Creating a Library

Dear Friends and Family,

I am writing to you in regard to a current project my village.  The school is working to create a library to be based at the middle/high school.  This library would include textbooks and pleasure books for use by the students, teachers, and literate community,

Currently, there is a lack of available books.  In classrooms, students do not have textbooks to take home to learn the material.  Thus, they often have only their notes and practice problems from class with no additional information to study before exams.  When they read literature for French class, there are a few copies of books that are passed between the students; a few students are assigned the book each week, and they read the assigned chapters for the month before they are reassigned the books.  Even the teachers do not have access to appropriate resources.  The lessons and information they teach is often based on out-of-date materials.  I have walked into classes where teachers explain that Pluto is still a planet or that malaria can be treated by several types of prescription drugs, obsolete information that is no longer accepted by the scientific community; unfortunately, the teachers have no way to access this new information.  Having current textbooks is a vital aspect of improving the Senegalese education system.

In addition to textbooks, the library will include pleasure books.  At the moment, it is rare for a student, teacher, or community member to have the luxury to afford a book.  There is not one person in my village that has ever read a novel or understood that reading can be for fun, not just as assigned schoolwork.  I have been a bookworm for as long as I can remember, losing myself in the lives of the characters.  I want to provide the same opportunity to the community here to allow them the pleasure to curl up with a novel and the chance to learn about the world outside Senegal through reading books.

Thus, I am turning to you for help in financing this project.  If you are able to donate, even just five or ten dollars, I would greatly appreciate the support.  We have all been so fortunate in our lives as Americans to have up-to-date textbooks for every student and every subject and free access to public libraries.  Now it’s your chance to provide the same opportunities to students and community members in Senegal.  Donations can be submitted to: http://SenegalLibrary.causevox.com/ until November.

Thank you very much in advance, and thank you for all your continued support while I’ve been in Senegal.