Well, today was slightly disappointing as Dr. Totolo couldn't make her appointment with us, as Lucia, the librarian working with Cara in Mmankgodi is not at work this week. So we have rescheduled for next week.

Today I continued on my weeding project (or more exactly, removal of all duplicate books) in the children's section. For some reason, BNLS thinks it useful to order several copies of books that are already of questionable quality. So, I'm going through and taking out the duplicates in order to make more room for the new books, and just to clean up the collection.

We went to a primary school today with Max and had a meeting with a Standard 7 teacher and the guidance counselor/English teacher, to pitch our ideas for the homework clubs. It's been interesting to learn about the school system here. It seems that the biggest problem is the lack of parent involvement in their children's education. She also pointed out that many of their students are orphans, or living with their grandparents while their parents work in Gaborone. She also noted that she was worried about how the kids would get to and from the library. Max said that they might be able to provide transportation, although I'm not sure how that would work. The secondary school from yesterday contacted Max and told him that they want to send their entire Standard 7 class, 58 students! So Max proposed having a group of 12 come in every day of the week for one hour. Whoa! That's a handful. I'm not sure where he's thinking of holding the club, as to be in the library would take up the whole space, but we'll see.

The teachers seem eager at the opportunity to provide additional help to their students, so that's great. Hopefully Rachel and I can help here in the beginning to really get these clubs off the ground. Molepolole is in dire need of that new library building!

When we got back from the meeting, I was happy to see that Margaret, the head clerk and another library worker were having children's programming outside (I'd like to think I was partly inspiration for that, as I hadn't seen them do that since I'd gotten here, so I'll go ahead and toot my own horn). I sat with them for a little bit, just to see how they responded to programming in their own language. They were much more rambunctious, much more like the children I am used to working with in the US, so it was helpful to realize how much more timid they had been with me, at least while we were reading stories. Then Margaret showed me a bunch of old games they have in a cabinet, so it was good to see her interested in children's activities again. She also made copies of coloring pictures, which seems to be the favorite activity among the kids.

Well, the computer is acting funny so I better publish this while I can. Ray and I are having dinner by ourselves tonight, because last night after we made a nice soup for the family, they brought home KFC! Little rude, I dare say.