WE HAVE BENCHES

Step-by-step we are upgrading the Axim Public Library. Recently ten benches built by a local carpenter were carried to the library by some story-hour student enthusiasts!

Story Hour Students Carry New Benches into Axim Library Children's Room

Librarian Mercy Ackah reports growing interest in her story hours for upper primary students. Unlike in the US, where we usually gear story hours to younger students, Ms. Ackah uses the “mobile library by motorcycle” program to deliver books to the schools for the youngest children who can’t reasonably walk the distance to the library.

Meanwhile, the older upper primary students can walk the half mile or more with their school class to “story hour.” (The schools don’t have their own libraries and mostly no textbooks, either.)

We provided floor mats, such as we typically use in our American children’s library programs, but Mercy also asked for benches, to accommodate the long legs of the older children.  So benches it is!

Librarian Mercy Ackah Telling a Story. (We need to work on getting Zak into making a video!)

We wish you could all sit in on the story hours! A wonderful dramatist, Librarian Ackah tells/acts the stories, especially the traditional African stories, in a mixture of English and Nzema. Riveting!

Later, each child gets to choose and check out one book, thanks to the hundreds of books now available to them, with more on the way (lightly used, mostly, chosen by librarians, teachers, and other generous souls who know how to spot quality and cultural insensitivities…thank you...).

And the children must not only read their book, but treat it as such a precious object amid the general scarcity, and read it to their proud Moms and Dads to show off how they can read and in the process, impart some literacy skills, especially to Mom. And when they bring it back to the library--guess what? They get ANOTHER one!!

How, now, to keep it all going forward, year after year? The actual monetary costs here are not that great—mostly it’s a matter of shared goals, professionalism, mutual respect, friendship, communication, intentionality, and determination…not easy, but do-able. 

End result? Finally, Axim children have books in hand!

Our website (including earlier news articles) is

http://ghanatogether.org

Contact us at info@ghanatogether.org