A 20-year-old man’s wish to do missionary work in Africa came true 40 years later and he cannot wait until he retires to continue helping schools update their libraries.
Laurence Zerafa took time off from his role as head Mcast librarian to spend a year helping a post-secondary Catholic mission school administered by the Salesians of Don Bosco to restructure its library.
By introducing an electronic system at the library in Dodoma, Tanzania, the 60-year-old hopes that students who can’t afford to buy their own textbooks will be able to find these books at their school’s library more easily.
“Since turning 20, I had always wanted to carry out some missionary work outside of Malta, and while I managed to do voluntary work in Palermo, Cairo and Alexandria, studies, career and other things got in the way and I was only able to go to Africa for a whole year between 2017 and 2018,” he told The Sunday Times of Malta.
Mr Zerafa, whose past careers include pharmaceutical work and lecturing, headed to Tanzania after enrolling with the church-NGO Voluntiera Lajċi Missjunarji.
While Mr Zerafa was helping to electronically catalogue books, the library was undergoing structural works with the help of an architect and an engineer who had been sent over as part of the Polish Aid programme.
In the area he was in, many families get by with $1.90 a day, pulling through with the bare necessities
While at the school Mr Zerafa also helped train staff, with whom he is still in touch.
Belief in social justice and sharing whatever one has with those who have less is what drives Mr Zerafa. Asked why he did not do such work in Malta instead, he said the needs in East Africa were bigger.
In the area he was in, many families get by with $1.90 a day, pulling through with the bare necessities.
Those who manage to pay their way through secondary school, or get sponsored, do not always manage to get the textbooks required to complete their studies. At the same time, some libraries have multiple copies of the same books – sometimes running into tens of copies – that are just lying around in boxes.
As a result of electronic cataloguing, libraries are not only better able to control what books are being lent or returned, but some can be transferred to other libraries.
Before heading back to Malta, Mr Zerafa toured libraries at other secondary schools and colleges run by the Salesians in other cities to get an idea of what help was required, and he hopes to return after his official retirement in April.
He called on others who can volunteer for a year to get in touch with the VLM at 7, Triq il-Merkanti, Valletta or 2123 6962.