| The Jifundishe Free Library |
Jifundishe is the Swahili word for "teach yourself". The organization was founded in 2004 when local students, teachers and villagers together with foreign volunteers, identified the need for a library. In many rural areas in Tanzania, literacy rates have declined in recent years. The founding members of Jifundishe coordinated donations of supplies and resources from the United States and Tanzania and in November of 2005 opened the doors to the Imbaseni Free Library. The small, two room library provided books and gazettes and hosted specialized programs such as eye clinics, malaria prevention workshops, children's reading programs, dental clinics, and writing workshops.
Within its first years the Imbaseni Free Library also became a gathering place for local women and girls. Often, girls are not allowed to attend schools due to social norms and values compounded by financial difficulties within families. Those who do attend school are still expected to maintain all household tasks, chores, and expectations, leaving little time for their studies. Thus, many women in the villages surrounding the library have little or no education. They gathered at the library to learn, to talk, and to express their own dreams and aspirations. Jifundishe assisted these women to establish a knitting club where local women were taught to knit using donated supplies from knitting clubs in the United States.
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| The Imbaseni Free Library |
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| Site of the original Imbaseni Free Library |
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| The New Jifundishe Free Library |
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| In January, 2009, Jifundishe opened the doors to a new, expanded library, The Jifundishe Free Library. Helped by a team of volunteers from the U.S., the library was ready to open to the public with many more programs and books. The success of our first library led to this beautiful new building with space for over 5,000 books, a community room for workshops, classes and presentations as well as an office for Jifundishe staff. The library now hosts another women's cooperative project, evening adult literacy classes, film nights, after-school tutoring programs and educational enrichment competitions for secondary students.
On July 4, 2009, the new Jifundishe Free Library was dedicated by the Ambassador to the United Nations, Augustine Mahiga. The day was a celebration of the village and the opportunities that the library provided to everyone living in the area. Jifundishe would like to build more libraries in other districts so that others can benefit from this wonderful model of educational opportunity.
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| Inside the Jifundishe Free Library |
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