FAVL board member Helene Lafrance writes:

On May 4th,  Santa Clara University's Library held its annual book sale, a popular event attended by hundreds of students, faculty and staff.  This year the library is donating half of the proceeds to FAVL.  The idea of using the book sale as a fundraiser came from a group of library staff who are committed to social justice and have been collaborating with FAVL on other projects. The University Librarian, Liz Salzer, was very supportive and agreed to the donation. The book sale, coordinated by library specialist Matthew Lipson, was a success and raised $1,047 for FAVL.  In recent years the University Library has supported FAVL in other ways,  providing space for projects and meetings, organizing an exhibit on the Reading West Africa study abroad program, and providing support for the FAVL photo-book project.

Below: Michael Kevane receiving check from University Librarian Liz Salzer.

It's a trope I tell you, a trope...

Then around 5.15 a bus with the company's logo drove in. "Where are those going to Lagos?" the driver asked. We all rushed to him. "Sorry, your bus still dey with mechanic; I brought this one from Abuja so as not to waste your time." Instantly, everybody shouted at him, insulting him and his father, including the company and its entire thieving managers. But at the end of it all, we got into the bus and the journey resumed once again. This time around, the bus did not cough. But, of course, we got to Lagos at a very ungodly hour; some of us had to sleep at the station, exposed to the unwholesome air of Lagos night. That is Nigeria for you! That is the analogy of my dear country, the 'giant' of Africa. With the unfolding events as the election progresses, it is hoped that, like this journey, the cough and hiccups would still lead us to the Promised Land, no matter how late we may get there.

Read the beginning here...

It's always hard to say no to "free," especially when you're a village library dependant on donors. But when it comes to books, it's OK to be picky.  
Bereba sent up about 200 recently donated books for us to distribute to the libraries up north. All the northern libraries are new and have a relatively low number of books in stock.   
Before going through the boxes, I KNEW most wouldn't be appropriate for the libraries.  But I was determined that we'd find some semi-appropriate books to use. And we did: a couple old history magazines, a few children's books, science books, and lots of French romance novels that for reasons I will never understand remain popular in the village libraries.
Books falling apart, written in other languages and random books including one on the German secret service in 1972 and another on the French tax system/IRS didn't quite make the cut. Donated books can be great. But one should always try to ask the question "How many children/students/adults from a rural African village do I think will actually read this?"  Nearing the bottom of a box, I gave a little yelp as a scorpion, very much alive with his tail high and ready to sting, crawled through the books. I couldn't help but smirk at the irony as the scorpion stopped directly on the book about the French tax system, tail high in the air. It was as if it was telling me "KEEP AWAY FROM THIS BOOK!" I gladly obliged.  

Very cool indeed!  I love the village Friday night dance shot... how does he do that, in the dark?  Click here....

Since the price of gold is stuck at $1500 an ounce, time to do some back of the envelope calculations, why not?

Burkina Faso's gold exports, which started in earnest in 2008, are going to be on the order of $750 million dollars a year; the government's share of that should be on the order of $200 million.  This is, then $200 million more than the government was projected to have as little as 3 years ago!  What could that windfall do?

Well, as I have noted earlier, there are maybe 4,000 village sin Burkina Faso that should have small village libraries to supplement reading learning in schools.  It costs about $5,000 to start a library, and $2,000 per year to run one (run it well! with a paid librarian and a lot of supervision and training).  So 2,000 libraries would cover a lot of the need, cost $10m to start, and cost $4m to run per year.  So figure an endowment of $50m to cover running costs in the next 20 years (plus you'll have some left over if invested properly).  So we are talking about $60m, or less than a third of one year of the windfall, to bring about an appreciated, appreciable asset to half of the village communities in Burkina Faso. 

I'm not saying libraries are the most important development intervention.  They are very decent ones, though, and bring one person into the village into excellent employment, cater to the imaginative and creative capabilities of the brightest kids in the villages, and generate lots of "perspective" for avid readers.  The trouble is there is absolutely no constituency for libraries.  not Jeff Sachs, not Laura Bush, not Michelle Obama, not nobody (well, except for Kathy Knowles, Chris Bradshaw, John Wood, and some other excellent folks!).

Seems to me, if I were a politician whose hold on power was tentative, I'd be dying for a big high profile project like this to capture the imagination of the country.  It worked really well, by the way, for Suzanne Mubarak!

Alex Thurston's blog of Sahel issues is really useful for catching up on the news across the region.

Burkina Faso's protest movement has been notable in large part for the diverse social groups it has drawn in, especially students, soldiers, and merchants.* Last week, yet another constituency entered the fray. Teachers began a strike, adding their voices to the public outcry over economic stagnation, and contributing to the disruptions in schools and universities that the country has experienced since February:

National teachers' union secretary general Mamadou Barro said the strike began Thursday to protest unresolved demands by the teachers including overcrowded classrooms and promotions. "Demands raised long after ours have been resolved. Billions have been allocated to satisfy the soldiers and millions to compensate traders. The teachers believe no citizen is more deserving than another," he said.

Yesterday I returned from village(s) where we began the LED research study.
As Michael mentioned in a previous entry, we distributed solar-powered lanterns to 4th/5th graders in 9 different villages (5 of which have FAVL libraries) and plan to track their reading habits. During this phase of the project we went down to each school, explained the project to the students and randomly picked 80 per school to participate. After having the parents sign letters of consent, we returned to the villages to conduct a series of tests (written, oral, questionnaires) to evaluate their reading levels and habits. After another random drawing, 40 received the solar lamps and the other 40 got vouchers for new children's book. 

The trip definitely got off to an interesting start. Upon arrival to our home base in Bereba we were warned that it was the "temps des masques," where men wearing African masks sneak up on people, chasing them, throwing stones and heavy sticks, whipping whoever gets in their way. Young children, the elderly and, unfortunately for me, even foreigners who don't know better aren't spared. (It's no joke. Last year an elderly man was chased, pushed to the ground and fractured his wrist. Several years back a PC volunteer in a neighboring village was slashed so bad he needed stitches). The two day event is supposed to be some sort of cultural tradition to call for rain, but if you ask me, it just seems like an excuse for people to hit one another without risk of punishment. Those first two nights I slept with one eye open, wary of flying rocks coming my way. Luckily none of us were hit, though we did have masked men visit us twice in the middle of the night, jolting us awake and leaving me jittery the rest of the night.
 
Luckily the mask situation didn't impede on our work. Leaving Ouaga, I was stressed and worried about the project but was immediately calmed by the amazingness that is Dounko. From the start he took charge and was both efficient and productive out in the field. Initially I had estimated 10 days of testing, if not more. But the team: Dounko, Alidou and myself (along with the teachers at each school and, when they could help, Donkoui and Alison) often worked 12 hour days and were done after one week. Exhausting, yes, but we were all grateful to finish early.
 
The study itself was interesting. I had participated in a similar study that evaluated student's reading levels in Ghana back in October. I was surprised by the drastic difference (in a good way) of the reading levels here in rural Burkina compared to Ghana. In Ghana, most students I encountered couldn't read simple phrases. There were several students here in Burkina that couldn't read the alphabet, numbers, nor simple phrases; but they were few. The vast majority of the children we evaluated could read. The big issue that we encountered, however, was that only a handful of the students could actually understand what they read. In other words, the students could read a paragraph just fine but when you ask them questions, you realize they have no idea what they just read.

Unfortunately we ended on a horrible note: our last school was the most depressing and, quite honestly, left me angry and disgusted. There was not a single positive thing to say about the school environment in the village of Bereba. The students were by far the worst readers; the vast majority couldn't get through the first page of the oral test (focusing on letters/numbers/simple sentences). Not only that but they were rowdy, disobedient and disruptive...though one had only look at the teachers and school director to see why. During our 6 hours at the school the teachers showed up for about 1 ½ hours, choosing to sit and chat outside instead of teach. The director spent his time beating students who weren't in class, even though the teachers were nowhere to be found. From the start the director was angry with us because his son was not one of those randomly chosen to get a lamp. When we explained that we used the system of random drawing so that all students had a fair chance to participate, he responded that he was the director and should therefore be given all favors and free gifts. Dounko refused and from that point on the director did all he could to cause us problems/failures (like telling teachers not to help us, giving students the wrong information so they wouldn't come on the right day, etc). Again, it was not a nice way to end our research.
 
Despite the negativity surrounding Bereba's school, overall I was very pleased with how this phase of the project went.  It was so fun to see the smiles on the children's faces when they received their lamps, though it was hard having to exclude so many others. Depending on their numbers drawn, the sounds of cheers or tears trailed from the rooms. At the schools I witnessed dedicated (and successful) school teachers, blossoming school gardens, hardworking students, and school administrators (minus in Bereba) genuinely happy to see their students given tools to help them succeed. 

The experience was great for me too, as it has given me a lot of ideas and a better understanding on the areas to focus on during FAVL's reading camps this summer.

This novel is loosely based on the corruption scandals of Kenyan post-independence governments, particularly Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Arap Moi.  The central character seems to be based on Kamlesh Pattni and the Goldenberg scandal that he was involved in, where  corrupt government officials (including the president, it seems clear) siphoned off Central Bank funds in an ostensible export-promotion scheme, knowing that the exports were fraudulent.  (The government gave a 20% bonus for exporting gold-- which Kenya did not mine!-- so the exporter would claim to have exported $100m, and would then receive $20m from the Central Bank.)

The novel is more about the personal life of Vikram Lall, from childhood during the Mau Mau uprising in 1950s, to rise to become the "most corrupt man in Kenya", to exile in Canada, and then brief return (and possible death, ambiguous).  The plot focuses on relationships, between Vikram and his sister Deepa, their common childhood friend (and Deepa's lover, Njoroge), Vikram's parents, his in-laws. Vikram's children are completely absent, though (almost as if the author got tired of having to develop characters)!

While I read the whole book, I have to confess I was pretty indifferent.  It is well-written, but it never builds to a gripping emotional climax.  Deepa makes a shocking confession at the end, but the reader's reaction is ho-hum.  I am not sure why I was so little invested in the characters.  Vassanji's has Vikram be the first person narrator, and adopt a clinical, detached tone.  So part of the novel's conceit is that detachment.  And Vassanji repeatedly draws the reader back to the childhood trauma of a Mau Mau atrocity.  But that feels cheap: only a handful of Europeans were killed during Mau Mau, and to build the book on the effects of this one single, very dramatic event... well so many other characters seemed to pop up with more interesting stories.  I guess that is the hard part of novel-writing: the reader wants a story, the novelist wants a challenge.  This novel really is the challenge of making the reader interested in the life of a rather boring person.

There's a lot about Kenya in the novel, so definitely for the Africanist it is worth the read (especially since I had earlier read Wangari Maathai's Unbowed, about the same epoch in Kenya, and Maathai's silences are very interesting.)

Overall, if you want a quiet, slow novel, or are interested in the construction of Indian/African identity in Kenya/Tanzania, this novel is probably great.  A positive review by Helon Habila is here.

KITENGESA COMMUNITY LIBRARY

Recent news, May 19, 2011

The library has just received two generous donations, one for $5,000 and one for $1,000; and we received another at the end of last year from our friends at the United Nations for $1,500. These wonderful gifts will enable us finally to finish our new library building and community hall, to buy the chairs that we will need in order to use it, and to buy some sorely needed new books. We have so many children coming into the library now our children's books, in particular, are getting read to pieces.

The Lwannunda Women's Group, which is associated with the library, also received a grant last year from the UN One Per Cent for Development Fund for the purchase of two hundred plastic chairs. Since October 2010 they have raised 150,000 Uganda shillings (about $75) by renting out these chairs and are spending the money on purchasing educational supplies for the thirty AIDS orphans that the nine of them support. The group is also actively involved in the library's Family Literacy Project and has recently completed its fourth course in a series adapted from materials given to us by the Family Literacy Project in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

The library hosted a visit in January from about twenty managers of community libraries across Uganda when they came to Masaka for the First Annual Uganda Community Libraries Association Conference. Daniel Ahimbisibwe, the Kitengesa librarian, was also elected at that conference to be on the Board of UgCLA.

Gorreth Nakyato, our second librarian, and Julius Ssentume, our Computer Assistant, have both been pursuing their studies at Mutesa I Royal University in Masaka. Gorreth is doing an advanced teaching diploma, while Julius is studying for a degree. They are both being supported in their studies because of their work at the library.

The library recruited four new library scholars at the end of March. Two of these are in Senior Two (the equivalent of Grade 9), and two are in Senior Five (the equivalent of Grade 12). The last two are in the first set of students admitted to Kitengesa Comprehensive Secondary Scholar to study for the Uganda Certificate of Education Advanced Level - and so they should be better educated and more well read than our previous library scholars. We'll see how they do! The scholarship will be particularly important for them because although the Uganda government is paying school fees for most of those studying for the Ordinary Level Certificate, it does not do so for the Advanced Level students. On the other hand, the Senior Two recruits are important too because they will be staying longer in the school.

Kate Parry

Yesterday, with shamelessness tempered by "Miracle on 34th St. generosity" I put in a comment on an article about providing children's books to disadvantaged families here in the U.S.  The article cited some recent research on the large effects of access to books.  The comment was an very subtle plug for FAVL, and some similar international library-support U.S. INGOs, with the FAVL website listed up front, thinking, with 500,000 readers, there has got to be a bump in FAVL website traffic from that.  Won't some people be a little curious?  Well, either nobody reads comments, or comments readers know that shameless plugs in comments are not worth following through, or people really just aren't very interested in libraries in Africa.  No bump in website visitors at all.  The good news is that now I don't have to do that again (I felt so demeaned, so craven). 

And why no link to the comment?  Because if NYT doesn't send traffic our way, I won't send traffic their way.  Petty, too!

Thanks, Bombastic Element.

From RFI. You don't spend your day doing this because it's fun.

For my "Economics of Gender in Developing Countries" class we read Unbowed, for SCU's sustainability day.  I assigned it on a whim, and dreaded that it was going to be terrible.  (By the way, Elliot and I have a new standard for worst non-fiction ever, Beck Weathers' Everest saga, Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest... just terrible... but as Elliot said, "Dad, he was left for dead, TWICE, on the summit... what do you think happened to his brain?")

Well, Unbowed was not terrible.  Quite a good read, in fact.  Not a great non-fiction memoir, but full of interesting observations on Kenyan society and anecdotes to make it a speedy read.  Oddly, you barely get a sense of Maathai's actual accomplishments.  She focuses much more on events that happened, spending many pages describing, for example, a protest in a gazetted forest, and only a couple sentences on the logistics of the organization she founded and nurtured, the Greenbelt Movement.  Her lengthy description of her childhood and her parents is a very nice introduction for students of how a relatively elite young women in colonial and post-colonial Africa would have grown up.  She is an activist, so there is not much philosophical reflection or analysis in the book (other than the, "Why can't we all be better" variety).  Come to think of it, I don't think she actually discusses any fiction or "big ideas" in the book.  She is one of those people that are always talking and doing.  Places like Kenya in the 1970s and 1980s, sinking into dictatorship and social instability,  need exactly that personality type.  So a thumbs up.  Not the best memoir, but a nice (and cheap, both in price and opportunity cost) read, especially for university students with no Africa experience who need a little inspiration.

I heard this interview/chat while driving into work today (only 10 minutes, naah, naah).  He's a great speaker, but the interviewer asked him, "What did happen to Malawi?" as Theroux lamented the decay of the country since his Peace Corps days.  What then followed was the most discombobulated attempt to explain African economic decline that I have ever heard... a bunch of words strung together..."they don't fix the classrooms".... "they are driving Mercedes Benz"... "too many people"...All perhaps correct for the "what" part of the question, but not for the "Why?" that was clearly the questioner's intent.  But Theroux did mention Burkina Faso... "In Burkina Faso and other countries, they keep cutting education... and libraries..." He actually said that.  I don't think Burkina Faso can do much cutting on the library side!  I think he is thinking of former British colonies, where the beautiful but elite-oriented British Council libraries (I loved the one in El Obeid, Sudan) were gradually closed.

Local philanthropists donated to Sumbrungu community library; my fault I neglected to post this last year!

Sunburungu (UER), March 31, GNA - The family of the late Captain Donald Aberese Ako (Rtd) on Wednesday donated computers and their accessories worth GHc900 to the Sunburungu Library Project in the Upper East Region. The project is under the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (CESRUD), a non-governmental organisation. Presenting the items, the Wife of Captain Aberese Mrs. Mary Ann Aberese Ako noted that the donation was to accomplish some of the educational agenda of her husband who devoted his life for the development of education in the region and the country as a whole. Mrs. Aberese Ako said the computers were meant to introduce the children to information and technology that would facilitate the building of very competent human resource base to promote socio-economic activities in the region. She said the family was prepared to assist children who would use the opportunity to learn hard and come out with good results. Mrs Aberese Ako said the hardworking children would be supplied with learning materials such as pens and books. The Director of CESRUD Mr. Rex Asanga urged the library co-ordinators to design a programme that would provide an opportunity for every child in the area to have access to computers. Mr. Asanga said the organisation was currently providing library services to about three communities and appealed to philanthropists and public-spirited organisations to help the NGO to support the social life of the people. The CESRUD is working to promote quality rural development of the people in the region.

L'article de Audrey Bessière est tres interressant, et la foto est de la bibliotheque de Pobe-Mengao, au Burkina, appuyer par FAVL!

Quels sont les titres préférés ?

S'il existe des bandes dessinées informatives sur l'histoire ou les réalités d'un pays (La Grande épopée du Tchad, par exemple) ou à thèmes éducatifs (sur les maladies comme le sida ...), les titres préférés des usagers restent les classiques tels que Tintin, Astérix, ou Lucky Luke... D'autres titres sont cités comme Yakari, Tony et Alberto, Tom-Tom et Nana, Cédric... Une seule bibliothèque - mais c'est peut-être la seule qui en possède ? - cite des comics américains : Les Quatre fantastiques, Spiderman, Batman, Superman... Et parmi toutes ces séries, on trouve un titre incontournable : Aya de Yopougon ! En Côte-d'Ivoire mais aussi au Cameroun ou dans un village au Burkina Faso, Aya est là. « Jamais un seul des cinq tomes d'Aya que nous avons ne reste à la bibliothèque plus d'une journée : dès qu'ils sont ramenés, ils sont immédiatement empruntés ». Et « s'il n'y a que deux titres en librairie, à côté de Tintin, nous trouvons Aya », affirme un bibliothécaire tchadien. Cela dit, les lecteurs lisent, bien sûr, « ce qui est disponible à la bibliothèque [...] mais ils souhaitent de nouvelles séries et d'autres titres des séries citées » (Sokodé, Togo).

Pourquoi lire des bandes dessinées ?
Facilité et célérité
La notion de « facile à lire » revient très fréquemment et fait donc de ces livres des documents très prisés et lus par les usagers. Selon les bibliothécaires, les illustrations aident particulièrement à la compréhension du texte, à la lecture. Cette idée est récurrente au cours des entretiens. « Les images parlent », « ce sont des guides », « les planches avec des images et bulles attrayantes facilitent l'imagination dans la représentativité du lecteur par rapport à son vécu et rendent l'histoire plus facile à gérer au niveau affectif ». L'un d'entre eux emploie une expression très révélatrice : « La BD, c'est comme un feuilleton lu ». Un autre bibliothécaire, au Togo, affirme ; « La BD, c'est comme un dessin animé [...]. On ne se fatigue pas. » L'alliance texte/ image est donc très porteuse, incitative à la lecture, et ce, d'autant plus dans des pays où lire n'est pas forcément une évidence.

Un autre avantage trouvé aux bandes dessinées, c'est qu'elles se lisent rapidement - idée fortement reprise. Un bibliothécaire parle de lecture « en temps record ». Les revues favorisent d'autant plus une lecture facile et instantanée qu'elles publient des BD par épisodes.

Des lectures touchantes
Le bibliothécaire de Kinshasa, RDC, donne une deuxième raison à l'intérêt pour les bandes dessinées : « elles abordent des thèmes souvent tirés des réalités de la vie courante ». Et encore une troisième raison : « Un bouquiniste (vendeur de journaux) a été surpris avec trois bandes dessinées estampillées 'Bibliothèque Wallonie-Bruxelles'. Contraint de les rendre, il a affiché son mécontentement en ces termes : 'Ces BD me rappellent mon enfance et me permettent d'oublier mes souffrances'. Nous lui avons alors proposé de s'abonner à la bibliothèque pour avoir l'occasion d'en lire beaucoup d'autres ».

La majorité des lecteurs plongent facilement au cœur de l'histoire, certains ne pouvant cacher leurs émotions. Des bibliothécaires témoignent de réactions vives, de rires spontanés. Mentionnons cette expression d'un collègue : « À la lecture de BD, il y a de la réaction ! »

Pour la plupart, ces lectures sont source de plaisir, de divertissement, de distraction. Comment donc s'en priver ?

Le goût de lire
Enfin, les bibliothécaires d'Abidjan estiment que « les BD donnent un avant-goût de la lecture aux enfants, les incitent à s'intéresser à des ouvrages autres que les BD » ; « Ils aident les jeunes à découvrir la joie de lire » (Koro-Kaga), et « les BD favorisent le goût de la lecture » (Kinshasa, Abidjan). La bande dessinée, « c'est de l'art qui se déploie dans sa simplicité pour véhiculer des messages et permettre, même à ceux qui ont une instruction moyenne, de pouvoir poursuivre leur formation, en comprenant avec les images ce qu'ils lisent » (Khorogo, Côte-d'Ivoire).

Les pratiques des bibliothécaires
Développer le fonds
L'acquisition des livres par l'achat n'est pas généralisée. Cela dépend des moyens de l'établissement. Ainsi, nous notons, par exemple, une différence entre les bibliothèques municipales de l'océan Indien où les bandes dessinées sont achetées en plus ou moins grand nombre suivant une politique d'acquisition, et les bibliothèques en Afrique, qui constituent leur fonds dans la plupart des cas à partir de dons.

En ce qui concerne les politiques d'achat, les bibliothécaires disent baser leurs choix sur les suggestions des lecteurs, les critiques dans les revues ou sites (un bibliothécaire réunionnais mentionne le site bédéo), en fonction du renouvellement des bandes dessinées abîmées et la disponibilité des titres en librairie. À la bibliothèque municipale de Port-Louis, par exemple, les bibliothécaires disent renouveler autant que possible « les séries très populaires et les BD abîmées » et « quelquefois », ils choisissent sur place, en librairie, « de nouveaux titres de séries qui sont peu familières », même si le fonds de ces dernières reste souvent limité comme nous l'avons vu. « À la date du 8 février 2011, la seule librairie moderne de N'djamena n'a que Tintin et Aya de Yopougon en vente », affirme encore le collègue tchadien.

Tous les bibliothécaires, sauf un, disent lire des bandes dessinées, eux aussi, et leurs réponses le montrent également de manière indirecte... L'un transmet son analyse détaillée d'Aya, par exemple, l'autre une anecdote : « On l'appelait 'Savant' dans sa famille, alors qu'il ne savait ni bien calculer ni bien lire, car il avait été radié des classes du primaire à cause de son mauvais comportement. Son secret : ses copains lui racontaient des histoires qu'ils lisaient dans les livres... Un matin, passant devant une boutique, une vieille, le croyant instruit, l'appela pour lui demander de lui lire une lettre. Son incapacité à lire ayant été remarquée, Savant reprit la route de l'école avec un courage de fer. Au moment où je vous raconte ce récit, Savant est en fin de cycle dans une école professionnelle. Cela me rappelle l'histoire de la BD Les Yeux de Leïla de Tito, que je vous recommande » (Bamako).

Presque tous expriment le souhait d'avoir davantage de bandes dessinées ; plusieurs spécifient « des BD africaines ». 

FAVL is working on a small research project this summer, with seed funding from Santa Clara University's Center for Science, Technology and Society: we will be distributing solar-powered lanterns (made by the delightful d.light) to 4th and 5th graders in many of the villages in the southwest, and tracking their reading habits and capabilities over the summer.  The lanterns just arrived (271), so the Ouaga team is getting ready to take them down to the villages for (randomized) distribution.  We all have illusions of kids sharing a lantern reading a Fatou Keita book, but the reality is probably just as likely that the father takes the light to do weaving! 

The story as told by Le Monde is here....

Mais les dirigeants de l'ANC ont eu une mauvaise surprise à la fin de la semaine dernière. La presse locale a révélé que près de 1600 WC à ciel ouvert avaient été installés, depuis 2003 pour les plus anciens, dans la municipalité de Moqhak (centre du pays) qui est gérée par le parti au pouvoir. "Ce n'est pas bien, nous ne méritons vraiment pas de vivre comme cela" commente cette habitante qui n'a jamais voulu utiliser ces WC.

The cartoon is by Zapiro.  An English version of the story is here.

I just got back last night from a visit to Bereba to attend the monthly librarians' meeting and work on preparations for the solar light research.  Wednesday night in Houndé, Dounkoui and I went over the program for the research and discussed plans for this year's summer camps while sitting outside at a small buvette underneath the stars, which was quite a nice respite from Ouaga.  

Promoting women's rights has always been an important issue in West Africa. Examples of situations that are obviously not OK: men killing old women by beating them with sticks, chasing old women out of their native village to a camp where they remain isolated, impoverished and with no real means to live. But throw witchcraft into the mix, in a country like northern Ghana where the vast majority believes in witchcraft...and it gets complicated.

This complication is exactly what the documentary "Witches in Exile" tries to explain.  The documentary focuses on the lives of several women who have been accused of witchcraft in northern Ghana and exiled to the Kunkua witch's camp. Basically, a woman (typically an older woman who is no longer of "value" in the village) may be accused of witchcraft after the unexplainable death of a family member or a sudden natural misfortune occurs. How to tell if a woman is REALLY a witch? At the camp, the chief slaughters a chicken and the position that it takes when it dies determines whether or not she's a witch.

 
The point of this documentary is not to tackle the question "does witchcraft exist?" but to show that the issue of how to protect the "witches" is not so simple. During one point in the film, human rights commissioners try to tackle the problem by deciding to close down the witch camps. However once they arrive to the camps they start talking to the women and quickly realize that the women don't actually want to leave. They say that while they may be isolated and lonely, they are accepted at the camps and that they fear for their lives if they have to return to their native villages. 
Is the treatment of these women right? Of course not. But how do you change views and traditions that are so ingrained in a society? This film offers no real solutions and once it's done, leaves you contemplating possible answers.

An excellent book, and when I saw a copy at Santa Clara University's library book sale (that benefited FAVL and netted over $1,000 to support village libraries!) I could not resist buying a hardcover edition for $1.  When I got home, I was delighted to find that the book had belonged to Nathan Rosenberg, and had his book plate, typed in 1950 with his name... Rosenberg is a well-know economic historian, born in 1927.  Not sure if he is still alive.  So he read it when he was 23... just out of college. 

Best line (p. 44): "The alleged propensity of man to barter, truck and exchange is almost entirely apocryphal."  Rings true as we listened over the weekend, during my parent's visit to the bay Area which then requires drives to San Francisco and Oakland, to Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air... and what struck me is how for many months of the year, the mountain climber's entire ethos has no place, really, for trucking and bartering... just not really in the repertoire.  While it rings true, it isn't a truthy statement... no point even arguing about it, really. 

Why was the book so appealing despite its occasional weirdness? Marjorie Kehe sums it up into five "messages" that readers wanted to read...

1. In the long run, books are more powerful than bombs.
2. A good education - not an indoctrination, but a genuine opening of the mind - is the most powerful tool that there is.
3. Every child - male or female - deserves a chance at education.
4. The vast majority of human beings in this world can find common ground in our deep caring for children.
5. Whoever we are, wherever we live, each of us shares a certain fundamental responsibility for all the children of the world.

After Emilie's recommendation, I decided to read some Malika Secouss.  Funny!  And it makes me wish I were Parisian, probably I would laugh even more.  I have to say it is interesting to read a BD where a librarian, and teen's attitudes towards reading and the library, are a running theme.  I love the running gag about "la mairie" trying to improve everyone's life, and the young, earnest man sure that "projects to improve life for the youth" are great things... I wonder if in the villages in Burkina there is a segment of the young population that thinks the libraries are deeply uncool!  Will have to set up kung fu video evenings for them, natch!

Summer Reading Program in Gowrie-Kunkua Library, Ghana
FAVL/CESRUD organised three reading camps at each of their three community libraries in Summer, 2010.  Here are my observations: being in Kunkua, like the other two libraries, to see the reading camps, the surprising thing I noticed was children singing and demonstrating, doing art projects and colouring; not reading.  It dawned on me that this experience for kids was much more than simply reading. The librarian was also much impressed with the way children responded to reading and the asking of questions in a very comportive way.  The camp participants ate two nutritious meals a day and received a special camp t-shirt, which is a very big thing in the area.  At the end of each day, the children would take books home to read.  Africa books, especially "Why Monkeys Look Like Men", were the favourites to read at night.  It was an incredible opportunity for village children.  In fact, the reading teachers in the community thought many of the participating children had progressed importantly, and many of the kids became more vocal in giving opinions as they practiced discussing books.
    Campers became very attached to the libraries.  Parents have approached librarians and said that they want to have the camps again when campers were even more aggressive
Ayamdoor Jennifer
(librarian)

Article for Sherigu Library
This article is the first of its kind in the history of the library. It contains all the information of the library for the first quarter of the year. The library began the year with a lot of problems such as a continued absence of electricity, furniture in poor condition, and few books due to a devastating storm, among others. Despite these challenges, the library has made significant improvement in its activities. The library activities such as reading time, formation of words, and 'Yese' (out), a spelling test, were successfully carried out during the quarter. Many children, notably Mathias Abagna and Leo Abagna, were very serious and participated actively in the activities and games of the library.  For the first quarter of the year, patronage has been very high and it is a good sign that the children are developing the habit of reading; they have recognized the importance and need of the library in the community and their future.  The library has recorded a grand total of 1091, 914, and 818 visitors for the months of January, February, and March, respectively.  This high attendance is a result of the vibrant library activities that are carried out in the library.
It is hoped that this good beginning will bring more success to the library.

Updates from Ghana FAVL/CESRUD Library Coordinator

Sumbrungu Library
The Sumbrungu Community Library has been closed from operation due to construction work at the women's center where the library is located.  The closure of the library became necessary because building materials were placed everywhere in the women's center compound, making the area dangerous to library users.  The coordinator consulted CESRUD Board about the situation and was advised to close down the library until construction was completed.  A notice was posted on the door of the library. The date of completion of the work on the women's center is not known, but there is hope that it will be soon.
There was an inventory done at the library by two volunteers from the United States in March. The inventory took a week to complete. Apart from the inventory, the volunteers also organized a reading program with the librarian the first week they arrived, and it was very successful.  This program was organized from 7pm-9pm three times a week.  A total number of 28 P5 students participated.

Sherigu Library
The Sherigu Library is in good operation.  The coordinator has been visiting the library twice a week.  The coordinator and the CESRUD board director of libraries visited the Sherigu library on 10th March, 2011 at 10:45am and found the library closed.  Upon calling the librarian, the coordinator was informed that the librarian was sick and could not open the library that day.  The coordinator was asked by the director to write a warning letter to the librarian to always inform the coordinator of his absences or closure of the library ahead of time.
Thanks to a recent donation from the First Congregational Church of Princeton, Massachusetts in USA, electricity has been installed in the library, enabling students to study during the evening time.  More improvements to the physical space are being planned, such as finishing the store rooms and painting the interior and doors.
There was also a very big wedding of the library committee secretary on the 12th of March, 2011.

Gowrie-Kunkua
The library committee and members of Kunkua organized an anniversary celebration which came out with the name "Kunkua Anogtaaba Kanzebe Community (KAKACOM)". At this anniversary celebration, a certificate was awarded to FAVL and Rex Asanga, the founder of CESRUD/FAVL Libraries in Ghana. The celebration attracted a lot of people from near and far.
By Amikiya A. Lucas
(Libraries Coordinator)


Kunkua Anogtaaba Kanzebe
Kunkua Anogtaaba Kanzbe is a union begun in 1980 by 6 members of society. It later expanded to involve the whole community, and is responsible for bringing a lot of development to the area.
The Ultimate Aim: The ultimate aim of the union was to mobilize and educate the youth about the need to go to school, and to promote peace and love among the people.
Objectives:
1.    Protection of the environment through tree planting.
2.    Preservation of bodies of water in the community.
3.    Building of bath houses at public boreholes.
4.    Educating members of the effects of drinking and smoking.
5.    Organising adult education classes for their brothers and sisters who are not educated.
6.    Encouraging people who have no jobs to move in weaving, rearing, and fishing.
7.    Creating entertainment avenues among members.
These were some of the objectives that the union set up to be achieved, and truly they were able to achieve them all. The members always use the first week of January to meet and celebrate annually, until this year that they organized a 30th anniversary with the aim of raising funds to set up a museum in the community, and also to support the intelligent students in the community.  They also wanted to thank the founders of the union in the community, and to honour the people who also contributed to the development of the community.
Some of the achievements of the above union are:
1.    A lot of trees planted in every house in the Kunkua Community, which is not seen in most places.
2.    The Youth Center which was built through common labour.
3.    The Kunkua primary school.
4.    The Gowrie-Kunkua Community Library.
5.    Massive HIV/AIDS education in the community by the HIV/AIDS commission.
6.    A successful 30th anniversary celebration on the 25th of February, 2011, where the founders of the union were thanked. Some of the people honoured were Dr. Milla, a lecturer at UDS, Rex Asanga, a board member of CESRUD/FAVL Libraries, and FAVL organization, among others.

Abongo Doidaval                                      Amikiya A. Lucas
(Kunkua Library Secretary) (Community Library Coordinator)


Poems
Sumbrungu Community, Sumbrungu Community, SCL!
Most Cherished Library!
Loved by adults and children alike
Sumbrungu Community Library helps you speak good English
It informs you about news around the community, Ghana, and the whole world.
Sumbrungu Community Library, the best key to success.
Librarian

Forget the Past
The past will not end your life
So concentrate on the future
For it always has in store
Good things for you!
Martha Adikera

One People, One Nation
We are one people in one nation
All that we need is peace, unity, love
To promote stability in the nation
We cannot gain success without these
We should love one another and live in harmony
One people, one nation!!!
Adueela Mary

The full interview is by Antoine BATTIONO and Aimé NABALOUM (Stagiaire) at Le Pays.

De ce point de vue, les magistrats étaient dans leur droit, dans leur rôle, quand ils ont cessé le travail pour protester contre cette atteinte à l'Etat de droit. Je constate que dans la gestion de cette crise, il n'y a pas eu de clarté du côté du gouvernement. Je me demande par exemple, jusqu'à présent, quelle est l'autorité qui nous impose le couvre-feu. Tantôt j'entends des références au chef d'Etat-major général, tantôt à un Secrétaire général de ministre, tantôt une lettre du Premier ministre. Conformément à la Constitution, lorsqu'il y a une situation de nature à entraver le bon fonctionnement des institutions, comme c'est le cas, le Président du Faso aurait dû prendre des mesures beaucoup plus idoines et je pense en partie, en particulier, au pouvoir de crise que lui confère la Constitution.

Ce qui aurait permis à l'Assemblée nationale de se réunir de plein droit et d'apprécier aussi la situation parce que nous n'avons pas du tout entendu cette institution dans la gestion de cette crise. Bien sûr, le président de l'institution s'est exprimé, mais j'estime que ce n'est pas à la hauteur du forfait auquel on a assisté. Je m'attendais à ce que l'Assemblée se réunisse pour apprécier la situation et prendre les dispositions appropriées. Je m'interroge d'autant plus qu'il y a une commission chargée des affaires étrangères et de la défense. Comment ces mécanismes ont pu fonctionner sans voir qu'il y a des problèmes dans notre armée et que c'était de leur devoir aussi de contribuer à résoudre ces problèmes ?

C'est une crise qui a montré une faillite totale des institutions démocratiques.