OCHS Students Seek Books for Ghana

OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City High School chapter of the National Honor Society plans to donate books to a school in an impoverished area of Ghana.
More accurately, they plan to donate an entire library.
Falyn O’Brien, a senior at the school and the publicist for the school’s NHS chapter, said the original idea was to collect books for donation to the Salvation Army.
“I figured we’re all a bunch of nerds, and we all have a lot of books,” O’Brien said in a recent interview. But the Salvation Army wasn’t interested; the organization already had pledges for hundreds of books.
The group found an organization called the African Library Project, which ships good-condition used books to schools and communities in Africa.
The Ocean City students are working to get about 1,000 books to New Orleans by April 20, where they will join other books to be packed into a shipping container for the trip to Africa.
The students already have collected a lot of books, “so now they’re all sitting in my sister’s room,” O’Brien said – but they need donations to fund the shipment.
“The next step we’re looking at is fundraising,” O’Brien said. The students need to raise at least $500. They’re shooting for $750 before the April 20 deadline, asking for donations and planning to sell T-shirts for $15.
The library will serve the community; she said but is primarily aimed at young readers. There are 11 official languages in Ghana, but English is used as a national language for government and business, so learning English is a priority for many in the country.
The books are destined for the Unique Care School in Ashaley Botwe, a densely-populated area of Ghana near the capital of Accra. The area is not far from the coast.
Ghana is a diverse West African democracy, with French-speaking neighbors. It became independent of Great Britain in 1957.
O’Brien said the crew at the African Library Project says for many of the students at the African school, both parents work and there are few books available.
“We’re very lucky to go to Ocean City High School. A lot don’t have these opportunities,” she said.
Books for various reading levels are welcome, but O’Brien said they want to avoid sending religious books, anything controversial, or any books with a lot of slang.
They don’t want books that exceed an eighth-grade reading level or those with small print.
Schools and communities apply for the donated libraries, O’Brien said.
“They don’t have a library. They requested 800 books, but need so much more, when you look at how poor this neighborhood is,” she said.
For information or to donate to the project, email O’Brien at falynobrien3@gmail.com or reach out to advisor Michelle Dill at 609-334-4445.
More information can be found here.
To contact Bill Barlow, email bbarlow@cmcherald.com.