Little Free Libraries and Deechas Getting Ready to Travel to Ghana...in 7 Days

The Little Free Libraries & Deechas take a stop in New Hope, Minnesota to be repackaged for their plane flight to Ghana

An initiative within the 3rd phase of the Street Girls Aid project, the volunteer team (click here to learn more about the volunteer team )will be working on a multi-dimensional project including:

• literacy,
• vocational training and,
• library stewardship.

The literacy portion of the project includes purchasing/picking-up/bringing and delivering local culturally inclusive books in Accra from the Osu Children's Library Fund and the Ghana Book Trust in partnership with Books For Africa, Little Free Library ,our many donors and sponsors and using them to fill the libraries, providing access to books and literacy initiatives to the girls and their babies who live, work and sleep on the streets of Accra;

Teamwork in action

The vocational training opportunities include building, manufacturing, decorating, assembling and installing Little Free Libraries Little Free Libraries and strategizing about additional vocational opportunities for the girls related to the construction aspect of the project;

The library stewardship part of the project includes workshops and shared learning opportunities with the Street Girls Aid Staff and the team traveling to Ghana in coordination and partnership with a number of on the ground librarians - can't wait to see what comes from these shared learning opportunities.

The birth of the traveling library - Hudson, Wisconsin USA

To successfully accomplish the build, assemble and construct part of the project, the team will be bringing 5 libraries with us as checked baggage and will seek partners on the ground to design and draw plans for libraries...and you will be able to follow this particular library which Kathy Stutzman built in Hudson, Wisconsin and the journey starts here...

The next part of the trip for this library is to shipping to get dressed and ready for the trip, pictures will be posted when it is ready to travel, until then - follow the links included in this post to learn more about the various partners we will be working with in Accra...7 days and counting.

Thank you all for your support and well-wishes!

Follow this Little Free Library as it travels from Minnesota USA to Ghana...in 12 days

All loaded up in the car ready to go to
Austin, MN and then New Brighton to
get dressed and ready for the trip

An initiative within the 3rd phase of the Street Girls Aid project, the volunteer team (click here to learn more about the volunteer team )will be working on a multi-dimensional project including:

• literacy,
• vocational training and,
• library stewardship.

The literacy portion of the project includes purchasing/picking-up/bringing and delivering local culturally inclusive books in Accra from the Osu Children's Library Fund and the Ghana Book Trust in partnership with Books For Africa, Little Free Library ,our many donors and sponsors and using them to fill the libraries, providing access to books and literacy initiatives to the girls and their babies who live, work and sleep on the streets of Accra;

The vocation training opportunities include building, manufacturing, decorating, assembling and installing Little Free Libraries Little Free Libraries and strategizing about additional vocational opportunities for the girls related to the construction aspect of the project;

The library stewardship part of the project includes workshops and shared learning opportunities with the Street Girls Aid Staff and the team traveling to Ghana in coordination and partnership with a number of on the ground librarians - can't wait to see what comes from these shared learning opportunities.

The birth of the traveling library - Hudson, Wisconsin USA

To successfully accomplish the build, assemble and construct part of the project, the team will be bringing 5 libraries with us as checked baggage and will seek partners on the ground to design and draw plans for libraries...and you will be able to follow this particular library which Kathy Stutzman built in Hudson, Wisconsin and the journey starts here...

The next part of the trip for this library is to shipping to get dressed and ready for the trip, pictures will be posted when it is ready to travel, until then - follow the links included in this post to learn more about the various partners we will be working with in Accra...12 days and counting.

Thank you all for your support and well-wishes!

Libraries, Deechas and Children's Books - Preparing to Leave for Ghana

Kathy Margie & Holly work on building a Little Free Library

Deechas, books and libraries abound as we prepare to leave for Ghana in 5 weeks. In preparation for the upcoming trip our team worked on their construction and teamwork skills to prepare to train the trainers and work with Street Girls Aid staff as part of the literacy and library components of this project.

Donations continue to come in to support the purchase of the Little Free Libraries which will be built, decorated and installed in a variety of locations in Ghana – classrooms, villages, crèches, and other  locations identified by Street Girls Aid and the girls…can’t wait to see where we will be installing them! Some of the library kits are already on their way in a Books For Africa container, we will be carrying several with us in our checked baggage and we have the plans ready to go to build with local supplies once we get on the ground.

Margie, Barb, Kathy & Holly

We will be bringing some books with us but will be purchasing culturally appropriate and inclusive books while on the ground in Ghana from the Osu Children's Library Fund – they are great books and will be wonderful for moms to be reading with their children. For more information on how you can support the purchase of these books click here: How you can have an impact

Street Girls Aid offers vocation training and opportunities for street

girls and sewing is one of their vocational specialties. If you would like to support Street Girls Aid and provide an opportunity for the girls to make something for you and your friends, now is the time to order your goodies so that we can bring your items back when we return. For more information click here: Street Girls Aid Fabric Items Order Form

We are honored to be bringing boxes of Deechas with us to share with the girls and to put in the classrooms. We are honoring the creator of the Deecha’s, the late Dianne Meixner, who was one of the founding members of Team Ghana which has worked for many years on creating opportunities for literacy and increased international relationships through a variety of initiatives, one of which involves these adorable creatures which originated from children’s imaginations. For more information about Team Ghana and the Deecha story click here: Team Ghana - Deecha Story 

Books and Deechas are all ready to go to Ghana

The partnerships continue to evolve and we really need to thank The Rotary Foundation all of the Rotary Clubs of District 5960  that have supported this effort and continue to show an outpouring of generosity. Friends and family, coworkers and other service organizations are sharing their support of this project and our team and this would not be possible without the involvement of everyone – so thank you all! Stay tuned as we continue to update the blog with our progress, preparation and on-going adventures.

Rotary and Ghana in the news

Check out this news story about the upcoming trip to Ghana


The story and inspiration behind the upcoming work in Ghana

Little Free Libraries - AP Story

Check out this article about how one Rotarian can impact so many and be an inspiration to us all!

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/wis-mans-little-free-library-copied-worldwide

This is the project that inspired our post "I had a vision":

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5630359238800832077#editor/target=post;postID=8035311357391918799

Thank you Cathy Smith for writing "I had a vision" and for asking Librarian Ericka the right question...

What Do You Want Out of Your Life?

What a day...working on a mentoring process, the electricity went down in the middle of the day - which eliminated the sound and flurrying papers from the fan...but then it got HOT! When we went in to see the girls who were sewing the handmade goods that many of you have ordered, we walked out drenched.

So many life lessons today we could fill a book, but "What Do You Want Out of Your Life?" as one of the topics of discussion was a highlight...oh my goodness we are learning so much! After work we went to eat at a local chicken joint down the street, swam a little, shopped a little and got right back to preparing for tomorrow - which will be a drill down on mentoring part II.

Too many thoughts and words are in my head and are tumbling out of my ears, so I will simply post some of the sights from today...enjoy...and keep those comments, "likes" and "shares" happening - it helps to keep us connected to our friends and family.

                                  

               

Our pizza hut

            

"I had a vision"

I had a vision…

Day 3 in Accra brought us off on a side-trip this morning to

the Nima area…a very deprived part of the city.  We 

headed there with Antoinette,who is the Director of a 

school that teaches 2-12 year olds.  A passion of hers is The Little Free Library www.littlefreelibrary.org which

 promotes reading through free book exchanges. We had

this connection throughTodd Bol from the Hudson Rotary Club. In Nima we met the

librarian - Erica, a very quiet 12 year old, who holds the keys to a bookshelf that sits in a

small compound housing more than 300 people.  She was so softspoken that I needed to

lean towards her to hear her words.  I told her how

impressed I was that a girl of her age would take on the

responsibility of issuing books and checking them back into

their small library.  She beamed…When I asked her “Why do you do this?”, her answer moved me to tears.  In
this destitute, dusty, and poverty stricken corner of the city, she said “I had a vision to help others to learn to read”.  

Gulp…we should all have been so fortunate to have had a

vision so early in our lives to help others. We found it hard  to walk away….

Tonight brings unpacking, repacking, and prepping for our

first session with our friends from Street Aid tomorrow.  We are EXCITED, and can only hope that Erica has inspired us to help others move from vision to a concrete plan, which can enhance the lives of many.

We are so excited to see many of you checking the blog!  Please don’t
hesitate to tell us what you want to know, what you find interesting, what
you would like to hear more about! Send us your comments...