A Dream Come True…

When the first library was being set up at Kairi Village, the entire community (young and old) came to witness.

“I recall seeing the container being unloaded, dangling in the air above the many boxes of books below that were waiting to be called home,” said Irene Mbari-Kirika, the brains behind Our Reading Spaces that eventually gave birth to inABLE.

Everyone present stood by patiently as this massive red box was slowly lowered and placed on the donated land. As the joyful excitement rippled across the waiting community, words of congratulations and appreciation were shouted. A new local library was now a reality!

“Years of preparation, prayer, and outreach had finally paid dividends. Bidco Ltd incredible shipping container gift enabled us to abandon the less desirable plan B, which called for distributing the books to all eight schools rather than uniting the students and community in one central location,” she added.

Not to mention that the local school option was severely limited due to limited operating hours. There was also the risk of additional work for teachers, who are already overburdened with their daily responsibilities.

The ideal solution was to plant our container library in a central location, on land donated by the community. A new learning destination for anyone and everyone to visit after school and on weekends was now a reality. There was now a library nearby where teachers could borrow books for their classes. It was also here that children could read and enjoy their favorite storybooks.

As mentioned earlier, the reading container was donated by Bidco Ltd courtesy of the then managing director – Mr. Vimal Shah.

“I met Mr. Shah during the Dialogue in the Dark Business Leadership workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya. This was two days before the books arrived at the Mombasa port. Shah had been introduced to me by a mutual friend and when I met him at the workshop, I asked if he could donate a shipping container that we could turn into a library. I was pleasantly surprised when he said yes almost immediately. The container was our biggest headache at that moment and with the donation, we were good to go!” Irene shares.