Bibliobus

Lo siento mucho - there were some technical diffficulties in which an entire roll of film was lost and I wasn't able to upload pics; and then illness difficulties in which the coughing and overall feelings of exhaustion and grossness prevented me from uploading the pics that I do have.
The one salvaged photo from the lost roll was of the inside of the bibliobus. Although this does allow us to revisit all the fun that is had saying BIBLIOBUS, it is bittersweet because there was a much better picture of us working inside the bus. sigh.
The work I was helping with on the bus was part of a cataloging project. All I was really doing at this point was simply cutting and taping call numbers onto the spines of books - but it is tedious work that needed to be done and I was happy to lend an extra pair of hands to the project.
I also helped build a book list for a school library hit by Hurricane Stan and collaborated on a project proposal to create a community information system at the PROBIGUA libraries.
Three weeks was no where near long enough; but I believe it gave me a necessary and new perspective on development work. Guatemala provided an important contrast to the work I did in South Africa. Where South African librarians approached our work with openness and excitement, I sensed a guarded reserve from Guatemalan librarians. I was reminded that historic and political events have very real sociological outcomes within a community and dictate the best way to collaborate to create change. A sentiment that appears obvious enough but has taken on some deeper significance after having had small opportunities in both environments.
If you are interested in reading about Guatemala's history, I stongly recommend Daniel Wilkinson's Silence on the mountain: Stories of terror, betrayal and forgetting in Guatemala.