Left to right: Miss Catherine Dean, Mrs Ann Dean and Mr Neil Dean, and Dr Florence Oloo

By Neil Dean

A visit to Nairobi in October 2005 to see our daughter, Catherine, who teaches in the University gave rise to an unexpected and challenging project for me and my wife Anne. Catherine showed us her workstation which was located in the newly built library. A magnificent library but one that needed an awful lot of books to fill it!

Catherine suggested that we might be able to do something to help get books for it. We said we would think about it which we did until the following March and then decided to get moving on it.

We approached a broad range of people and institutions. Gradually our dining room filled up with books which eventually overflowed into our hall! Books kept arriving and we were lent the use of a room in Nullamore Student Centre and soon needed a second one! At this stage it was decided that we had enough and should organise to box them and ship them out to Kenya.

To make it easier for the people in Kenya, we decided to box the books according to a number of categories e.g. business management, accounting, IT, personnel, classical literature, modern literature, poetry, plays, geography etc.

In addition, we found it necessary to weed out certain books because of age, relevance, suitability etc. Finally, the content of each box was noted on it.

Even though the 200 boxes would not fill a container it was decided to use a 20 foot container to avoid the consignment going as a part load with the greater risk of damage or loss.

What a great thrill it was to see the large cab and container trailer back into my driveway and subsequently up the 100 yard drive of Nullamore Student Centre- what skill the driver had! The container was loaded by Andre (the driver) and Patrick on 16 November 2006. 

It left Dublin Port on the 18th for Antwerp on the vessel "Katherine Ann" (our daughter's name!) and was transshipped on to the "Bengal" which arrived in Mombasa on 28th December. From there, a local contact (Dalmas Omondi) looked after the Customs clearing of the consignment.

The cost of sending the container amounted to about €2500, most of which was funded by a generous gift from a friend who approached me about what he could do to help Strathmore-the answer was easy!

I hope to visit a much fuller library on our next trip to Nairobi.