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Jeremy Blair:
This trip began in 2008 when a Princeton professor
and a group of students came to Ashaiman to

Jeremy Blair:
see what the conditions were like and what
the people in the community needed, and they

Jeremy Blair:
made their way to the Evangelical Presbyterian
Church and school complex, and after some

Jeremy Blair:
discussion, decided that a partnership to
build a community library would be helpful

Jeremy Blair:
for both the school and the surrounding community.
So the goal of this trip was really just to transform

Jeremy Blair:
the foundations of a structure into a fully
functioning community library.

Akhil Reddy:
So, my expectations for this trip were really
to just get a lot of hands-on experience with

Akhil Reddy:
basic forms of construction that you usually don't see at Princeton.

Elizabeth O'Grady:
My favorite thing has been seeing the drawings
that we did back at school come to life and

Elizabeth O'Grady:
really take form on a construction site.

Cole Freeman:
I really liked working on the construction
of the building. It's just hands-on engineering

Cole Freeman:
work, and that's a lot of fun.

Jeremy Blair :
It's been really, really interesting to see
how a construction project actually happens.

Jeremy Blair :
It's really different than anything you would
learn in a class, and it's really different

Jeremy Blair :
than something you'd see on TV -- to actually
be on a construction site and see a building

Jeremy Blair :
go from bare foundation to a complete structure
that you can see behind me right now. It's

Jeremy Blair :
definitely a unique experience to be able
to come into a place, really experience it,

Jeremy Blair :
get to know people in the community and leave
a mark on that community.

Akhil Reddy:
I think our project will provide a large amount
of people with access to reading materials,

Akhil Reddy:
education, story books that they didn't have before.

Jeremy Blair :
The building's completed. That's really exciting,
yeah. And so I'm really happy that the project has turned

Jeremy Blair :
out so well.

Buse Aktas:
I think we were a great group. I had a great
time, and everybody should have a similar

Buse Aktas:
experience, I think.

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