November 2011 Archives

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Actually the reviews don't sound too good, so i think I will wait...

The librarian at Béléhédé has taken the initiative to do just that and to alleviate the problem of illiteracy amongst students early on. Working off of the information he gathered during the reading camps, this librarian decided to set up a weekly date with the 60 kids of CE2 (3rd grade) at a local primary school. In the first week, he worked on reciting the alphabet. In a note about the session, he remarked that about 50% of the kids could not do this. During the second and third weeks, he helped them recognize the vowels and consonants in the alphabet and what sound each letter makes. For the last lesson of the month, they worked on recognizing the consonants and what sounds they make in different words. In his report, he says that he saw a marked improvement in the level of the kids and hopes to continue working with them in the month of November.

Here's a little Dr. Seuss today for your enjoyment courtesy of readinglady.com

I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!
Dr. Seuss

I can read in red. I can read in blue.
I can read in pickle color too.
I can read in bed, and in purple. and in brown.
I can read in a circle and upside down!
I can read with my left eye. I can read with my right.
I can read Mississippi with my eyes shut tight!

There are so many things you can learn about.
But...you'll miss the best things
If you keep your eyes shut.
The more that you read, the more things you will know
The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.

If you read with your eyes shut you're likely to find
That the place where you're going is far, far behind
SO...that's why I tell you to keep your eyes wide.
Keep them wide open...at least on one side.

Par Elisee Sare:

J'étais loin de m'imaginer le nombre de burkinabè résidant à Oakland et les environs. Tout a commencé par une rencontre; l'abbé Anatole Tiendrebeogo, prêtre burkinabè. C'est par un dimanche matin que nous l'avons rencontré à Oakland après la messe. Il était alors notre seul
contact burkinabè dans l'état de Californie. Nous avons eu une petite discussion avec Anatole. Celui-ci avait déjà rencontré trois ressortissants du Burkina avec lesquels il nous a mis en contact. C'est comme ça que de fil en aiguille et de façon insoupçonnée, il s'est avéré que chacun des autres burkinabès connaissait un ou deux autres, si bien qu'à la fin nous avions de plus d'une dizaine de contacts! C'est aussi comme ça qu'est née l'idée d'une rencontre, afin de faire connaissance. Et, comme on le discute au Faso :
-  Hé, mon frère, tu peux pas savoir comment je suis content de voir que je ne suis pas seul dans le coin !
- Tu as raison dèh, mon frère ! Moi-même je connais quelques burkinabès ici
-  Ah bon ! Mais on va pas organiser quelque chose... pour se retrouver, genre ?
-  Oui ! Quelque chose de petite, genre prise de contact ?
-  Voilaaaa ! C'est ça même ! On va proposer des dates... on va gérer ça !
-  En fin du mois, peut être... disons samedi 26 ?
- Laisse-moi voir mon agenda. Parce-que dans pays ça là, tout est géré
à l'avance. Samedi 26 novembre hien ? ICI c'est pas comme à Ouaga,
hien ! Time is money ici hein ! Ah, ah, ha !
- Ah, ah, ah ! Ouai, tu as raison !
- Franchement samedi ça m'arrange pas. Et le dimanche 27?
- Oui pourquoi pas dimanche. De toute façon on va proposer aux autres, voir.
- Voilaaa ! On va gérer ça comme ça, et puis voir !

Et, c'est comme cela que selon la disponibilité des uns et des autres la date du dimanche 27 décembre été retenue pour (certainement) la première rencontre des burkinabès de la Californie. Très conviviale, cette rencontre informelle s'est tenue au presbytère de Saint Leo the Great Church, 176 Ridgeway Avenue Oakland. Nous étions une dizaine avec trois a quatre absents pour raison de calendrier. C'était un échange d'expériences et d'idées sur le séjour des uns et des autres et le processus d'adaptation, autour d'amuse-gueules (bouches!) composés de chips, de chocolate cakes, de soft drinks etc. que certains ont eu l'amabilité de d'apporter.

Certains burkinabès sont dans l'état depuis plus 10 ans alors que d'autres comme moi sont arrivés il y a seulement quelques semaines et sont en plein phase adaptation au mode de vie californien, différent a 100% de celui de Ouagadougou (Je ne vous parle même pas du climat...10ºC le matin ! Je suis en mode pull... toute la journée !) Venus aux Californie pour diverses raisons, les burkinabès présents à cette réunion sont pour la plupart des étudiants. Ceux qui sont là plus longtemps exercent divers activités. Vu que la rencontre était plaisante, il a été convenu d'organiser, si possible, d'autres retrouvailles, toujours avec cette idée de fraterniser en tant que ressortissant d'un même pays !
- Mais les gars, on se retrouve, non ?
- Oui on va proposer des dates... bla bla bla
- Bla bla bla

Vous avez compris, difficile d'arrêter les causeries ! On a oublié qu'on est plus à Ouaga !
Quelqu'un aurait dû crier :
- TIME IS MONEY HERE IN CALIFORNIA !!!



From Ouaga to Oakland

By Elisee Sare:

I never imagined the number of Burkinabe living in Oakland and its surrounding areas. It all started with a meeting organized by Father Anatole Tiendrebeogo, a Burkinabe priest. It was on a Sunday morning after mass that we met in Oakland. At that time he was our only Burkinabe contact in the State of California. We had a nice discussion with Anatole. He said that he had already met three Burkina nationals with whom he would put us in contact. And it is through that first meeting, one contact leading to another, each Burkinabe knowing one or two others, that at the end we had over a dozen contacts! And it was also in this way that the idea was born to organize a get together to get acquainted. And, like we discuss in Faso:

- Hey, my brother, you cannot know how glad I am to see that I am not alone in the corner!
- You are right, my brother! I myself know only a couple Burkinabe here
- Oh! But should we not organize something ... so that we know one another?
- Yes! Something small, a kind of get together?
- Yeessssss! Exactly! We will propose dates ... we'll handle it!
- At the end of the month, maybe ... say Saturday the 26th?
- Let me see my calendar. Because in this country here, everything is organized
in advance. Saturday, November 26 huh? HERE it's not like in Ouaga, huh! Here, time is money! Ha, ha, ha!
- Ah, ah, ah! Yeah, you're right!
- Frankly, Saturday doesn't work for me. What about Sunday the 27th?
- Sure, why not Sunday. In any case we will propose this date to the others.
- Yeessss! We'll handle it like that, and then see!

And this is how, depending on availability, the date of Sunday, December 27 was chosen for (most likely)  the first meeting of Burkinabe in California. Very friendly, this informal get-together was held at the rectory of St. Leo the Great Church, 176 Ridgeway Avenue in Oakland. We were about ten, with three or four absent due to scheduling conflicts. It was an exchange of experiences and ideas on each other's lives and the adaptation process, surrounded by appetizers consisting of chips, chocolate cakes, soft drinks etc..that some were kind enough to provide. Some of the Burkinabe have been in the state for over 10 years while others, like me, came a few weeks ago and are in full adjustment phase to the Californian lifestyle, which is 100% different to that of Ouagadougou (I won't even begin to talk to you about the climate difference! 50 degrees this morning! I am in jacket mode ... all day!)

Coming to California for various reasons, the majority of the Burkinabes present at the meeting are students. Those who have been here longer are in various vocations.  Since the meeting was so pleasant, it was unanimously agreed to organize another reunion, always with the idea of fellowship as country nationals!
- Hey but guys, we're going to see each other again, right?
- Yes we will propose possible dates ... blah blah blah
- Bla bla bla

You understand now, how hard it is to stop us from talking! We forgot that we are no longer in Ouaga! Someone should have shouted:
- TIME IS MONEY HERE IN CALIFORNIA!

At least that is the idea.  Just how hard it is to have an informed opinion was my thought as I read this morning's article in L'Observateur Paalga on a 10 hectare land sale in Tanghin-Dassouri, a village (fast becoming a town/suburb) just outside of Ouagadougo.  FAVL and RWA people know it; it is the place where we always slow down as I point out the beautiful Bibliotheque Louis Lacaille, closed these last five years because of mismanagement.  Anyway, the mayor had authorized the sale of 10 hectares to a Burkina subsidiary of a French agro-business firm Technisem (they make/package vegetable seeds for the African tropics).  But then rumors circulated that the mayor had pocketed $20,000 from the sale.  So the mayor and council called a meeting of the municipal council, and invited the press, and the press attended, and reported on the meeting, and the mayor felt his reputation was reestablished.... There's more to the story, if you are a PhD anthropology student, I am sure there is dissertation material here...

An extract from the article...

Comme à un procès, le directeur de la société Nankosem, entreprise de droit burkinabè a été appelé pour donner sa part de vérité. Hamado Sawadogo a expliqué que sa société est représentante de la société française Technisem qui a décidé d'implanter un projet dont l'objectif est "l'amélioration des espèces légumières répondant aux nouvelles exigences climatiques et aux besoins du marché". 

Notre pays a donc été choisi et les premières prospections ont conduit à Koubri où, malheureusement, le sous-sol n'est pas assez riche en eau pour permettre l'activité maraîchère. C'était en 2005. Le projet devait alors être délocalisé au Mali avec son corollaire de retombées. C'est ainsi que Nankosem, selon toujours son directeur, a fait un plaidoyer auprès de Technisem pour pouvoir poursuivre au Burkina sur un autre site. La zone de Tanghin-Dassouri est alors visée et la quête de superficie exploitable est lancée.

A Nabitenga II, Nankosem parvient à acheter un premier terrain de 10 ha pour les recherches, mais il lui faut un second pour l'expérimentation. A ce niveau, le terrain repéré appartient à la famille de Koudwongo Raphaël Simporé, le céda à la société. Il faut rappeler que les terres en question sont en zones hors lotissements et que, selon les conseillers municipaux, pour éviter les ventes de terre dans ces zones, la mairie avait pris une disposition obligeant tout acquéreur à verser à la mairie 500 000 FCFA par ha acheté.

Et c'est cette disposition qui a occasionné la rencontre entre le directeur de la société et l'édile qui, après avoir écouté le premier développer les intérêts et les retombées du projet pour sa commune et déclaré qu'ils n'avaient pas prévu cette disposition et que le manque d'argent pour son application pourrait entraîner la délocalisation du projet, décida alors de faire fi de cette disposition dont d'ailleurs l'application posait problème. Donc, à en croire Hamado Sawadogo, aucun kopeck n'a été versé à la mairie ni au maire. C'est plutôt avec le représentant des propriétaires terriens, après la signature du procès-verbal des palabres, qu'il y a eu transaction financière.

One of the first things a new Peace Corps stagière learns upon arrival in the country is its "Three Goals."  Seriously. They even give you a pocket card to keep in your wallet, so you can have those three goals to whip out at a moment's notice. The goals include providing the host country with trained labor to supplement their own forces; to share the American culture with other countries; and to share other cultures back in America. As a volunteer, sometimes the goal of sharing American culture with host country nationals can be the hardest. You spend so much time trying to convince all the people in your village that you are just like them: you pump and carry your own water; you stuff yourself with tô that you ate all by hand; you wear clothes made out of traditional cloth; you start dreaming about greeting everyone in local language as you walk around town. These things are a lot of fun, and doing them helps you attain the oh-so-coveted title of bien integré by villagers and volunteers alike. And you're very proud of yourself.

It can be just as much fun, however, sharing your American self with your host-country friends. I have found that Thanksgiving, such an American holiday, is the perfect time to do just that. In 2009, my first year of service, I had a big Thanksgiving in my village with both volunteer and Burkinabè friends. This year, I decided to bring that tradition back. Holidays here always feel a little Charlie Brown-esque because you're combining traditions and trying to find substitutes for your favorite foods. But I think I finally got it right this year. Thanksgiving 2011 chez moi was the perfect mix of Burkinabè and American holiday traditions and people. We celebrated in the my favorite Burkinabè way: killing a few chickens, making couscous sauce and buying everybody Cocas. These were served alongside boxed versions of American favorites. Before dinner, we Americans recounted the story of the first Thanksgiving, taught to us in elementary school, and explained that the holiday is a time of giving thanks, spending time with family and eating way too much. After the meal was over, we all sat around, holding our stomachs, content and tired after such a feast.

From Filip KABEYA, Responsable du projet Bibafrica.org

Bibafrica.org est un rêve devenu réalité depuis 2005, il part d'un constat qui fait que nous voyons très peu de site professionnel parler de ce qui se passe au sein de la communauté « Bibliothèque » en Afrique. On risque même de croire que les Bibliothèques n'y existent pas.

Donc, « Tant que les lions n'auront pas leurs propres griots, les histoires de chasse raconteront toujours les prouesses des chasseurs », ainsi nous nous sommes fixés la mission et le devoir d'informer sur ce qui se passe autant d'un point de vue professionnel que du coté des lecteurs (consommateur du livre)

Il y a des acteurs importants qui agissent pour aider la bibliothèque africaine, mais qui sont méconnu, Bibafrica.org se veux de le faire savoir.

Les professionnels de Bibliothèque n'ont pas un site de référence pour s'informer sur ce qui les concerne, colloques, séminaire et autre formations. Nous désirons aussi offrir aux lecteurs, l'annuaire des Bibliothèques africaines en plus de les informations sur les acquisitions nouvelles de leurs bibliothèques respectives.
Nous sommes pour une Bibliothèque Africaine pour tous et partout.

Monique and I met with the librarian of the International School of Ouagadougou (ISO) on Wednesday to discuss the idea of a Read-a-thon. ISO is an English-speaking school here in Ouaga with an American-style program, with classes for kindergarten through grade 12. The librarian was enthusiastic about the idea, saying that the read-a-thon would fit well into the community service that is emphasized in ISO's curriculum. The proposal is for a month-long event for the students, in which they seek sponsors (parents, family friends, etc.) to pledge a certain amount of money for each book/page/hour the student reads during the month. Each week, the student will tally how much money (s)he has collected on their pledge sheet, which will be signed by a parent. At the end of the month, the student will collect the money from the sponsors based on his or her reading total for the month. We would have a contest between the kids in the class or between all of the classes, with the top five readers earning a prize (perhaps a gift certificate donated by a local restaurant). The money collected would either go to buying books for the libraries or helping to fund 2012 reading camps. The proposal was met with enthusiasm by the librarian, who is going to discuss the idea with her principal. She also suggested that FAVL give a presentation about our work with village libraries to the students. The participation of the older kids in the Race for Reading fundraiser (which will most likely take place next March) was also discussed. We hope that the event will be able to take place, not only for the benefit for the libraries, but for the potential relationship for FAVL with a community-service minded institution in Burkina.

A variety of activities are taking up our time....

In Burkina Faso...
-A final evaluation of our LED solar reading lamp distribution
-A new library is coming into being in Ouargaye
-Our Koumbia librarian, Bibata Ouedraogo, is moving on because her fiancee was moved, so we need to hire a replacement librarian....
-We are working with a number of mayors, in Pobe, Belehede, Bougounam, Niankorodougou and Koumbia, for them to take over more management responsibility for the libraries
-Our Ouaga staff is looking forward to visiting the field and promoting book clubs
-We continue to target local donors in Burkina Faso for support for library programs

In Ghana....
-We will begin after-school tutoring programs in reading, in January
-We have two new librarians to get trained and involved

FAVL is in our 10th year of offering reading programs and library services to small rural communities in Uganda, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Tanzania.  We depend entirely on donors and our dedicated board and U.S.  voluntees... thanks to you all!

Lucie, the librarian of the village library in Sara, describes a story hour where she read Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves to a group of elementary school students:

Le jeudi 13 novembre 2011 j'ai fait la lecture du conte Ali Baba et les 40 voleurs de Jacques Bracard.

J'ai choisi de faire ce conte parce que les enfants aiment les contes où les méchants sont punis et en plus c'est un conte plein de suspense.

J'ai fait la lecture de ce conte avec 13 élèves. Les élèves étaient très attentifs à cette lecture de conte. Les enfants ne voulaient plus suivre la lecture du conte quand nous étions à la partie où le chef des brigands s'est déguisé en marchand d'huile et venu loger chez Ali Baba. A la suite de la lecture, l'élève a été soulagé quand Morgane la servante d'Ali Baba lui a sauvé la vie en tuant les voleurs qui étaient dans les vases. Après la mort des autres voleurs laissant seul le chef, je me suis arrêtée et j'ai demandé aux enfants d'imaginer la suite du conte. Les élèves ont imaginés que le chef des voleurs allait longtemps riche et tranquillement dans la forêt avec la fortune laissés par ses collègues. Ce qui n'est pas exact car le chef des voleurs a tente une nouvelle fais de tuer Ali Baba et a été tué par Morgane.

Je crois que ce conte a un morale que montre aux enfants comment la méchanceté puis les hommes ainsi que la gourmandise de Gassin d'Ali Baba qui a voulu prendre toute les richesses qui se trouvaient dans la grotte et est mort.

I am reading Reading Places: Literacy, Democracy, and the Public Library in Cold War America, Univ of Massachusetts Press, 2010 by Christine Pawley.

It is a study of a short-lived bookmobile project in upper Wisconsin in Door and Kewaunee counties in the early 1950s.  Pawley cobbles together the extant records of the project and interviewed many of those involved, including the rural librarians and especially the readers.  In many ways it reminds me so much of our library promotion efforts in Burkina Faso and Ghana, except I keep sighing as I realize that her occasional statistics (like 30% of adult women having attended high school) are almost wildly huge compared with Burkina Faso where maybe 1% of adult women attend high school!  But the most important issues: who are the library services for (it always ends up being for children) and how to get more adults reading (very hard) are issues in Africa.  There are nice descriptions of the tradeoffs faced in extending library services, and the political minefields that affect funding.

The book offers a number of suggestions for quantitative research that I am interested in with some colleagues, namely how to estimate the magnitude of the impacts of library services.  In estimating these magnitudes we are always looking for reasons why library services varied somewhat randomly... then if we can find measures of outcomes that happened years down the road, we have some good methods for estimating the magnitudes of the effects.  Pawley's book reminded me that the WPA built out a lot of rural libraries during the Depression, perhaps comparable in scale to Carnegie's build out earlier....  And of course the Door-Kewaunee experiment would have been like a controlled experiment, except that the two counties are on a peninsula extending into Lake Michigan!  So no "control" counties neighboring them.

An excellent short review of the book by "Marvin" is here and I'm grateful because he reminded me of the series of Landmark biographies that Iread also as a child... doezens of them

That is a quote from "What people want to read about: a study of group interests and a survey of problems in adult reading" by Douglas Waples, Ralph Winfred Tyler, 1931, Joint Committee on a Study of Reading Habits, American Library Association, Carnegie Corporation of New York. 

It is a truism that always bears repeating and always has to be qualified.

This article was posted on allafrica.com about a month ago, but I thought it was really interesting and deserved a mention.

Yacouba Sawadogo, a peasant farmer from Burkina Faso, is known as the "man who       stopped the desert." But when he first tried to save his arid land from desertification by planting the trees that have since grown into a 15-hectare forest, people in his village thought he was mad.

Some 30 years later the people of Gourga, in northwestern Burkina Faso, who left the infertile area for a better life in the city, are returning while Sawadogo travels the world sharing his success story.

Farmers, environmental experts and scientists are also flocking to Sawadogo's home to learn about the man who singlehandedly stopped the desert.

Sawadogo's story also attracted film director Mark Dodd who produced an award-winning film titled "The Man who Stopped the Desert", which was showcased at the 10th session of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Congress of Parties (COP 10) currently being held in Changwon, South Korea.

Mr. Sawadogo not only planted trees, but innovated the way he planted seeds, digging bigger holes that could more easily absorb water.  "'The traditional farming method used in my village allowed the rainwater to be easily washed away leaving the crops to dry up within a short space of time. That's why I thought of a technique that would counter this problem,' said Sawadogo." Many scientists who have talked with the Burkinabè and/or seen his techniques first-hand in traveling to Burkina expressed the sentiment that it was not up to an international coalition or field study to come up with a solution to this important problem. It came down to someone who lived in those conditions day-in and day-out and whose survival depended upon his success. This important insight, which anyone working in development would be wise to heed, was articulated by Dr Mohamed Bakarr, an environmental specialist, who "...added that indigenous people like Sawadogo do not need a lot of money to make a difference."

One of the goals of Peace Corps Burkina Faso is for volunteers to plant 1 000 000 trees by 2016, with a special emphasis on Moringa trees (see: Moringa Man and Woman at Peace Corps 50th Anniversary Fair in Ouaga). One of my personal goals is to get at least five trees planted at each of the FAVL libraries in Burkina.

I haven't read Dagoberto Gilb before, but I will now!  The full review is here...

From Here to Oaxaca
By BRIDGET KEVANE
Published: November 18, 2011

Where are we when we are before the end yet after the beginning? We are in the midst of life, where everything happens. Before the end and after the beginning, one celebrates a perfect sixth birthday, looks for a job, has an affair, remembers old girlfriends, suffers a stroke. These are the moments Dagoberto Gilb describes in his elegiac third story collection, "Before the End, After the Beginning."

Gilb himself had a stroke in 2009, and the story that opens the collection, "please, thank you," appears to be a straightforward personal account. The narrator is surrounded by nurses and family, unable to make sense of the world, unable to hear or to make himself heard. Through the blur, he struggles with his Chicano identity, and is infuriated when people speak to him in Spanish: "im from here! ill bet my familys been here longer than yours! i was semper fi, cabron." (The lack of punctuation is a practical matter: the narrator has lost movement in his right arm, and is lurching at the typewriter with his left.)

Started reading this last week, and couldn't properly pace myself, like a drunken palm wine lover I had to hurry and finish it all in a couple nights... because it was sooooo good!  What a great novel.  Less and less I find myself drawn to character study especially of the tragic sort, but Achebe's writing is so friendly and wonderful, each sentence carefully composed, the whole thing making you shudder as a well-crafted sentence sums up the previous three pages... ouch how good it is.  The novel is a very deep study of Ezeula, a priest of a local god Ulu... Achebe goes deeper and deeper into the man until by the end you can't get him out of your head, and I finally found my brain making a face for him... and then you get a brilliant finale ...

The social scientist in me thought the novel a wonderful counterpoint to a lot of social science that generalizes the past in terms of effects on the present... Arrow of God explores all the nuance and personality that made the past different for each locality and each person.  It helps remind you how idiosyncratic and contingent the past was for each place.

Since this week I was teaching Nunn and Wantchekon's paper on the enduring effects of the slave trade in eroding trust, I thought with amusement how their "hypothesis" is utterly absent from the novel.... and while the effects of the "white man" are everywhere traced and felt, one of the deft messages of the novel is to resist understanding the past as having simple effects and stark choices.  Everything is messy and happening at the same time, and people involved are alive to all the possibilities, and they negotiate and misunderstand etc.

FAVL is often asked "How can I help?" and when it comes to librarians, students and teachers, one of our answers is "raise funds through a Read-A-Thon." They are not only a wonderful way to raise money but are a great method for introducing or encouraging students to read African-themed books. And, like the participating families of Melrose Public Library Children's Room found out, they are a lot of fun!

"Dear FAVL,
This summer, the Melrose Public Library Children's Room arranged a read-a-thon in support of FAVL. A display of African-themes books was set up and the kids, as part of the annual summer reading program, were given a bead for every African book they read. The beads went into a jar, and the goal was to fill the jar with beads. At the end of the summer reading program, there were 169 beads in the jar. The kids kept their end of the deal so we kept ours: included, please find 12 checks totaling $325 from individuals/families in Melrose, MA. The kids had a great time reading about Africa. And I felt as good about expanding their perceptions of Africa as I do about supporting FAVL. Thank you for FAVL's excellent model and commitment to steady, sustained growth in Africa's villages."

Thank you to all the students, families and Melrose Public Library Children's Room staff who participated in the read-a-thon and contributed to FAVL!

Read here to see how you can organize your own Read-A-Thon. 

Disclaimer : This post is not my own personal review of this book, but is a discussion of a book review on lefaso.net by Arsène Flavien BATIONO. I have not yet read this book, but after this review, look forward to doing so very much.

In my daydreams...

Ghana to hike taxes on mining companies

Wed Nov 16, 2011 12:40pm GMT

ACCRA Nov 16 (Reuters) - Ghana will seek to boost revenues from its mining industry next year by hiking taxes, according to a text of the 2012 budget delivered to parliament on Wednesday.

The corporate tax rate on miners will increase to 35 percent from 25 percent and a separate 10 percent tax on windfall profits will be introduced, according to the text.

The move follows talks between Ghana's government and gold miners last month, in which the government proposed new ways for the country to benefit from the soaring price of the precious metal.

Ghana is Africa's second-biggest gold producer nation and the International Monetary Fund said in October it had recommended the country consider increasing taxes or introducing new ones to boost revenue.

Ghana, also the continent's newest oil producer and the world's No. 2 cocoa grower, expects GDP growth of 9.4 percent in 2012 from 13.6 percent in 2011.

"With oil not expected to contribute hugely significantly to overall revenue for some time, the effort to raise revenue elsewhere in the economy, especially the 10 percentage point increase in the tax rate for mines - is a sound move," said Razia Khan, an analyst at Standard Chartered.

Firms operating in Ghana include subsidiaries of Newmont Gold, AngloGold Ashanti and South Africa-based Goldfields.

The Ghana Mine Workers Union have been calling for the imposition of a windfall tax in addition to raising the country's stake in the mines to enable the economy to benefit from the attractive gold prices. (Reporting by Christian Akorlie and Clair MacDougall; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by David Lewis)

As Michael mentioned, he visited Burkina for two weeks from the end of October to the beginning of November. Unfortunately, his visit coincided with my home leave, so we didn't cross paths. During his visit, he was joined by Susan Popko, the Director of International Programs at Santa Clara University and the Director of the RWA Program. Both Michael and Susan got the chance to visit the FAVL libraries and take part in a regional meeting of librarians in Houndé. Here are a couple of family photos from the meeting.

I just came back from my month-long home leave in America. It was good to see my family and friends after such a long time and catch up on everyone's lives. I was lucky enough to be there for my parent's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebration; went to a hometown minor league hockey game; ate at Anchor Bar, the home of the ORIGINAL buffalo wing (which was just as tasty as you'd imagine it to be); saw Millard Fillmore's grave; and ate more cream cheese than I ever dreamed of (I don't think I've ever truly appreciated how delicious the stuff is). A lot has changed in two years: my little sister is planning her wedding; everyone and their Uncle Joe own and are constantly on their iPhones; and I no longer have such a strong grasp of the English language. It was nice to be able to see all these things and all the people that I loved, but I missed Burkina and am glad to be back.

I didn't just catch up with old friends and gain the obligatory American ten pounds; I also got the chance to speak to high school students about my life in Burkina and about FAVL. My mom, who is a French teacher in my hometown, invited to me to "teach" a few of her classes and speak to her World Language Club, which is interested in doing a fundraiser for FAVL. The kids were enthusiastic and interested. It gave me a captive audience to which I could describe all my good and bad experiences as a volunteer as well as the wonderful and very weird things I have seen in my two years in Burkina. After one presentation, I even heard one girl in the hall saying, "I want to go to Africa with the Peace Corps too!" It's hard sometimes as a Peace Corps volunteer to feel very accomplished, but at that moment I decided maybe I have achieved a little something.

Anyway, it's good to be back (especially now that mini hot season is on its way out) and now I'm ready and rearing to go for the next 10 months at FAVL!

I got back last week from a too short two-week trip to Burkina Faso, where I spent a few days in the village of Bereba and southern town of Bobo-Dioulasso (which was in a lot of disrepair). Beautiful nights in Bereba village taking bucket showers outside under the Milky Way in 90 degree heat. The libraries were all great, and more about them later.

Heard an interesting story from a friend who is secretary at the local prefecture. A man came in early in the morning. He said his father had died last year. After his father was buried, other villagers came and told him, "Do not bury your father in your compound; he was a sorcerer. It will be bad for you if he is buried there." So they unearthed the body and buried it in the village waste area (where animals are slaughtered etc). Then last week a woman died. The villagers said, "Your father was a sorcerer and so are you. You must leave the village or we will beat you to death." So the man asked the prefect for protection. The prefect called the villagers.
"You cannot beat him and hurt him. It is not allowed by the law."
"But he is a sorcerer, like his father, and a woman died, so he must leave the village."
The prefect said, "I cannot say anything about that." Everyone left muttering.

That reminded my friend of another story. If you are accused of sorcery, you can go live in a village called Koura, for three years, and then sacrifice an ox, and you will be cleansed. That happened to an old woman who had lost her husband and had no children. She was accused of sorcery, so she left to live in Koura. At the end of the three years nobody would pay to buy an ox to sacrifice. She committed suicide.

The man who was accused of being a sorcerer said he would not go to Koura.  "Why should I leave my own village?" he asked loudly in the prefecture.

Sad tales from Burkina Faso. Sometimes life is sweet, but often it is very bitter indeed.

Chinua Achebe seems determined to keep every ounce of integrity he has. Good for him!

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan regrets acclaimed author Chinua Achebe's rejection of a prestigious national award, his spokesman says. Mr Achebe said the concerns he raised about Nigeria when he first rejected the award in 2004 remain unresolved. At the time, Mr Achebe said the situation in poverty and violence-hit Nigeria was becoming worse. Nigeria's presidential spokesman said his continued rejection was surprising and "flies in the face" of reality. Mr Jonathan won elections in April that were hailed by foreign observers as free and fair. But an estimated 500 people were killed and thousands displaced from their homes in northern Nigeria in post-election violence after supporters of the main opposition Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) party denounced the result as fraudulent.

Full story here.  Last night I started reading Arrow of God... had to stop myself after an hour... I need sleep!

Dear Friends,

It has become a regular feature of my annual migrations to send out a letter with news about that library in Uganda that you all so generously support--and I should say that I'm only able to do so because of the help that Susan Lagneau gives in designing it. And you all help in different ways; this letter constitutes my annual thank you.

Some of you may wish to send us money. In the United States it's easy--just follow the instructions at the bottom of the letter for sending it to our umbrella organization, Friends of African Village Libraries (FAVL). Unfortunately, we now have no way of receiving money from Canada that will get you a tax refund; the Osu Children's Library Fund, which was helping us, has been told that it is not permitted to send funds to a US non-profit. Nor do we have any means of providing a tax refund to donors in the UK. However, we can accept cheques (note the spelling!) from those countries if they are made out to KITENGESA COMMUNITY LIBRARY. We can pay them directly into our bank account in Uganda since for some reason Uganda banks are more flexible about accepting foreign cheques than US ones are.

Your contributions are always appreciated. They won't now go towards the building work but towards supporting the library scholars and, I hope, soon, raising the librarians' salaries. They--Dan, Gorreth, and Julius--are working very hard for very little money, and I'm anxious to give them a better financial reward especially since prices in Uganda are going through the roof. Also, of course, we constantly need to replenish and add to our collection of books; and yet another project that is on the horizon is to provide internet access at the library, using our solar electricity and a modem/router that I plan to purchase on my next visit. This latter should be another source of revenue, together with our new hall, if we play it right, but of course none of that revenue has yet been realized.

The main thing, though, is to give you the news. So please open the attachment and enjoy it!

Kate Parry

Le lundi 07 novembre 2011 Monique et moi avons quitté Ouagadougou aux environs de 5heure pour Ouargaye ou nous sommes arrivés à 9heure. C'est une foule de personnes qui nous accueille tout  en nous souhaitons la bienvenue.  La rencontre a commencé à 9heure 25mn dans la salle de réunion de la Mairie. Etaient présent  le Maire de la dite commune, son secrétaire général, quelques conseillers municipaux, du conseiller pédagogique, des directeurs d'écoles, des membres des Associations parents élèves.

Après le mot de bienvenu de monsieur le Maire, qui a invité les participants à être attentifs, vu qu'il   devait s'agir d'un travail de large diffusion d'information, il  a donné la parole aux représentants de FAVL.  Monique,  la Coordonnatrice Représentante de FAVL à Ouagadougou a fait une brève historique  de la structure tout en soulignant l'importance de la lecture  l'impact  des bibliothèques dans  les autres localités. Elle a par ailleurs remercié le Maire pour avoir accepté de prendre en charge la bibliothèque pour une continuité durable. Moi j'ai donné les informations sur la philosophie de FAVL ses objectifs ses champs d'interventions ses partenaires etc. Après cette intervention de Monique ce fut le tour des participants de poser des questions. Au moins  5 questions ont été posé à savoir la collection de livres, la gestion, les bénéficiaires, les conditions  d'abonnements et les jeux concours. Nous avons donné respectivement des réponses très satisfaisantes  tout en souhaitant  une forte mobilisation des ceux-ci. La rencontre a durée 1h30mn dans la salle puis sait poursuivie par la visite des locaux pouvant abriter la future bibliothèque.
 
Deux locaux nous ont été présentés :
_ Le premier est un ancien bâtiment  de 3 maisonnettes collées composé chacune de deux pièces ayant un plafond décoiffé avec des fissures. Mais l'espace est suffisant et est bien situé .Des travaux réaménagement  doivent être faites à savoir décoiffer  le toit jusqu'au niveau de la fissure avant de reprendre   les travaux, faire la sape et la peinture.
_ le deuxième est un bâtiment en bon état mais avec moins d'espace et est situé juste derrière la direction provinciale de la police. Ce bâtiment n'a pas été retenue du fait qu'il ya des personnes qui ont peur des policiers surtout les tous petits et quelques adultes.

Cette visite s'est achevée par un petit pot avec le Maire son SG et les représentants de FAVL durant laquelle nous avons eu des échanges sur les devis de réfections du bâtiment et du matériel (chaises pour enfants étagères tables etc.) L e SG devra nous fournir dans les jours à venir les devis pour le démarrage des travaux. Nous avons quitté  Ouargaye aux environs de 15heure 30mn pour Ouaga

Fait à Ouagadougou le 10 novembre 2011
Dounko Sanou Animateur FAVL
 

FAVL's October 21st fundraiser, featuring Ghanaian author Nii Ayikwei Parkes, was a
great success, bringing in $3,000 for FAVL.
 
The 65 guests spent the evening mingling with other FAVLers and dining on delicious African dishes including poulet yassa, riz sauce arachide, allocco, red red and more.
 
Parkes read from his novel Tail of the Blue Bird and answered questions from the audience. Parkes was touring the United States to promote his book and freely donated his time to FAVL once he heard about the organization's work. The money raised will be used to help support FAVL libraries in Ghana.

Thank you to all those that came out to support FAVL and a special thanks to Nii Ayikwei Parkes!