Deb Garvey, FAVL Treasurer, writes in:
MK: And I should add I really liked Forty Acres and a Mule and Harriette Robinet's other books!I had a wonderful, all-afternoon visit August 18 with long-time FAVL supporters Harriette and McLouis Robinet in Oak Park, outside my hometown of Chicago. We discussed the role of FAVL libraries in fostering literacy and educational advancement in underserved African villages. The Robinets are committed to helping provide library access to others, especially youth, partially to counteract the official discrimination and barriers they faced in using public and even university libraries in their youth and young adulthood in Washington, DC and Louisiana.
The Robinets are a truly wonderful, socially engaged couple with a deep love of God and and an urge to respond to the needs of others less fortunate than themselves. They're especially excited about three FAVL initiatives: publishing culturally-relevant books in local languages through the efforts of the undergraduates in our Reading West Africa study-abroad program; installation of solar panels that enable villagers and youths to use libraries in the evening; and our thriving partnership with Peace Corps volunteers in Burkina Faso who work so diligently to implement literacy programs, research studies and summer reading camps in several village libraries, in addition to founding three FAVL-affiliated libraries!
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