Books from Houston stock Mpumalanga library
ALAN PEAT
A TEAM of private and business benefactors has fulfilled the dream of an Mpumulanga headmaster to have a fully stocked library for his primary school and community.
The story started, according to Ethne Cameron of Going Africa - a small incoming tour operator, which also involves itself in community relations in its home area near the new Kruger International Airport - when Andrea Lapsley, a guest from Houston, Texas, met headmaster Johannes Mdaka of Hlau Hlau Primary School.
“We all know that education in SA is a huge problem,” said Cameron, “and - in Mpumalanga in particular - funds allocated to education just do not seem to reach these remote areas.
“And Hlau Hlau - like many areas in our country - is very poor indeed.”
This was expressed in the meeting between Lapsley and Mdaka - when the headmaster told her that his dream was to build and stock a library in this area to teach the children and community to love books as he does, and to give those studying a place to access reference material.
Said Cameron: “Andrea, unbeknown to Johannes, is the assistant director of the Houston Library.
“When she returned home she sent a challenge to Going Africa - “you build the library, and I will stock it”.
“We took up the challenge and raised the funds through guests visiting from Hawaii and Luxembourg over a two year period.”
At the same time, Lapsley collected four-and-a-half tons of new books donated by various authors and kept them safe in a warehouse in Houston.
At the end of last year, things began to move fast.
“The Dutch airline, KLM, very kindly collected the books from the warehouse in Houston and flew them to SA on December 29,” said Cameron, “totally on a complimentary basis.
More wonder at this end of the books’ travels.
“MPS Freight Service cleared them through Johannesburg customs, kept the books in their warehouse until the school reopened - and then drove them down to the school.
“Again, all on a complimentary basis.”
The happy ending to this already happy story took place yesterday (March 18) - when the library officially opened its doors.
Among the guests of honour were Andrea Lapsley, the initiator of this project, David Dundas of KLM Houston, James Johnstone of KLM Freight in Johannesburg and Martin Smith, the owner of MPS - all celebrating the fruition of headmaster Mdaka’s once impossible dream.
