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 April 2006

Dear Friends and Benefactors of Books For Africa Library Project,

            Greetings from Ghana, and Happy New Year to you all!

God is good. Our hope, strength and trust are from him. Kirt and I returned to Copley, Ohio on Wednesday, April 5^th late in the evening, feeling very cold and a bit disappointed from our loss of luggage in Chicago. Cold because the temperature in the house was about 40 degrees. To come from 100 degree weather in Ghana to a chilly spring day in Ohio was a bit of a shock for our bodies. As for the problem with our luggage, we had brought Shea Butter, a natural skin cream product from Ghana to share with our daughter and friends. We received clearance from US Agriculture at the Customs point in Chicago for the Shea Butter, but had to deliver the bags to TSA people for transfer to Cleveland when we mistakenly went through a door that connected to the next terminal. We were uneasy about the situation and tried to make sure our bags would accompany us to Cleveland. Upon arrival in Cleveland we found out that our fears were justified because when we collected our bags only one had anything in it. The contents of the other three were empty except for cards from the TSA. They confiscated over a hundred pounds of Shea Butter for security reasons. Hmmm.

            We are peace makers and do not carry anything that would harm anyone. And yet we are more than conquerors in the Lord, for nothing dims our joy in serving the people of Ghana in the name of the Lord. For a brief moment we were sad but by the next day, thanks be to God, we were thanking and praising God for the work done in Ghana and for bringing us back home safely.

            Yes, God is great. We would now like to share our mission work the past five months we lived and worked in Ghana. We arrived in the country early November and proceeded to contact the clearing agent about the 40ft. container we had shipped in October, 2005. It had not yet arrived but we used that time to process the papers at the Ministries. In the midst of getting our documents ready, we had a one day orientation on November 19^th for the new communities who applied for books. We met with representatives of eleven towns for the first time to find out which were ready. We planned on serving six towns in 2006. Unfortunately, only one town met the requirements and was ready. We prayed for God to give us guidance and to touch the towns that needed the library the most. We gave the towns three weeks to come to us with pictures proving that all the requirements were met. We felt disappointed with the situation because we had been corresponding with these communities and they were aware of what to do.

            Three weeks later five towns brought their pictures thus enabling us to know the communities we were to serve. These were then invited to a yearly workshop we give to all new and old libraries. Having selected the towns, we again focused our attention on the shipment. It took several weeks in all to clear the goods in the port; we paid the duty, almost $2000, and brought the container home the second week in December, 2005.

In addition to the books we shipped a pallet of anti-bacterial soap, a gurney for surgery 15 walkers and hospital toilets. These items we distributed to clinics and hospitals in the locality of Hilda’s hometown. We also shipped some rosaries for churches, toys for reading contest prizes, donated eye glasses to be given for free and some used clothes.

            Once the books were in Kukurantumi we hired 12 young men and women to help us with the final sorting of the books. This year it took about eight days to re-box the 26,000 books because all of them had been numbered according to the Dewey Decimal System by Kirt and I and volunteers in the USA. We took a short vacation around Christmas and the New Year, knowing there would be no more time to rest once the work began. The workshop mentioned earlier was scheduled on the 14^th of January so I had to be back in Kukurantumi to hire cooks to help me prepare food to feed all the people that would attend the in-service. Those coming from afar needed accommodations and that too needed taken care.   In the midst of preparing for the workshop we drove to Accra to pick up Ryan and Katelyn, two volunteers from Ohio who were to spend three months helping us. Thanks be to God again who is our strength, we had a successful workshop. About 70 people from all over Ghana came. Kirt spoke on best practices for libraries and we had several authorities speak on the HIV/AIDS epidemic. We also received yearly reports from the libraries concerning their reading programs, and then gave them toys and money for next year’s Reading program.

            After the workshop we focused our attention again on setting up libraries in the six new towns. We needed to make site inspections to verify that all the requirements were met . The qualifying towns were scattered throughout the country. Ta'am puraam, Upper East; Sefwi Dwinase, Western Region; Mim, Brong Ahafo;  Teteman/ Buem,Volta Region; Woe/ Keta, Volta Region and Begoro, Eastern Region. Two and half weeks were used to travel to these places. It meant traveling from the seacoast all the way to the northern border with Burkina Faso, and from close to the border with Cote d’Ivoire in the west to the border with Togo in the east.

            First, we visited the two qualifying towns in the Volta Region and met with their Board of Trustees. We inspected the buildings, benches, tables, stacks for the books, lights and fans. We encouraged the people to build more stacks if they could in order to receive more books. We also shared with them the purpose of our mission, to fulfill God’s call to build libraries through the collection of books and solicitation of funds in God’s name from people like you. Yes, we believe God has opened your hearts to share with the people of Ghana.  Finally, we set a date for each town to come with a truck to collect the books. The people were gracious, friendly and took care of our basic needs, food and lodging while we were with them.

            After the first trip we rested two days and then took off again to the west to visit Sefwi Dwinase and Mim, and then through Techiman to Ta'am puraam near Bolgatanga in the north. The highlight of the trip was Ta’am puraam. It was the poorest of the towns and yet our work with the people was the best. To be met by over a hundred men, women and children coming to meet you singing and dancing with joy and gratitude for the gift of a library was a sight beyond words. The people of this small town had strong solidarity. I have never seen women so eager to have their children get an education. We thus verified that all the towns met the criteria and we were ready to get the books to them and put them on the shelves.

            This year Kirt made some progress with a side project that has been on his heart. The number of people affected by alcoholism and drug dependency in Ghana is growing and there is little in the way of treatment. This year Kirt built a small treatment center in Kukurantumi with his own money. He is in the process of getting staff for it and networking with several AA groups in the capital Accra. Donations to this effort can be made separate from Books For Africa donations. Call or write us.           

            The people of Sefwi Dwinase, our first library, came for the books February 6^th. We worked three days setting up the library and then had a big opening ceremony to which the area schools  came. The second town we set up was Teteman, Buem. A former Member of Parliament used his own money to build the library building and to furnish all the furniture. The town itself was built on top of a high mountain and to drive over the rocky road to the top was an adventure to remember. Our time with them was very good; the people were so kind and grateful but Ryan became seriously ill on the day we left the town. We had anxious moments and a long drive to a hospital near our home, but if God is with us who can be against us? What can separate us from the love of God? Neither sickness, nor poor driving habits in Ghana, nor family expectations can discourage us from serving God by serving others.

            After a five hour drive we arrived at a good hospital where Ryan was given special care. Thanks be to God he fully recovered later from what proved to be an attack of malaria. Kirt then came down with malaria and Katelyn was recovering from a bacterial infection in the stomach. With three people indisposed, I was the only one healthy enough to drive back and forth to the hospital. We used our planned vacation week to get everyone back to reasonable health. Then we set off to set up the remaining four libraries. On the 24^th of March we returned home having set up four libraries in four weeks. On March 27^th and 28^th people came from six of the old libraries for more books. In between setting up the libraries, we donated the hospital equipments to six hospitals and the rosaries to parishes as we traveled through the country. We also helped start  libraries at a major Catholic seminary in Accra and St. Joseph Hospital in Koforidua We finished the year’s mission with all of us being well. We are very grateful to God for giving us the strength to do the work and for bringing us back safely. We thank all of you for your support and prayers.

             Dear friends, the work continues. We need God’s help and your help. Our annual Fundraising dinner /concert is on May 6^th starting at 5:30 pm at St. Bernard’s social hall, State Street in Akron. Admission is free. There will be some items for sale in addition to asking for your donations. Dinner is free.  Bring the whole family for an evening of fun, joy, and thanksgiving. If unable to attend, please consider sending a donation of $10, $25, $50, $100 or more. Make the check payable to Books For Africa Library Project  and send it to P.O. Box 4049, Copley, OH. 44321. We accept book donations at the house, 1518 Sunside Drive, Copley, OH. Phone 330-666-6816. You may leave boxes of books on the front porch under the eaves.

            Again we would like to thank you all for your continuous support. Also, this year is very special as it is the 10^th anniversary of my brain surgery; it was through the experience of the disease and surgery that God inspired me to start Books For Africa. See what God has done! Out of pain and suffering, He has done great things for me and you.  Praised be to God, to Jesus and the Spirit. Amen. 34 libraries have been set up. It is a miracle. God bless you all.

                                                            Sincerely yours,

 back to top            Other Reports                                               Hilda and Kirt Bromley