Normally a library is supposed to be peaceful and quiet, but since today is opening day here
in Kenya, I'll make an exception. All of these kids and even more outside are super excited to
read the books you have donated. Getting ahead of myself a little bit. Let's get started.
[Intro]
[African music playing]
Almost 6 months ago my Kenyan uncle and I came to you with what seemed
like an impossible dream – to build an entire library halfway around the world in Kenya,
Africa. The library will be built in a town where Philip grew up called Budalangi. And
this library would be the only library within 100 miles. And amazingly when we mentioned
this project and asked for help, books came pouring in from all across the USA – over
34,000 books to be exact. And for the last 3 months all of that precious cargo has
been navigating its way around the globe and has finally safely made it to Africa.
Does this container look familiar? It's the one that was parked outside of our shop in
Utah full of books, ready to go into the library. They have arrived. Oh no!
When it comes to organizing the books, luckily most of that was done when we consolidated the
books at our warehouse in Utah. All the boxes inside of the library are already labeled. Let
me give you a little tour. Coming in here through the front doors. We set all the boxes initially
over here in the corner. We're going to have a kids' space right here...we're going to have
teenagers...and as we go around the library they will get older and older to the adult section.
You know, the adult fiction, the educational books, the adult self-help, anything that you
can use to learn...maps, biographies, all kinds of books. History, nonfiction, and we have a bunch of
shelves that we're filling up here in the middle. It's coming along very nicely and it'll all look
much more organized when we're finished. And we have quite a lot of little helpers.
The very last box. Good job, buddy! Now that the books are out it's time to organize them.
It's been amazing seeing my community and Philip's community come together to accomplish something
that will ripple through generations. Knowledge is power and these books that you've sent will
help create a solid foundation for anyone who wants to walk through the front doors.
This library is 100% free and 100% open to the public. So if you ever
find yourself in Budalangi, Kenya feel free to stop by.
So it has been a year and a half with hundreds
of thousands of people. How does it feel to be this close to being done?
-[Philip] Man, it feels good. It feels really
good. Just looking around, everything looks amazing.
-How many books did you have access to growing up?
-So there are a couple of books here that I'm just so happy they're here. The Hardy
Boys were my favorites, but we didn't have the whole series. We just had one
or two books and we'd share the whole book through the whole class. And so
when I see them here I'm just like...it's amazing. I'm really excited about this.
-So when you were trading the books around did they survive being handed around back and forth?
-They have to. I mean, because the book...you didn't own the book...maybe one of your friends
just had the book and you had to take really good care of it because if you mess it up they're not
going to give you the book again or another book. And so it was always like...it was so precious you
know. Now that I think about it, I don't think I ever finished the Hardy Boys series but that's
because...I mean nobody had the whole series. People had one...it wasn't like the whole set.
-Now the whole set is here so you can come check it out from the library whenever you're back.
[Laughing]
-I feel like I'm going to do that.
-So my YouTube channel's named after my grandpa,
if you didn't know. And so we decided to name this library after Philip's grandma.
-Yeah, her name is Teresa Oyiolo. I grew up with my grandma and
she was always very intelligent and was always very encouraging and just very helpful. She was
an amazing woman and I feel like this is the best way to honor her name. I grew up around here,
not very far from the library, without lots of things around me. Me and my grandma,
we used to live...and my brothers, we all used to live in a mud hut with a grass roof and we didn't
have that much. But the idea of an education is the key around here because most people
probably are still in the same situation. But not being able to provide this avenue of learning,
it kind of opens up to the next generation just being able to access the knowledge,
be able to read, be able to learn. I think that's the only thing that is an equalizer.
You can come from whatever background, but that puts you on the same level with everyone else.
-One of the reasons I like books so much is because they remove so many of the potential
for failure. There are no batteries, there's no updates, there's no moving parts that might break
– just pure knowledge ready for anyone at the turn of a page. And they also need no electricity. If
the entirety of humanity were to fail, libraries like this one would be the building blocks for
where it can be recreated from scratch. A little bit extreme there but you get my point. There's no
real alternative for a tangible, physical library like this one. And knowledge cannot be taken away.
Thanks to you guys we dedicated probably about a quarter of the library to children's books
because that's just how the books naturally came in...how they were naturally donated. Since we
didn't ask for specific books, people just sent in their favorites and it turned out really well.
-This is where it all begins. This is the foundation. It's
really cool. So guys thank you so much for this.
-Let Philip know if you would sign up for Story Time with Philip down in the comments.
[Laughing]
-Maybe we can do story time tomorrow. We can get some parents here tomorrow
morning with their kids and sit them there and read some books to them.
-Pretty amazing that all of these books came from people all across the United States, and the
world, consolidated in Utah, and then brought down here to Kenya. And then in this room right here
we were expecting about 15-20,000 books, but at the end of the day we got
34,000 and so this pile of boxes here are books we couldn't fit on the shelves. And that pile
back there are duplicates, you know, like box sets of Harry Potter and stuff like that that
are going to be distributed to other libraries all throughout Kenya because we're transitioning
and handing this library off to the government and the Kenyan National Library. And so all of these
books will be able to be circulated throughout Kenya at some point which is pretty amazing.
-[Child] What's your name?
-[Zack] Zack.
-[Child] Zack.
-[Zack] Nice to meet you.
-[Child] Nice to meet you.
[Cheering]
[African children singing]
-[Zack speaking to the crowd] This library is a result of my community
working with your community to bring together a massive collection of books and knowledge.
It's great to be here and I'm honored to be in your presence.
-[Child] Zack, look here!
-[Zack] Kenya has two official languages: Swahili and English. And during the opening ceremony,
the Kenyan National Library brought over a few thousand books from Kenyan authors
to be included with ours here as well. And of course we finished
drilling the water borehole as well, but I'll save that for another video.
[Children speaking at the opening ceremony]
-And there you have it. An absolute success. Thank you so much for donating all of these books and
for watching my videos and for making this happen. One of the coolest experiences of my entire life.
-[Children] Thank you for the books!
-And thank you for watching. I see you around.
[African singing and music from the opening ceremony]