Books: A Precious Gift

One little incident that occurred during my recent trip to Ghana underscored for me how differently people there and in the U.S. view books.  I had finished skimming a scholarly journal that I had brought along, so I put it in the trash, as I had no further use of it and didn't want it to take up space in my luggage.  The person who cleaned my hotel room removed it from the trash and placed it back on the desk, no doubt assuming that I must have put it in the trash by mistake.  Not even an American would be so crazy as to throw a book away.

I enjoyed telling Ghanaian students that I knew students back in the U.S. who hoped to never have to read an entire book.  This they found very hard to believe.  They were incredulous that such opportunities are squandered.  Students in Ghana often share textbooks, or copy their contents from the blackboard.  They yearn for books that they can take home to study and for "story books" that they can read.  This is why the staff at Purity School decided that having a library was their highest priority.  And it is why when African students get to the western world, where we are awash in books that so many of our students don't want to read, that the students from Africa so often excel.

It doesn't cost those of us in the West very much to provide Ghanaian students with books of their own.  And that act might prompt us to take more seriously the opportunities for reading and learning that we so often spurn.