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Sarah Switzer – Making knowledge accessible, one library at a time

Kwekitui Primary School in nothern Tanzania had an abysmal graduation rate. Approximately 30% of the students passed the national exams that would allow them to continue on to high school. The statistics reflect a struggle across the region with illiteracy. Sub-Saharan Africa has some of the lowest literacy rates in the world and education remains vastly underfunded by local and national governments. In schools, blackboards are often the only means of instruction.

As many as a hundred students in a classroom at Kwekitui share a couple of textbooks. To compensate, teachers spend class time copying pages out of textbooks on the black board. Students copy and recopy, relying on memory and rote to pass the national exams.

The dearth of books came to the attention of then 21 year-old Sarah Switzer during a Canada World Youth (CWY) placement in 2004. During her placement she focused her efforts on creating a resource guide for nonprofit organization operating in northern Tanzania and in the process connected with Tanga Youth Development Association (TAYODEA). The staff at the NGO were dreaming of opening a library in Kwekitui, next to the primary school. She promised the staff she’d be back in six months, and returned home determined to find a way to make the library a reality.

She spent the summer working at a fishing resort in northern Ontario and spread the word about her vision for the Kwekitui library. Realizing that she needed to fundraise formally, Switzer got the Vancouver-based African Community Technical Services on board to endorse the library project. Once she had ACTS endorsement, Switzer began fundraising and raised $1200 by the end of the summer from vacationers, to which she added her own earnings. Meanwhile, Switzer’s cousin Colleen Campbell on Vancouver Island decided to get involved and organized fundraising efforts throughout the summer of 2004.

By the end of the summer they had raised enough to build the library and purchase an initial collection of books. The two returned to Tanzania in the fall with their sleeves rolled up and started bricklaying.

During the long and tedious process of laying the bricks, Switzer’s colleagues from TAYODEA would remind her that their efforts were physically and literally breaking new ground.

“One of my colleagues said to me, ‘we are pioneering’. There simply are no primary schools with libraries. I don’t think I even realized that until we started building the Kwekitui library.”

Amid singing and dancing, the library opened at the end of 2004. This past year the library was able to loan the primary school a textbook for each student in the final year. The students thrived and graduation rate shot up from 30% to 80%. “I had no idea that something as simple as having access to books could have made such a difference. It was very encouraging,” says Sarah.

The reading and learning in the small one library has created a domino effect of empowerment and action. On average the library has over 150 visitors a day. High school students from a neighbouring village walk almost two hours to study and read. The adults in the community wanted to use the library, but were working in the fields during library hours. With a bit of networking, Switzer secured funding from the non-profit organization Under The Reading Tree to provide electricity from solar panels and the library opened its doors for evening hours. The solar panels also provided a small income-generating project for the library and a much-needed service for the community by charging cell phones.

The spirit of the library caught on to a group of young boys in the area who decided to name their team after the library, calling themselves the Maktaba Warriors, in English, The Library Warriors. One team member discovered a book outlining the benefits of growing seeds and planting trees in farm areas. Inspired by what he read, he and his teammates bought and planted seeds and gave the seedlings to farmers in the area.

Switzer attributes the success of the library to some of the skills she learned during her placement with CWY. “If I hadn’t signed on for the program there’s no way I would have done any of these projects … CWY knows how to push people in the right way, and they get you to push past your limits - and it works. Otherwise, you are not going to grow, you aren’t going to learn and develop into something beyond what you are,” says Switzer.

When youth are empowered, says Julie Rocheleau, CWY’s Education and Evaluation Coordinator, they can achieve remarkable things. “I think because of the experience with Canada World Youth…youth develop the capacity to work on themselves, developing their confidence, and the networks and the skills to get things done. It’s amazing what they can do after the program. It’s not a dream any more. They feel they have a capacity to do what they are dreaming about it and they do it,” she says.

In December 2008, Switzer received the Global Citizenship Award that was created in honour of CWY`s founder, the late Jacques Hébert. Four years into her work Switzer now lives full time in Tanzania and is delighted to watch the finishing touches on the windows of the Chamazi Library, located 25 kilometers south of the capital Dar Salaam. The latest library was made possible through the support of a network of partnerships in Canada and Tanzania, yard sales, “parties with a purpose” – and a passion to share the joy of reading and learning.

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