The Littel Roach that Could

Now that I've regaled you all with tales from our travels (for more of these, see Jessi's blog at thespottedjessicat.blogspot.com), I'll move on to a practical update on the library.

The carpenters have been hard at work these last few weeks, taking time out of their farming schedule to do communal labour in exchange for meals. As a result, our finished ceiling now covers several chairs, tables and shelves. Thanks to a local mason/steelbender duo, the existing windows have been replaced by something with iron rods (considerably more secure against robbery). And, thanks to an electrician from the next village over, we now have wiring.

The only hiccup so far is that the library draws its electricity from the nearby school, and since the school is itself having trouble keeping up with the bills, essentially there's no power until we can get a separate meter. Even then, we need to figure out a sustainable system for paying the monthly bill. It seems likely that a levy will be instituted on students, but Jessi and I are hard at work trying to find solutions that will minimize the impact on the students. Jessi suggested we ask the local religious institutions (roughly ten churches and a mosque in this tiny village!) to give some of their collection money every month on a rotating basis. Our chairman feels this is a bit of a stretch, since the churches can barely pay their own electricity bill, but we believe it's worth a shot. Wish us luck!

After our most recent trip to Accra/Cape Coast, we now have about twenty new books for the library, as well as a fully-functional Dell laptop loaded with educational software based on the Ghana public school curriculum. (Shout out to the talented young gentlemen at PC Direct in Osu, who would very much like to be better friends with us than they ever will be, but who still came through in a pinch with their technical know-how and superior customer service.)

The members of our organization, the Nyive Development Association, are now excitedly planning a commissioning ceremony for the library. We will be inviting numerous officials and dignitaries to the event, which should be a true blowout as only Nyive can concoct. (No doubt I will end up in the news again, marking my fourth media appearance during five months in Ghana - considerably more press than I get in Canada!) The tentative date is the end of the month, before the students head out on their vacation.

That means we only have three weeks left! I think we're going to make it work. Pictures and video of the last few weeks, as well as coverage of the big event, will be appearing on this blog, so stay tuned.

Now...off to Cape Coast again, this time for Obama-spotting!