The 100-seating capacity project, which was executed by the Maya Abou-Jaoude Memorial Library Project, with support from FC Group in the United Kingdom and other partners, comprises furniture, bookshelves, a librarian’s office and a washroom.

It is stocked with reading materials and an Information Technology (IT) hub to enable users of the facility to have hands-on experience in IT skills and to broaden their knowledge in a fast-evolving digital world. 

Monument

The Team Lead at the Maya Abou-Jaoude Memorial Library Project, who doubles as the Founder, Ghana Twins Foundation (GTF), Zeena Abou-Jaoude, explained that the project was built in memory of her late twin sister, Maya Abou-Jaoude, who spent her life nurturing a love for learning and reading to children.

Speaking at the handover ceremony of the facility, Ms Abou-Jaoude said the facility would promote reading among children and help them to understand themselves and the society they lived in while cultivating essential literacy skills for academic success.

Ms Abou-Jaoude emphasised the importance of reading as one of the most effective ways to acquire quality education, adding that reading exposes children to a wealth of knowledge found in books and other reading materials.

She said children required constant exposure to books to develop and maintain an interest in reading as well as knowledge, which played a critical role in shaping their academic performance, hence it was crucial to instil in them the habit of reading and make reading and learning materials readily available to students in underprivileged communities.

She acknowledged the role played by the Traditional Council of Ningo, as well as partners including FC Group, DUCO, Renee's Classic Designs, CP Drilling Supplies and Minirex Ghana, in supporting the vision. 

Support

The Managing Director of FC Group, Fenton Curley, said the Library project was their commitment to making a positive impact in communities wherein they found great potential.

He said the project, which was birthed in 2018, initially seemed a huge challenge.

However, with diligence, determination and support from donors across the globe, that vision had become a reality.

Mr Curley said libraries were more than just buildings filled with books, stressing that they were places where people could come together to learn, grow and connect, and expressed the hope that people of all ages and backgrounds would come together to explore new ideas, discover new passions and make new friends. 

Appreciation

Nene Teye Djangmah IV expressed appreciation to the GTF for providing the town with its maiden library facility.

The Resident Minister in Charge of the Methodist Church Ghana, Rev. Immanuel Nana Hammond, appealed to the traditional authority in New Ningo to appoint a reading ambassador for the community.

He was optimistic that the new library would provide an appropriate environment for pupils and students to spend more of their time there, instead of idling and engaging in social vices.