Sunday, October 30, 2011
Fisherman at Sunset by Vincent Ouma
I love this painting by Vincent Ouma, it's about three and a half feet wide and a foot and a half feet tall. This brings me right back to Lake Victoria and the shores in Kisumu. I'm putting one of my photographs of Lake Victoria as well.
If you'd like more information about this piece or artist, let me know! eva@mariaslibraries.org.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Erick Ayoti: Tunnel Music
"Tunnel Music" is Erick's representation of his grandfather playing traditional Luo music. This painting was Erick's first painting using acrylic on canvas. Although he has been showing and selling his paintings in Kisumu, Kenya for many years, this exhibition marks the first time this work has been viewed by the public. It is a great honor that Erick allowed me to take this work to America to be included in this exhibition.
If you would like more information about the artist or this piece, please email me at eva@mariaslibraries.org.
Introducing. . . Life on the Shores of Lake Victoria
Sunday, October 23, 2011
It's Katie here, the new library volunteer most recently from Madison, WI. I'm actually in Busia because my husband Miles is working for IPA. While I'm here I have the freedom to spend part of my time manning the desk at the library, teaching the computer class to the Mamas, and scheming up other things to do in the library. I'm also working part-time for IPA.
Last week Esther and I painted the children's side yellow! We tore down the posters, scrubbed down the walls (Esther) and then I used my summer-in-college-spent-painting skills to rejuvinate the walls on that side. It turned out beautifully, and then we hired an artistic fundi (handyman) to come in and paint images of animals on the wall as well. We are thrilled with the results. Now, of course, Esther and I have our sights set on doing something to the adult side as well, we shall see!
Tomorrow will be another computer class with the Mamas. They are such eager learners, even coming in extra mornings just to practice typing skills. We're trying to determine which computer skills are most useful and practical for them to aim to acquire. This is a work in progress.
I hope you enjoy the pictures of the Library Makeover and the computer class!
-Katie
Esther having a teaching moment with the rabbit
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Bye Bye Busia
Daily Visitors
Daily Visitors
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Daily Visitors
Monday, October 10, 2011
Daily visitors series
In my last week in Busia I took pictures of regular visitors of the library and asked them to describe what the library means to them in one sentence. You can find the series below! I hope it will give everyone a glimpse into the day-to-day life of the library :)
Cheers,
Harmke
Daily visitors
Daily visitors
Daily visitors
Lunch at Maria's Farm
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Celebrating Mama-Mtoto!
Hi everyone!
I just finished cleaning up the library after yesterday's celebration meeting, so I wanted to update you on the great day we had yesterday!
After a lot of preperation from Esther, Maria and I, the big celebration day was finally here! The certificates were printed and signed (just not by the district commissioner, more on that later), the snacks and drinks had arrived, the tent and sign-in booth were set up and the mama's were preparing a dance for the celebration, as we were putting the final touches to the Mama-Mtoto banner. One of the mamas, Lennah, had suggested early on that we all buy T-shirts for the function, to promote the project. The mothers were really enthusiastic, and Maria ended up sponsoring all the mamas for half of the costs, the mamas contributing the other half themselves. Susy and I also bought a T-shirt, and Maria bought a couple of extras for other "friends" of the project.
In the morning, I once again went to the District Commissioner's office, to confirm his presence at our celebration and to have him sign the certificates for the mamas. I had been to his office a couple of times already, but he hadn't been around. This particular morning I had a classic run-in with bureaucracy, waiting for hours for one commissioner, finally meeting his deputy, who sent me to another officer, who eventually confirmed what I had seen coming already: the DC was not in today and would not be coming to our function. Therefore, the mamas received their certificates yesterday, symbolically graduating from the program, but handed them in at the end so I could have them signed today. This morning, the DC apologized for not being able to come to the celebration and signed all the certificates, which reaffirms an old Dutch saying: de aanhouder wint (the one who perseveres wins)!
The celebration got started an hour and a half after the scheduled time, but Maria insisted we were on Kenyan time, and the guests who arrived on time wouldn't mind. Geoffrey Mbweke, a teacher from Busia and the artist who created the cover of the Busia “Wonder of Friendship” book, was the host for our event and he kept everyone entertained throughout the day. Maria spoke of the success of the program and the future library to be built in cooperation with KNLS and Maria's Libraries. Just that morning she received the model of the library and she showed it with great pride to the guests and the press. I gave a small speech on the achievement of the project and the mamas, and my experiences with the Busia Community Library. The mamas read the story from Busia in the 4 languages it was published in and the children from Busia Township, the neigboring school, reflected on some of the classes they had attended at the library.
We finished the meeting with a small speech from the Probation Officer of the District Commissioner's office, the official they had sent after my regular visits to other offices. It was pretty hilarious to see how he tried to connect his line of work to the library, but in the end he concluded that illiteracy and crime go hand in hand, and therefore, the library was a great help to his efforts to rehabilitate people into the community. He handed out the certificates to the mama's and we were invited by Geoffrey to enjoy the pillaw and soda's Maria had provided for everyone!
I think we all had a great day and the mama's were all very proud and excited that they were the ones being celebrated. They loved being graduates and they wore their t-shirts with pride. But, this wasn't the last time we all saw each other! We have a visit planned to Maria's farm this coming Saturday and most of the mamas will come to the computer class on Monday! So thankfully, we didn't have to say goodbye just yet :).
I will update you on both events in the coming days, writing some of my last blog posts before I finish my work for Maria's Libraries and trade Busia in for Rotterdam in just two short weeks!
Cheers,
Harmke
Monday, October 3, 2011
Another computer lesson and home visit
Just a quick update from Busia: today Katie and I taught another computer class and I went on a home visit across from the library, one of the mama's literally lives 20 meters from the library. Coming Wednesday is the celebration meeting, so more updates then. Here are some pictures of today, enjoy :)