Jane's African Blog: August 2005

Sunday, August 28, 2005

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

Saturday, August 13, 2005

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.

Monday, August 08, 2005

Raspby Ramugondo's 2004 Visit to Naperville

When my friend Nomabhaso (Raspby) Ramugondo visited Naperville, she spoke with students in my school (Naperville Central High School) as well as with students at Prairie (2nd graders) and Kingsley Elementary (5th graders) Schools. Here are a few of the pictures of us all!

A Few Details: Background

You may want to know what is going on with my trip to Africa. It all began in the fall of 2004. I was asked to host a visiting international librarian through a program sponsored by The Mortenson Center for International Library Programs. (Visit their website at http://www.library.uiuc.edu/mortenson/.) The librarian I hosted was Nomabhaso (Raspby) Ramugondo from Free State, South Africa.

Raspy supervises the 173 school libraries in her state - Free State. We had three wonderful days of sharing and laughter as we met with some of my library colleagues (there are 21 school librarians in my school district) and fellow teachers at NCHS. Raspby agreed to visit with students in several of our school libraries (see pictures). She was terrific!

We learned that there are not a lot of books in many of the libraries, if they even have a library! Very little funding can be expected from the government and subsequently, the schools. Raspby is hard put to visit all of her schools during the course a school year. When she visits a school she hopes to find that a "library manager" (usually a teacher) is opening the "library" on a regular basis. Otherwise, the students have very little access to books to read - for fun or for research. The only exceptions will be be in schools which were well funded prior to the ending of apartheid.

When Raspby spoke to the students at my school - Naperville Central High School - the students were moved to ask, "What can we do to help?" After some discussion with the students and teachers who brought them, we decided to have Book Drive for South Africa! So, in January we but drop boxes around the building, cans for collecting shipping money, and asked for donations of NEW or very gently used books for all ages - fiction and non-fiction were welcomed.

As the books came in, our library staff members went through the books to make sure they were in great condition and were relevant to the students in South Africa. (No microwave cook books, no out-of-date reference books, etc..) By the end of February we had a LOT of books boxed and ready to send. We had fifteen boxes of books (637 books) weighing in at 478 pounds.

Our method of shipping was through the U.S. Postal Service and is referred to as "M-BAGS". It is a very cheap ($1.00 per pound) method, but it can take 3-6 months for materials to arrive at their destination. (It is ship-ping after all!) However, this method is also a bit time consuming when you arrive at the post office!

At the post office, we had to wheel all the boxes to the customer window (waiting our turn of course) where the clerk had to weigh each box individually, put it into the m-bag and attach a special label on the bag. What was a challenge was each box had to be sealed and labeled with shipper and receiver. So did each M-bag tag. Then a green customs form had to be completed on each package (recipient's address, contents, value, "gift", signature of sender, & date). Well, I printed up a LOT of small address labels with Raspby's address and carried a school address stamp with me. It saved a lot of time, but still, each trip to the post office took two hours!

When it was all over, we had shipped 69 boxes containing 2,251 books weighing 2,151 pounds. Thanks to the generosity of our students, teachers, community and librarians around Illinois, we made a lot of kids happy in Free State, South Africa!

THE KICKER

Raspby, in turn, turned in my name to the Library & Information Association of South Africa (http://www.liasa.org.za/conferences/conferences.php) as a possible speaker for their national conference to be held in Nelspruit, SA, between September 26 and 30, 2005. Lo and behold, I received an invitation to come and speak - at their expense! It is such an amazing and wonderful opportunity which I could not bring myself to refuse. So, I will be heading for South Africa very soon!

In addition, Raspby's supervisor has asked if I could come to their provinces to meet with educators, government personnel, and other librarians following the conference. The U.S. Embassy has also issued an invitation to speak in Johannesburg and Durban! So, we are working out the details of how and when and where.

At the recommendation of a dear friend (Marilyn), I have started this blog to keep people up to date on my adventure. Once in South Africa I am not sure how much access to the 'net I will have to post to the blog, but I will find a way! (I can always call home and ask my husband to add notes.)

So, enjoy some of the pictures I am posting from Rasby's visit to my school district back in October. Hopefully, there will be some - eventually - from my visit to South Africa!

Sunday, August 07, 2005