Writing Workshop 5

🐪 Libraries That Travel — Global Teen Magazine

Most of us have to go to the library. But for millions of people who live far from towns, that isn’t possible. So in some parts of the world, the library comes to them — on four legs, on four wheels or even on water.
THE BIBLIOBURRO, Colombia. Luis Soriano was a primary school teacher in a small town in northern Colombia. He had noticed that children in the remote villages nearby had no books at home, so in the late 1990s he decided to take books to them. He loaded about seventy books onto two donkeys, Alfa and Beto, and set off along the dusty paths. Every weekend, children would be waiting for him under the trees, eager to hear a story and borrow a book until his next visit. The journeys were not always easy: he once fell and broke his leg. But he kept going, and people from all over the world later donated thousands of books.
THE CAMEL LIBRARY, Kenya. In north-eastern Kenya, many families are nomadic: they move from place to place with their animals, looking for water and grass. A truck can’t follow them across the sand, but a camel can. Since 1996, the national library service in Garissa has been sending camels loaded with boxes of books out to these families. A librarian travels with them, puts up a tent and lets children choose their books. When the camels come back a few weeks later, the children return them and choose new ones.
EPOS, Norway. On the west coast of Norway, many small communities sit at the end of long fjords, far from the nearest library. Since 1959, a boat called Epos has been sailing from place to place with thousands of books on board. When it arrives, children run down to the harbour, and there is often a show or a story on the deck. For some readers, the boat is the only library they have ever known.
Three countries, three very different journeys — but one simple idea. Reading changes lives, and if people can’t get to books, then books should get to people.