Building School libraries

 

Join us in transforming the landscape of community libraries! For far too long, we operated under the assumption that resources were scarce, but this year, we are determined to change that narrative. We invite you to be a catalyst for this change by supporting our initiative to empower libraries, be it through financial contributions or book donations.

(PICTURED:TOWN VIEW ACADEMY LIBRARY)
Embracing the philosophy of "whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your strength," we call upon individuals who share our passion for fostering a love of reading in communities. We've witnessed successful endeavors in other parts of Kenya where network schools have thrived, and we are inspired to replicate that success in the general Nyeri area.

Our current focus involves six schools in the region, all of which are private institutions. While government-sponsored schools are on our radar for the future, we believe in starting where we can make an impact now. We've already taken the first steps by engaging with the heads of these schools, all of whom have shown enthusiasm and a genuine commitment to the cause.

One notable example is Town View Academy, where the head of the school took the initiative to allocate a room, have it painted, and build shelves – a tangible commitment to the project. Simultaneously, Inspire has prepared a collection of books for donation, primarily sourced from our friends at AFK (follow them here). The collaborative effort has transformed a simple room into an inviting space that captivates children's interest in reading. And we're not stopping there – murals and other enhancements are in the
works to further cultivate a love for reading.

Our journey doesn't end with physical improvements. The third crucial step involves engaging with teachers, a challenging but essential aspect of our mission. We recognize that the theoretical support for reading doesn't always translate to practical involvement. As Inspire, we fervently hope that teachers embrace the culture of reading, understanding that "monkey see, monkey do."

Building and sustaining a functional school library involves numerous challenges, and we acknowledge that there's a lot to learn. We invite you to learn alongside us, whether through financial support, book donations, or by spreading the word. Let's come together to create vibrant spaces that inspire a lifelong love of reading in our communities. Your contribution can make a lasting impact – join us in this transformative journey! 

email us at inspirebeyondbooks@gmail.com let us know how you would like to help

#TheLibrarian

What if travelling could make a difference?

Traveling and Relaxation has its place, but with a little effort and a different approach, we can also use our holiday time to create change, if we so choose. The beautiful thing about traveling to a different place, is that often it teaches us that we have many things in common with people who appear to be very different from us, which in turn helps us see those commonalities through a new lens.  What if by traveling you could use what you know or what you have to bring meaningful change and at the same time enjoy yourself ?

This is the story of Charles 

Our Core business as Super Librarians is to take books to hard to reach places and as best as we can , spread a love of reading and improve the levels of literacy.In a little village in Laikipia North, called Ntalabany,  I met Charles about 2 years ago. He was around 10 years old at the time. This was our first visit, and though he enjoyed the reading activity, on his own, he was really struggling to read. The lack of reading material and especially ones he could enjoy was a hindrance to his reading progress. As we were leaving, we left story books with the children. It took us a while to go back, but on our second visit, when I sat down to read them a story, he volunteered to help me. The most surprising thing was his fluency and though he struggled with one or two words, there was marked improvement. So what changed? A few books at the right time and books that a child could enjoy. A difference we made because we had people of good will who donated books and therefore we were able to give the children in this village.

As Victor Hugo put it, “To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark."  Reading is a gateway to learning. It opens up the world to children, and it gives them the skills they need to succeed in school and in life. But not all children have access to books. Did you know that children should be able to read by age 10? According to a report by UNESCO and the World Bank, by 2030, at least 43% of children aged 10 will still not be reading proficiently.

In Kenya, the situation is not any better. A study by the United Nations found that 97% of households in Sub-Saharan Africa have two or fewer children's books. This is a problem because reading is essential for children's development, and it's something that we should all be investing in. In your own households how many books do you have?

Reading unfortunately, has not been prioritized. As a community librarian, I know this because of the struggle we have to go through to get books into the hands of children. It is a fact that unless you are in a private school which understands the value of reading , chances are your children will never experience books for fun and enjoyment because as we have learnt even at home we have very few books from which children or even ourselves can choose from.

The sad reality though, is that a study by KNBS showed that Kenyans spend the biggest percentage on airtime, both for data and minutes, and often to speak stories. We have created a billion shilling industry out of it. Yet a good book will cost you an average of Ksh 250 only. Very few people in this country, will every actually, intentionally visit book stores to buy story books. Instead it is often stationery, curriculum books and because CBC is not giving us much of a choice, art material,

But what if we can start re investing money in the love of reading? What if we decide here now that once in a while you and I will make a difference by investing as little as ksh 250 in buying a good book for a child somewhere? It could be your own, or working through community libraries like ours at INSPIRE (https://www.facebook.com/Inspire.Nyeri), help us get books out there in places where they are really needed. Personally, every time I go out there, I do my best to ensure that there is a child somewhere I will leave with a book or books because I know the value of a book. But I cannot do it alone. They need your help. All it takes is as little as Ksh 250.

It is a fact that whatever you feed grows. We need feed our minds and those of those who matter to us by making a choice to invest in the love of reading for our children, ourselves and our community. IT IS not too late. You can begin today. All it takes is 250 shillings to GIFT families WITH the power of words and the power of books. TO SHOW THEM that books open the doors to possibility, opportunity, imagination, and the pursuit of freedom. I've experienced it firsthand.

In conclusion; Jim Trelease said a very important thing.

“A nation that does not read much does not know much. And a nation that does not know much is more likely to make poor choices in the home, the marketplace, the jury box, and the voting booth. And those decisions ultimately affect the entire nation...the literate and illiterate.”

To make a difference in our world we need to start making a difference where it matters most. At the point where we promote a love of reading. You and me can be at the forefront of making that change . it takes very little. You can 

- choose to travel with us 

- Donate towards making that difference 

Thank you 

#TheLibrarian at INSPIRE NYERI KENYA 

 

MT KENYA A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE :PART 2

I have not felt so cold in so long. My hands were frozen , my feet were frozen even my thinking capacity was frozen but i would not give up. Darkness, rain , fear, sweat, tears...honestly we needed to get to our destination and quick. However there had been that one very bright spot where we had stopped to make phone calls and we were giving tall tales back home. You know the way you keep people at home, so interested in what you are doing for the sake of,...!...that way.

We had a really good guide. Maybe i mentioned earlier that his name is Steve. He was the funniest person i ever met. At some point when he noticed we were soooooo tired he offered the kindest advice of going back down the mountain. However, when he saw our determination to continue he started to advice us to live because frankly for first time climbers we were doing not so well.

I like to say every once in a while, that day the mountain made me. It changed me completely from the inside out. I have a certain respect for something that can unmake me so deeply then remake me again. We are walking and its dark. We have what look like torches out but they are not helping. This time we are walking down rather than up into a valley. The camp is like not too far away. There is a sense of desparation here. the only comfort is that really we are not the last ones ... there is one more behind us and we know this because someone way behind us was flashing a torch...a sign of life. Seemingly out of the blues a man appears. He is a guide . I absolutely hate him right now. He is passing us like the earth belongs to him. So easy. He says he thinks we are ok and we will make it. An angry frustrated tear drops down my face. I cant even feel it. I am too cold.

For the longest time, we have been hearing the river. Finally its within our sights. God, that seems good. We will live. With some alien burst of energy we cross it , on a tiny bridge made of some wood and then there is this stone. Oh Lawdy....that stone...its so invitingly flat. Our bodies give in and we sit down. The guide as tired as he is , is still giving us fantastic wisdom..." dont go to sleep he says"...honestly my mind tells me....this is a line from a horror movie...who says such things on a mountain. It turns out he is serious and makes sure we are disturbed enough to wake up and walk

We had not anticipated the wind. I had always imagined in class when they said windward it a was a small wind thing that would not hurt a fly. But this was different. Its coming at us as if its on a revenge mission. its full of cold finger like sharp things and i think that is my imagination. But in the state we are all in , we can be forgiven for creating wild imaginations.

In such moments when the spirit is willing but the body is not, its a one foot in front on another affair. Slowly but surely and painfully we are making our way to a destination that seems to move itself the closer we get. its dark , really dark and the one light remaining is conspiring to go off too. Lord have mercy. Then we come upon it. The sign that reads Mackinders ...i cant read the rest but i assume its trying to tell us that our destination is near. This is a historic moment and we should all be celebrating this milestone. But we cant.

We are stepping in water, moving because we must move. Finally we find this outcropping of rock. Its enough , we cant move anymore. (for those who have climbed mount Kenya, and this is a little embarrassing, that rock signified 5 minutes to the end of the journey round 1)... We sit...too tired and too frozen to speak. Our guide cannot convince me and my partner in tiredness to move another inch. Everything seems too heavy even the clothes on our back. ....nope, not moving.

You know how the earth conspires to save you when you cannot save yourself....I dont know what you call it but there are moments i swear you See God. Here we say (and this is direct translation) - that God comes and does not send another. Anyway just as some form of sweet sleep threatens to make a home in our eyes, a man wearing pink appears. Me i thought he was an angel. Who wears pink in the cold of the night , on a mountain top.

I am looking at my friends - because that is what we have become and i am assuming i am telling her, this is how people die. How do angels appear out of nowhere? the said angel, goes ahead and hands each of us a cup and proceeds to put in steaming hot something that looks like tea. I am too tired to care. I put it in my mouth and it comes out sideways. My goodness i had not realized i was that frozen. I am telling you, that was like the best tea i have drunk in all my ears. It brought and painfully both feeling and energy to go one last mile.

He tells us as he lives for the one person out there, far away...Just climb over this rock and you are home. I cried then. two hot streams of sour water pouring down my face. We are here. We climbed those rocks like our life depended on it because it did. and then, there was nothing. I'd expected a house . I'd expected a welcoming committee.......it wasn't too far off but have you ever been tired?

Well we would not give up now. We walked on , practically running. Last mile, last mile ......last .......there is that house in the near distance....there is a light....there is hope, there is a door....there ARE PEOPLE.......we are home. Home at last.

IT HAS BEEN 12 hours ...this is day one. We are alive, we are cold , we are well. There is a visible sigh of relief from everyone else. I just need to change. I just need to eat. I just need to sleep.

MT.KENYA A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: PART 1

WE made it to the top!!! That was like music to my ears...buuuut , lets go back in time a little. What top are we talking about? Every once in a while, a person challenges themselves to achieve impossible goals or so it seems. Mine was to climb Mount Kenya. I had stared at it all my life, I had dreams about it, fantasized about it, and then one day , i got the offer of a century. Lets put it this way, it was no longer going to be the history of the Mountain but about me making history on that mountain.

its the second highest point on the African continent and is easily accessible from my home location , Nyeri. Point Lenana , at 4,890 is described as "trekable" I'd practiced for months, walking long distances , up and down the hillsides in the surrounding , building up my strength, both mental and physical. I was sure that the mountain had never seen someone like me. I felt fit , i was gonna do this. Besides i was doing this for a good cause. I would be playing my part in contributing to the welfare of the children at Metropolitan.

The morning of the climb all courage left me. It opened a little tap at the bottom of my feet and left. I was asking myself impossible questions like , do i know my fellow climbers, am i going to fit into the group, will i like them, will they like me, do i have enough strength not to drag the team down? Fear....Gosh

Fast forward...luckily we had this awesome co-coordinator. The moment we got into the vehicle to drive to the Narumoro gate, it felt like we knew each other from centuries ago. We made friends , we made comrades , we made companions. I can do this i whispered to the wind. I can do this.

It had rained and therefore where we were supposed to be driven we walked. The first leg of the climb and i was lugging behind. Geez , id never known i'd feel heavy. The rest of the crew made walking look easy. But we made it all right. I was feeling up beat like a real climber. So this was the famous Met station. The sign was reading 10km to Mackinders. Easy peazy...i tell you i will never think like this again in my life.

The next task was to climb up to Mackinders. It looked like we could do it , no problem, but we were climbing up and i am not used to up. There was a light drizzle and i had fallen behind. The good thing is that somehow i had myself a partner in the crime of slow. We were gonna do this. The forest was nothing short of something I've read in a book , probably about magic and it was on a flying carpet. I did not think passing trees and pulling myself through that route could take the breath out of me like this. I have never liked being last , but last i was. I love our guide. He even had a nice biblical name , Steve. he never left. After exiting the forest and severally wanting to turn back, we finally got a rest. A rest and a small something to eat because climbing mountains is bound to reduce your stomach size.

Next, we were entered the moorland. Gosh...Woiiiiiiiii.. The rest of the crowd dissapeared out of sight
Me and my friend kept going. I've heard it said that you conquer the mountain, instead , honestly the thing conquers you. At some point it had stopped being my friendly neighborhood mountain. It had become the one thing that could remake me in various angles. My energy deserted and i started to really hate my bag and everything else i was carrying including my clothes. Soooo heavy....Every foot step felt like a burden and every stone became a hill. Lifting one foot in front of another was becoming a living day mare.

Yet we climbed. Climb we did. This up business could be really be tiring. Finally we met with the other half of the group and for about an hour we rested. That felt like a piece of heaven. I think when they say 10km they are telling you in a nice way, ten thousand!!! Haiya all this walking and we are not yet there. You know there is the temptation always to eat like a pig. Bad idea. The extra weight is so not worth it. I think this mountain needs more water than they let you know on all the tourist sites. Drink like your life depends on it because it literally does. Water here means life. It means oxygen because , that is the little secret that keeps mountain sickness at bay.

So we are past the break . The other people again who are light footed are way out there, i can picture them being like little mountain goats skipping all over the place happily and i must be the hulk with all this weight, my very own body being to blame on weighty issues. I was literally dragging my feet and i felt like crying for my mother every other two minutes. At Lunch point , which we reached 3 hours late, our guide actually suggested that we could go back down. That people quit here, that it is okay. I was like ...ohhhhhhh meeeeeee.....priiiiiiss ....Never!!!!. I suppose he was very dissapointed at my no , though he was smiling loudly.

Up we pulled our bodies, up and up , the higher we went, the rainier , wetter and colder and more emotional. This in my opinion was more of a spiritual journey than a physical one. I was not conquering my physical inabilities, i was  conquering my inner limitations. It reminded me of this one time somewhere in America when i climbed a zip line and i decided not to quit. I am scared of high places and all things wood, but i never turned back...so why should i quit at home, So we kept on. The three of us making the best team i have ever seen in the world. We tried different methods of walking , sometimes almost crawling, and now darkness was coming in.......

diaries of beautiful places 2

Every journey changes a person. Sometimes it is from the inside out and the outside in. There is this poster in my office window right there at the top where I can see it that says “challenge yourself to succeed” I succeeded . It’s been a week already. My various body parts have been aching from climbing a vertical hill vertically in the name of finding out about the path before I bring today’s clients here. The stinging nettle has lived up to its name and the stinging feeling has not left me for the last one week. And i found out my guide was the best thing this side of the Gakanga.

My resolve is strengthened. I am going back, and this time I have company. The six of us plus my guide. I like this guy. From afar you may judge him by the way he looks and the fact that he is not your everyday ranger. Rough as any villager I have ever met, but a guy with the ability to make anything routine into an adventure including the choice of routes we have picked. His name is Mesha..its a nickname really.

I have previously before the journey texted my clients and banned them from wearing any shorts or inappropriate clothing…am not spoiler so don’t blame me for sounding like I was spoiling anyone’s sense of feeling ‘hot’ whether it’s the boyfriend girlfriend thingy or the lack of it…and have assured them that a comfortable hiking shoe is the only way to go. Come D-day, it finds me cursing under my breath. Let me elaborate a little on the kind of clothing am looking at, a leather riding jacket and jeans , jeans and a high open shoe and a church dress and in fashion shoes. Only three of us are dressed for the occasion including the guide….but do I say… Before you object to my outright description I have a signed copy allowing me to say such things as they found it rather funny afterwards and I kindly asked for their permission. I find it courteous to ask including if I may take photos. Some of us are camera shy and I would like everyone reading this to know I respect their wishes and keep your privacy.

Okay so I have a combination of people…fine by me. I will learn a lot from this experience; seriously I am trying not giggle loudly at the outright disobedience to my very informative text of the do’s and don’ts for this particular terrain.

Down the hill it is but not before acquiring a ‘third leg’ for everyone. It may look like a foolish idea to someone who does not know exactly how this can be a life saver in a mountainous region. Our path is an easy slide all the way to the bottom in some places. Reminds me of my childhood when we would get into tanks, tires, cartons , buckets etc get to the top of a hill and race all the way to the bottom. I dare say I love this… sitting on my behind and having that carefree childshish feeling again all the way to the bottom.. I don’t trust myself to do a moon walk facing downward on a hill and I certainly will claim a small victory as I am not alone in this.  I also don’t intend to tumble in an unfashionable manner in front of my son. I am a mother as well as a guide. Somewhere along the line I have to balance the scales.

Oh wow this place is beautiful. I like the reaction of the people the first time they see and imagine where we are going. Its beautiful even from afar. Wait until we get near the first quarter of our journey, so I will spare you the irrelevant details and get right to the juicy part.

The bridge

I used to have phobias of anything wooden across a moving body of water. And we are staring at one right in front of us. To get to where we are going courage has to be unbanked from hidden chambers within us that we did not know even existed. I have been down this road before so I am past the fear and merely having fun at the expense of everyone else. I cross that bridge quickly and set my camera on go. First two across I will not mention but it is the pure fear in the last lot that really does it for me. It is too much for the two lady’s – open fashionable shoes and the church dressed lady. I have been there before I know the feeling of crossing logs in the middle of rivers. I am still not that brave but lets me give the girls some points here. It creates a minute of romance that we only read in novels where your prince charming holds your hand and helps you cross over to the other side. Forgive me for wishing I would have my husband with me I would probably pull a fast one on him. But it’s my boy you are talking about and I have to be strong and brave and mom.

The river is beautiful. I never get enough of how the two rivers meet and how the dirty one is overcome by the clean one. There is a life lesson in here somewhere about….okay let’s cut to the chase. We are getting into stinging nettle territory. I wonder how my ladies will fare. Let’s see…..

The water fall

The way to there is thankfully looking better than the last time I was there. I am suspecting our guide is up to some good business in making ordinary into extra ordinary. He is a good guy (smiles). Oh I am very afraid for my crew but they are happy for the experience. Someone pray with me right here. Its stinging nettle am afraid of for everyone who is not dressed in the right attire, but let’s see how they do.

The road here is indeed less travelled. At some point you have to see a mountain goat to understand exactly how we were moving. The path is getting watery the nearer we get to the waterfall. I am hearing at this point the comments I have been looking for. Let me mention the one that touched me the most…’Oh this is the best thing ever, and imagine it’s been near me all along”. I am feeling good. Okay at some point there is a slight scream and I have to confess that was me. I had not seen the hole in the path and after walking like a goat for a while my feet were not expecting to level out suddenly and the only thing I could hang on to was a stinging nettle…. The other one behind me is coming along nicely with the help of the boyfriend minus the shoes and the others before me are moving along nicely with only a few ouches…oooohs , ahs…nkts and then finally we are here.

I told you there was a surprise for us. We are actually under the Zaina waterfalls. C’mon this is way too cool. Too cool ….the spray is beating us down and only one of us has a rain coat. Unfortunately no one is willing to risk their cameras for the sake of a photo so I will say it was a private moment. We all loved it. The water in our faces, our backs …the exhilaration of just being there. Oh yeah (how do you write this expression?) We are so wet …to the inner wearables. I can see the joy in their expressions. I wanted to see this. Its part of my small victories. The joy that one derives from discovering something new. Finding within themselves the ability to not give up.

At this point I have to end the first half of our journey and let us dry out relaxed in the sun. At least we will dry but our shoes have to wait until we get home. When we next meet in the pages of my many stories we will hear the tales of brave men and women and a man-child who went up a hill and not just any ordinary hill.

for more info, comment or questions please contact us on oloi.tours@gmail.com
info@oloi-travels.com
facebook - oloi travels