Key Players
Photo by Tom Warren
Kate Parry
kateparry@earthlink.net
Professor in the Department of English, Hunter College, City University of New York. She is married to Professor
A. B. K. Kasozi, who lives and works in Uganda, grew up in Kitengesa, and has a home there. Kate therefore travels to Uganda regularly and has focused on Kitengesa in her research on literacy practices in Uganda. Since 2007 she
has been the Chair of the Uganda Community Libraries Association (www.ugcla.org) and a Co-Executive Director
of Friends of African Village Libraries (www.favl.org), through which the Kitengesa Community Library collects
its funds.
Emmanuel Mawanda
mawandaemmanuel@yahoo.com
Director of Kitengesa Comprehensive Secondary School. He founded the school in 1996 with the aim of providing
an education that would enable young people to earn a living in the community. He is a graduate of Nkozi National Teachers College and is soon to complete a degree in Education by distance learning from Makerere University, Kampala. He is both a speaker and a teacher of Luganda.
Dan working with former Library Scholar Martin Bakkabulindi on the library inventory.
Dan Ahimbisibwe
danielahimbisibwe@yahoo.com
Librarian. Dan joined the project when the first building was opened in June 2002. He has been living in Kitengesa ever since and through his work in the library has learnt to speak Luganda fluently (his first language is Runyankore). He spends most of his time in the library building and has been an invaluable assistant for the researchers who have worked at the library. He also does important work training the Library Scholars. He completed his Higher School Certificate as an independent candidate in 2004 and is soon to finish a degree in Development Studies by distance learning at Uganda Martyrs University.
Gorreth with her new baby, April 2010
Gorreth Nakyato
g.nakyato@yahoo.com
Assistant librarian. Gorreth was a Library Scholar from 2005 to 2009 and worked a few weeks extra for the library after finishing school. She was admitted to a primary teacher training college and since she had no money for the tuition fees, the library helped her. In 2009 she finished her training and came back to the library. Besides helping with general administration, Gorreth has been facilitating the Family Literacy Project and is set to become the library’s expert on working with children.
The Library Scholars
Since the first solar panels were installed in July 2004, the library has been able to open at night. To provide for the longer hours, we recruited students from Kitengesa Comprehensive Secondary School as Library Scholars. We pay their school fees from the funds donors give us, and in return they work for up to ten hours a week in the library. In the process they learn a great deal, not only about books and about how to use a computer, but also about how to hold a job. For more about the library scholars, click here.