The Books Have Arrived!

Well, they arrived about 2 months ago, and we’ve been meaning to write this post ever since.

Grade 1 boys reading new books!

This won’t be news to our avid readers, but Accompong was in dire need of children’s books when we first arrived. So we did what any good PCV would do, and we called on our family and friends to make a book contribution….and contribute you did. We have received 7 boxes of books, including random books given here and there through visiting friends and family.

As many of you know, we keep a Children’s Book Club here in Accompong that has been relatively successful. On any given Tuesday we have between 30-50 kids come to the library to attend, and get a new book for the week. Overall we’ve had upwards of 70 kids from the community come and attend our weekly meetings.

Girls  vs.

Boys!

Accompong has a low level of literacy, and we’re trying our best to encourage kids to get excited about reading. And boy did they get excited when the new books arrived! They race to line up at the library door to be the first to pick their book, and we’ve had to break up our fair share of fights over kids pushing to get ahead in line. (They especially like the princess books, girls AND BOYS alike!)


Book Club can be draining for us; supervising 50 riled up kids isn’t exactly stress-free. But every week, when I see kids literally running barefoot to come to club -flip-flops in one hand and book in the other, when no matter what day it is I’m constantly asked ‘Miss Julie, is library keeping today?’, or when after club walking home I see the all the kids reading their new books –on their veranda, with their grandmother, on the sidewalk- it seems to be all worth it.

And of course, all of this wouldn’t be nearly as impactful if it wasn’t for the generous donations made by all of you. Thank you!