Well I am back from Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana. Africa is truly an amazing place, I have had the opportunity to build three libraries and start another three. Kids that have never had access to books can now freely read and they are so thankful. Books are so precious it is just that we don't fully realise that here in New Zealand. I discovered also that water is precious, you treasure the bucket load that is your shower, clothes washing bucket and toilet flushing water, one bucket used in multiple ways to met your needs. I wonder, if my realisation that water is as precious has the same impact as realising the power of books. We have plenty of both, take for granted the usage of both and yet when we encounter the restrictions of minimal supply, we discover the value, power and need of both. These kids know how to manage and use the minimal access they have to water, it is part of their daily grind, not so with books. They had none to manage. Now I wonder, what will these books do to them, for them, for the teachers that teach them and for the power of knowledge and imagination that will spring from them... better go back next year and see!
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