Our Story
Reading shaped my childhood — and I saw firsthand what happens when children are denied that opportunity.
Amoanimaa Agyenim Boateng
The Friendship Library was born from a memory. A young girl in Ghana, introduced to books by her father, especially African stories, discovered something in those pages that stayed with her for life: imagination, confidence, and a curiosity that no classroom alone could have sparked.
Years later, that girl, Amoanimaa Agyenim-Boateng, brought that belief to a low-income neighbourhood school and launched the first Friendship Library Book Club. The children’s first book was “The Kaya Girl” by Mamle Wolo. She arrived excited, ready to hear young voices debate and discover.
What she found instead stopped her.
Many of the children could not read fluently. Some could not understand what they had read at all, and some were weeks away from sitting their Basic Education Certificate Examination. The school had not failed to enrol them. It had failed to reach them.
The Friendship Library was founded on a simple conviction: access to school is not enough. Children need books they can see themselves in; safe spaces to read without judgement; and adults who sit with them patiently, consistently, until reading stops feeling like a task and starts feeling like a gift.
Our Vision
An inclusive future where all young people, regardless of their background, thrive through reading and learning.
Our Mission
To use technology and community-based solutions to promote a love of reading among young people by providing equitable access to books, learning resources, and safe reading spaces that help them build strong literacy skills and brighter futures.