Las Vegas family brings donated books, school supplies to South Africa

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Thank you Rock, Paper, Scissors tournamentA family from Las Vegas managed to bring donated school supplies and books to South Africa.

“We’ve filled our library,” Racquel Boumah told FOX5 Monday morning. “There was so much stuff in there! In fact, it was overflowing. We had books, toys, and art supplies.”

Racquel and her son Justin hosted the tournament in August and, thanks to overwhelming community support, were able to build a new library near George, South Africa.

The Boumahs chose the area because of its lack of access to education. Although it is a central location, children will still have to walk for an hour to reach the library from their village.

The library will also share a building with an organization that provides a safe place for at-risk youth.

“Kids will walk down a valley, through a river, and up a valley to get to the closest place where they can get some type of educational assistance and feel safe,” Racquel told FOX5.

During their trip, the Boumahs decorated the new library with fresh paint and installed new bookshelves.

This isn’t the family’s first mission to Africa, but it is their most successful. They told FOX5 they’ve collected more supplies this year than ever before. The reaction of the children in the area was priceless for them.

“They were so excited,” 9-year-old Justin exclaimed. “’Wow!’ they said

Racquel added, “You see these heads peeking around the corner because they couldn’t stop looking, and then when we opened the library they were just like, ‘Ahhh!’ we said. So the kids were very excited.”