News Report #1

“New Youth Library in Ethiopia Makes Impossible Dream Reality”
Leonard Kniffel, American Libraries Magazine
08/23/2010
<http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/news/08232010/new-youth-library-ethiopia-makes-impossible-dream-reality?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AmericanLibrariesMagazine+%28American+Libraries+Magazine+Top+News%29>

On August 20th, the Segenat Child and Youth Library opened and became the first library in Mekele, Ethiopia. It is estimated that there was over 400 people at the opening ceremony. So far within the library, there are around 10,000 books, a computer room, and 2 e-book readers. The books in the library are appropriate for children ages 0-18. Many volunteers took part in the process of getting the library underway, including U.S.A. ones who helped train local staff. Yohannes Gebregeorgis well deserves majority of the credit for making this library a reality for the Mekele citizens. In 1998, he founded an organization called, Ethiopia Reads, that works to build libraries all over Ethiopia. For the Segenat Child and Youth Library, Gebregeorgis raised approximately $45,000 through his organization. He was named a CNN Hero in 2008.

After reading this article, I am extremely glad to hear about this step for Ethiopia, specifically Mekele. It is hard for me to imagine what life would be like without libraries. I feel that it is easy for most of us to take advantage of all that we are offered here in America. In every school and university, there is some sort of library. Even beyond that, there are public libraries in majority of the cities here. This article definitely helped put things into perspective for me. I realize much more now that even the simple things, like being able to read a book, should not be taken for granted, because many children around the world do not have that opportunity. It makes me so happy to hear about people like Gebregeorgis who are truly out there making a difference in other people’s lives. This library will definitely help to greatly affect the lives of the Mekele citizens. I hope that the Segenat Child and Youth Library is one of many more for Ethiopia. This article should absolutely serve as an inspiration to us all!