Charlotte's books

 Meet Charlotte from A.B Bookshop. 

I first met Charlotte at a book fair in Accra a couple of months ago and we have been in touch since.  She shared stories about her days teaching children whiles in the UK and we spoke about my idea to start a library which she sounded very excited about. She offered to donate books for the cause and she expressed interest in volunteering at the library when it opens.

Today I took a trip to her warehouse in Tema to pick up the books she donated. One of the best thing about this experience is the pleasure of meeting amazing people who share in the passion of making this world a better place. Its been great pleasure getting to know Charlotte and hopefully this is just the beginning of an amazing relationship.

Discovering a superpower

And Finally, shelves got fitted. Roger did a great job and I love how they turned out. I got so excited I moved furniture around by myself... by myself! I am actually just discovering I might have some sort of superhuman capabilities which I just need a little motivation to activate. 

I have been extremely anxious to put the whole setup together and I couldn't wait. After a broken toenail and a few bruises, I transformed my idea from concept to tangible...I didn't regret it.
   

Over my years of working with people with hearing impairment or other forms of learning disabilities, I have realized the essence of visual or auditory stimulation in the teaching and learning process. Even with most mainstream kids, the best methods of teaching and learning always involve application of visual aid to boost retention.


 
I put together a multipurpose area where kids can have lessons which involve their visual and auditory senses. This could also serve as a movie corner and a games center. It is an adjustable space which will have seating for about 15 children when adjusted. 
 The visual corner has a flat-screen tv, a laptop with some games and videos, a projector and a bluetooth connection device for sound.
 

I also created an area for a digital library. This will serve as a space for all learning from the vast learning resources on the internet. It will also be a good space to teach ict skills and safe internet usage to our kids.

This learning area will have 10 laptops connected to an internet source and shelves stocked with books in all areas for reading. Hopefully someone is moved by my constant appeal for donations so I can acquire books and laptops for this center. Fingers crossed.

The successful execution of  the next phase of this project solely depends on how well I am able to apply my elementary school lessons on agriculture in setting up a garden. I will be working on creating a reading area outside for the kids.  For that space, I imagine a comfortable little garden where these kids can sit and read with their friends. 
Wish me luck.

Roger's shelves

Managing space will always be very critical to making this  place work because of how very small this room is and we've had to be innovative to utilize the sort of space we have. My idea is to create an extremely comfortable space that is adjustable to our needs, and furnishing right always makes a huge difference. 


The thing is, I get really particular about the very little(but really obvious) details of everything so finding the right people to work with has always been a big deal. After days of trying really hard to find a carpenter who wont get pissed off by my obsession for perfection syndrome, I met Roger who has been really understanding about everything. At least he seemed interested and didn't give me the "bro, you are too fussy" look. 

I wanted shelves that can be put together and taken apart when we need more room for activities or even in situations where we might need extra chairs to sit on. We also discussed the idea of  chairs that can serve as shelves... things like that. And all these crazy ideas need to fit into my really tiny budget..



 
Shelves came in today and will be fitted tomorrow. I am so excited, I can't wait to see how this all turns out.