The Bartica Library

Can you imagine a beach without sand?  A cherry cola without fizz?  A pop song without  "baby yeah" repeated frequently in the chorus?

 What about a library without books?

This was my experience in the spring of 2010 when I visited Guyana, South America, and came across a lovely library in the village of Bartica.  The staff was friendly, the kids adorable, and the library itself was large enough to house several hundred books.

However...

Aside from a few paperbacks placed sparsely on near-empty shelves, there were no books!!!

I spoke to the librarian, as well as to the Peace Corps volunteers who assisted students at the library.  Not only did they agree that books were in short supply, they admitted that few people patronized the library due to the lack of resources.

The gears in my brain starting chugging into motion.  What if I collected books when I returned home to Wisconsin and somehow, in some way,  transported them 3,000+ miles south to Bartica?

I became very intrigued by this idea.