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Founder's Travel Journal: Bandipur Shree Padma Library Renovation Project Day 20

June 20, 2008

Weather: raining, fog, 78 degrees F (25 degrees C)

My hands still shake slightly as I am still on steroid asthma medications - pill form.

I have decided that I am going to start a renovation project for the library above the computer lab. After inspecting the facility yesterday, I was apalled at how abundant the resources are yet they were all in shambles. Dusty, water-marked, worn, disorganized - unused. Yet all over the walls are the names of locals who are so proud to be given titles of high status, supposedly to maintain and run the facility. There were too many chairs and 3 large desks taking up the majority of the space, it being a small library - 20 x 20 square feet. Dust and cobwebs on everything, even the "Chairman's" desk label. The wood inside and out needs to be refinished, the walls cleaned, holes plastered and painted, the brick repaired and tuck-pointed, lighting installed, staircase rebuilt to include two-way entry, storage created in the rafters with a new ladder built to access it, and signs re-created and mosquito nets for the windows should any locals or visitors want to read when the insects are at their worst.

As for the downstairs rest area, mats and seat pillows for the perimeter and a few benches for the corners near the back wall. A storage box stained to match the facility wood needs to be built to store the mats and pillows. I need to find a way to create fold away tables that perhaps attach to the walls so that they lay flat up against it when not in use, then to use them, pull the bottom end up and hoist the table with a piece of wood that serves as a leg. These will go in the library and perhaps in the downstairs rest area.

The bookshelves need to go completely. Instead, wood shelves will be made and they will be lined in a fashion like that of a typical library, parallel to each other with space to move down the isles and to allow for the windows to be utilized at the end of the isles as well. I worry that they will not be stable so I will need to discuss the issue when construction comes up.

I have just been informed that the flooring will be made of bamboo, laid in a criss-cross pattern like that of a cross-stitch.

Work commences Sunday and I've got my eye on who will be my first laborers - the older boys in computer lab at 8am. They will help me clean and dust the chairs and move the books. I will begin cleaning walls and staining with the help of Meena. My other men will begin constructing bookshelves and staining the exterior of the facility.

In between, I've got to keep up with English lessons, document the construction process, and research and interview all things Nepal for my presentations when I return to the US - all in 12 days time.

A couple of afterthoughts - I would like to create small signs around the major thoroughfares of the village that point to the library, bring in garbage cans for the interior, recycling bins, and find exterior bins as well. Other signs - "Quiet Please!", "Library Hourse", "Check-in/out Procedures of Library Materials", and proper records of those who contributed, including donation plaques.

 

*Note: Time ran short and many other events occurred, including Nichole being approached by Dil and Bijay to help them with the Families. The library was renovated but some adjustments had to be made in order to finish the project in time before Nichole's departure home.

See the video on the main page of the Founder's Travel Journal titled "Bandipur"

 

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