Libraries for All: A Conversation with Kingsley Sintim, founder of the Tasha Community Library (II)

What gave you the idea of starting a library? First of all, I had this friend who went to school in the U.S. He came back and we were just discussing libraries, and it dawned on me, I have a commitment to my school. I came to serve. I need to use this opportunity to […]

What gave you the idea of starting a library?
First of all, I had this friend who went to school in the U.S. He came back and we were just discussing libraries, and it dawned on me, I have a commitment to my school. I came to serve. I need to use this opportunity to extend this fellowship to the community that gave my life meaning when I was nobody. My friend got a scholarship. The U.S. government took him and trained him, so he came back, and he wanted to do something like that, and he was discussing the idea with me. I decided this is the best way to give back to the community that doesn’t have books, so I decided to embark on the project. He happened to be part of my “Friends of the Library” committee.
One of the inspirations of the project is the poor reading culture. What amazes me is that the library can take up to 25 people, and do you know these children, they are over 100 that came at a time? All of them came, one hundred of them, they wanted to read. We had to ration them. We had to accommodate thirty people. Other people had to wait. We gave them one hour.  Do you know, before one hour could even complete, the children outside were saying their time was up, they wanted to come in and read. They were thrilled to read yet again the same book they read before. You see children tracing with their fingers the fine colourful pictures in the books. It’s just amazing.
The motivation is to make books accessible for our children in the rural communities. The primary school was where I did my primary school. When we did the commissioning, my primary school teacher was there. I was so happy.  I became a role model for the children. Each time I came around, they said, “Look at what one of them has done.” I think most of them will do even better than I did.
Let me ask you about your own growing up experiences. Did you read a lot as a child?
Yeah, actually my granddad influenced me. My mum was not literate that much. My grandfather did not go to school but he loved books. I explored a lot of books in the house.  At that tender age, I was reading my grandfather’s books. It was a good foundation. It really helped my academics while I was in primary school. When I was in junior secondary school, I was very current. I was top of my class. I was really guided through books. My mentors whose books I read often are Max Lucado and John Maxwell.  I read a lot of self help books, management and leadership books such as Tom Peters’ In Search of Excellence and Towards Mental Exploits by Dr. Davide Oyedepo.  I also read  management books  through Harvard Business Review in my google reader, such as Peter Ducker’s Managing  Oneself. As an engineer I learn about current things in my profession because even our design codes are reviewed periodically.
Do you have any specific favourite books?
I loved Oliver Twist when I was growing up. Then I liked The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, and Fables by Aesop, Greek mythology. As an adult, there is this Nigerian author I met, Samuel Kolawole. I loved his collection of short stories, The book of M, also Switch by Deji Fisho. My all time favourite as a student was The Student’s Companion. Chinua Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart is a classic. Right now I am going through a lot of short stories. There is this book I read written by a young Nigerian student, Mutiat D. Musa, Education is a Legacy. She wrote the book when she was in Junior secondary school (JS3), and she tried to focus on education. There was also this book I got from the library, the WADSWORTH HANDBOOK, how to do proper documentation in writing a thesis, and how to do focused research and writing in different disciplines.
Back to the library, do you have a full time librarian there or are volunteers running it?
Right now, we are working with young volunteers whom we intend to remunerate and give due recognition in our own little way. Payment is just stipends since we are not yet generating funds. Currently the volunteer librarian is Titus Paul, an indigene of the community.  
What are your opening hours and how many books do you have right now in the library?
Normally the library opens from 2-5pm. Then on weekends, it is open from 10am to 5:30 pm. Right now we have about 1,200 books. We had over 300 book donations of the same copy by an author. So when we did the commission, we had to encourage them to donate more than that. We want to keep that drive going. I’m trying to get five or six Amazon Kindle readers for the library. I want to introduce these reading gadgets to them, so that they can use them to get online books and access e-libraries.
Can people borrow the books or do they have to read the books inside the library?
For now, we can’t give out books for them to go with. But the library will be very comfortable. We will put AC and fan. We’re also trying to get these solar energy panels, because they don’t have light that much. So, if there is no light, the fan can go on. The community is very rural. The library will provide recreational opportunities and encourage constructive use of leisure time.
Can anyone in the community come in? Do they need to have membership cards?
We’re working on getting a membership card for the library, but for the children, we are making it free for them. Some of them are really, really poor, so even coming up with N600 is trouble for them. For, now we will give them a card, so we can monitor who and who is coming and we can monitor their progress as to how they are faring academically. We will provide them with information, like those who are studying for their O level, they can come pick some guidebooks for the community, go back there, train them, and when they come back they become better persons in the society. 
(to be continued)