Tuesday 3rd November - to Borama

A long bumpy journey to Borama, a town near the Ethiopia border. At one point we pass a farm under two conjoined hills, one is in Ethiopia and one in Somaliland, and the farm is equally split. The land is higher, a little greener and more agricultural than yesterday's journey. We visit a primary and secondary school with good libraries but then a third library has a store room rather than a properly functioning library. The books are used in classrooms and can be borrowed by older students, but a library would improve things tremendously. We are shown a large hall which they say will house the library. Then over more bumps to Amoud University, a young growing university a little out of town. The library is good, but there are 100s of copies of some textbooks from the US, not all of which are appropriate or up-to-date. Academic standards are hindered by a lack of good English, and the vice-Dean requests more books on learning English. It's a good example of how sending just any books to libraries doesn't work - the books need to meet the needs of the people who will be reading them. That's why at Book Aid International we always get request forms from our partners at the start of the year so we know what their libraries need. In the libraries many students are reading English as a Foreign Language textbooks. Back in Hargeisa, we pass the General Treading Centre!