March, 2004
Dear friends and benefactors of Books For Africa Library Project,
Happy New Year! This year has promise! Do not fear, but trust in the LORD.
We are just back from Ghana. In the three and a half months we spent there, we set up four libraries, released books to a fifth, and donated over ten thousand books to the seventeen libraries we had set up in previous years. In addition, we held an in-service for the staff and board members of the older libraries and the board members of the new ones. At the in-service, Hilda and I and a government librarian all spoke on good library practices.
Hilda is continuing to sponsor reading contests in all the libraries. To the new libraries she gave each a box of stuffed animals that they are to use as prizes to the children who read the most books. To the existing libraries she gave seed money in the amount of $35 per library to be used to buy books as prizes for their reading contests. At the in-service we heard reports on reading contests from several libraries which were given seed money for contests last year.
We would like to share some stories of our work. Aboasa is one of the towns with a new library. The people of Aboasa approached another American, Dr. Bill Rogers who teaches at the University of Ghana, to build them a library several years ago. They had built the building but had neither books and nor furniture. We offered them the books for free if they would build the shelves, provide the tables and benches for the patrons and procure a librarian to run it. It took some encouragement and some time, but it all came together on the 22nd of January.
We donated 7,000 books to them. Their truck came Thursday morning. I helped their representative select some 300 boxes of books to pack in their truck. Every subject area was represented along with over 35 boxes of Children’s books and many reference books. The boxes were covered with a tarp and tied town to the truck. All ready to go, Hilda and I got into the car ready to follow them. The truck couldn’t get out of our driveway. We were told there was an airlock in the diesel fuel line. The driver and his mate worked on it for an hour but to no avail. They needed a mechanic. Hilda and I piled the driver and the town representative in the car and drove to the regional capital 12 miles away. We bought some parts, found a diesel mechanic and headed back. An hour and a half later we were ready to roll. To make sure that the truck didn’t break down on the way the driver took the mechanic along with him.
Aboasa is a town of about 5,000 with a sister town a mile away. The library will end up serving both these towns. There are four secondary schools in the area and probably 20 elementary and middle schools. It will be a key resource for them. By the way you can locate Aboasa by finding the Volta Dam on the map, looking down river 10 miles and then east 8 miles. Juapong is the nearby town.
Another town which received a new library was an isolated town close to the Volta Lake called Adjena-Pesse. As the crow flies it’s 10 miles northwest of the Volta Lake dam, and about an hour’s drive from Aboasa. The road to the place is no easy
road. It’s what is termed a “feeder road” in Ghana. The very remote roads get a few cars on them per hour and so they are not paved, but maintained by grading them every year or two. During the rainy season they get very rutted when heavy trucks carrying produce from the farms travel them. The land around this town though is not very fertile and so the area is sparsely populated. Hilda and I feel Pesse is even more isolated than the towns of Zabzugu and Yawmatwa where we had to travel the last 50 miles over dirt roads. With these latter two towns there is a constant flow of traffic carrying produce out of their fertile growing areas, and so they don’t feel as isolated as the sparsely settled Pesse. Nonetheless, all three towns were prime candidates and received books from Books For Africa. We were overjoyed to offer resources to such remote areas. The people are so appreciative and have so little in terms of modern conveniences and resources like telephones and running water. All three places by the way recently received health clinics built by the Ghana government. We are happy to add to their progress.
We are both well presently. I struggled throughout the Christmas season with a bout of malaria. It’s a debilitating disease. You are walking wounded when you have it. You are not bed-ridden but you are in constant pain in the head and joints and run a slight fever. Basically it attacks your red blood cells so your immune system doesn’t function properly and you don’t have the energy to do much. President Bush promised $5 billion dollars for HIV/Aids and malaria research over a five year period. That was a year ago and not much has been done yet.
A story of God’s faithfulness: We finally took our shipment out of the port December 22nd, but it took us several weeks of the bureaucratic shenanigans to pave the way. One beautiful incident happened when we took an import form to the Ministry of Social Welfare and Manpower. They were delaying our request and even complaining about our letterhead not being “professional” enough. Then suddenly as the official was perusing our plans for this year’s shipment of books, he noticed his hometown on the list of towns to receive books. Needless to say, we had smooth sailing from then on in his office. When it looked as though we were to face more delays in getting the books, God had opened a door for us. With our jaws hanging down in awe we left his office to tackle the remaining hurdles. In short, we suffered, but God was faithful throughout those long, hot, dusty and frustrating days in the capital and the port.
God has been with us on the roads too. Hilda shared the driving to these remote areas. The roads are bumpy and there are many novice and careless drivers, but God protected us. One of the remote towns is Zabzugu. After driving 12 hours on paved roads, you reach a dirt road along which you have to drive another 2 and a half hours to get there. They received 7,000 books and their strong Board of Trustees includes a number of male and female educators, administrators and two local chiefs. Hilda wants me to mention the snake in the bathroom at Zabzugu. Our great joy at delivering the library to them on your behalf was clouded when I found what appeared to be a baby snake in the bathroom of the guesthouse where we were staying. The light bulb being burned out in the bathroom, we felt trepidation in entering the bathroom at night. Before we spent another night there we had the attendants thoroughly clean the house and put in a new light bulb.
The last library we set up was very close to Hilda’s hometown. Unfortunately, their Board of Trustees was poorly organized. We made three trips to inspect the building and they still had not finished building the shelves and fixing lights and a fan. We gave them one more chance during our last week in Ghana. They finally came through and we finished setting up their library two days before we left Hilda’s hometown to return to the USA. And we were happy to make the extra effort since the children in that town had no textbooks in any of their classrooms.
As we noted above, the people were very grateful to receive the books. We took pains in each town this year to meet several times with the newly formed Boards of Trustees for their libraries. We feel very encouraged that not only has the Library Project given them books for their library, but each town also has the local committees to make sure that the libraries will be kept up.
Our fundraising will be held Saturday evening, May 1st at St. Bernard Church’s Social Hall, State Street in Akron. Entertainment will consist of Hilda’s African dances, Brick Road Ramblers, and Schaeffer’s Irish Singers. Of course, dinner will be provided. Admission is free. This being our main fundraiser for our fall shipment of books to Ghana we will be asking for donations. If you are unable to attend please consider sending a donation of $10, 25, 50, 100 or more. Make checks payable to Books For Africa Library Project. We will accept book donations at the house; call us at 330-666-6816 to arrange a drop-off time.
A few more items of news: We have received seven inquiries from towns who want library books in 2005, and one has already submitted their application. Since we now spend up to five months in Ghana each year, we are getting a post office box to assure that no correspondence gets lost. Our mailing new address is:
You may save the above as a “business card”.
In conclusion, we want to thank all of you for your support for the Library Project. This year we gave out over 34,000 books, and with the four new libraries mentioned above we have set up 21 libraries in Ghana since 1997. The people of Ghana are grateful to you for your generosity, and it is our belief that people are being helped and that God is being glorified through this work.
Your friends,
Hilda and Kirt Bromley
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