Update from Meg - Library News

Library News

This week in Matènwa, we have some news from the school library. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been working on many improvements, both small and large.

A translation of the Dewey Decimal System into Kreyòl, for easy access.

We are making great progress on electronically cataloging all the books in the library (previously, we had a card catalog). This has already made it easier for us to locate and keep track of the books.

Most importantly, after a long research process, we are buying many more books to add to the library. This week, we bought books in Kreyòl for both primary and secondary levels from two publishing houses in Port-au-Prince, Kopivit and Anri Dèchan. They included:

-The memoirs of Toussaint Louverture, hero of the Haitian Revolution, translated into Kreyòl

-A collection of 500 traditional riddles

-Five books in the “Ana” series, which our primary students love: “Ana Pral Andeyò” (Ana is Going to the Countryside), “Ana ap Abiye” (Ana is Getting Dressed), “Ana ap Fè Manje” (Ana is Cooking), “Ana Pral nan Lanmè” (Ana is Going to the Beach), and “Ana Ale nan yon Zou” (Ana Goes to a Zoo)

-“Sezisman sou Sezisman” (Surprises on Surprises), a story about two children from the countryside going to Carnaval in Port-au-Prince

We are all very excited about the new books. Next week, we’ll be receiving a large order we put in at Educa Vision, a Kreyòl publishing house in the United States, and we will soon be buying books on psychology and education at Inivèsite Karayib, another publisher in Port-au-Prince. We still have money in the book budget for the rest of the year and are working on finding more sources for Kreyòl books in Haiti, and deciding what subjects and genres to prioritize.

Thanks, as always, for your support! We have many happy hours of reading ahead of us.

Starting this week, I will be profiling an LKM staff member each week, so you can get to know us better. This week’s staff member is Delson Engerville, librarian and director of the primary school at LKM.

Delson grew up in Matènwa and finished high school in Ansagalè, the largest town on Lagonav. He first came to LKM in 2005, while working as a fifth-grade teacher in another school in the area, to help sixth-graders prepare for the national exam that they had to pass at the end of the year. Delson enjoyed working at LKM so much that the next year, he joined the staff as a sixth-grade teacher. He continued teaching sixth grade through spring 2015. This fall, he became the librarian and primary school director. He says that in his new jobs, he most enjoys working together with the other people on the Direction Committee, and reading to students in the library.

Delson says, “The first vision I have for the future is for LKM to support more schools so they can start to work in the same way. The way this school works is very useful, because it works in the language the children speak, the language in which they are most comfortable. The second vision I have is, after two more years, for the school to go all the way to Philo [the last year of high school in Haiti]. After that, I would like LKM to start a professional school for its graduates, so they can find work in areas like teaching, agronomy, electricity and plumbing.”