Monday, February 21, 2011

A Dream Come True




I remember watching the container get offloaded, dangling in the air above the many boxes of books below that were waiting to call it home.

The community (young and old) watched patiently as this big red box was slowly lowered and placed on the donated land. Congratulatory words of kindness and appreciation were shouted as the joyful excitement rippled across the waiting community. A new local library was now a dream come true!

Years of planning, praying, and outreach had finally paid off. Bidco Ltd’s amazing shipping container gift helped us to scrap the less desirable plan B, which required distributing the books to all the eight schools instead of uniting the students and community in one central place. Not to mention that the local schools option was very limiting because of restricted hours of operation. There was also the risk of extra work for teachers, who are already overwhelmed with their daily tasks.

A central location to plant our container library was the ideal solution, on a piece of land donated by the community. A new learning destination to visit after school and weekends, for anyone and everyone, was not a reality. A reading haven for the entire community had bloomed in vibrant red. A place for teachers to borrow books for their classes was now nearby. A place for children to read and enjoy storybooks of their choice was here.

Monday, February 14, 2011

A TEAM EFFORT


A small act of kindness has a huge impact on an entire village.

Two days before the books arrived at Mombasa port, inABLE hosted Dialogue in the Dark Business Leadership workshops in Nairobi, Kenya. After the workshops, I met the Managing Director of Bidco LTD. Mr. Vimal Shah. As soon as we were introduced my heart and mind began racing, “maybe he has a shipping container to house the many books en-route”.

Keep in mind that while Mr. Shah had heard of me from a mutual friend, he had only just met me in person. To my surprise, our biggest challenge was eliminated with an out stretched hand and a generous response “give me a call on Monday and we can plan the delivery of a container for your library”. I was shaking with excitement and joy. Did he really say YES? I could not wait to tell the whole world. Unbelievable!!!!

Miracles do happen!