I did my Community Based Attachment (CBA) at Worcester Public Library, which is a library in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts in the United States of America. Due to the fact that I was volunteering at a public library, which is property of the government of the United States, I was recognized by the Mayor and City manager of the city of Worcester. They were especially impressed by the fact that I was not even an American, but I was giving back to their community.

 

I happened to be visiting my relatives in the United States at the time when I opted to do my CBA in this library. Volunteering is treated with much more importance in the United States than in Kenya. Therefore my recognition felt like the highlight of the whole experience for me.

 

Worcester Public Library offers a wide range of services to the local community. They have a selection of books, audiobooks, music CDs, movies, TV series and games of all genres for all ages. There are also computers in the library available to members of the public where they are allowed to do their work. There are many Other services offered by the library including computer classes for members of the public, language learning programs for adults, free visits to the museum in Worcester; and tutorials on business and design technology. All their services are free of charge. 

 

I worked at the library as a page. “Page” is a name given to someone whose job is basically to put items back on the shelves once the library patrons who had borrowed them return them. I received DVDs, CDs, books and other items that were returned, checking for any damages or missing items, sorting them and putting them back on the shelves so that other people could borrow them.

 

In addition to being a page, I helped out in the children’s room and provided assistance to library patrons if they needed to be taken through the process of borrowing or returning items. At times, I helped in assembling welcome bags that were given to new library patrons.

 

This was a very life-changing experience. I learnt how to work with other people, people of various cultures and ages for that matter, which is something I had never done before. I worked with African Americans, Albanians, Iraqi, Mexicans to name but a few. Some of my colleagues were refugees that had been rescued from their countries by the American government. It was good to see that they were provided with jobs just like any other citizen of the country. In addition to that, my supervisor at the library was very impressed with my work because I worked longer hours than the other employees. (The upper limit for the employees was nineteen hours per week) She was so impressed that she forwarded my name to the city manager for recognition.

There were obviously challenges such as the extremely cold winter weather, the time zone difference, difference in culture, different food, and having to change my accent so as to be understood by the library patrons.

 

All in all, however, I enjoyed my Community Based Attachment so much and I thank Strathmore University for allowing me to represent them across the world.

 

Article written by Sheila Louise Omondi – BBS Actuarial Science