The pandemic could not stop one man’s 40-year-old dream to help schools in parts of East Africa update their libraries.

Laurence Zerafa’s initiative, which kicked off five years ago with the installation of a cataloguing system at one school library, has mushroomed into a project that saw 63 libraries being equipped in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya as well as the building of two science laboratories.

Since turning 20, Zerafa had always wanted to carry out missionary work and, though he managed to do voluntary work in Palermo, Cairo and Alexandria, studies, career and other things got in the way and he was only able to go to Africa for a whole year just before he retired five years ago.

The 1,332 boxes of books and equipment before labelling and strapping.

The former head librarian at MCAST first flew to Dodoma, Tanzania, as a volunteer with Voluntiera Lajċi Missjunarji in 2017. He stayed there until the following year, updating libraries at Salesians of Don Bosco church schools.

 In 2019, he returned to Tanzania, this time to Didia in the Shinyanga region, and Mafinga, in the Iringa region, where he also trained library staff, lecturers and students.

When COVID-19 broke out that year, he stayed on to see the project through. But soon after he returned to Malta in 2020, three benefactors who had sponsored the library work expressed interest in supporting future projects.

Building of Chemistry lab at Don Bosco Salesians Secondary School Didia in Shinyanga Region, Tanzania.

So, Zerafa collected donated books, magazines, DVDs and stationery items to be shipped to libraries in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda run by Salesians, Jesuits, Sisters of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Sisters of Notre Dame.

However, the impact of the pandemic rolled into 2021 and 2022, with shipping becoming scarce and expensive.

Zerafa had to wait for an affordable transportation slot.

Students reading at the St Charles Borromeo School in Mbeya, Tanzania.

Once the donations set sail, transportation was delayed again: the containers had to change ships during the trip through the Suez Canal to Dar es Salaam port in Tanzania.

From this port – with some difficulty and an unexpected cost of some €9,000 – 30 tonnes worth of books and equipment, packed in 1,332 boxes, made their way to the Salesians.

The consignment was split into seven batches on Zerafa’s instructions – some of the boxes remained in Dar es Salaam while others were transported south to Iringa, west to Morogoro, Dodoma, Singida and Didia and north to Moshi. 

Chemistry lab at Don Bosco Salesians Secondary School Didia in Shinyanga Region, Tanzania

In each town, local agents oversaw the distribution to the individual libraries with Zerafa in constant touch by phone and email to ensure all books made it to their planned destination.

In all, they were distributed among 63 libraries catering for students from pre-primary to post-tertiary levels.

Most books were in place by June last year but the process in Kenya and Uganda was only completed last month.

Didia primary school students travelled three kilometres to pick up 12 boxes of books.

Meanwhile, Maltese sponsors also supported the building and finishing of a chemistry laboratory and, separately, a physics lab at one of the schools.

The same sponsors pledged support for a biology laboratory, with works planned to start next month.

While the benefactors are based in Malta, Zerafa insists the communities benefiting from the project cover a percentage of the costs and are involved in the financing and logistics.

Zerafa is planning to return to Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda this month to visit as many of the libraries as he can. He believes it is very important to follow up on any support provided to communities such as the ones he is helping out.

He notes that while books are a much-needed resource in the places he has visited, and there are countless libraries he has not managed to reach out to, the shipping and logistics costs and the required voluntary manpower make it unrealistic to repeat the initiative on his own.  

People can contribute financially, with donations going towards the Salesians’ educational and pastoral works in Tanzania.

More information on laurencezerafa@hotmail.com.