(Photograph courtesy of the U. S. Embassy in Kenya)

For many years, the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library (WTBBL) in Seattle has made a positive difference by providing braille reading material, talking books, youth services and other resources to Washingtonians who are visually or physically impaired.

WTBBL’s positive influence has spread far beyond our state’s border, to most recently a partnership with a school in the African nation of Kenya.

The story starts in 2011. WTBBL often hosts visiting librarians from all over the world via the World Affairs Council.  Last year, one of the librarians visiting was Daniel Wambiri, a professor in the Department of Library and Information Science at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya.

WTBBL program manager Danielle Miller takes it from here:

“We started talking about how there was so little braille and so few resources for blind children in Kenya.  Through several conversations, we decided to send braille that we were going to discard to Mr. Wambiri to deliver to the Thika School for the Blind.   With the help of staff and volunteers, we packed up approximately 100 volumes of braille including fiction, non-fiction, and young adult materials. It took several months via free mailing a la the UNESCO Florence Agreement, but they finally received 12 boxes of braille from WTBBL. I’m very proud of this collaboration and positive way we can help and spread the joy of reading and power of knowledge.  They are thrilled we can continue this relationship, and we will be sending several boxes of books and magazines per  month. ”

Wambiri and Henry Mendelsohn, the Regional Information Resource Officer in the Public Affairs Section at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, officially handed over the donation to the teachers and children at the Thika School this week. Here is a letter from Mendelsohn to Miller about the books’ arrival.

WTBBL is part of the Washington State Library, which is a division of the Office of Secretary of State.