A Susurration: "to make a soft rustling sound; whisper; murmur". Hmm. Perhaps not.
A Scrum? When someone shouts "Chocolate" maybe.
Perhaps, for the BookBus, it should be a Saturation. Three Susans in fact plus one Fiona and a Marcia and we have been doing our best to confuse the poor BookBus office because though we have been fundraising together we are going in two separate groups.
Emails have been flying hither and thither but it seems to have sorted itself out now and suddenly it`s March, flights are booked and jabs (ouch) are being organised.
But to back pedal for a minute. the last post promised more details.
So, "we" are all ladies, more or less, four of us work in and around the Aberdeenshire Library Service and the fifth works in a Care Home.
I`m one of the Susans, though I`m actually a Sue,and as well as Aberdeenshire Libraries I put in a bit of time at the fabulous new Aberdeen University Library so I`m able to plunder both places for resources and ideas.
I read, enjoy films and (often quite loud)music, write a bit, walk a lot, and drink strong black coffee though not necessarily in that order. In another life I was a teacher and became fascinated by the process of language acquisition in general and reading in particular and can bore anyone within hearing distance on the subject for hours.... and hours.... and hours.........
As for the other ladies - well they should speak for themselves and I`m sure they will.....biogs to follow. Suffice to say they`re a bunch of very talented people, storytellers, arts and crafts,and perhaps most importantly book-lovers all.
And where are we going? Zambia, which we realised quite quickly we knew very little about. Bald statistics, researched by Fiona, tell us that:
• Four out of five people live on less than $1 a day
• 130,000 children under 14 are infected with HIV
• One in six adults live with HIV/AIDS
• Life expectancy is just 40 years
• Zambia has a very young population – nearly half are under 14
• At least one in seven children, have lost one or both parents and many spend the day collecting water, tending fields or even running the family home.
It is also of course a stunningly beautiful place, boasting the wild Zambezi River, the Victoria Falls and abundant bird and wildlife some of which we`re hoping to see while we`re there.
The fund-raising meanwhile has been ongoing and we have discovered skills we never knew we had: public speaking; demon bartering at car boot sales
(two of the Susans on a beautiful freezing cold day last year)
extracting raffle prizes; sponsored “power-dressing” and secret auctions.
We`ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of colleagues, friends, families and total strangers, a generosity we fully intend to exploit again with one more event at the end of the month.
Meanwhile one of the Susans has organised a "Readathon" next week to raise awareness of the BookBus by the simple expedient of hi-jacking one of Aberdeenshire`s Mobile Library Vans and taking it to various venues in the Shire. Pics to follow hopefully.
And now things are moving on apace: BookBus are putting us in touch with other folk who`ll be on the bus with us, sending us their distinctive yellow t-shirts and the 2013 Field Guide full of advice and tips and things-to-remember.
Definitely time to turn our thoughts to what we`ll be doing when we get there. Preparation is all!
