburg. It appears the flight to Holland is 8 hours long with a one hour wait for the next leg of 10 hours, 40 minutes. So 18 hours and 40 minutes of flying. I hope I have enough books to get me through... If not I can always work on my speeches!

My calendar in South Africa is really full. I will have a day and two night to rest up before the whirlwind begins with a visit to two schools in Soweto and speaking with teacher librarians in Johannesburg. I will then trave to Free State to visit 2 or 3 of the 8 schools which received the books we shipped last spring. While there my hosts want me to speak with principals of the schools as well as with school managers and other district officials. From there I will drive to Bloemfontein to catch a plane to Durban.

I am not sure what the schedule in Durban looks like, but I may have a little time to do some sightseeing while there. I do know that I will be back in Johannesburg by Sunday and on to the LIASA Conference for Monday.

So much to get done...speeches to write or at least outline, powerpoints to prepare, luggage to pack - after I figure out what to wear! There there are the dozens of things still to do in my everyday life like going to work, doing orientations and things at church. Never a dull moment.

So many people have been encouraging and excited for me. Several people I didn't know before but who heard about this trip have given me names of people I can contact in SA, tips about what to see or visit. It makes me feel like I have many friends going along! In a way, I do!

More when I have it!
Bye for now.
jane

Schedule Updates

I received an e-mail from my SA Embassy contact on Friday. "They" have managed to put together a very packed schedule for me! It looks like I am to fly into Johannesburg on Tuesday, September 20th - a week earlier than I expected originally.

The next morning I should be participating in a program in Johannesburg, organized by the chair for the LIASA School Libraries Interest Group. That afternoon I will most likely fly to Bloemfontein.

Thursday, the 22nd will be spent in Free State (where we sent all the books!). That afternoon or evening I am to fly to Durban. (Whew!)

Friday, the 23rd will be a program in Durban (structure and content yet unknown). I would then have the weekend free to sight see or return to Mpumalanga province (where the LIASA conference is to be held.)

Monday the 26th is the beginning of the conference and it runs through til Friday (on which morning I am to give my speech).

After the speech giving they have me down for an overnight trip to Kruger National Park, returning to Nelspruit on Saturday. I would then return to the US on Oct. 1st or 2nd.

Wow! What a schedule! We shall see how it all shakes down. The final arrangements are to be made this coming week.