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