This is the inspiring story of a Canadian woman who transformed a simple afternoon of reading to a group of children in her backyard in Ghana, Africa, into seven large community libraries in poor areas of the country's capital, support for more than 200 smaller initiatives around Ghana and in other African countries, and a publishing venture that produces children's books in English and Swahili. Kathy Knowles now runs her volunteer-based Osu Children's Library Fund out of her Winnipeg home with twice-yearly trips to Ghana. Her work promoting libraries and literacy continues - construction is now underway on a three-storey library in the area of the capital known as Korle Gonno.

Georges Vanier, who served as Governor General of Canada from 1959 to 1967, was 26 when he was one of the first men to join the newly established Royal 22nd Regiment - known as the "Van Doos." He was in his second year in the Montreal firm of Dessaules and Garneau, and very much the son of a Montreal upper-class family. His service in the First World War shaped his character, and he often described the four years spent on the battlefields of Europe as the most rewarding of his life. Vanier, described byMaclean's as "Canada's moral compass," remains one of the most respected and deeply loved figures in Canadian public life.

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"You are proof that the vision and actions of just one person can make a tremendous difference in so many lives!" - Michaelle Jean, former Governor General of Canada, following a visit to the Nima Library in November 2006