In January Volunteer President of World Literacy Canada Sandra Onufryk and Oakville Public Library Iroquois Ridge Branch Manager Sharon Yates journeyed to the holy city of approximately one million people to serve as mentors to the recently recruited Varanasi library staff.

As Onufryk has more than 19 years of experience with the Oakville Public Library and Yates has a library career that stretches back to 1979, the two women were ideally suited for this task.

"India does not have libraries as we know them, however, the vision for this library is very much based on what we have achieved here in Oakville," said Onufryk. "We were working with them on such areas as collection development, collection organization, acquisitions and programming."

This assignment came on the heels of a grant for $42,000 from the Rotary clubs of Oakville Trafalgar, Milton, and Burlington Lakeshore to expand Varanasi's first public library, which Onufryk helped to create last year.

During one visit to this new library, Onufryk said she counted 75 children reading and playing. She described how the Rotary grant is helping to bring the joy of reading to more people in the largely impoverished area.

"This allowed us to expand the collections in the existing library. It allowed us to add some adult materials and will allow us to expand the library, so that there is another branch across the Ganges River in Katesar District," she said.

"World Literacy received a $300,000 grant to build a community centre and the (Katesar) library will be the centre piece of that community centre."

While Onufryk had been to India on numerous occasions, first taking part in a Rotary Club of Oakville sponsored polio inoculation program, then helping to create the first Varanasi library in the city's Assi Ghat District, this was Yates' first trip out of North America let alone to the developing world.

To say Yates experienced something of a culture shock would be an understatement.

"The first thing that struck me was the driving," she said. "There are seven lanes of cars and people and horses and cows and goats and auto rickshaws and bicycle rickshaws. There's horns and noise just 24/7. There were monkeys wandering in the streets and they're quite frightening, actually, because they do bite people."

Witnessing the Indian people's struggle to maintain their dignity in the face of adversity was another sight that stuck with Yates.

"Their infrastructure is in trouble. It was so shocking to see everything falling apart and yet the people themselves were clean. They were poor, but their clothes were clean, their hair was clean and their homes were clean. The women were always sweeping, always cleaning," said Yates. "There was this whole dichotomy of living in this culture where they really were trying so hard to get by, just as we do, but at a very different level."

This poverty was even apparent when Yates and Onufryk met with the Maharajah (king) of Varanasi to negotiate for the use of a building in the Katesar District for their library.

"We went to the palace, which is called the Red Fort, and it was in rather decrepit condition," said Onufryk. "I think a lot of the Maharajahs of India have fallen on hard times. Nevertheless, it is still huge and amazing, a true fort built with several courtyards. When you go there, you're ushered into a room that has two sofas, two chairs and a mirror and you sit there until the Maharajah comes."

Onufryk and Yates had come to discuss the Katesar library's lease, but noted that the Maharajah did most of the talking.

In the end, the two women had the building for their library, but they also had doubts that it would stay standing long enough for them to make any use of it.

"I walked in and I was thinking, 'There's no way,'" said Yates, calling up a picture of the rundown looking structure on her computer.

Onufryk, who said the building was more than 150 years old, also had concerns, but these were soon eased.

"I went back a few days later with a structural engineer because I had my doubts that this could be salvaged," she said. "But, the roof is in good shape, walls are going to stand and he thinks it can be fixed up with the budget allocated."

In time, Onufryk said, the sad, empty building will become a fully functioning library that will cater to both children and adults.

The library will also offer literacy programs to combat the amazingly high levels of illiteracy in Varanasi with the literacy rate among women being as low as 10 per cent in some areas.

"The library is a place people can go to practice their new literacy skills, it's a place they can go to support their homework requirements, it's a place they can go to learn how to use a computer," said Onufryk.

"It's also a place where they can go for fun and enjoyment in an area where there aren't many opportunities."

While laying the foundation for this new library in Katesar District was the main focus of Onufryk and Yates' visit, it did not take up all their time with the two women also overseeing the use of Rotary funds to refurbish three Gumpti libraries and open a new one.

These mini libraries, of which there are 37 across Varanasi, are essentially sheds equipped with around 200 books each to service areas out of the main library's reach.

"They're very well received in the neighbourhoods," said Onufryk.

"Each one is supposed to have a newspaper, which is appreciated by the residents because a lot of them actually can't afford a newspaper."

For the future, Onufryk would like to see a book mobile program take root in Varanasi to bring programming and books to areas of the city that even the Gumpti libraries do not reach.

All of these initiatives did not go unnoticed by the people of Varanasi, who were eager to help the two Oakville women when they conducted public interest surveys about the coming library and eager to participate when the new Gumpti library was opened.

"Everywhere we went the women all dressed up in their very best clothes. It was a big deal for them," said Yates. "I was honoured to be a part of this."