Meet Patience Kodua of The Reading Station Library and Tennis In Africa in Lawrenceville

Thanks for sharing your story with us Patience. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
If my life could be summed up in one word, it would be ‘journey’. My fifty-three years on this earth have been fraught with physical, profoundly emotional, and transformational journeys. Growing up in Ghana, dreams of faraway places and experiences beyond the life I knew were a constant focus for me.Britain became my new home at age twenty-one. Fourteen years later, I was resident in Berlin, Germany with my husband and two young children, then in August 2004, our family swapped life in Europe for the ‘American Dream’.Arriving as a documented immigrant, employment was quick to secure. I traded a short stint in sales for substitute teaching, then a local school which used my services frequently hired me as a classified staff.

For an individual who had never worked with kids other than being a mom, I took to working in a school environment like a duck to water and all things considered, I decided to acquire the necessary credentials to become a teacher. With a bachelor’s degree already under my belt, coursework ensued and I was rewarded with a teaching position. With this acquisition, my ‘American Dream’ appeared to be falling into place rather nicely; could I have asked for more?

Invariably though as fate would have it, more was yet to come. During small talk with a neighbor one Spring morning in 2014, I casually broached the reason for intensifying my daily walks. On a whim, this neighbor suggested that tennis would be a better exercise for my purpose. Later that day, at almost fifty years of age, I confidently stepped onto a tennis court, racquet in hand and ready to indulge in the sport for the very first time.

Learning to play tennis was a bigger challenge than I had perceived, but persistence gave way to possibility and before long, it all came together; Patience could finally rally, move, and serve! My ability to play tennis, in essence, developed into an obsessive passion and a journey unto itself when, a year later, Tennis In Africa Inc., a Georgia nonprofit organization was born through collaboration with a handful of friends.

My name is Patience Kodua (nee Bonsi), co-founder of Tennis In Africa (TIA), and founder of The Reading Station Library (TRSL). Tennis In Africa came about after I encountered a culture shock in Ghana, ‘ball boys’. Hitherto, as far as my awareness, ball boys and girls existed only in professional tennis. Yet, by the time I had visited three different local sports clubs, this myth was debunked; ball boys are the norm in Ghana.

Later, a few probing questions revealed a common thread that connected the boys; they came mostly from low-income families where basic priorities excluded financing sports. Needless to say, the majority of these youth had no racquet to call their own, all they possessed was a desperate passion for the sport. Consequently, I made a mental note to bring gently used racquets and balls to them on my next trip home.

Back in Atlanta, I shared the story of the ‘ball boys’ with my tennis team, and other folk I encountered while playing tennis. Not only did they listen, they responded with donations. These donations eventually became the launch pad for Tennis In Africa. TIA’s mission is to make the sport of tennis accessible to underprivileged youth in Africa free of charge, starting in Ghana. Thanks to the generosity of Atlanta’s buzzing tennis community, individuals outside the sport, and organizations that believe in TIA’s cause, our program has been running uninterrupted since July 2015.

Literally, most professions have perks. In my field, it’s the Summer vacation, which I look forward to as eagerly as a child expects Santa Claus. Unsurprisingly, this is when I am able to return to Ghana to see the TIA program in action, spend time with family and friends, and indulge in a slower pace of life.

It was on one such vacation that a desire to read to my then six year old niece led to a shocking revelation, lack of reading books. For a teacher and avid reader, non-existence of basic tools for building a literate community was mind-boggling and simply did not bode well. Based on that sentiment, I resolved to collect books not just for my niece, but in quantities that would benefit children community-wide. My nieces’ story resonated with people who heard it and resulted in book donations. Before long, I was in possession of over 4,000 children’s reading books which I shipped to Ghana to await my arrival, and with that a new cause manifested.

Immediately upon my arrival in Ghana in Summer 2017, I shared the desire to create a free community library with my mother and sought her permission to renovate and repurpose a disused building within my childhood home for the project. She consented without hesitation, and a month later, I dedicated the library now known as The Reading Station Library (formerly Tennis In Africa Library) to the public.

To celebrate the first anniversary of the library, my sister and I supported by friends, honored our mother’s contribution to the library project by donating 500 reading books to the elementary school in our village where my mother taught in the 1960s. We followed the presentation with a two hour reading workshop during which we grouped children by grade level and read interactively with them. This was eye opening as it laid bare the tragic state of affairs; the vast majority of kids could not read the first sentence of grade level text presented to them without help.

On a lighter note, the event was successful and symbolic because the village elders graced the occasion with their presence, expressed their heartfelt appreciation, and prayed for an increment of such resources in the near future. My goal is to honor that desire by donating 500 books each to the other villages that constitute the district of my parents’ homestead and beyond. After all, The Reading Station Library’s mission is to enhance literacy by engaging communities.

In the spirit of engaging communities, there is a saying that, “If the mountain will not come to Muhammed, then Muhammed must go to the mountain.” Considering that only the Mohammeds within close geographic proximity to The Reading Station Library benefit from its use, in July 2018, I piloted a 3-hour mobile library session by taking ‘the mountain’, several crates of books in this case, to another part of town with the help of friends. The library on wheels event was well patronized and in the final analysis, we welcomed sixty-seven children to our read-aloud, and read-to-self offering.

The library on wheels unfortunately has not been able to live up to its name due to unavailability of funds, and has not been on the road since its maiden voyage. Instead, it remains stationary until such time that I can return to steer it. Worth mentioning is the fact that labor is abundant and relatively inexpensive in Ghana, but it most definitely does not come free. Current minimum hourly wage in Ghana is 10.65ghc (Ghana Cedis) this is equivalent to $2.02 (US dollars).

Without doubt, deprivation of basic literacy resources in communities is a fundamental barrier to progress. The Nigerian writer, Ben Okri put it best, “Reading is an act of civilization; it’s one of the greatest acts of civilization because it takes the free raw material of the mind and builds castles of possibilities.” —Ben Okri

I would be remiss not to mention the neighbor who unknowingly set into motion an addictive passion, my husband who allows use of our garage as storage for all things collected, my children for their encouragement, my sister-friends and their families for their support, my White Hawk Tennis family for being great ambassadors, the many teams, organizations, and individuals in the United States, Britain, and Ghana, who positively impact Tennis In Africa and The Reading Station Library programs.

Furthermore, to my dearest mother, siblings, nieces and nephews, uncles and aunts, cousins and in-laws, know that I owe you a huge debt of gratitude for showing me unconditional love, and embracing my initiatives no matter how over ambitious they may come across.

Last but certainly not least, to my loving father who has transitioned, THANK YOU for the legacy upon which The Reading Station Library stands.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No, not when you start pursuing that passion at a ripe age. Besides, Tennis In Africa, and The Reading Station Library were founded purely through situational observations, thus nothing prepared me in advance for the challenges inherent in running a non-profit organization, let alone two. The learning curve has been steep, and juggling between the many facets of my life is constant.

Yet through this narrative, I want to stress that age is no inhibitor when the heart desires- rather, we are inhibited only by the limitations we place on ourselves. In my case, not only did tennis enhance my physical, mental, and emotional state, it widened my social circle, and triggered new journeys through which I discovered a powerful tool………my voice. With this mechanism, I endeavor to bestow the intangible gifts of literacy and tennis on the less privileged.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Reading Station Library and Tennis In Africa – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Proudly, I can state that The Reading Station Library situated at 860 Ekpakpa Feemo Street in Accra, Ghana, has become a thriving hub of the community’s youth. It is open Monday through Friday from 3:30pm-5:30pm, and Saturday from 9am-12noon. Bizarrely, the street name, ‘Ekpakpa Feemo’ translated means ‘good doing’ or ‘kindness’; the street name is sheer coincidence, but the library unequivocally is ‘doing good’ to the community.

What sets The Reading Station Library apart is that I am able to mingle directly with our target population during visits home, thus I have primary evidence of the diabolic state of literacy among less privileged communities in Ghana. By creating free library programs and mobile reading workshops, The Reading Station Library is setting quite a precedent by being inclusive; we aim to build bridges with our resources and programs, not barriers.

Another commendable feat is that, three Tennis In Africa participants have an opportunity to take part in an International Tennis Federation (ITF) tour being held in Ghana in August 2019. This could be a life changing experience for these youngsters, and certainly is a great honor for Tennis In Africa.

In a nutshell, the propensity to engage youth in meaningful pursuits fuels my passion, drives my ambition, and calibrates my lenses on the potential societal impact of these transcontinental commitments.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Yes. In an effort to attract funding and viable partnerships with like-minded individuals and organizations that support literacy causes, I incorporated The Reading Station Library as a Georgia non-profit organization in December 2018. Difficulty generating sufficient funds has been a constant enemy of growth for both organizations; a lean budget seriously hampers the programs’ scope.

For example, chronic lack of funding has denied me the ability to hire a permanent librarian to manage The Reading Station Library. Thus, librarianship falls on my 85-year-old mother who does the best she can with help from my young nieces when they are available. Indubitably, this is a tall order for an elderly person, yet realizing the value of my endowment, she strives to do her best.

My ultimate plan is to create well equipped mobile libraries complete with computers and internet access, and hire adequate staff to facilitate regular mobile reading events all over Ghana.

The immediate focus though, is on pursuing funding sources that will allow hiring of a permanent trained librarian to manage the current brick and mortar library, and organize regular mobile library sessions in nearby communities. Library on wheels is a core aspect of TRSL’s mission.

Tennis In Africa recently entered into talks with a local sister organization about potential cultural exchange missions between our two programs, with tentative kick off slated for Summer 2020. This projected date coincides with TIA’s fifth anniversary, and we are excited at the prospect of welcoming our American counterparts to engage with our program in Ghana.

2 Comments

1. 

   Vince

   April 25, 2019 at 1:28 am

   I’m proud of you and excited to be part of the journey. cheers

   Reply
2. 

   Amarkai

   May 2, 2019 at 6:11 pm

   Well done .. keep up with the good work.

   Reply