July 2010 Archives

Samedi 7 novembre nous avons rencontré Elisée SARE qui est le représentant au Burkina de l'ONG FAVL qui monte les bibliothèques rurales. Il nous a un peu mieux expliqué les activités de cette organisation : leur manière de faire démontre une réelle volonté de laisser la gestion et le développement des bibliothèques aux villages.

L'association accompagne l'ouverture et l'approvisionnement des bibliothèques et réalise à travers des stages d'étudiants américains des livres de lecture pour les jeunes enfants traduits localement en dialecte. Cette discussion nous a confortés dans l'envie de supporter leurs activités.

Lundi 9 novembre nous sommes allés au local de l'organisation à Ouagadougou, et nous lui avons remis 38 livres venant des adhérents de l'association Energie collect'ive. Nous avons ressenti que le besoin de nouveaux ouvrages est bien réel, et que les livres amenés correspondent particulièrement bien à la demande des villages.

Actuellement, ils ouvrent une nouvelle bibliothèque dans un village voisin de  Béréba, et possèdent 200 livres. Pour faire tourner la bibliothèque, environ 300  ouvrages différents sont nécessaires, et pas moins de 600 livres en tout : très  peu de livres pour beaucoup de mains... les livres s'abîment vite.

En se faisant le port-voix d'Elisée, de FAVL et des villageois, nous vous  remercions tous pour votre soutien.

It has been awhile since Adelaide or I have posted an update about all of the great things happening at the library. And I am happy to tell you all that things are great! I don't have any pictures to share with you at the moment, but I just got news from Adelaide. Last month the private school in Niankorodougou used the library for reports on African authors. Since the library opened in June of 2008, the library committee has worked to encourage students that reading is a great way to build on the education they receive in school. The library has hosted reading competitions for different classes and Moussa (our librarian) has visited the schools on numerous occasions to promote its value to the community. I was so excited to hear from Adelaide that the school is now incorporating the library into its curriculum through graded projects like the African author report. Such projects can only mean more good things for the library, the school and the community. But the good news doesn't end there... When I left Burkina in December of 2008 the library committee was working on building an outdoor reading "gazebo" for everyone to use as the space inside the library cannot accommodate more than 15 people comfortably. Adelaide helped to complete this project and is now working on even greater improvements to the building! Next month the community will work to install a Map of the World wall. Students will outline a scaled map of the world and then paint it in for everyone to see. With minimal access to view maps this will be a great way for both students and community members to get a better picture of where Burkina fits in geography. On the other side of the library, the community will install chalk boards for everyone to use. We'll try to get you more pictures and updates later...

Lumumba est le récit de la brève mais tumultueuse vie d'un leader politique du Congo des années '60, nouvellement indépendant. Du réalisateur Raoul Peck, ce film explique les fondements de la crise qui secoue encore aujourd'hui la République Démocratique Congo. Ce grand pays d'Afrique Centrale est convoité par les puissances occidentales pour ses immenses ressources naturelles. Patrice Emery Lumumba, alors Premier ministre, n'entend pas négocier l'indépendance de son pays. Contrairement au président Kazabuvu, il entreprend une rupture complète du lien colonial avec la Belgique, ancienne puissance colonisatrice et se met alors dans une logique progressiste. Ses rapprochements avec l'URSS lui valent l'animosité des puissances occidentales. Le Katanga, une des provinces les plus riches du pays réclame son indépendance. Ceci ne facilite pas la tâche à Lumumba qui, au plus fort de sa lutte pour la réunification du pays, est destitué par Mobutu son homme de confiance. Il est arrêté et assassiné sur l'ordre des puissances occidentales.

« Lumumba » is the story of the short but turbulent life of Patrice Emery Lumumba, a political leader of Congo in the 1960s. Directed by Raoul Peck, this film explains the beginnings of the crisis that continues today in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This central African country is coveted by the occidental powers for its immense natural resources. Lumumba, the country's first popularly elected prime minister, refuses to negotiate the independence of his country. Unlike president Kazabuvu, he seeks a complete rupture of colonial ties with Belgium, who colonized the country. His relationship with the USSR creates animosity with the occidental powers. Katanga, one of the richest provinces in the country, proclaims its desire for independence, creating more difficulties for Lumumba. At the height of his fight for his country's reunification, Lamumba is betrayed by Mobutu, a close friend and military chief. He is arrested and assasinated by orders of the occidental powers. 

J. Max Bond Jr., long the most influential African-American architect in New York and one of a few black architects of national prominence, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 73 and lived in Manhattan.

His early career took him to France, where he worked with André Wogenscky; to New York, where he was at Gruzen & Partners and Pedersen & Tilney; and to Ghana, where he worked for the government from 1964 to 1967. There, in the northern part of the country, he designed the Bolgatanga Regional Library, four buildings under the broad shade of a tabletop-like roof intended, along with natural ventilation, to eliminate the need for air-conditioning.

I visited the library [Kitengesa] on June 30 especially in order to meet with the women. They were full of their work for the FLP and had brought their pictures and books to show me. They had two requests for me: would I please look at their notebooks every three months or so to see how they are doing, and would I visit them all in their homes about that often as well? Of course, I can't do it that often, but it's nice to be asked, and I'll definitely try to make the home visits in August before I leave. And now I'm just back from travelling in the Western Region, where I've seen three flourishing rural information centres, learned about two defunct ones, and discovered a priest in a particularly remote parish who wants to set up a community library. We have 64 member libraries in UgCLA, some 60 of which have said they're sending a representative to attend the workshop that begins tomorrow. So it continues ...

For many children in Africa, the gift of books truly is a gift of hope. Access to an education is one of the only opportunities young people have to end the cycle of poverty and attain a better quality of life than previous generations. Wars, economic crises, poverty, malnutrition, and illiteracy plague many areas of Africa. According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), 40 percent of school-age children in Africa do not attend school. Forty-six million African children have never set foot in a classroom. Most African children who attend school have never owned a book of their own. In many classrooms, 10-20 students share one textbook. Many people in the United States take these educational necessities for granted, but children in Africa cherish books. Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum has introduced House Resolution 3701, called "More Books For Africa," which calls for a major appropriation to ship more books to Africa. Congressman Keith Ellison (MN) is a co-sponsor. Please send this petition to your representatives and ask them to sign on to this legislation. By doing so, you will help put more books into the hands of children in Africa who are hungry to read, hungry to learn.

I went to the official launch of the 9th Ghana International Book Fair 2010 at the GNAT Hall in Accra (on 22 June 2010). Although it was a relatively short function - less than an hour and a half - and started only half an hour late, it was in my opinion very much in the traditional mode. There was an audience of maybe 100 to 150, of whom at least half were basic school students in uniform. There were about ten people sitting on the dais, which at the GNAT Hall is quite high up. There was also a banner behind the speakers. As usual those giving the speeches did not address any parts of their speeches to the children present, apart from asking the group from the Osu Children's Library Fund to come and do a couple of short traditional dances. Of course one of the major stories online quoted the Deputy Minister of Education, Elizabeth Amoah-Tetteh, MP and the representative from the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs, Peter Achiaa, and totally ignored comments/speeches made by either the Chairman, who is the owner of SEDCO, a major representative of Pearson books here in Ghana, or that of the Ghana Book Publishers Association President. That of course is typical reporting for many local Ghanaian journalists, especially those working for the state newspapers and/or the Ghana News Agency. Admittedly the coverage in the Ghanaian Times newspaper, which is actually a media partner/sponsor of the Fair, was a little better, and actually talked about what the Fair was about. Plus there was a photo, which always helps. But interestingly enough the headline in this article rather focussed on the revitalisation of the Ghana Library Board rather than the launch of the Book Fair. In neither case was there was a reference to a relevant website, and though posters for the fair were distributed to all present (see above), the brochures for the Fair lacked basic information such contact details, whether phone, fax, email or web. At least the official website for the Ghana International Book Fair does indicate the dates of 2-6 November 2010, and there are contact details, but how would someone find this site?

Kabubbu Development Project is to improve literacy among orphans and needy children. The project director, Mr Enock Kagoda says their organisation is currently sponsoring almost 1,000 students in primary and secondary schools. Kagoda revealed to Daily Monitor that the project has also helped residents in Gayaza to access safe drinking water, a library and health services with the help of British charity Quicken Trust. At a workshop for libraries held at Kabubbu Resort and Conference Centre, Prof Kate Parry, the chairperson of Uganda Community Libraries Association, said that the reading culture in Uganda is improving.  "We can have more people read if we make sure that books are available to them," Prof Parry said on Thursday, January 28. She told people to develop a reading culture by encouraging each other to read. Prof Parry said the best way to teach children how to read is by example.

We checked out a few more bookstores and we found a really good one! We got 3 copies of 19 books. So 57 books and the total was 205.2 cd. The books are great, all Africa oriented and pretty much just what we were looking for, and well within budget. I actually saw a lot of Kathy Knowles's books there. The books were pretty cheap as is but we also got a 10% reduction for buying in bulk. We fought tooth and nail for more but after a few calls to the owner we gave in at 10 but not from lack of trying :)  By the way, here is the info:

Vidya Bookstore
18th Lane Osu-RE, Oxford Street
Next to Elyon Hotel and Cote D'Ivorie Embassy
It is far off the beaten path but well worth the effort!

Born enslaved on January 12, 1850 in New Madrid County, Missouri, Waller became free during the Civil War and settled with his family on a farm in Tama County, Iowa. While working as a barber in Cedar Rapids, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1877, moving to Kansas a year later. There through the 1880s he acquired a string of barbershops, founded Lawrence's first black newspaper, and immersed himself in state politics. An active Republican, Waller championed values of middle-class thrift, racial uplift, and laissez-faire economics. His Kansas experience also seems to have convinced him that expanding frontiers offered opportunities for black progress, leading him to defend the "New Manifest Destiny" of the 1890s. After an abortive attempt to gain his party's nomination for state auditor, he obtained an appointment as U.S. consul to Madagascar in 1891. Waller spent three years with the consular service, during which time he explored the possibility of African-American colonization--a type of "Black Empire"--in Madagascar. In 1894, the native monarchy granted him a concession of 150,000 acres of rubber-rich land. This collided with the goals of French imperialists who had long eyed the island for its natural wealth. Following an invasion and subsequent treaty with the Malagasy government, French authorities repudiated the concession and arrested Waller as a spy, sentencing him to twenty years hard labor. "The Waller case" provoked outrage in the U.S. among black leaders and expansionary nationalists who pressured the Cleveland administration to protect the rights of American citizens abroad. After a ten-month incarceration during which his physical health greatly declined, Waller was released and returned to the U.S. During the Spanish American War, he served as an officer with the Twenty-Third Kansas Volunteers. Waller died of pneumonia in Yonkers, New York in October 1907.

An amazing article by Cao et al. brings home the intimate attachment between mental well-being and health - in mice (and by implication, for us too). An enriched environment promotes formation of a nerve growth factor which in turn inhibits tumor growth through a series of biochemical steps, shown in the summary graphic before the abstract. A commentary by Jonah Lehrer notes that we need "a new metaphor for the interactions of the brain and body. They aren't simply connected via some pipes and tubes. They are emulsified together, so hopelessly intertwined that everything that happens in one affects the other. Holism is the rule."

Thirty-five years after my father left Ethiopia, he died in a room in a boarding house in Peoria, Illinois, that came with a partial view of the river. We had never spoken much during his lifetime, but, on a warm October morning in New York shortly after he died, I found myself having a conversation with him as I walked north on Amsterdam Avenue, toward the high school where for the past three years I had been teaching a course in Early American literature to privileged freshmen.

CAPE TOWN -- Jessica Hilltout, a nomadic, Belgian-born photographer, loaded sacks of deflated soccer balls onto the roof of a battered yellow Volkswagen Beetle last year and began a seven-month road trip across Africa to document the continent's love of the game. She found it in villages where children played with joyous abandon on dusty patches of ground, sandy beaches and lush fields, far from the stadiums where Africa's first World Cup would be held.

Nous remercions donc monsieur le Directeur du Lycée français de Vienne annex "Grinzing" M. Félix LEGRAND pour sa disponibilité à nous apporter des suggestions et à faciliter cette collecte. Nous remercions aussi les parents d'élèves qui ont bien voulu faire don de leur jeux aux bibliothèques.   Me voici avec Mme Brylla, repésentant les parents d'élèves.

I didn't mind when a person said no, they enjoyed something other than mystery. It's fine with me if other people enjoy romance or sci-fi or non-fiction books. What bothered me was the number of people who waved me off with "I don't read" or "I'm don't have time for books" or "I did enough reading in school". It wasn't just the words that aggravated me. It was the pride I heard in these people's voices as they rejected the very notion of reading. These were BUSY people with BUSY lives and BETTER THINGS TO DO than WASTE TIME reading. Reading was dismissed as something fit only for school children and old people in rocking chairs. I gritted my teeth and smiled the first few times these words were spoken. But I couldn't keep my mouth shut when one woman pointed to her daughter and two grandchildren and said, "She has two kids. She has no time for books." "Really?" I replied nastily. "I raised six kids and still found time to read." What I didn't add was, maybe that's why all my kids have done well in life. They've learned that reading is not only enjoyable, but also makes them better educated and more informed citizens of this country. I wonder how those two children will turn out with a mother who has no time for books.

The Sierra Leonean writer Olufemi Terry has won this year's Caine Prize for African Writing, regarded as Africa's leading literary award. The prize was given for his story Stickfighting Days - the judges said it presented a heroic culture that was "Homeric" in its scale and conception. They described Olufemi Terry as a talent with an enormous future. Terry was born in Sierra Leone, grew up in Nigeria, was a journalist in Somalia and Uganda, and now lives in Cape Town. His book is about Raul, a boy who lives in a dump and uses sticks to fight with other boys. The Caine prize, of £10,000 ($16,000), is given annually for a short story published in English by an African writer. Terry, however, told the BBC he thought it was "unhelpful" to see writers from the continent as a distinct category. "There is a danger in seeking authenticity in African writing," he told the World Today programme. However, he said he was glad to have won the prize, as it would help him get his first novel published.

Jeune instituteur affecté dans un petit village du Cameroun Sango Malo s'attire, les mecontentement de son directeur qui trouve ses méthodes d'enseignant anti-pédagogique. Alliant la pratique à la théorie, Sango veut faire de ces élèves de « vrais hommes » qui selon lui, savent aussi bien se servir de leur cerveau que de leurs mains ; et non de simples diplômés. Pendant une réunion d'agriculteurs où il était question d'encourager la culture de cacao, Sango propose la création d'une coopérative de paysans pour la production et la
promotion de cultures vivrières ; toutes choses importantes pour un développement endogène. Refusant une décision de réaffectation, Sango rend sa démission, crée une coopérative d'agriculteurs et se consacre à la paysannerie. Taxé de communiste, Sango est arrêté par les forces de l'ordre et emprisonné.

Sango Malo, fresh out of school, is a young teacher sent to a small village in Cameroon. He quickly becomes noticed for his revolutionary teaching methods. Sango Malo wants his students to not only be graduates but to know how to use their hands as well as their minds. Unfortunately, his methods receive the wrath of the school director. When he is told to leave he quits his job instead and remains in the village as a farmer. At an agricultural meeting that encourages the cultivation of cocoa, Sango Malo proposes instead the creation of a farmer's co-operative for the production and promotion of locally used crops. This, he says, is imperative for the development of the village. Accused of being a communist, Sango Malo is arrested and imprisoned. With Sango Malo in prison, the villagers must decide whether to forget or embrace his teachings.