The Online Reflector

Most American students feel bogged down by the number of textbooks they need for classes. The 209 students of the Precious Kids Academy in Ashaiman, Ghana, however, have to share one book for every six students.

Assistant Professor of Business Administration Jody Ferise helped to lead a Spring Term trip to Ghana in 2011 to study the effects of “micro-loans” upon small businesses in the impoverished coastal African nation.

While there, her group volunteered one day with the Precious Kids Academy.

“We were really impacted by everything that they don’t have,” Ferise said.

Near the conclusion of the trip, the group had a late-night discussion on the beach.

When Ferise asked group members what they had seen and what they would like to change, if they could, the response was unanimous: library for the school. And so, the Precious Words Project was born.

According to Ferise, the project was fueled by donations from local schools and colleges, garage sale purchases, used bookstore purchases and other donations.

The undertaking of the project was uncertain at first.

“We were so worried of failing that we were hesitant to anticipate anything more than minimal,” said junior finance major Allia Rodriguez. “When we began thinking about the project, we had hoped to receive several thousand books, but were expecting a much lower number.”

Those expectations were exceeded quickly.

“When we began sharing with friends and family what we were doing, donations came flooding in. Within the first month, we had reached 1,000 books,” Rodriguez said. “That number had tripled within the next month. Before we knew it, September rolled around, and we were looking at our professor’s garage piled floor-to-ceiling with books.”

By Ferise’s estimation, the group had assembled a collection of approximately 10,000 books to create a library for the Precious Kids Academy.

However, astronomical shipping costs for the heavy texts complicated the logistics of the project.

“When we calculated shipping costs for the books, it came to roughly $5,000 total,” Ferise said. “Luckily, we found FAME.”

FAME, an organization that assists medical facilities and ships medical supplies to poor nations overseas, allowed the Precious Words Project four pallets in their shipment to Ghana.

This enabled the group to send 8,313 of the 10,000 books. The group intends to get the rest to the library one way or another.

“Six of us will be returning to Ghana in December,” Ferise said. “The hope is that we will each use one of our 50 pound suitcases for personal items and the other to take books.”

Ferise said that the group was careful when selecting fiction and literature to send, to make sure that plots and themes were not damaging or focusing in the occult.

Rodriguez said that the most exciting books they sent were textbooks.

The group has hopes to continue its project both in Ashaiman and other disadvantaged areas worldwide.

“They have inspired us and we have a level of dedication to the purpose of the project that few of us have know before,” Rodriguez said.