Books for Anfoega

A small group of UA students encouraged others across campus to donate books to help a community library in Africa.

It was during a visit to Africa that Annice Fisher met the chief of the village where her father grew up, creating a connection that encouraged a cross-continential project.

Fisher, a University of Arizona residence hall director, had been visiting her family in Ghana and eventually met up with Anfoega chief Charles Hayibor. The two began talking about Fisher's work when talks of a collaboration arose.

Months later, Fisher connected with Arizona Blue Chip Program students linked through the living-learning community at the UA’s Pima Residence Hall, where she is hall director.

Eventually, the group initiated the Ghana Library Project, which is the first international service project Blue Chip has ever carried out, she said.

Blue Chip, a leadership training program, is open to UA and Pima Community College students; more than 2,000 students have participated in the program since its inception in 1999.

The Ghana Library Project went live in October with the goal of raising 100 books by December for the Anfoega library.

The village's existing library has fallen into ruin, Fisher said. Few books are there and of the ones the village has, the majority are outdated, she added.

The Blue Chip students at Pima Residence Hall left boxes in halls across campus and posted fliers informing others about the drive.

At last count, the group had collected 852 books, primarily from students living in UA residence halls. The group's work will pick up again this month with a semester-long fundraiser to cover costs to mail the books.

"For people who don’t get out of the village, at least they will be able to have some of the same luxuries as people who live in the cities,” said Fisher, adviser for Blue Chip students living in the residence hall.

But the project is about something more, she added, saying that people must learn the importance and value of helping communities that have experienced a history of oppression.

“This is not just about we, the West, helping developing countries,” she said. “It’s also about understanding what is going on in the world and what events have led to what it happening in the world today. The literacy rates, no library – there are reasons why those things exist today.”

Cookbooks, fiction and non-fiction, how-to books, children's and adolescent literature, science fiction, reference books and others full of pictures for young learners are among those in the collection.

One woman in Phoenix even donated a voucher worth more than $1,000 to buy new books.

A small portion of the books – the type that are odd-shaped or oversized and make it difficult to mail – will go to the Arizona Academy of Leadership, a new charter school in Tucson. But the majority will go to Anfoega.

“I am really hoping we can get the library going,” said Devon Jernigan, one of the project’s co-chairs. “I love to read and would like to share that joy of being able to open a book and explore something new.”

Jernigan said the books fill a great need in the village. The most recent United Nations Development Programme report showed Ghana's literacy rate at less than 60 percent, compared with 99 percent in the United States.

Baillee Baldwin, the project’s co-chair, said she was drawn to the project because of her love for books. She also said that reading books helps people to form educated opinions.

“You can expand your knowledge through reading,” Baldwin said.

“It makes a huge difference. The more you know the more capable you are of making change in your neighborhood or community, which can inspire the world,” she said. “Without that knowledge, you can’t even start.”

Now, the UA is pushing a new effort to make sure the books of knowledge here make it to Anfoega.

The group hit a snag when they realized the postage rate increases that became effective in May 2007 meant higher costs for international shipping.

Where the group originally thought it would need a few hundred dollars for shipping, the students now estimate they’ll need $1,000. So, the priority this month will be a fundraising effort to help send the books.

The group also hopes to send a little extra money to the village.

“For me, I feel we are making more of an impact because we know exactly where the donations are going,” Baldwin said. “There is a lot of satisfaction and you feel that you are personally changing the lives of so many people in this village.”