Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Where's the Old Dandora Pentecostal Church?

Ephraim Mudave is the Acting Librarian at NEGST. When I last visited he was the only full-time professional staff member in library, besides the director. The remainder of the staff in the Technical Services area were volunteers or part-time. In Kenya, and I am sure in much of Africa, the norm for education for a librarian, though not for long, is a Bachelor's in Library Studies or Library Science. This is the education/training that Ephraim has. It is a full bachelor's program of at least 120 hours with the bulk in librarianship.
As I mentioned, this is changing. The Higher Education Commission in Kenya is pressuring institutions to have head librarians with an MLS, however only recently was a program begun in Kenya. Those with the resources have been able to travel outside of the country to obtain their degrees and sometimes in a very short amount of time--these types of programs have little emphasis on the practicalities of managing libraries or programs and focus more upon human resource management. Thus, you can have a head librarian with an MLS, but have little experience working in or managing a library. This is the bind that Ephraim and his peers are finding themselves in.
Ephraim, like so many educated Kenyan Christians, work a full week in conjunction with having a full ministry in the church. Ephraim is the Pastor to Youth (youth can be teens through those in their thirties) at New Dandora Pentecostal Church (When we visited I was prompted to ask, "Where is the Old Dandora Pentecostal Church. I was told there never was one and that the new pastor was working at removing the references to new, but the one of the roof was a little harder to take care of).
Here you can see the interior of the church. Though I have not visited any other smaller urban churches, I am sure that this is quite similar and, actually, may be a bit nicer. Several months ago the tile floor was installed. They didn't have the money for it and asked the vendor if they could pay over time, which he allowed. So, they've been paying it off over the past year and are just about finished.
As I wrap up this entry, the thought has come to my mind if there is any "vocation" confusion here, at least with the individuals that I am encountering in the library. Each has training in librarianship and many are at work many hours a week in the life and activities of the church, not simply in attendance, but in pastoral roles. Do any feel a "calling" to librarianship?

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