Aishetu Abdul-Razak

Youth Changemaker

My name is Aishetu Abdul-Razak. I am a brave, optimistic and confident young lady from Yamfo in the Ahafo Region of Ghana. I do athletics, play handball, table tennis and volleyball and I also like reading and spelling. I was a student at African Science Academy; I studied A-levels Physics and Mathematics. I would be studying mechanical engineering at Ashesi University as a Mastercard Scholar.

When I was in primary school, an NGO established a library in my hometown and this helped everyone especially myself. I could construct good sentences because of the books that I read. Students realized that they loved to read and learn and even parents noticed the difference, but unfortunately, the library is no more. It was converted to a different facility and made me very uncomfortable seeing how unfair it would be for other towns to have libraries whiles my town has none. This is because I believe that a library is like an island in the middle of a vast sea of ignorance. I have always believed that the difference between people who do not excel academically and those who do is not always because the latter do not try hard enough. I think that environmental influence and lack of materials cause contribute to this.

I heard about Eduspot when I was at the African Science Academy. I knew that was a chance for me to do something that I have longed for my community to have. I applied and I got the grant to establish a library at my hometown. I was given a two-classroom building to set up the library at my former school (Yamfo Islamic Basic school) when I communicated with the board of directors.

The library, when completed, will be for the whole Yamfo community and everyone can access it. It will be available for students to study, read, do research work and do their assignments. Reading clubs will set up to encourage many students to read, grammar teaching classes will be organized to help students with essay writing. Spelling bee club will be organized as well; to increase the vocabulary of students to enrich their English speaking.

I hope with time more assistance will come up so that the library will be enlarged and more educational activities such as Robotics and other STEM activities would be included. This initiative is going to help everyone especially students who access the facility and will cause a positive change in my community.