Monthly Mobile Library for Albanian Children

During March the newly purchased laptop for the Library Assistant was handed over to Naim.  He was very delighted to receive the laptop as this was going to make his work much easier.  Naim commented: "That the job of keeping all the members names and the inventory of all the books and resources will be much easier and quicker now.  Thank you to everyone who has given money to the library."

The Mobile Library received a donation of seventy children's books in English from the Albanian International School in Tirana.  The story books for ages from five to twelve were given to Naim to add to the growing stock of English books.

In Shoshan village a boy of 9 years old who used to live in Italy,  arrived at the Mobile Library in March.  He is not fluent in Albanian so the Library Assistant and he did some activities with books and he really liked the time Naim was able to spend with him.  The boy loved, his time with the library and said about the Mobile Library: “WOW it looks like a home”..

Many of the children who come along to the library have a learning or physical disability.  This means that for most of them they do not attend school and are not literate.  Naim spends much time with these children reading to them, playing games or doing jigsaw puzzles and ensuring that each one takes home a book that a family member can read with them in the month.  One child with Down Syndrome aged seven years old likes to help Naim with the books and membership cards in the library.  Another girl with cerebral palsy looks forward to the visit of the library each month as she enjoys the activities.  She and her mother choose her book so that they can have something to do together at home.  In March activities were also facilitated to raise awareness on Down Syndrome and to celebrate the World Down Syndrome Day on 21st March 2014.

To encourage the children to read and understand the stories better, Naim has organised in a series of villages a competition in May the 'Best Readers' award. 

Ian, a Peace Corps volunteer, has begun to accompany the Mobile Library on some of its visits and teaches the children some basic English and also sings songs with the children accompanied by his guitar.  The children really like these additional opportunities to meet someone new and to have different songs and games.

During the week leading up to 1st June International Children's Day, the Library Assistant organised special activities related to the rights of children in each of the ten locations visited.  Apart from discussing children's rights the children took part in plays, readings about child rights, joint activities arranged with schools, dancing and games and creative art activities.  Teachers and educators also enabled children to recite poems, sing songs and have a celebration of their special day.

As the summer holidays approach the library will be planning to organise more games and sports activities to give the children the opportunities to play and socialise together outside of the schools and to use the beautiful sunny weather and natural resources available in Tropoje District.  More sports equipment is needed to be able to support the different age groups join in.