Lubuto Model Urban Library (15°38’73.11”S, 28°29’33.49”E)

Adjacent to Ngwerere Basic School
Corner of Katima Mulilo and Garden Roads
Garden, Lusaka

Library staff

Manager: Given Besa

Arts & Technology Coordinator: Enesto Mwale
Family Literacy Coordinator: Brendah Mkandawire
Library Technician: Stephen Kangungu
Outreach & Drama Coordinator: Kenny Hau
Scholarship Coordinator: Muyambango Muyambango

See more photos from Lubuto Model Library

This library, whose initial construction was funded by Dow Jones & Co., opened in 2010 on land owned by Zambia’s Ministry of Education in the urban core of Lusaka. Originally named the Ngwerere Lubuto Library, it was rebranded as the Lubuto Model Library in 2018 when Lubuto Library Partners assumed financial responsibility. Thousands of young people have discovered this Lubuto Library and visited it on average 2,500 times a week prior to pandemic, fire and construction curtailment. It is expected to resume full and expanded services by the beginning of 2024.

Lubuto Library Partners received two grants from USAID’s American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA) initiative to renovate and expand the Model Library and to construct a center for training and administration. Through ASHA support, the library will receive a new collection and technology, and will add Early Childhood and Teen Centers to the library's Tech Hub, Reading Room and meeting and performance spaces. It will also create a center to train children’s librarians and the new headquarters for Lubuto staff.

Background

It should not be taken as a project but an integral part of the school system for the benefit of both pupils and those out of school in the local community.
Hon. Chrispin M. Musosha, Deputy Minister of Education, at the opening of the Ngwerere Lubuto Library

After Education Permanent Secretary Lillian Kapulu and other officials visited the Fountain of Hope Lubuto Library and saw its impact, Zambia’s Ministry of Education wanted more of these libraries to strengthen literacy, improve the quality of education and especially to reach out-of-school children. PS Kapulu particularly liked the design of the buildings, remarking on her first visit that they felt "so homey." Lubuto and the Ministry together looked at Lusaka's Garden neighborhood as a logical site for a second library as the densely populated community had so many children in need. The Ministry authorized Lubuto to build their next library on grounds they own in Garden, adjacent to the Ngwerere Basic School, understanding that it is a public library open to all.

Prior to identifying the library site, Dow Jones & Co. Executive Vice President Clare Hart, who serves on Lubuto's Advisory Board, informed Jane Meyers that Dow Jones wanted to support the construction of the second Lubuto library. With this pledge of financial support, Lubuto's relationship with the Ministry of Education was solidified in a Memorandum of Understanding and construction of the Ngwerere Library commenced. Thus, Dow Jones' investment in Zambia's children extended far beyond this single library to inspiring the spread of Lubuto libraries nationwide.

Opening Celebration

[The opening] represents the first effort under a formal agreement between Lubuto and the Ministry of Education to work together to actively seek out difficult-to-reach Zambian children and youth to extend high quality educational opportunities to this large and vastly underserved populationJane Kinney Meyers

The opening celebration for the second Lubuto Library took place on November 10, 2010 and was a great success—with some 500 children, youth and adults attending, despite unseasonably early rains. We were honored again by our special guest, the First Republican President of Zambia, Kenneth D. Kaunda, who was introduced by his former political advisor and member of Lubuto’s Advisory Board, Mark Chona.

Dr. Kaunda was recognized worldwide for the central role he played as a leader of the "frontline states" in the long confrontation between independent Black Africa and the white-dominated south of the continent until the end of apartheid. That such an important figure in Africa's history recognized the importance and came to celebrate the opening of this library was both thrilling and humbling.

The Guest of Honor, Deputy Minister of Education, Hon. Crispin Musosha, M.P., was represented by Ministry of Education Permanent Secretary Andrew Phiri. Member of Parliament for Mandevu, Hon. Jean Kapata also made congratulatory remarks, and the emcee was our own Mulenga Kapwepwe, Advisory Board member and Chairperson of the National Arts Council of Zambia.

The opening activities included story dramatizations and dance performances by Zambian children and youth, and presentations by authors Peggy Chilema and Gankhanani Moyo of local-language books they created during a recent book-making workshop co-sponsored by Lubuto Library Partners and the Zambian Board on Books for Young People.