Starting from Scratch//
Watanabe Yuriko is a librarian for SVA.// Her boss asked her to set up libraries for refugees from Myanmar living in camps in Thailand.// When she asked, “Where do I start?” he answered, “First, build the buildings.”//
　　I’m a librarian, not an architect, but that is how it is when you work for SVA.// Our job is to provide books for kids, and whatever it takes to do that, we do.//
　　The buildings presented challenges.// My first thought was for the people who would use the libraries.// Some of them were landmine victims on crutches.// That meant the buildings should be at ground level.// But I learned that the area flooded during the rainy season.// Most buildings were built above ground level.// We finally built on stilts.// Even so, one of our three buildings was washed away by flood waters two years later.//
　　With the buildings built, I went back to my main job: getting books for children.// I selected 50 picture book titles.// I needed four copies of each title: three in Karen and one in Burmese.// We managed to find enough books in Burmese, but finding books in the Karen language was harder.// Finally, we decided to use Japanese picture books and paste Karen translations on each line.//
　　I chose books in five subject areas: world classics, books about other cultures, about peace, about health, and about the environment.//
　　Even before the buildings were completed, the libraries were a success.// We held a demonstration picture book reading in a small temporary building.// When a staff member started to read aloud, kids were totally absorbed.// Children playing outside came running in, and another crowd of kids listened from outside.// The weight of the crowd crushed a bamboo desk, but the kids concentrated on the story, as if nothing had happened.//
　　Building buildings was a new challenge; collecting books and translating them was an exercise in professionalism; watching children respond to reading was pure joy.// That’s a good summary of my work at SVA: challenge, professionalism, and joy.//