Joanna Felih plays a clapping game with students at a Maasai school in northern Tanzania.
Library workshop participants from Tanzania processing their newly donated books.
The new library at Goi, a fishing village one hour from Accra, is well underway!

Librarians attended a workshop at the Nima Maamobi Community Learning Centre.

Director's Letter

Dear Friends:

In October, I travelled to Tanzania with Joanna Felih, a librarian from Accra who has been with our organization since 1990. We were invited by the Robin Hurt Wildlife Foundation to run a library workshop for seven rural schools. In advance of our arrival we bought several hundred books in Swahili and numerous African educational games. We divided these supplies among the schools and they became the beginnings of their new libraries. This was an amazing trip for the two of us, both sharing our library experience and witnessing a different part of Africa.

While in Tanzania, I researched two more books. Maria’s Wish is a story about Maria and her family who grow trees and encourage planting in their village. Peter’s Wish is told through the voice of Peter about his father’s job as an anti-poacher.

After returning to Ghana I travelled to the Western region with a volunteer from Ottawa to research two more books for our “Ghana’s Natural Resources” series. We visited a large gold mine in Tarkwa to understand the mining industry and took enough pictures to explain the process. We then drove to the town of Mim, northwest of Kumasi, for our book on the lumber industry. Again, we were welcomed warmly and saw every detail of lumber production, from the felling of trees to the creation of fine furniture.

Our publishing program continues to grow. There is an increasing desire among Africans for books reflecting their own culture and environment.
By March 2008, we will have produced a total of 20 books! The response to these books – both in Canada and in Africa – is excellent.

In Accra, I was pleased to find that our libraries continue to flourish. I went from one library to another to meet staff and speak with library members. These included little children who are unable to read but enjoy the pictures to adults who attend our free English classes.

At the Nungua Community Library we enjoyed a performance of The Name of the Tree, an African folktale, acted by the library members. The participants made their own papier mâché masks and Hannah Abew, the librarian intern, directed the play. She first saw the play performed while attending a OCLF-sponsored drama workshop in August.

We visited the construction site for the new library in Goi, the fishing village where our remarkable librarian, Vivian Amanor, has worked with dedication since 2001. This permanent library will not only serve Goi but many nearby villages.

At the end of November we held a library workshop at the Nima Centre for all our library staff. Joanna told everyone about our trip to Tanzania and the librarians had a chance to share what activities they were doing, including Vivian’s introduction of a Boggle competition! At the end of the workshop we bid Mr. Okantey farewell and best wishes after his four years of service at the Mamprobi Gale Community Library.

I will be returning to Ghana in June to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our Nima Maamobi Gale Community Library and, we hope, the opening of the Goi Library.


Kathy Knowles

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