Tuesday 23rd March: On the Road

Hannah: We started with a longish drive (3 hours is long by most standards, but not compared to the drive we know we’ve got coming up tomorrow!) to Morogoro to the west of Dar es Salaam. On the way, we had our first glimpse of the Tanzanian countryside after what seemed like hours of traffic jams in Dar. On the way there, Karen and I were excited to see baboons on the side of the road. Even Rob, after 20 trips to Africa, was pulling out his camera trying to take a picture.

Rob: Once we finally reached Morogoro, we were pleased to see the children’s book corner that Book Aid International is helping to secure funds for was up and running and being well used. The children were clearly enjoying an opportunity for their own space within the library, playing games and reading books in a comfortable environment.

Karen: Our afternoon visits were both university libraries - Sokoine University, which is also the national library of agriculture, and Mzumbe University. Both are growing very quickly as more people choose to carry on their education, but we found a very outdated book stock and insufficient resources for the number of students they serve. However, we left feeling optimistic we could help with relevant and high quality books at both universities, who had enthusiastic staff and quite comprehensive IT systems in place.