From FAVL director Kate Parry: Despite having very little money (and its members have even less) The Community Libraries Association of Uganda (formerly the Uganda Community Libraries Association, or UgCLA) has not only survived now for nearly 25 years (It was founded in 2007) but has grown bigger and stronger, especially, strangely enough, since the pandemic. According to the most recent update it has 140 registered members, of which ten or so are new, and the annual conference, which was held last July, was attended by more than 60 people. The coordinator, Emmanuel Anguyo, is doing a fine job of keeping up with all these members and forwarding to FAVL reports of their activities. Recent activities include a Literacy Week reading project organized by Buduuda Community Library in collaboration with Arlinton Primary School, an American=funded project, and a Books on Bikes project at Lukooys Memorial Community Library. One of our older libraries, Bucuuda Community Library has also held a celebration of Literacy Week in collaboration. A completely different kind of activity has been launched by CFYDDI (Campaign For Youth Driven Development Initiatives), which has always been interested in health issues: they have invested in a dentist’s chair and are now offering tooth extractions and other dental procedures free of charge.
As for Kitengesa, which is the only Ugandan library directly supported by FAVL, it too has revived since the pandemic. The day to day work of the library is done by the two assistant librarians, Muhammad Ssebuuma and Moses Namwanje, with the help of seven Library Scholars, who are recruited from the neighbouring secondary school, except for one who comes from the School for the Deaf and helps look after the deaf students who come. Both assistants and scholars receive funds towards their education in recognition of their work. Last term, which was the first since the pandemic when the library could operate normally, they reinstituted regular visits of primary and secondary school classes, with four such visits every week, and they have been heavily involved in a Digital Skills Project, which is being overseen by the National Library of Uganda, with support from Electronic Information for Libraries. The project involves organizing “learning circles” in the library and also going out, with the library’s laptops, to nearby communities. In either case the librarians set the participants up with internet accounts and then teach them how to do Google searches for specific information. The idea is to help people find out how to learn useful skills that will enable them to make things that they can either sell or use. The first Learning Circle focused on paper bags, and Muhammad and Moss were planning more when I was last there, one focusing on liquid soap, another on charcoal-burning stoves. They had also worked with students who were studying tailoring at a vocational school nearby and had shown the tailors how to find fashions in clothes that they might want to make.
Later this year and early next the library will carry on its tradition of organizing health camps, one for adults in July or August, and one for teenagers in December. Another project that we will be continuing from previous years will be the Christmas Day Gift Share, when families who are known to be poor are specifically invited to the library to receive gifts—brad, sugar, meat—for their Christmas dinners. The rest of the community is invited too and the Kitengesa Library Band, whose director, Paul Mayanja, organizes the whole event, puts on a concert of traditional Kiganda music for everyone.