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Je viens de recevoir un coffret de livres qui nous a été envoyé par Viviana Quiñones de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, également initiatrice de IFLA Sister Libraries. Ce paquet à suivi un magnifique poster envoyé par email en mi décembre dernier. De la collection "Petites Mains", ce coffret est composé de 16 minis livres très beaux, avec des textes simples, bien écrits et des dessins magnifiques. Sur le coffret on peu lire ceci :

"Les livres de la séries Petite Mains sont crées par des personnes venant de différents pays d'Afrique, du nord, du sud, de l'est, de l'ouest et du centre. Ces livres sont faits pour être lus dans les langues parlées par les enfants d'Afrique - comme l'amharique, l'arabe, l'afrikaans, le cinyanja, l'anglais , le français, le kinyarwanda, le kiswahili, le portugais, le mandingue, le twi, le xhosa... et toute autre langue qui pourrait vous venir à l'esprit !"

Je trouve ces livres - que j'ai parcourus - très adaptés au contexte burkinabè mais surtout africain en général. En effet, les titres comme La gaminerie de Titilope, Devinettes,  Bien propre, Salade de fruits, Six petits scarabées etc. serons certainement très appréciés par nos jeunes lecteurs qui  y trouverons de quoi se régaler et apprendre.

Nous formulons tous nos remerciements à Viviana et toute son équipe pour ces précieux cadeaux que nous ferons circuler dans toutes les 8 de bibliothèques de villages  FAVL au Burkina Faso. Ainsi, les lecteurs pourront découvrir ces minis livres lors de leurs passages dans leur bibliothèque respective.

SARE Bawaya Elisée


I just received a box of books sent from the National Library of France by Viviana Quiñones, also co-creator of IFLA Sister Libraries. The package followed a wonderful poster that was emailed to us in mid December. From the collection "Petites Mains," the set consists of 16 beautiful mini books that are well written with simple text and have beautiful pictures. On the box it says:

"The books in the 'Petites Mains' series are created by people from different countries of Africa: north, south, east, west and center. These books are meant to be read in the languages spoken by the children of Africa - such as Amharic, Arabic, Afrikaans, Cinyanja, English, French, Kinyarwanda, Kiswahili, Portuguese, Mandingo, Twi, Xhosa ... and any other language that comes to mind!"

I find these books --that I've read --very appropriate to the context of Burkina Faso and especially Africa in general. Indeed, titles including "The Mischievous Titilope," "Riddles," "Nice and Clean, Fruit Salad" and "Six Small Beetles" will certainly be appreciated by our young readers who can find something to enjoy and learn from.

We express our deepest thanks to Viviana and her entire team for these precious gifts that we will circulate in all eight FAVL libraries in Burkina Faso. This way, readers can discover these mini books during their visits in each of their respective libraries.

SARE Bawaya Elisée

Elisee, Charley and I returned from the town of Koudougou, where we made a 1h ½ long presentation on FAVL. The presentation was given to a group of Girls Education and Empowerment Peace Corps volunteers during their In Service Training (the 2 week long intensive training they do after being at site for 3 months).

Using powerpoint, Elisee described everything about FAVL and how it works. Charley and I « Peace Corpscified » it by sharing our ideas and experiences of volunteers using FAVL as a resource.

Overall the presentation went well; several volunteers expressed a lot of interest and asked a lot of questions. This is the second official presentation FAVL has made to PC volunteers. We hope they will continue over the years and help develop furthur relationships.

The recent visit to FAVL libraries that Charley and I made got me thinking a lot about libraries and their impact on the people of Burkina Faso. In village there were things that surprised us both and made us comment on a number of ways to make FAVL libraries run more smoothly and effectively. When you are from America and know what an "ideal library" should look like, it's hard not to want to transform that idea into the FAVL libraries. But obviously, doing so is difficult and not necessarily realistic in rural Burkina. Amy Reggio, a 2009 FAVL volunteer, once wrote about Bereba's library:  "The phrase, 'if you build it, they will come' feels really appropriate when I think of this library". This phrase speaks nothing but the truth. FAVL libraries offer villagers opportunities that might never have been available to them. There is no denying that they know this and take full advantage of that opportunity.

I saw several pictures that the USF professor took of libraries in Bobo (none of them FAVL). In one library, the American embassy funded an "American space," which is full of books and decorations. The rest of the library.... well, see for yourselves in the picture. The library is in the city of Bobo, the second largest city in Burkina Faso. THIS is all the books their library has to offer??!!

From the blog policy innovations (HT: Karen Monaghan).  Read full article here.

Development "success stories" are too often the exception rather than the rule. The history of development programs is rife with tales of high expectations followed by disappointment on the part of both aid recipients and donors, once-solid hopes and expectations melting into a pool of disillusionment. So when a case like Kitengesa village in Uganda comes along, where mini-grant funded projects are not only successful and self-sustaining, but also give birth to new projects that aid development, it is in everyone's interest to identify the ingredients of that successful recipe.

And a successful recipe for rural villages is certainly needed. Eighty-three percent of Ugandans reside in rural areas with 73 percent engaged in agriculture--and 34 percent live below the poverty line. As a landlocked country, with limited access to international markets, Uganda needs to look at programs that help raise living standards and promote quality of life in villages.

In Kitengesa, one of the villages of the Masaka district (population 5,000) in western central Uganda, that "recipe" started with a community library. In the year 2002, the simple mud-brick library building was constructed with a $3,000 grant from the UN Staff 1% for Development Fund. (This UN staff-supported fund, in line with ethicist Peter Singer's "Pledge," provides seed money to development projects.) The community library began providing books and newspapers to rural villagers who had had little access to reading materials before.

It is normal and lawful for every worker to at least take a reflection/evaluation of his/her work at the end of the year. This helps the worker to understand himself and his work better. It is based on this fact that I Lucas Amikiya Aligire the coordinator have taken this time to reflect/ evaluation over my work as the libraries coordinator for FAVL/CESRUD libraries in Ghana for the year 2010.

As part of my duties, I worked closely with librarians during the 2010 year in the various community libraries in Ghana to keep accurate records in terms of accounts and expenditure. Also monthly meeting for librarians were organized, which I was the chairman and issues relating to the welfare of the community libraries were always discussed. Information from FAVL/CESRUD was transmitted to librarians, and librarian concerns were also carried back to FAVL/ CESRUD board. Besides librarians monthly salaries were regularly paid by the coordinator.

The coordinator assists the librarians to organize libraries activities during the year. Both planned and surprise visits were made by the coordinator to the various community libraries through that warning letters in the case of performance of librarians were issued by the coordinator on behalf of the board to some librarians. The coordinator also participated actively during libraries committee meeting.  Training workshop were organized and conducted by the coordinator at this grounds' report writing, libraries activities, Promotion of reading culture, code of conduct and ethics of librarians among others were learned.

I also kept in touch with the librarians and the libraries user through my regular visits and work in the various libraries. This is base on my two (2) times a week visits to the libraries. I worked very hard to promote libraries and reading culture through public gathering and community meeting and events. I made a lot of travels during the year to attend libraries workshops and meetings. Meetings were organized in Bongo Beo and Bongo soa. The main purpose was about establishment of new libraries in their areas. These travels were sometimes outside the upper East Region and even outside Ghana. Through some of these travels the coordination was able to solve minor problems encountered by librarians in their daily work.

As coordinator I worked with volunteers managing their  food, water, health and everything , and this made their stay comfortable and pleasant. With the volunteers and my work the 2010 reading camp was successful.  It is because we were the main managers.  

Sending of monthly libraries reports and other information was always sent to FAVL director in the USA. I have personally read a lot of books during the year, some of them are Wife of The Gods, Sumbrungu Survival at all costs, A long way gone, Donkey Says No!, So Long a Letter, The New Great Game, Measuring time, among others.  

The above stated are some of the reflection of the Regional Coordinator during the 2010 year, More of them are there but time and space will not allow me. I will like to thank the following: FAVL BOARD, Donors, Sara Elisee and Everyone who worked so hard during the year.

Thank you.

By: AMIKIYA ALIGIRE LUCAS

Lucas Amikiya writes in from Bolgatanga:

The Coordinator of Ghana Libraries wishes to bring to the notice of the public and donors that, the Sherigu Library renovation is completed and the whole library (ie. Books, Shelves, etc) moved into the new building. The library committee and the community members are very happy that finally the library have move into the new structure which is said to be permanent place of the library.

On the 23rd on December, 2010 the youth which include the student of Gowrie - Kunkua came out in their numbers to clean the surrounding of the community library to show how much they love and cherish the library in their community. This was witnessed by the Regional Coordinator who was going for his usual visit to his surprise met the scene. The cleaning lasted 2 hours and it include dusting of the books, shelves, clearing the surrounding etc.  Besides the youth cleaning, the community members sent a delegation to CESRUD Director and FAVL board members to express their sincere thanks to board for the establishing a library in the Gowrie - Kunkua community and also organising a Reading Camp during the holidays for the kids. In their appreciation a goat was given to the Director of CESRUD and two chickens for the Regional Coordinator for the Christmas and New Year. They pledge their Support, Commitments, and Dedications to FAVL AND CESRUD board members.

From FAVL board member Kate Parry:

UgCLA received $23,150 in grants last year, most of which was to be passed on in one form or another to member libraries: building and installation of solar electricity for two, a set of children's books for ten, a set of health books for one together with money to run a health program, and subsidizing of two workshops for all our members. We have a further promise of $10,000 for this year and an indeterminate amount to be distributed in response to proposals from individual libraries. And, by the way, we now have more than 70 libraries on our members' list.