The DCHS Interact club has recently started collecting books for this year’s African Library Project. The goal of the collection is to raise 1000 gently-used books in the fourth to eighth grade reading level which will then be sent to the Abrafi Senior High School in Ghana, Africa.

The African Library Project is a non-profit organization that was created in 2005 by California resident Chris Bradshaw. According to her story on the project’s website, while on a vacation to  Lesotho, a country in South Africa, Chris saw her son reading a book, prompting her to ask her guide if there were any local libraries. The guide’s response was that there might be one in the country’s capital. Learning about the lack of libraries in rural African communities inspired Chris to take action. From there, the African Library Project was born.

The goal of the largely volunteer based organization is to improve literacy and accessibility of books in small communities in remote Africa. The book collection aspect of the libraries is dependent on volunteers who organize book drives, collect and sort books, and send books to the libraries built by the organization. The African Library Project works  with partner organizations in around 15 African countries to establish libraries in the communities that most need them, as well as teaching the community how to run and maintain them. 

DCHS has been involved with the African Library Project for five years, since Interact joined the project in 2017. The Interact advisor at that time, Mr. Mroczkiewicz, heard about the project through a Delphi Alumni Association sponsored presentation with Chris Bradshaw, the founder and CEO of the organization. “I was sold that being involved with such an initiative would be the perfect project for my students to achieve as much reach and influence as possible,” he stated. 

Since starting the project, DCHS has collected books for four different libraries in Botswana and Kenya. Some of the libraries have been for young children and others have been for people of all ages. The libraries have always been met with gratitude from the communities they were built in. According to Mr. Mroczkiewicz, “It made all the effort worthwhile to know that something we do together in small-town Indiana can grant the gift of literacy and education to people, particularly children, on the other side of the globe.”

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This year’s drive will last until March 17, ending as we leave for Spring Break. Interact is hosting a book collection OT competition from Feb. 14 to Feb 17, as well as setting up collection boxes around the community. After the collection period ends, the Interact club will take time to sort through and pack the books. When that process is over, the books will be sent across the ocean to a high school in Ghana where they will be used to create a library for the students of Afrabi High School. As stated by Mr. Mroczkiewicz, “The Interact Club, and by extension the Rotary Club, is rooted in humanitarianism. What better way to help other people by affording them the opportunity to read, learn, and grow?”