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Houston woman builds library in Ghana
This holiday season what's the biggest gift you plan to give? FOX 26's Damali Keith tells us it possible pales in comparison to a present one Houston woman gave to a village in west Africa.
HOUSTON - This holiday season, what's the biggest gift you plan to give? Chances are it pales in comparison to a present one Houston woman recently gave to a village in West Africa.
"We had a community out there. The whole village was there," smiles Alice Otchere, who built a library in Ghana.
"I felt like I was in a movie because they had the drummers and the dancers," explains Houstonian Phyllis Bailey.
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The extraordinary experience these two Houston women are describing is the grand opening of the library Alice Otchere built in Ghana.
"It was amazing. It was more than I ever expected," Otchere adds.
So how did a girl from Houston's Fifth Ward end up building a library in Ghana West Africa? Well, it was after she visited her extended family there.
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"I said is there a library, and I was shown what we call a milk crate, and in that milk crate were some books. As a person who has always enjoyed libraries, grew up in libraries, always an avid reader, I was thinking I can do something about that," Otchere explains, and boy did she do something.
Otchere came back to Houston and told generous-hearted Houstonians her plans and the pocketbooks started flying open with donations.
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"Yes, yes, primarily Houstonians, beginning with my siblings who really supported me," says Otchere.
Several people from Houston also attended the dedication of the more than 1,500-square-foot library in Ghana.
Bailey says the entire trip was eye-opening. "We went to where the slaves had their last bath. It was so emotional. We stepped into this river, and it felt like they were grabbing our ankles. We couldn't stop crying."
The Houston women also went to where slaves were put on the ships. "And I asked the driver 'Well how long?' because I thought it was just a couple miles. It was a three-hour drive. (And the slaves had to walk?) They had to walk, and we went to the dungeon, and it was heartbreaking because you could still smell the stench from 400 years ago," Bailey explains.
Now, this kind-hearted Houston woman is helping to make a heartwarming history this holiday season.
"When you open a book, you open your mind. It's not just opening a book. Books can take you anywhere you want to go," smiles Otchere.