To go to Togo: Adventures in the Republique Togolaise: Starting a Library in Adjengré

Well the library has officially opened! There is still a lot to be done, but we have started! As one says in French, petit à petit, little by little.

The Togolese people I am working with on the project have decided to name the library, "Enlightenment," in English. I am in the process of building a library, which I know most people who are reading my blog already know about, located at the local high school here in Adjengré. Since it is the first library in Adjengré, the decision to put it in the high school (which is comprised of some 800 students and is not centrally located) was a difficult decision, but ultimately I was convinced by the following facts.

Less expensive – The school is giving me a huge classroom located between the director's and the teacher's office to be turned into a library. This removes the cost entirely of renting or building a room which for a well constructed building would raise the price for the project to well over $10,000.
Sustainable – Currently we are in the process of creating a committee made up of students and teachers which will oversee the running of the library. Otherwise I would have to be paying for a librarian and if the pay would stop for some reason so would the library.
Culture of Learning – I live in a farming community, which is predominately what towns are in Togo except, maybe, the largest cities in the country. Reading is simply not something that is done here. People will watch TV and play soccer, but nobody reads magazines, or newspapers or really anything unless you are a teacher or student. So while the library is open to the public it will be used primarily by students. Also, my belief and my hope is that by starting this library it will create an environment of researching and reading for the students that is lacking now. At first it will be used for class assignments and then as the hidden vaults of knowledge open, and their contents are revealed, the students will open these vaults not out of necessity, but simply for the pleasure of finding an answer to a question or for the pleasure of enjoying a good story…I might have stated that slightly dramatically, but the fact still remains that someone has to plant the seed and no one else seems to be doing it.

There are currently around 70 students who have registered for library cards. Each library card costs 200cfa (.40 cents-ish) for 1 years of membership. The money will be used for repairing books and hopefully, the purchase of more books. There are currently 2 bookshelves, 1 chair and 1 small table which I have paid for in advance just to get the library started until hopefully, the donations arrive. Below are some pictures of the process.

Note: 3^rd Photo titled "Organizing" - the man on the left wearing a blue fleece has helped me immensely. His name is Kodzo Tégbé, or Jean-Claude for short. He is an English teacher whom I have been working very closely with on a variety of projects. He is completely obsessed with the English language and speaks almost perfect

English, but has never left Togo. He is a major driving force behind this library and has been working tirelessly during his off hours at the school, setting the library up and organizing a committee to run it. Understandably, projects that have such a high involvement on a community level tend to be the most easily sustainable.

Carpenter
October 26^th, 2010