|
published on 10/18/2009
Signal Mountain Student Helps Build Library in Nigeria
By
Contributed Article
 |
Mary Grace Coffman is a nine year-old at Nolan Elementary. Her family has a good friend, Dr. Chi Ekwenye, who is the founder and director of a school in Nigeria.
Mary Grace has been working for over a year on the library. She organized a book drive and then helped plan the construction of the actual library in a 40' shipping container. Many people from Signal Mountain participated in the book drive.
The finished library and the container will be open for tour on Thursday, October 22nd. Everyone is welcome to come and see the fantastic collection of donated books and meet Dr. Ekwenye. The Open house will begin at 4:00 PM with a reception. Dr. Ekwenye will be speaking from 4:20 - 4:50. The library will be open for tour from 5:00 to 6:30.
It will be hosted at the Clear Creek Church of Christ. The church is located at 5612 Hixson Pike, Hixson, Tennessee.
Background as written by Mary Grace's dad:
Dr. Chi Ekwenye is the director of the Right Steps School in Abia State, Nigeria and is a good friend of our family. My brother is a UGA graduate and got to know Chi when she was working on A PhD in Social Work in Athens. Right Steps is an organization that take in homeless Nigerian women, teaches trade skills, underwrites capital start up costs, houses orphans, runs a school and operates the local medical clinic.
Chi stops by when she is in the US for fund raising trips. About 18 months ago, Mary Grace and Chi were visiting during dinner. Chi has an amazing way of making you feel loved while she interrogates you. She was catching up on MG's performance in school. MG was telling her about her reading and the library at Nolan. MG asked Chi about the library at her school. Chi explained that her school, that teaches over 300 kids, has no library.
Mary Grace began pooling some books of her own she wanted to send. Then she and some of her friends sent letters to the Nigerian students. The word began to spread. Signal Crest UMC, Signal Mountain Pediatrics and other business and churches wanted to help. Mary Grace was so surprised and thankful that Signal Mountain and Chattanooga gave over 12,000 books over the summer.
In May, we purchase a shipping container to house the books. A sad fact about the school was the school doesn't have any extra room for a library. So, we decided to send them one already constructed. The construction of the library has been ongoing most of the summer and will finish this week.
Dr. Ekwenye is a truly exceptional personality. Her life story and her work with homeless women and children in Nigeria is legendary. It is an honor and a rare opportunity to have her in Chattanooga and to meet her.
For more information go to www.donatebooksfornigeria.wordpress.com.
|
