c/o CBC Hamilton

A decade in the making, Liberian library set to open with help from Hamilton and lots of local input

The Liberian Learning Center in West Africa will have a dedication ceremony in February
by Justin Chandler, CBC News

“I stood speechless for five minutes because prior to that, I knew a library to be a 40-foot shipping container with random storybooks in it. I couldn’t believe that this entire facility was a library,” Johnson said. “It left a mark on me forever.”

His perspective was informed by growing up in Liberia, which he left to escape war in 1998, and the eight years he spent living in West African refugee camps before coming to Hamilton in 2006.

With much of its infrastructure destroyed by war, Liberia lacks books and educational materials, Johnson said. UNICEF reports access to education in the coastal country is limited, especially for girls. Fifteen per cent of schools there have a library.

Soon, in large part thanks to Johnson and other Hamiltonians, Paynesville, Liberia, will be home to a state-of-the-art library and learning centre.

Read the full article here