Books, books, books

Today I did something that I really enjoy doing.  While I was in the US, all of the books that we have accumulated so far from various containers that have been sent from the states, were brought into the Community Center to put on shelves.  The idea was to have a place where they could be nicely displayed and then we would be better able to sell them.  Well, they were quite a mess – just put on shelves with no organization.  There are also lots of boxes still unpacked.  So today I began the task of organizing them.  There are many thousands of books- that is not an exaggeration.  Of course, I love books so much that I love to work with them.  Di Wenham, one of our Zimbabwean friends came over and was a big help.  Felix, our artist was also helping.  I was so excited to see him take initiative and understand how we were organizing them.  Brenda, who usually is cleaning at the school, also was there and she is a very hard worker.  For her small size, she can do a lot and lift a lot.  I was careful not to lift boxes or large amounts of books, but by the end of the day, my back needed a rest. 

 

I have noticed that since most people in Zambia aren't around books, they don't know how to put them on shelves, with the binding and name of the books showing.  The small thing of seeing that Felix and Brenda were learning why and how we put books on shelves a particular way was a great joy to me. 

 

The Community Center looks worse than when we started in some respects, but you can see how we are making headway.  I'll probably have to spend Friday there getting more done so we can have church there on Sunday and have a place for everyone to sit.