Support the Kibera Community Library

We're back! In 2021 we raised nearly $3000 to support the knlsKibera Community Library. Now we want to help them recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mary Kinyanjui, the Librarian, was kind enough to tell us about the work that she is doing. Those who heard her passion and dedication were moved to help and so we have created this fundraiser as a thank you to her and her colleagues for the amazing work they are doing and to help fund additional supplies to support the Kibera Community Library. All money raised will be transferred to the Kibera Library directly. 

Kibera is an informal settlement located on the outskirts of Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. It is a home to an estimated one million people and it’s the largest informal settlement in Africa. The inhabitants of Kibera’s informal settlement face numerous challenges which include illiteracy, improper shelter, poor sanitation, insecurity, crimes, poor education and drugs among others. As the world continues to seek sustainable solutions to improving the lives of people in informal settlements, knls Kibera community library is committed to enabling access to information for knowledge and transformation of livelihoods as well as achieving sustainable development goals.

The library has grown to become the main resource and education center for school going children, youth and the old residents of Kibera. The library is the only reliable resource for information within the informal settlement. The library is a home to many young, unemployed youth and school-going children. The library offers a growing range of services to users and the community at large. The main objective of these innovative services is to create and improve the reading culture while stimulating a desire for education to improve performance for these children in schools. It also promotes and improve livelihood opportunities for the youth. The library provides a range of services which include: digital learning and training; empowering teachers & students to use ICT; training senior Citizens ICT skills; P2Pu (Peer to Peer learning) e.g Basic Computers, Public speaking, Entrepreneurship, etc; children also are trained on how to use tablets to play educational games; art drawing using computers; Outreach Programs; Story Projections from Asb website; nurturing Talents; cultivating reading culture; motivational talks for girls and boys among others.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the library closed but the librarian came up with innovative services with the intention of meeting the community needs and access to information. The services include;

Laibu Mkononi (Library at hand); where content is loaded on mobile phones and loaned to students, training teachers and children how to create and publish their own stories using the ASB story maker; printing and distributing revision papers and storybooks; Mentorship Program for Youths is also provided because the schools and libraries were closed due to Covid-19, and the rate of pregnancy and crimes has gone up within the informal settlement; Tech4livelihood Program for youth and aimed at improving their livelihood opportunities.

It was an incubation period during Covid-19 pandemic because the library had to be closed hence helping the librarian to be thinking ahead all times and coming up with innovative services all the times that will meet the community needs and access to information. Some of the services that need to be improved include; Laibu Mkononi (Library at hand); training teachers and children how to create and publish their own stories using the ASB story maker; printing and distributing revision papers and storybooks; Mentorship Program for Youths; Tech4livelihood Program for youths which is aimed at improving livelihood.

Despite providing all these services the library is faced by a number of challenges which include:

• Inadequate devices e.g smartphones, tablets, laptops, coloured printer, etc.;

• Desk top computers and a projector

• Inadequate resources e.g printing papers

• Resources to do capacity building to teacher/librarians

• Stipends for the teachers who volunteer to support librarians for outreach and story projections

• Lack of sanitary towels for girls in order to remain in school.

Let's help them get what they need to continue supporting this community!