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| Stamped inscription in donated books |
The drums had been beaten for the lesson to be changed that late morning. My school used drums instead of a bell for announcements, and prompts to change lessons every forty, or forty-five minutes (I think). Next on the timetable was ‘Library time’. This was a period set aside every week for students to read a book from the school’s library.
My school, Oninku Drive ‘2’ Basic school, located in Tema, has the motto Knowledge is Service. Readers are leaders, after all, and leaders are to serve, with the knowledge they acquire. For me, this library time was one of moments I looked forward to with happiness and impatience, as I got to read more books just like my friends who were patrons of the Community Library. I had accompanied a couple of them to the community library before but never got registered as a patron.
My class prefect went for the box containing books for my class from the headmistress’ office. All the classes in my school had designated boxes based on content, book size, subject matter, et cetera. The boxes were silver in colour and had the names of the classes embossed on them for easy identification. I was one of the people to rush to the box when it was brought into the classroom, with excitement. I reached into the box and took a book to read and saw a stamped inscription, “Donated by Rotary Club of Tema”, on the first page, beneath the title of the book. I noticed other books also had the same stamped inscription on them. I do not remember the title of the book, but it was about some kid investigators who started their own private eye agency to investigate strange happenings in their neighbourhood. This was the first time I had heard of Rotary, without knowing who they were, or what it meant. I enjoyed reading the book – for the next three weeks – and went on to read other books donated by Rotary.
Most of the books found in the libraries of government schools, at that time, were donated by individuals and organizations. I believe the case is still the same. I will always remember Gideons International and the little Bibles they distributed and donated to schools and other organizations. I never forgot the name Rotary though; and would see it again in the not too distant future.
A couple of months later, I
remember the first time some friends and I went to play around the Rotary
Center in Tema, hunting grasshoppers and some rats (popularly known as
‘beela’). My friend Elvis has fond memories of such expeditions, and often
teases me with it. The center was a huge place and my little mind mapped it to
the book. I thought they were a book publishing firm. It will take me some
years to know what Rotary is and what they are about. I will come to appreciate
Rotary’s interest in Education and Literacy and the support they have given to
the sector for over 100 years.
