Library Photo Album

Please enjoy the following photos that provide a better picture of the library and all that goes on there. The photos have been divided into the following categories. Click on the category that may particularly interest you and scroll over the photos for a description of the photo.

Activities at the Library
The Staff
The Building-Exterior
The Building-Interior
Planning and Construction

Activities at the Library

Reading at the library

Computer lab

A workshop at the library

Handwashing demonstration in front of the library

Lending books using book bags made by volunteers in Essex

Book buddies at the library

Story hour

Researching under the lights

Using manipulatives at the library

Starting to use the library in a “soft opening”

Exploring books

Exploring the world

Sharing a story

Studying

Big sister helping

Entering the world of the internet

Studying homework

Studying

A workshop

Community members researching

Studying

Beauties and their books!

Look at this!

Story hour hosted by Jenifer Grant

The Staff

Anny Frederique flanked by librarians Odverne Charles and Besly Belizaire

Besly Belizaire, Librarian and Administrator

Librarian Plerette Mervil cataloguing books

Librarian Euliciane Fleurisma keeping the shelves tidy

David Evangelisti, Besly Belizaire (librarian), Anny Frederique (ODES & Library Conseil), Terry Parkinson, Rachel Pierre (FOKAL), Kathleen Maher, Fritz Garcon (ODES & Librarian Conseil)

Hard at work

Luquece Belizaire, ODES President

Besly helping a patron

Pleret organizing

Besly checking the tablets

Charles Odverne, former librarian

Researching under the lights

Volunteers who organized a French Club and English Club

Librarians addressing the community

Many thanks to FOKAL. Training the librarians at FOKAL: Besly Belizaire (librarian-in-training), Erick Toussaint (FOKAL), Charles Odverne (librarian-in training))

SCEH and Librarians at a work session

Collaboration between ODES and SCEH. Conseil member Ti Will top row second from right

The Building-Exterior

Bibliothèque Communitaire Deschapelles

A well-lit place to study

Eaves to protect against the rain

Shutters provide security

The cupola is a passive ventilation system

The gatehouse contains the water pump, generator, storage and a guardhouse

Patrons first visit the guardhouse.

Screens to protect against mosquitoes

The front room

Fer forger (decorative iron work).

Colorful latrines behind the library

The “twalet pou fem”

Electricity is a rare commodity in Deschapelles

The entry

The Building-Interior

The librarian’s area in the center of the study area

Community members gather for the opening ceremony

Computer lab

Shelves awaiting more books

Discover Toussaint Louverture: a hero of Deschapelles

Starting to use the library in a “soft opening”

Bibliyotek Communitaire de Deschapelles (the Community Library of Deschapelles) opened in January 2016.

Planning and Construction

The need: Students studying under street lamps

The need: Children studying inside an abandoned building before the library was built

The need: Before the library was built: finding an abandoned chalkboard in an abandoned building to practice schoolwork

The need: Trying to study under dim lights while fighting mosquitoes

Planning: Members of ODES and SCEH working together

Locating the land: ODES and SCEH surveying possible sites for the library

Finding the land: Discussing the library, Lessor and Terry Smith, Chair of SCEH Library Committee

Land found: Lease signing

SCEH Board members and lessor at the signing of the land lease for the library

A full-roofed gatehouse, August 2014

The site for the library

Architect: Hope Proctor, Terry Smith and ODES Library Committee visiting the site for the library

Hope Proctor, Terry Smith and the ODES Library Committee collaborating on the design of the library

Architectural schematic

Interior floor plan of proposed library

First steps: Building the perimeter fence

Laying out the foundation

Digging the foundation

Digging the foundation for the Deschapelles library

Men and women are employed

In the meantime: A library without walls: reading to young children program

Many thanks to FOKAL. Training the librarians at FOKAL: Besly Belizaire (librarian-in-training), Erick Toussaint (FOKAL), Charles Odverne (librarian-in training))

In Essex, raising money for books: Susan Carpenter of Tri-Town Rotary seeking supporters for the library project

Building needed ancillary buildings

John Chew (Construction Oversight), Anny Frederique (ODES), Luquece Belizaire (Construction Manager), Jenifer Grant, Terry Smith, Dan Taylor-Stypa, Belsy Belizaire (ODES), David Evangelisti at the library site, 1/27/13

FOKAL supports: Elizabeth Pierre Louis and Erick Toussaint (FOKAL), Terry Smith, Jenifer Grant, Dan Taylor-Stypa, John Chew (Library Construction Supervisor), Anny Frederique (ODES), David Evangelisti