Bald darauf kamen die Sommerferien. Daher musste vorher das Meeting mit dem Dorf stattfinden. Bilal hat uns wieder wundervoll vertreten und das Projekt vorgestellt. Das Dorf hat sich sehr gefreut und uns Unterstützung beim Transport zwischen Kpando und Dormitor versichert.
Elvis, ein Freund von Bilal war wieder so freundlich und hat uns die Preise für die Bücher herausgefunden. Großartiger Weise hat das Geschäft ihn vom letzten Bücherprojekt im letzten Jahr wiedererkannt und haben einen Sonderrabatt auf bestimmte Bücher gegeben. Diese Bücher sind mit dem letzten Druckjahr 2023 gekennzeichnet und wurden daher billiger an das Geschäft verkauft, obwohl sie den gleichen Inhalt besaßen wie die neu bedruckten Bücher aus 2024. Daher sind die Mitarbeiter*innen so freundlich, die Bücher an Stammkunden billiger weiterzuverkaufen. Dadurch sparen wir uns eine Menge Ghana Cedis (GHC), wodurch wir mehr Bücher kaufen können.
Doch viele Bücher müssen wir doch neu kaufen und daher zum aktuellen Preis. Es ist erschreckend, die Inflation steigt in den letzten Jahren so schnell und stark an. Bilal und ich sind immer wieder erstaunt. Der Preis eines Buches ist um zwei Drittel gestiegen!
As mentioned in the last book project in Tapa, there we found three other villages we discovered that are particularly poorly equipped.
Lyle was again at these villages and called Kirsi in early July to say that it was really urgent to do something there.
We were aware that in schools often students do not own a single textbook and, as a result, only frontal teaching at the blackboard by their teachers, who own the textbooks, takes place. But at least the teachers can refer to the curriculum.
However, this school in the remote village of Odormitor was one of the schools where even the teachers did not have any textbooks.
Shortly after, the summer holidays began. Therefore, the meeting with the elders and other important people from the village had to take place beforehand. Bilal once again represented us wonderfully and introduced the project.
The village was very happy and assured us of their support with transportation between the city of Kpando and Odormitor.
Elvis, a friend of Bilal, was so kind again to find out the prices of the books in the capital, Accra. Fortunately, the staff at the store recognized him from the book project in Tapa last year and offered a special discount on certain books.
These books are marked with the last printing year 2023 and were therefore sold to the store at a lower price, even though they contain the same content as the newly printed books from 2024.
As a result, the staff was kind enough to sell the books at a reduced price to regular customers. This saved us a significant amount of Ghanaian Cedis (GHC), allowing us to purchase more books.
However, some of the books from last year were out of stock and are therefore sold at the current price.
It's alarming how rapidly and sharply inflation has been rising in recent years. Bilal and I are often shocked. The price of a book has increased by two-thirds!
In general, Ghanaian citizens are suffering greatly from inflation nowadays.
Bilal had to go to Accra to help his brother with his land, so Lyle was supposed to go directly to the store, take care of the purchases, and then return to Kpando with the books. That was the plan...
Unfortunately, there were major issues with the bank transferring the money, as the bank made several mistakes.
Bilal had to spend weeks of his holiday in Accra, even though he wanted to return home after no more than three days. We were very angry, but we managed to find a new method of sending money that should work better and more reliably in the future.
Finally, it worked, and he was able to travel with the books in a Trotro (mini bus) all the way to Kpando (his place of residence).
There, Lyle stored the books until school started.
The way to Odormitor
When school started, the task of picking up the books fell to the village. We were impressed (for a poor, remote village, it was quite difficult). They organized a car to transport the school books from Kpando to Odormitor.
Upon arrival, there was a meeting and an official handover to the village. The books were presented to the Chief, the Headmaster, the Chair persons, and the teachers.
Afterwards, there was an introductory session where the children were introduced to the new books.
In total, 356 books were funded, ensuring that in nine classes students will now have enough books for each subject to share in groups of three.
