Books for Africa Library Project, Inc.Establishing libraries in rural areas of West Africa |
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Greetings from Ghana! Kirt and I returned from Ghana full of thanksgiving, gratitude to God and to you, our friends, benefactors and supporters for the successful mission work done there. Yes, we arrived on Wednesday evening, April 18th, 2007. We are still wonderfully full of enthusiasm for the Library Project, and grateful to God for the opportunity to show love to His people in the form of the gift of books and resources. Still recovering from jet lag, we picked up new book donations today April 20th, 2007. I just could not resist the temptation to share our adventures in Ghana with you. This year we set up four new libraries in the following places: Drobo, Brong Ahafo Region, Donkokrom, Afram Plains, Ajumako, Central Region and Asamankese, Eastern Region. In addition to these new towns, we gave almost four thousand books to a library which serves three Catholic Seminaries at Ejisu in the Ashanti Region. At the end of March we arranged to donate the remaining six thousand books in our warehouse to the Ghana Library Board. These books will then be distributed among the fifty-two branch libraries throughout the country. In all forty-two thousand donated books were given out this year. The four new libraries we set up this year brings the total number of libraries set up by the Library Project to thirty-seven. Besides the libraries, we gave out about four thousand rosaries to churches in the localities where we set up libraries or passed through in our travels. Also, through the generosity of eye-glass donors in Akron, we gave away over hundred eye-glasses to the people of my home town. And through the generosity of some individuals in Akron and our own daughter who is an oriental medicine practitioner, we were able to ship some medical supplies with the books and donate them to a local hospital. Another exciting event in our mission this year was a three-day workshop held in January in Kukurantumi, my home town, celebrating our tenth anniversary. We invited each of the libraries to bring with them to the workshop the grand prize winner of the reading contests for the year. Consequently twenty-one of the twenty-eight libraries which attended brought their young winners with them. In all over a hundred people attended the workshop. All of them were lodged in our house and at three other hotels in Kukurantumi. It was a rich time. We wanted to thank and praise God so much that we hired a band and paraded through town from one end of the town to the other dancing and singing. It was a deep emotional and faith experience for me. Who was I to be blessed and entrusted with such a call? Yes, God is wonderful and full of mysteries. I felt like weeping for joy while jubilating with the rest of the people. It was a good time, a fun time, and a loving time. We had a wonderful presentation by the Matthew 25 Group (“in as much as you do it to the least of my brothers, you do it to Me”). This group has organized some of the victims of HIV/AIDS as speakers to visit different churches and community organizations. Located close to Kukurantumi in our Regional Capital of Koforidua, this group makes a strong impact on the audience as they share their life stories and information about HIV/AIDS. There is an unfortunate stigma attached to the sufferers of HIV/AIDS to the extent that they are often cast out of their homes and are treated as lepers. When the Matthew 25 presenters divided our workshop attendees into groups for questions and answers, they made quite an impression on the young people. Another part of the workshop was a three hour presentation on the disease of alcoholism. With the advent of enticing ads for alcohol consumption on TV and radio, and under pressure from a changing and increasingly competitive society, the rate of problem drinking and alcoholism is going up. As in the USA the intake of alcohol is involved in over 30% of the traffic accidents. The presentation on alcoholism was made by Attitudes Ghana, a non-profit organization based in our capital of Accra. Members of Attitudes Ghana informed us about the disease and about the success of Alcoholics Anonymous in responding to the disease. There was sufficient interest in AA that we arranged for Attitudes Ghana to return two weeks later to give an all-day workshop to the interested libraries. Attitudes Ghana gave copies of the “Big Book”, Alcoholics Anonymous, and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions to each of the libraries attending. Because of their presentation the librarians in Bole and Ta’am Pooram went back to their communities and started AA meetings. The three-day workshop also included discussions of the problems that librarians and Library Board of Trustees face, and reports from each of their staff. Each of the young contest winners in turn explained to the group how they won their contest and what impact the library has had in their lives. It was very moving! Just imagine because of the Library Project, children in thirty-seven communities have been exposed to the wonderful world of pleasure reading. The national library body, Ghana Library Board, runs 52 libraries in the country; we are catching up! Part of Kirt’s energy was spent on encouraging the growth of Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon in Ghana. Introduced to Attitudes Ghana last year, Kirt has worked with them to begin AA and Al-Anon groups in Kukurantumi. Attitudes Ghana also gave Kirt funding to have several important pamphlets on AA and a chapter of the Big Book translated into two of the major languages of Ghana, Twi and Ewe. When these translations have been approved by the World Service Office of AA in New York City, they will be printed and distributed in Ghana. Through the funding of Attitudes Ghana Kirt was also able to bring two recovering alcoholics to Kukurantumi to live at the Treatment Center for a month. These men met with the local AA group in Kukurantumi. A third man was able to come to visit with Kirt and Hilda for three weeks and share with the local people his 16 years of sobriety. Due to these visits the local people in Kukurantumi were exposed to the 12 step program of AA which has helped over two million people world-wide find sobriety. Many people have often asked me about the future of the library project. Some of my responses have been: I am waiting on the Lord to give me guidance or I will work as long as the Lord gives me the health, the strength, the money and the guidance. In other words, I do not have a clear picture but lately over the past two years the idea of putting up a building in Ghana as a Center for Continuous Education and Retreat has been nudging at me. As the mission grows and more applications and information are demanded, with God’s help an ideal solution would be to build a centralized meeting place. So, I have put it to prayers and wait for separated funding for it; may His will be done. Meanwhile, the work continues with help from above and you, our friends and benefactors. Our Annual Fundraising/Dinner Concert is coming up in May. Date: Saturday, May 19 Time-5:30 PM with buffet dinner followed by a Concert. Place: St. Bernard Catholic Church Social Hall. Admission is free but free offering will be asked. Could you come to support this God-given missionary work, please? If unable to attend, could you make a monetary donation of $10, $25, $50, $100, $200 or more (please). Donations are tax deductible. Make any check donation to: Books For Africa Library Project. Address is P. O. Box 4049, Copley, OH. 44321. We accept book donations at our house, 1518 Sunside Dr., Copley. Thank you. God bless you all. With love and gratitude, Kirt and Hilda Bromley |
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