Summary 2009

Dear Friends,

Greetings and Happy Easter to all of you in Christ's name. Yes, Kirt and I are back in US. We arrived late on April 8^th after spending over 30 hours traveling. As you can imagine we were very exhausted and sleepy when we arrived in our frozen home. However we were overjoyed because we had arrived safe, thanks be to God. First we would like to thank God for his faithfulness in sending us forth to do the mission work in both Liberia and Ghana. We also want to thank all of you for sponsoring and praying for us. We felt your support. God is good. By God's Grace we were able to set up four new libraries in Ghana, donate over 4,000 books to Ghana Library Board and distribute 36,000 books to Institutions and rural communities in Liberia.

Dear friends, the mission work was not as simple as I describe it here. To quote St. Paul in his journeys, 'nothing can separate us from the love of Christ', not trials, disappointments or betrayals, illnesses or driving through a rebel stronghold in Ivory Coast where each barrier crossing was an ordeal. We arrived in Ghanain October, 2008 and stayed for two weeks. It was a busy time because we met with the people from the four new towns we hoped to work with later. Secondly, we arranged to purchase over 4,000 Junior African writers series books from a publishing company with a grant given to the project by the Chen Family Foundation in Hong Kong, China. That took some time. Lastly we applied for our Liberia and Ivory Coast visas.

With the above agendas out of the way, we set out on our journey on October 28^th and drove eight hours to a border town in Ghana. We crossed the border into Ivory Coast the next morning. It took some time in customs there as we had to register the car and had to have all our documents verified. We had heard that the seven year old civil war in Ivory Coast had been resolved, and so we wanted to ask the officials at the border immigration post if it was true. It was a great relief to us when the Border Guards reassured us that the war had ended and that we would be safe traveling in the country. The first two days were all right. Few cars passed us which was fine because the sides of the roads were over grown with bushes. The last day of traveling in Ivory Coast was the most difficult because we passed through the last of the UN security outposts. From that time onwards, we encountered soldiers who described themselves as rebel army soldiers. We had to pay at each outpost before we were allowed to pass from one barrier to the next, and they were many barriers. It was a frightening time for us as we drove through virgin rain forests with hardly any living being around except the rebel soldiers who had set up road blocks to extort money from travelers like us. We made it across to the Liberia side shaky but unhurt, thanks be to God

Once we arrived in Liberia, driving to Monrovia the capital was not bad. We had the car registered at the port of entry so we were able to drive through the country from the northern part to the coast without incident. It was late at night when we arrived having driven all day. We had one problem though. The non-profit organization in Liberia with whom we had been collaborating had fired their manager but had not informed us. What to do? Our container of books had been consigned to this same person. We also had sent him money for our living quarters, a warehouse and the clearing of the cargo. Would we lose everything if we didn't meet him?

We arrived in Monrovia, the capital, after a full day's drive but decided to forgo dinner and meet the manager so he could show us the apartment he got for us. Was I in for a surprise! What a dump he had given us to live in. It was dirty. To top it off he put his nephew in one of the two bedrooms. The nephew was a nice young man but we believe he also spied on us and reported every day to his uncle. The first three weeks in Liberia was hard. It became clear to us that we had 'been had.' Not only was our accommodation bad, the warehouse he rented for us was an unfinished house that he himself was building, and he couldn't account for more than $700 of the money due the clearing agent. We were told the non-profit he worked for was taking him to court but we chose not to bring any criminal case against him. After all we could not collect our container without his co-operation. On top of all these problems I became violently sick and ended up in an emergency with a temperature of 105 degree and a low blood pressure. Thanks be to God, Kirt sent me to the hospital and after about six intravenous solutions I was sent home. It was a trying time, but God brought victory after victory to us. Humans failed us in Liberia. People we turned to for help did not deliver when they found out there were no personal gain for them. And yet God never failed us.

We were able to change the name of the consignee in order to take delivery of the books, we found a new house to live in which we also used as a warehouse, and we even had interview with Radio United Nations which publicized our mission work throughout Liberia. In the end, we served sixteen institutions, including the University of Liberia, the Liberia College of Medicine, a nursing institution, a teacher training college and many other schools and colleges in Monrovia and in the rural areas. Liberia's needs are great, no doubt about it. The country suffered a lot during the many years of civil war. It was easy to see ravages of war, so many houses with bullet holes, burnt roofs and poverty. We could not set up community libraries due to the lack of infrastructure so we let the educational institutions have the books. In addition, we gave rosaries to Catholic churches, hospital supplies to TubmansburgHospital and even distributed AA materials to meetings in Monrovia. Yes, the mission was accomplished. We returned to Ghana seven days before Christmas 2008 full of faith and gratitude.

January, 2009 we rested and prepared for the work in Ghana. In early February we were joined by two volunteers, Paul and Susan Younger a couple from Columbus, Ohio. That same month we had an in-service for 23 libraries including 4 new towns with community libraries. The Junior African Writers Series' books that had been purchased with the grant money were distributed among the 17 libraries who signed up for them.

During the first three weeks of March, the Youngers, Kirt and I traveled from Kukurantumi, in the Eastern Region to Humjibre, Western Region, Tumu, Upper East Region and Ejura, Ashanti Region setting up new community libraries. In each town we were able to work with the townspeople, incorporating their own books with our book donations which they had picked up earlier. Towards the end of March we had additional volunteers, the Youngers' grown children, Paul Jr. and Alyssa. All of us traveled to the coast of Ghana to a town called Mumford in the Central Region to set up the last community library. Four thousand donated books were given to Mumford, and the total number of libraries we have set up in Ghana is forty-four. God is so good!

Dear friends, we met many challenges this year, but God was with us. We are not frightened by any blocks that may come our way. For this reason we continue on our journey with you all. Last fall when we were leaving for Ghana, our friend Jonny Brown of Phoenix, AZ began collecting books for us. At the time of writing this letter she has collected over 25,000books for next fall's shipment. In fact, she has done so well with adult books that we do not need to collect anymore, but we are in need of children's books. We would like to appeal to you for not only children's books but for your financial help. The Board of trustees, Kirt and I still have to raise the money to ship the books and to cover all the expenses. The estimated cost is $24,208.00.

Our annual Fundraising dinner and a Tell-Tale play by the Largely Literacy Theater Company is scheduled for Saturday, May 16^th, 2009 at St. Bernard Social Hall off of State Street, Akron, Ohio. The program begins at 5:30 pm. Please, read the insert for details of the play. Admission is free but donations will be asked. Come and enjoy this fun filled evening with your families. If unable to attend, could you donate $25, $50, $100 or more to this worthy mission, please. Any donation you give this spring will be doubled through a matching grant from a kind donor.

Further information, call Kirt and Hilda Bromley at 330-666-6818 or make your donation to Books For Africa Library Project and mailed to 3531 Humphrey St., St. Louis, MO 63118 USA. Thank you. God bless you all.

Your brother and sister in Christ,

Hilda and Kirt

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