US Embassy adds to local library’s collection
By Melissa Bryant
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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US Embassy’s Officer Feng-Hua Wang (front row, third from left) flanked by Librarian Carrolyn Henry on her left and a teacher from BHS on her right
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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE literary collection of the Charles A. Halbert Public Library has been enhanced with the donation of a set of encyclopaedias by the US Embassy in Bridgetown, Barbados.
The books were formally presented to Librarian Carrolyn Henry in a brief ceremony yesterday afternoon (Jan. 5) at the library’s premises on Burdon Street.
The Basseterre High School (BHS) was also the recipient of a donation by the Embassy which consisted of biographies of famous African-Americans who had made significant contributions to American culture.
Students from the secondary school were on-hand to witness the presentation of the books, as was a teacher representative.
The students also participated in a short question-and-answer exercise called ‘Treasure Hunt’, in which they utilised the donated encyclopaedias to find answers to questions about American culture.
First-place winner Khadija Liburd received three books, while second and third place finishers Tyesha Rawlins and Kamini Singh received two and one book respectively.
According to Officer Feng-Hua Wang, the donation is another of the Embassy’s attempts to motivate and educate children in St. Kitts. She noted that a lot of misconceptions about American people and American culture exist and the books would go a long way towards clarifying the stereotypes. ~~Adz:Right~~
“African-Americans have had a tremendous impact in the US, and with the acknowledgment of February as Black History Month we thought that the selection of these biographies would help to make the children more aware of the achievements of these people and to educate them about the diversity of American culture.
“Through the work of our Peace Corps volunteers we have established libraries in several of the island’s schools. But our goal is to ensure that there is wide public access to all of the resources we donate and we thought the choice of the public library, as a place where the public has free access to the material housed there, would be an excellent one,” said the Officer.
Wang also revealed intentions to establish a partnership with the library through which more book donations could be made and book discussions could be had, as well as facilitating the viewing of short films and other training programmes.
Henry deemed the gesture “a welcome donation, as with the limited funding available to the library, it is actions such as these that help us to fulfil our mandate to serve the literary needs of the community”.
