We love how libraries transform lives
We admire the great work carried out by the following organisations and are pleased to be able to provide our support.
The Michael Cronhelm Foundation Trust
The Michael Cronhelm Foundation Trust (MCFT) began working in Ileret, in Northern Kenya in 2009. Since then, they have built a much needed community library (The Michael Cronhelm Memorial Library), started a preschool, and in 2014, began assisting the El Bokoch Primary school, located several kilometres from Ileret township. In addition, they have assisted in the funding and distribution of much needed relief food to those impacted by the recent prolonged drought in Northern Kenya.
The completed Michael Cronhelm Memorial Library.
When we met with Amy Cronhelm, one of the Trust’s founders and active volunteer, we gained an insight into the huge commitment and hard work that goes into setting up educational facilities in remote locations like Ileret. We also learnt about what a library means to the people who live there and how the children of Ileret have benefited enormously by having access to books.
In 2015, MCFT and the Michael Cronhelm and Taft Conlin Foundation jointly took over the ownership and running of the El Bokoch school. Since then they have embarked on an expansion project which includes building a number of new classrooms, a library and the teacher’s accommodation.
Foundations are laid at the El Bokoch School.
Approximately 4,000 hand-made bricks were made for phase 2 of the build. Construction in this harsh environment, in a geographically isolated area of Northern Kenya, is incredibly challenging. Amy Cronhelm says, “One of the core objectives was to up-skill the local Daasanach people who worked on the project. By hiring local people we have not only given them much needed income but more importantly empowered them with building skills and raised their sense of participation and contribution to the project”.
The smiling faces of the children of Ileret
The El Bokoch School now has four teachers and 110 pupils.
We loved this letter about what a library means to Simon Esho, Class eight, Ileret. The grammar and spelling is as he wrote it.
“Dear Michael Cronhelm
I thank you to help us a learning place for pupls and I am happy for every days and every year. Thank for you to come very far distance and come back to help us. When I am in lower classes I ‘m a very dull boy because the good these library books I became clever boy.”
The latest MCFT newsletter
More about The MCFT
Libraries Without Borders
Founded in 2007 in France, at the initiative of Patrick Weil, Libraries Without Borders (LWB) is today one of the leading non-governmental organisations working in knowledge and culture-based development in the world and supporting libraries in developing countries.
LWB is present in over 20 countries and supports local initiatives through the creation of libraries to promote education, access to information and culture and the conservation of cultural heritage. Through creating and reinforcing libraries, training librarians, distributing books, supporting local publishing and designing library networks, LWB actively promotes access to knowledge throughout the world.
The Ideas Box (by Libraries Without Borders)
The Ideas Box is a mobile “pop up” multimedia center and learning hub that provides educational and cultural resources to communities in need, including refugees and displaced persons in camps around the globe, and underserved communities in developed countries.
The story of the Ideas Box begins in 2010…
“Our team was building libraries in Haiti when a devastating 7.0 earthquake hit the island. We prepared to leave so that humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts could begin. However, our local partners asked us to stay and help them create information and cultural access points in the settlement camps where tens of thousands of Haitians were forced to live in the aftermath of disaster. While we respected our local partners’ wishes, we wondered if this was the right time to build libraries and other learning spaces; not everyone had food, water, or shelter — did they really need books and internet?
At the insistence of our partners, we began working in camps for internally displaced persons (IDP). It was in these places where we witnessed firsthand the importance of information and cultural tools in disaster relief efforts, particularly in the lives of children. Our team on-the-ground watched the books they provided help children heal from trauma, counter the boredom of being without school or structured activities, and develop resilience”. (Source: Libraries Without Borders)
Since February 2014, Libraries Without Borders have deployed more than 80 Ideas Box kits around the world, which is a testament to the tremendous need the Ideas Box addresses in emergency relief contexts as well as underserved neighborhoods, rural areas and isolated communities.
More about the Ideas Box
From Libraries to Laundromats: Learning in non-traditional spaces in Detroit (by Libraries Without Borders)
Libraries Without Borders (BSF) has launched “Wash & Learn,” a summer learning program that creates pop-up library spaces in laundromats throughout Detroit. In partnership with the Knight Foundation, the United Way of Southeast Michigan, Brilliant Detroit, the Parkman Branch of the Detroit Public Library, the Mayor’s Office of the City of Detroit, and the LaundryCares Foundation, this program transforms laundromats into informal learning spaces where patrons can access high-quality early learning and literacy materials as they wait for their clothes to wash and dry.
More about Libraries to Laundromats
More about Libraries Without Borders