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Funny you should ask! Actually, there are several correct responses to this question. Here are a couple I'll share with you from recent reports from Dounko.

1. It gives kids in the community an encouraging learning environment even when there is no school. Which is extremely important to their success at school and in life.

During Dounko's recent round of evaluations, he arrived find the librarian reading to some students from the primary school who had not had class in two weeks because their teacher was sick.

Dounko writes:

De la mairie nous sommes allés à Béléhédé pour l'évaluation. C'est un gérant en pleine activité de séance de lecture avec deux élèves de la classe de CP2 que nous avons trouvé devant la bibliothèque. Ces enfants sont venus pendant les heures de cours parce que leur maîtresse est malade depuis 2 semaines. Donc les élèves de sa classe ne vont pas à l'école. Ces deux enfants préfèrent venir à la bibliothèque pour apprendre à lire en attendant l'établissement de leur maîtresse pour reprendre les cours normalement. 

2. It's a great place for even kids who don't know how to read to come and play games that develop their critical thinking and motor skills (like puzzles) - which a lot of village kids in Burkina don't get the chance to do.

At the library in Dimikuy, Dounko talked to Razack KONKOBO, a young boy who Salimata confirms comes to the library often to work on puzzles and play other games.

Dounko writes:

La bibliothèque de Dimikuy établie pour les enfants et les femmes pour cette localité joue un rôle très important à l'égard des bénéficiaires. Nous avons rencontré le jeudi 03 mai 2012 cet enfant du nom de Razack Konkobo. Il est venu pour se distraire avec les jeux de puzzles sous le hangar en train de jouer. Nous l'avons demandé depuis quand il vient à la bibliothèque.

Voici ses propos (translated from Mooré into French by Dounko): « Chaque jour que la bibliothèque est ouverte je viens rester pour jouer. Je n'ai pas l'âge d'aller à l'école et comme je ne sais pas lire, je joue au classement de ce jeu. Je regarde bien comment c'est classé ensuite je reclasse les pièces. Regardez-moi faire. Quant j'irai à l'école je vais venir lire puis jouer. Cela me plaît beaucoup et je ne fais pas de bagarre avec mes amis du quartier.».

La bibliothécaire a confirmé les dires de Razack pour sa fréquentation de la bibliothèque et ses parents le savent ce qui fait que son absence prouve qu'il est à la bibliothèque en train de jouer.

One of the most important and challenging jobs of a librarian is the weekly activities that they hold at the library. Every librarian has activities that they do well and others that pose problems. During his trimestrial visit to the north, Dounko scheduled a "Day of Animations" at the library in Pobé to encourage the 3 librarians in the activities they did well and help them in the activities that were challenging for them.

Dounko writes:

Le  jeudi 10 mai 2012 à partir de 8h10, les bibliothécaires du nord en présence du représentant intérimaire de FAVL ont animé des activités au sein de la bibliothèque de Pobé-Mengao avec les élèves de la classe du CM1 de la dite localité. Le nombre de participants était 66 dont 45 filles et 21 garçons. Avant de commencer le représentant a souhaité la bienvenue à toutes et à tous puis donna le programme. Les participants ont chanté pour nous montrer leur satisfaction et surtout notre bienvenue dans leur bibliothèque.


Zébret Moumini commença la première activité par une séance de sensibilisation sur les maladies. Il a d'abord demandé qu'est-ce que c'est une maladie. Les enfants l'ont répondu: "une maladie est un mal de l'organisme qui empêche l'homme de se sentir à l'aise." C'est ainsi félicita celui qui a répondu à la question, avant d'expliquer aux participants les sortes de maladies qu'ils peuvent éviter: le paludisme, la diarrhée, la tuberculose, le VIH/sida, etc. et les précautions à prendre pour éviter ces maladies. Par exemple, dormir sous un moustiquaire pour le paludisme; éviter le contact du sang d'autrui pour le VIH/SIDA.

La deuxième activité était un conte avec pour titre : les trois gourmant en voyage. Le résumé du conte est que ces trois ne voulant laisser son camarade à toucher la farine qu'ils transportèrent pendant leur long voyage, moururent successivement de la manière suivante :
    - Le premier étant sur le tamarinier a voulu gifler celui qui surveillait la farine tomba et se cassa le cou.
    - Le seconde qui faisait marche arrière en allant au puits en observant celui qui gardait la farine se retrouva morte dans le puits.
    - Quant au troisième une antilope de passage plongea sa patte dans la farine et ce dernier la pourchassa pour laper la farine collé au sabot de celle-ci. L'antilope donna un coup de sabot et écrasa sa tête.
Des trois gourment qui est le plus bête ? Il a laissé a chacun de trouver le plus bête.


Koundaba Alou à son tour faire deux séances. La première sur l'hygiène corporelle et la seconde sur les devinettes. Après avoir expliqué ce c'est que l'hygiène corporelle, les risques de tomber malade grâce au manque de l'hygiène à beaucoup marqué les participants. Il a demandé aux participants de donner quelques maladies que l'on peut être victime si on ne se lave pas. Les enfants ont cité entre autres la diarrhée, la dysenterie, la lèpre et surtout les poux qui te gratter la tête où les fesses à n'importe quel moment où endroit. En ce concerne les devinettes, les élèves un niveau faible en français a fait qu'il les a fait en langue nationale Koronfé. Signalons que les enfants ont donné plusieurs devinettes en leur langue. La devinette qu'ils ont appréciée est la suivant : "j'ai cinq choses très importantes pour moi que doit pratiquer tous les jours. Les deux premières se fassent dans la journée et les trois autres la nuit. Quelles sont ces cinq choses?" La réponse est les cinq prières de l'Islam.


Konfé Hamidou quant à lui a mené une séance de lecture de livre avec pour titre L'arbre d'Awa. Ce livre nous raconte l'histoire d'un sage roi dont sa femme a accouché une princesse. Celui planta un arbre le même jour et attacha un djembé à l'arbre. Plus les jours passent, plus la princesse et l'arbre grandissent. Quand la fille atteignit l'âge de se marier le roi décida que celui qui grimpera détachera le djembé sera son beau frère. Tous les prétendants essayèrent en vain. Moussa, fils d'un pauvre gentille, quitta un village très éloigné vint grimper et détacha le djembé. Le roi donna sa princesse à celui et organisa une grande cérémonie de mariage. La leçon de moral tirée de ce conte est "seul le travail et l'honnêteté paye dans la vie." Les  enfants ont apprécié cette lecture du livre. Konfé demanda à une fille qui émerveilla par sa compréhension de livre avec un très bon résumé.

Dounko just got back from a trip up north, where he performed evaluations on the libraries and talked to the mayors about signing a contract to take over financial responsibilities for the libraries. They were very enthusiastic, and the mayor of Gourcy, a big reader himself, expressed his support for libraries.

Dounko writes:

Sur place le maire de Gourcy a instruit au S.G. de mettre une rubrique de récompense des meilleurs lecteurs à tous les niveaux scolaire de la commune dans le budget de 2013. Il a profité de cette occasion pour dire ceci :

« J'ai été 2eme meilleur lecteur de la Haute-Volta en 1969 grâce au concours de meilleur lecteur organisé par l'ambassade de la France. J'ai eu comme prix un vélo en son temps. Depuis lors j'ai aimé la lecture et cela m'a permis d'être major de ma promotion partout où je suis passé. Donc l'idée de la bibliothèque est bonne. Pas de soucis pour la signature. » 

At his office, the mayor instructed the S.G. to put in the 2013 budget a reward for the best readers at each scholastic level. He said:

"I was the the second best reader in the Upper Volta in 1969 thanks to a reading contest organized by the French Embassy. I got a bike as a prize. Since then I have loved to read, and this has allowed me to succeed everywhere I go. Thus, a library is a good idea."

The (temporary) mayor's office of Gourcy.

[Disclaimer: Since this post is so long, pictures will be coming in a post tomorrow. For now, enjoy the story of a fellow PCV and I visiting Brianna and her literacy courses in Ghana!]

After an unexpected delay in our departure and a few battles at the bus station, Kerry Kelly (a fellow PCV) and I were off to Ghana on Monday, April 30, 2012. Brianna and Lucas met us at the border, and we continued in a car to Sumbrungu. We would be staying at the women's center where the Sumbrungu Community Library is housed. Over dinner, we talked about our plan for the next week. Kerry and I wanted to observe Brianna's adult health literacy classes and do presentations featuring our new book, Mary Loses Her Teeth, a story featuring a young girl who learns about baby teeth, cavities and the importance of oral hygiene. Brianna had classes each afternoon at one of the three libraries from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. We planned to accompany her each day to observe for the first hour of the course, which was dedicated to literacy practice. Then we would do presentations about oral hygiene and our book during the second hour, which was allotted for the health portion of the day's lesson.

We spent the first night remarking on the differences between Ghana and Burkina and how hard it was to understand Ghanaian English. It didn't take long to see that Ghana was a much more developed country than Burkina. People and chickens looked more well-fed; dishes came to the table covered to keep out flies (sometimes in plastic wrap!); handwashing stations were everywhere and the number of fancy houses in the small city of Bolgatanga rivaled that even of Ouagadougou. It was also already rainy season, which was a welcome change coming from Burkina, where hot season is still insistently hanging around.

Since our mornings were free, we decided to explore the area with Brianna and Lucas as guides. On Tuesday, we went to the Sirigu Woman Organization of Pottery and Art, where we learned a little bit about traditional painted houses and basket weaving. I bought a really pretty fan that ended up coming in quite handy in during Ghana's extremely humid afternoons. The grounds featured a sculpture of Kofi Annan's head in honor of his visit to the center in 2002. We also visited the Pikworo Slave Camp, where Africans that were captured in the area were held while they waiting to be sent to the coast to be sent to the Americas. We had a guided tour of the area, and a few Ghanaians played percussion for us using small rocks to beat on a boulder. It was an interesting and sobering experience.  

In the afternoon, we went with Brianna and Lucas to the class in Kunkua-Gowrie. The class was very well attended with about 15 participants. There was one lone man, who interestingly did not seem out of place in a sea of women. Brianna and FAVL Ghana's research assistant, Richard, led the class. Brianna explained the lesson and Richard translated into local language, as most of the students did not understand English. At the beginning, students reviewed the consonant letter sounds that they had worked on in previous classes. Then, they moved on to vowels and words using those vowels like "ice." The class involved a lot of repetition of the sounds as a group and by individuals to get the members of the class used to saying the sounds. The second hour of the class was the health lesson. Since this class was going to meet twice during our visit, we were to present our book on the second day. So we observed Brianna and Richard's health lesson about babies and children.  As a class, they talked about how illnesses (especially malaria and diarrhea) disproportionately impact small children and what parents should do if their child is sick (go to the health clinic).  Brianna had created a health manual for the class with discussion questions and illustrations for each topic that each participant had received at the beginning of the course. They addressed the questions individually, and the students filled out their workbooks as they went along. Everyone (even the sole male) was very active in the discussion and had good comments and questions to contribute. It was great to see the women in particular participating so actively without deferring to the male member of the class or being intimidated by the male instructor.

On Wednesday morning, we went to the market, which was full of people selling basket s and pretty tie-dyed cloth. For lunch, we enjoyed a Ghanaian delight (one that I really wish that Burkina would get the memo about) of red-red. Red-red is a mixture of red beans and fried plantains covered in a spicy tomato sauce. Very tasty! On our way to class, we stopped at an arts and crafts village, which featured vendors selling the usual West African tourist fair: beaded jewelry, leather wallets, statues of elephants and women carrying babies on their backs. We stopped at one stall selling bows made entirely out of wood (including the part that is normally made out of string). We had quite a time taking turns getting lessons in shooting the bows. In the end, I was the only one who was unsuccessful in developing my hunting skills.

Wednesday meant class in Sherigu and our first oral hygiene presentation! The first hour of the class was spent in much the same manner as in Kunkua the previous day: a review of consonant sounds and the working on vowels. The demographic was about the same: mostly women with a couple of men interspersed. Simon, the librarian, led the session with periodic interjections from Brianna. He was a fantastic teacher - very patient and encouraging with the students. Kerry and I were up during the second hour with our dental hygiene book. The book is in English, and only a couple of the students were strong enough to read in English and translate into Fra Fra. So we decided the best strategy was to have those students take turns reading the text, and then they and Simon would translate for the rest of the class. First, we went over difficult words and expressions from the back of the book. Then we read the story and explained along the way. It went slowly, but at the end, everyone seemed to have gotten the gist of it. Since this lesson had not originally been a part of the curriculum, there was no page in the students' workbook for them to fill out. So we just took time at the end of class to answer any questions they had. As in Kunkua, the class got really involved in the discussion and asked a lot of great questions. A lot of the participants said that they already chewed on Nime branches, but they didn't know it could help them keep their teeth healthy. They also said they would encourage their kids to start brushing their teeth on a regular basis and make the Nime powder if they couldn't afford toothpaste. The class went over by almost an hour because everyone was so engrossed in the conversation.    

Late Thursday morning, Kerry, Brianna and I met with Lucas and two of the librarians to discuss strategies for continuing the class after Brianna's departure. Brianna had created a manual for them that included best practices, tips on improving encouraging literacy and a guide to 20 literacy classes. She also gave them sample registration sheets. Since reading camps would be an interruption to any adult health literacy class that started immediately, and would thus bode badly for attendance, the librarians decided it was best to wait until later in the year to start again. They also decided that next time around, they would charge a small fee to ensure that participants would take the class seriously and to off-set some of the cost of printing the workbooks and of buying pens and notebook holders for everyone. Since the librarians had been basically running the classes themselves for the last few weeks, they felt confident that they would be able to do that alone in the future. The hope is that adult literacy classes will become an annual event like the summer reading camps.

Thursday's class was our second in Kunkua-Gowrie, and this time, Kerry and I were going to give our dental health presentation. Richard was not present this time, so the librarian ran the class. Brianna wanted to get them into the habit of doing that so that they would be able to continue the class after her return to America. The class went much the same way as the others. During the first hour, the class worked on their literacy skills. Then, we read the book about oral hygiene as a class. This time, there was only one girl who could read the English well enough to read aloud. To facilitate the process, the librarian translated as we went along. We had a question and answer period here too. The students asked good questions (though different from those in Sherigu). We encouraged them to pass along the advice on oral hygiene to their children and the other people in their families.

On Friday morning, Kerry left bright and early to catch a bus to Kumasi before continuing to the beach. So it was just Brianna and I for class in Sumbrungu in the afternoon. Brianna told me that at Sumbrungu, she has had a big problem with attendance and few of her students came on a regular basis. Thus, when 3 p.m. rolled around, we were not surprised to have only three women present. Fortunately, they came eager to learn. Because of poor attendance, Brianna had not been able to advance as far with this class as with the others. They were still working on associating letters with the sounds they made. As the three of them practiced, some stragglers showed up, until we ended up with about ten women present. After the literacy portion of the class, it was time to talk dental hygiene. Since the literacy level of the class was so low, there was no one who was able to read the text for everyone. We decided the best way to go through the book was for me to read and for the assistant to explain in Fra Fra as we went along. In the other classes, we noticed everyone's attention wandering as the English readers went through the text. So we took a minute before beginning to tell everyone to follow along with a pencil as I read. After a few false starts because the women had mistaken my direction to mean that they repeat the words after I said them, the reading went along fairly smoothly. It was hard for me at first to read slowly enough for them to keep up, so I had to slow myself down by following the words with a pencil like I had instructed the participants to. Again, the women seemed interested in the information and asked a lot of questions. In all the classes, a popular inquiry was about gums bleeding while you brush your teeth.

Since Brianna would be leaving the following Thursday, it would be her last class in Sumbrungu. Each participant was to receive a certificate for their participation, but only if they had attended at least 50% of the classes. Sadly, this meant that only a few of the women present received them. But those who got them were thrilled! Brianna got quite a few hugs, and everyone came together for a group picture.

During the trip, Kerry and I both commented on how we wished we could have done similar projects in our villages in Burkina. All the participants seemed to get a lot out of both the literacy and health portions of the course. Maybe with our new volunteer Antoinette's help, we can get classes going at some of our libraries here in Burkina! 

We're welcoming a second PCV to the FAVL Burkina team. Antoinette Yost will be working in Houndé. Some of the projects that she will be working on include: planning and facilitating Burkina's summer reading camps; creating and distributing a resource manual for the librarians with information and activities on topics such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, gender and hygiene; and working closely with Dounko and the librarians to improve the libraries in the Houndé area. We're excited to have her on the team. Here's a short interview with her:

I'd like to apologize to all you FAVL fans out there for my lack of blog updates lately. I know you're on the edges of your seats waiting to hear what's going on here in good ole Ouagadougou.

Dounko and I have been pretty busy lately. The FAVL team just finished up a round of evaluations for the LED research, and we've working hard to enter all the data into the computer. The responses are really interesting, and you have to chuckle when a kid tells you that one of his evening tasks is eating and it's difficult. We hope to be done with this by the end of the week!

We've also been making the rounds in Ouaga FINALLY dropping off the letter to ask for financial help for the reading camps. So far, we have a few positive "we're interested and we'll see what we can do"s. We're going to work to make sure they become "we'd love to help out your camps because it's an awesome project"s! We got a very positive response from a representative of the American Embassy in Ouagadougou, so keep your fingers crossed!

I will be leaving for Ghana on Monday to visit our 3 libraries there. I'll be doing a training with another PCV from Burkina and Brianna about how to sustain Brianna's health literacy class after her departure in a couple of weeks. Kerry and I will also be débuing our new health book for primary school students, Mary Loses Her Teeth. It's the riveting tale of a young girl who learns about oral hygiene from her father, and when she doesn't follow his advice, learns firsthand what can happen when you don't take care of your teeth. The French version, Fatou Perde Ses Dents, will be available in Burkina upon our return. Looking forward to a few days in *knock on wood* the cooler temperatures of a country already in the midst of rainy season!

In the meantime, enjoy an image from the LED Evaluations:

Le travail sur les camps de lecture avance. Voici les nouvelles:

Le Corps de la Paix a donné permission d'utiliser la salle au bureau pour la formation des volontaires. La date de la formation est le 23 juin. Pendant la semaine, je vais envoyer un mail pour voir le nombre des volontaires qui sont intéressés a participer aux camps.

Regina et moi, on va rencontrer un représentant de l'ambassade d'Amérique pour demander les fonds. L'ambassade donne les petits bourses aux projets au Burkina, et on va discuter si FAVL peut être un récipient des fonds. Le rencontre est à 17h30 demain.

Dounko et moi, on va commencer à déposer les lettres de demandes de soutien demain.

On a passé a DIACFA and Mercury (une autre libraire à Ouaga) et on a choisi deux livres pour les camps. Bouba et Zaza Protègent La Terre (à 1.800 FCFA per copie; 45.000 FCFA en total) et Le Rêve d'Amina par Fatou N'Diaye Sow et Moustapha N'Diaye, l'histoire d'une petite fille qui veut aller à l'école (à 2.900 par copie et 36.250 en total). La dernier, on doit commander les copies et ça va venir dans 3 semaines. On a décidé que 25 copies chacun est bon.

On va voir si on peut joindre un bande-dessiné Kouka comme c'est juste 100 FCFA par copie.

On Thursday, April 19, the monthly librarian meeting for the month of March took place in Houndé. (It had been delayed due to LED research evaluations and preparation for the Monique's departure.)

Here was what we talked about:

1. Summary of the latrine and hygiene training in Baskouré
2. LED research
3. Discussion and distribution of Echo Library Newsletter and Annual Report 2011
4. Reminder to librarians to recuperate late books
5. Miscellaneous
    a. Introduction of Antoinette - a Peace Corps volunteer who will be working with FAVL in     Houndé
    b. Departure of Monique

    c. World Malaria Day (April 25)

During the summary of the latrine and hygiene training, Dounko gave a demonstration of how to contruct a handwashing station. The librarians all took turns using the station (Dounko showed them that they should turn off the "faucet" with an elbow so that they didn't recontaminate their hands after washing them.). An old woman who lives in the courtyard saw our demonstration and was interested. So Donkoui showed her how to use the handwashing station, and then she used it herself. It was a nice little demonstration of our skills, and when Donkoui gets a handwashing station for his courtyard, hopefully she will use it too! We encouraged all of the librarians to construct the stations (which are very inexpensive) at their libraries and their homes. We also asked the librarians to come up with a schedule of activities for presenting the information they learned about hygiene at their libraries. 

 

I came across an interview with the famous author from April 12, 2011 on LATimes.com. Even though Ms. Cleary was definitely not talking about Africa or not even about libraries, there was one part of the interview that really hit home with the mission of FAVL. She said:

I had a bad time in school in the first grade. Because I had been a rather lonely child on a farm, but I was free and wild and to be shut up in a classroom -- there were 40 children on those days in the classroom, and it was quite a shock. The reader was incredibly stupid -- about Ruth and John and Rover. But my mother always kept library books in the house, and one rainy Sunday afternoon -- this was before television, and we didn't even have a radio -- I picked up a book to look at the pictures and discovered I was reading and enjoying what I read. It was "The Dutch Twins" by Lucy Fitch Perkins, who did a series of books about twins in different countries. Maybe that's why I had twins. (laughs) Something happened in "The Dutch Twins." They fell into the Zuider Zee. They were lively stories, with a simple vocabulary, so then I took off with this and I've been a reader ever since.

I really like what she has to say here. Mostly because we have a lot of kids who have no interest in school or learning whatsoever and come into a FAVL library just to look at books' images, especially those in our photo books. These are kids who probably don't speak/very much French and get discouraged in their large classrooms where they probably have little idea of what's going on. But they can understand simple language that is used in these photo books and are encouraged to look at more books and maybe even expand their literacy skills. 

We get a question a lot, from Burkinabè especially, about why, when Burkina has so many problems (food security, in particular), do we bother promoting literacy. Monique and I still to this day talk about the presentation we gave at the PC 50th Anniversary Fair, where someone asked why we give books to children instead of sacks of rice. They're right, in a way. One could argue that food security is the most pressing issue that Burkina faces, especially as climate change brings increasingly unpredictable rainy seasons and Malian refugees take shelter here. But that doesn't mean that all development solutions should necessarily fit into a box called "Food Security" and all resources be directed towards those kinds of programs. And it doesn't mean that development should equal food hand-outs. Because if there is anything I have learned in my three years in Burkina, development is a multi-layered beast, and efforts in all sectors are necessary to bring it about. So who knows when a kid if going to wander into a FAVL library one day, picks up a book and love it like Beverly Cleary did so long ago, and go on to become the Burkinabè politician who solves all these problems. Okay, that may be a bit far fetched. But maybe he'll become interested in reading, one day read about a new farming technique, share it in his village, and that village's food security problems will be alleviated. A much more realistic scenario.

This morning I gave a presentation at the International School of Ouagadougou (ISO) to help kick off their literacy month activities. They will be holding a read-a-thon from now until April 27th to raise money for FAVL's 2012 reading camps. During my presentation, I explained what FAVL is, what we do and how the read-a-thon is going to help us. For the read-a-thon itself, an activity mostly organized by ISO's librarian, students will ask for pledges for 15 blocks of time, and will pledge to read a certain amount of 15 minute blocks by the end of the month. The high school kids, who are required to do a certain amount of community service during the year, have extra incentive to participate as each participant will receive 5 hours of community service. The librarian also promised a schoolwide prize if everyone participates. She was very hopeful for a wide participation from the students. An expat volunteer for FAVL, who is also an ISO parent, has been working on outreach to parents to get maximum participation in the event.

Other events during ISO's Literacy Month include a D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) day where kids get to come dressed in pajamas and bring stuffed animals, a Poetry Slam and a Book Swap.

We're hoping for an awesome participation so we can raise some money for the reading camps!