Libraries for All: A Conversation with Kingsley Sintim, founder of the Tasha Community Library, part 1

I called and spoke to Kingsley Sintim, a graduate of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi, who has spearheaded the project. He currently works as an engineer in Abuja technology village, where he recently finished his NYSC service. For the next three weeks, I will publish portions of my conversation with Kingsley about the Tasha […]

I called and spoke to Kingsley Sintim, a graduate of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi, who has spearheaded the project. He currently works as an engineer in Abuja technology village, where he recently finished his NYSC service. For the next three weeks, I will publish portions of my conversation with Kingsley about the Tasha Community Library project he started as a youth corper. Since our conversation in March, he has hosted Dr. Patrick Plonski, the executive director of Books for Africa for the formal unveiling of the library on April 27 2013. Dr. Plonski is arranging the shipment for a 22,000 book donation from Books for Africa in St. Paul, Minnesota. Other sponsors of Tasha Community Library include the United States Embassy, Evans Brothers, and the Centre for Promotion of Ethics and Value. I was excited by Kingsley’s enthusiasm and vision for the project, and I hope his story will inspire others to start their own community libraries. -Carmen
 Kingsley, tell me about your library project.
I wanted to give back to the rural community where I schooled. I did my primary school in Tasha Village outside Abuja in Abubakar Rimi. They are the original settlers in Abuja. The place was demolished once for these industrial areas. I decided to embark on the library project because they don’t have a library in any of the schools anywhere around. I saw that the children are hungry to read. So, I decided to visit the community and discuss the idea with them. Fortunately I got good support, because the chief of the community where I finished primary school supported the idea and he donated land and gave me the option of an uncompleted building—like shops—in the community, which I refurbished together with a team for the library.
The idea for the library is to create an environment where children can come and read. The target audience is children within the ages of 6 to 18 and above. Getting a library committee of people to work with me, “Friends of the library,’’ we started refurbishing the building, because it is very costly to build a new structure. On doing that we got support from government and friends. We did a book drive. We got funding for books. Bookshops in town gave us books. I went to the Abuja Literary Society for a book drive, and I got a volume of support and partnership from them. There are a lot of NGOs, which were willing to support, such as Book Aid International and Books for Africa, and they gave me technical advice on how to go about it. We got about 1,000 books from our book drives.  We got book donations from different bookshops, Abuja Literary Society, friends and family. People brought books for children both used and new, we got encyclopedias, journals, etc. The Library is working with International Federation of Library Association and institutions (IFLA), National Library of Nigeria (NLN), and Community Libraries in Africa for membership and sustainable development .
A professional librarian, Col. Mohammed Bunza, the librarian of the National Defence College, was a mentor to us. He gave us more of the professional advice on how we go about it. We built up the structure within the timeframe of my service.
The shops were converted into an open hall with a librarian’s office and a circulation room.  Then we made about thirty-six cubicles and shelves. We went to the timber market to appeal to them to give us a discount because wood is very, very expensive. We got support from the community: chairs and tables and doors. They donated one door to us and two window frames. They gave it to us for free. Then we went to the people who sale chairs and tables. Because they are businessmen, they couldn’t give us for free, but they gave us very discounted rates, which helped. The community showed commitment to the project.
I read engineering, so this is my profession. I tried to help in the technical aspects of building. I got interior designs from within my committee, Friends of the Library, on how to design the shelves and make it accessible to the children.
One of the objectives of the project was to preserve cultural heritage in the community. So I decided to get local books in the Gbagyi language. There are not many, but we got one or two or three of them. The idea is that in the future we will work with local authors to develop books for children. There is a cultural lag in Gbagyi. Not everyone can read in their local dialect. They can understand their language but they can’t read the language. There is no proper documentation. There is no one who is keeping a record, when and when something happened. If you give it to them in their language, it could increase their understanding about their own culture. We’re trying to engage the culture, train them, and maybe guide them to write books for the library. If that is done, they can document their culture. They will have their local craft in the library and all that.
Another one of the objectives of the library is to promote literacy and a quiet place to study. After the children in the community finish secondary school, they couldn’t go further. They don’t have the finance to gain access to the university. The deliberate programmes run by the library will equip them to become better persons.  
We are trying to reach out and help them to pass their O-levels. We intend to do a book reading programme for them every month, when we come together and review books. We will assist them in studying. We want to partner with school libraries in Abuja. I wrote to several schools in Abuja for partnership so that their school library can come in to support the library. The whole idea of a library project is to make it sustainable. I’m still working on the contact with the schools. We also intend to do a book exchange, where you can get books from the community and book support from outside. This will be a programme that will be running on and on.
We’re trying to get our target audience right. The target is for children, for young children, that is the purpose of the library. But adults also complain that they want to have their own. So we eventually want to expand to accommodate others.
(to be continued)