Odyssey of Sacrifice — Page 58
! 60 “When people were being urged to make financial sacrifices for the above mentioned press, I began to worry day and night a bout where and in which building the Ahmadiyya press would be installed. At that time, we had only one mission house in Bo, Sierra Leone. One night, in this state of worry, while tossing and turning in bed, I humbly sought Allah’s support in identifying a location for this press. Suddenly, Allah put it in my heart to urge respected Al - Haj Ali Rogers sahib that he should donate his two houses to the Jama’at for the sake of Allah’s religion. Thus, the next day, this humble - self went to respected Al - Haj Al i Roger sahib and said, “For the Jama’at’s urgent needs and for Allah’s sake, you should donate these two houses along with the attached land for the cause of the Ahmadiyya mission. My heart goes out to this beloved elderly brother who, without any hesita tion or excuses, immediately agreed to give both his properties and land and stated, “Whatever you have said is acceptable to me. Bring some paper and a pen and get it in writing from me. ” Thus, we immediately went to the mission house office, and accordi ng to the local law, I drafted a contract in the English language and made three copies of it. With two other active Jama’at witnesses present, Al - Haj Ali Rogers Sahib signed the papers. Thus, from that point on, the two houses and the attached land that were located in the middle of the city, legally became the property of Sierra Leone Mission. The value of the houses and the land was no less than three thousand pounds at that time. One of the houses was used to build the press and the other was used to build a central library and reading room for the general public. The central library and reading room were inaugurated by the District Commissioner of Bo in front of hundreds of people. Everyone, both Ahmadi and non - Ahmadi, began to benefit from the cent ral library and reading room. In this reading room, apart from the local papers, roughly thirty newspapers from around the world, weekly and monthly papers,