Let me introduce myself and tell you about my experience building libraries in Ghana. It was a hands-on way to learn about development projects. My name is Brett Wieckhoff and I am a Global & International Studies major. I was a volunteer this past summer (2016) with the United Kingdom (UK)-based NGO, Thrive Africa (http://thriveafrica.ngo). Thrive Africa has been working in Ghana since 2009 building libraries and assisting orphan caregivers. A friend of mine told me about the organization; she found it advertised on Instagram. My trip began in the city of Kumasi, just four hours north of the capital, Accra. I spent my first two weeks with my volunteer group of some 20 people from the UK, Ireland, Australia, US, Sweden, Portugal, and, of course, Canada in a Thrive Africa group home in Kumasi. Every morning we loaded up a bus with building supplies and headed off to a school that lacked a library. Most of the schools were an hour or two away. At the school we would transform an unused room into a library. We built shelves and tables, decorated the room, and organized the donated books.  I helped build five libraries.  Thrive Africa has built about 300 libraries since 2010. After the work day we were introduced to Ghanaian culture. We were taken to museums, taught the language (called Twi), and shown Kumasi night life. As well, on weekends we were taken on excursions around Ghana, including a lake resort on Lake Bosumtwi (the lake is situated within an ancient meteor crater) and Mole National Park (Ghana’s largest wildlife refuge) where we went on a safari. My last two weeks were spent in Bolgatanga, a large farming city near the northern border. We arrived during the planting season so helped plant crops for the caregivers who take care of over 400 orphans. Farming in the hot African sun was definitely the hardest work I’ve ever done, and I don’t know how Ghanaian women do it all day long.