Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

One of Banelino's goals is to have a working library for the use of the Banelino staff, banana producers, laborers, and family members. I have been taking an inventory of material in the library and have weeded a substantial amount of material that is not appropriate to the mission of this library. Last Friday was payday for the producers and laborers. Banelino's offices were busy with processing the payments to the producers. I took the opportunity to visit with some of the producers and laborers who were waiting their turn to pick up their checks. Many were women producers, some came with their children, and others were Haitian laborers. Talking with them, I learned what their idea was of a library. (Keep in mind, three times last week I passed by the National Library branch in Mao (at different times) and each time it was closed, no signs posted on when it would be open. It is fair to say that there is no public library available to the residents in Mao region.) Most of