African Library Project in eSwatini (Swaziland)
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The African Library Project (ALP) has started 432 school libraries in eSwatini (formerly Swaziland), a small country in southern Africa. Volunteer book drive organizers in the US and Canada collected the books and money to ship them. Learn more about eSwatini and Fundza, ALP's partner there. Learn how you can start a library too!
African Library Project in eSwatini (Swaziland)
- 1. in eSwatini (Swaziland) A small landlocked country in southern Africa.
- 2. A small country of one million people. A monarchy with excellent infrastructure but high poverty.
- 3. 855 schools and 432 ALP libraries
- 4. Culture Corner in One Library
- 5. Books in Siswati, the national language of eSwatini. English is the official language
- 6. Children perform during the ALP Summit in 2011
- 8. Another student performance at the main training day of the ALP Summit
- 9. 120 librarians attended the training
- 10. Nonkululeko Mdluli, Executive Director of Fundza, sorts donated books.
- 12. Will you do a book drive so more children in eSwatini have access to books? www.africanlibraryproject.org
Editor's Notes
- #2: Eswatini (Swaziland) is a small country and very dependent on South Africa. Not much more than a million people!
- #3: It is a monarchyvery unequal distribution of resources. Here is a picture of the king. In 2018, he changed the name of the country from Swaziland to eSwatini. The country was never a colony, and people take lots of pride in that. There is amazing infrastructure in some respects, like this dam, but limited investment in education and health care. Highest HIV rate in the world28%. So the childrens HIV/AIDS books the African Library Project (ALP) sends are really important
- #4: There are 855 schools in the country. ALP started sending libraries in 2009 and has 432 so far. So weve covered more than one-thalf of the schools. 10 year anniversary! This year some of the schools who received books in our first container are getting their second library a refill.
- #5: Most of the libraries have a cultural corner, which is something our Swazi partners learned about at an ALP Summit
- #6: Of course we only send books in English but some of the libraries are able to buy books in Siswati, the national language of eSwatini.
- #7: The ALP Summit was held in Swaziland in 2011. At every school we visited, the students performed for us
- #8: Even though it was cold and rainy
- #9: Students also performed at the main training day of the summit
- #10: 120 librarians attended the training
- #11: ALPs partner in eSwatini is Fundza, a small NGO with a paid staff of 1 or 2, depending on their finances. Fundza is affiliated with the Ministry of Education. Nonkululeko Mdluli (center) is the Executive Director of Fundza and is a trained librarian. Fundza is responsible for collecting library applications from schools that want them, vetting the applications, training the teacher-librarians, and distributing the books. (Some of ALPs libraries in eSwatini were started with the Swaziland National Library Service, ALPs first partner in eSwatini.)
- #12: Fundza suffers from lack of resources and infrastructure. Frequently they have no internet, no money for phone calls to the schools, and no gas to visit the schools.
- #13: Despite these challenges, Fundza is doing great work to bring libraries to schools in Swaziland that are eager for books. ALP is proud to partner with Fundza and is recruiting book drive organizers to collect 1000 books and about $500 to start a library in eSwatini. www.africanlibraryproject.org