Sweet Valley in sweet, sweet Ghana

Back in June, I wasn't sure if sending Sweet Valley High books to schools in Ghana was the best idea. The series about two blonde-haired twins from California isn't exactly the most relevant for West African students. Little did I know, Sweet Valley High books are a hot ticket here in Ghana, with the average book selling for 5 Ghana Cedis (about $3.33 US).

To put that into perspective, consider the average daily salary in Ghana is less than $3 a day. A small box of cookies can be bought for the equivalent of $0.13 and a full meal of Ghanaian fufu and soup for much less than $1. I'm not sure why the books are so popular. But the point is that students in Nanka Bruce JSS (Junior Secondary School) in Jamestown now have access to over 40 of them. The number of books in the JSS library now totals about 2,000--with over 400 students able to access them.  

Here is the JSS library before GGoodness brought books. 

Here is what the library looks like now.

The four schools that make up Accra Sempe Primary Schools are now also stocked with about 200 books in each classroom. While these students are too young for Sweet Valley, the popular book of choice for some fifth graders seemed to be Scooby Doo, which really peaked their interest. 

Alex Cunningham, Sarah Hurwitz, and Jay of Jaynii Streetwise will begin programs in these four schools on Tuesday. They will run four, 30-minute programs for four separate third grade classes every Tuesday. After reading the students a book, they will have the students use various mediums to create art and write about the plot, setting and characters of the book.

And the fun doesn't stop here. Global Goodness also delivered about 1,000 nursery level books to two preschools--the New St. Thomas Early Childhood Development Center and a small school founded by the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. We made our last stop at the library of Korle-Gonno Kitson Mills A&B Primary School, with students from grades 1-6.  

That brings the total amount of schools we impacted to 8, and the reward: priceless. At least we hope so. Our goal is to begin seeing real results in English literacy over the course of the next few months as the school programs are carried out in Accra Sempe. As for the other two primary schools and the middle school--JSS--we plan to set up a pen-pal relationship between students here in Ghana and elementary and middle schools back in the States. Nina and Nancy will soon be on the ground back in New Jersey trying to coordinate this plan on that end. Sarah Hurwitz is also in touch with educators back home in Connecticut who are working on developing the same thing there.