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Wednesday was the annual book sale of the Library of the Santa Clara University. More than 8,000 books were on sale for only $1 each. Let's say that this was a huge opportunity for students, teachers and all books lovers. This year, all the benefit from this book sale will go to Friends of African Village Libraries. Also, this was for FAVL an occasion to show off our activities. Amanda and Mark, two former students of the study abroad program RWA, helped us to host an information table where displayed some micro-books made by the students and edited by FAVL, some pictures of the village libraries activities and life in rural area in Africa. Thanks to the dynamic team of the SCU Library, over $2,000 has been raised in this book sale, and the money will be used to acquire more children books for the village libraries supported by FAVL. Thank You, Santa Clara University!!

A reader visits Dounko in the FAVL office in Burkina Faso:

Le samedi 05 mai 2012, visite de George Gnoumou, Sergent des eaux et forêts, au siège de FAVL. 

"Après avoir arrêté mes études en classe de seconde au lycée Provincial du Tuy en 2007 moi et mes deux camarades avons fait de la bibliothèque de Bereba notre lieu de recherche et de préparation aux concours. Ceci faisant, nous trois avons réussi aux concours de la fonction publique. Moi je suis forestier, l'autre Agent technique de l'agriculture et le troisième est enseignant du primaire dans la province des Balle. La bibliothèque reste et restera dans ma mémoire et je souhaite que mes frères et sœurs en milieu rural font comme nous. La lecture est ma passion actuellement. Au nom de mes camarades je remercie tous les donateurs de même que ceux qui œuvrent pour la réussis des élèves en milieu rural grâce à la lecture. Les mots me manquent car celui qui ta donné le savoir ne peut pas être oublié dans ta vie. Que Dieu accorde à chacun d'eux longévité et surtout le succès dans leurs services ou dans leurs activités rémunératrices afin de soutenir l'éducation complémentaire en milieu rural."

[in original French below]

Bereba library is a place where students who abandoned their studies come seeking knowledge for success in examinations for jobs.  We met on Thursday, May 3, 2012 a young man Jean Gnama and his testimony is here.

My name is Jean Gnama I'm from the rural commune of Bereba and my village is 17km from Bereba where the library is located. I knew the library when I was in high school the 6th grade of Tuy provincial school 25km from Bereba. My older brother who attended the high school of Bereba told me about this library and advised to come to subscribe to instruct myself, because we did not in Houndé have a library as rich as that of Bereba. When I went for the first time I was really happy with what I could now use to increase my knowledge. I subscribed for 150f for a full year. Since then I frequent the library. At present I pursue my studies no further due to lack of financial means, but I continue to attend to not forget what I learned and I find it also as a place of research and preparation of my competition. Many of my comrades were successful in competitions for public service and I am sure I will succeed with it. This is the only place for us to grow and prepare our future. I thank the donors who are concerned about our future through the library. This is a nice gesture on their part and I encourage them to support us. The managers also do a good job. Congratulations to FAVL and I wish them good luck.

La bibliothèque de Béréba est un lieu ou des élèves ayant abandonnés leurs études viennent chercher le savoir pour la réussite aux concours. Nous avons rencontré le jeudi 03 mai 2012 Gnama Jean voici son témoignage.

Je m'appelle Gnama Jean je suis de la commune rurale de Béréba et mon village est à 17km de Béréba ou se trouve la bibliothèque. J'ai connu la bibliothèque quand je faisais la 6eme au lycée provincial du Tuy à 25km de Béréba. C'est mon  grand frère qui fréquentait au CEG de Béréba qui m'a parlé de cette bibliothèque et ma conseillé de venir m'abonner pour m'instruire, car à Houndé nous n'avions pas de bibliothèque aussi riche que celle de Béréba. Quand je suis passé pour la première fois j'étais vraiment content par ce que je pouvais désormais  accroitre mes connaissances. Je me suis abonné à 150f pour toute une année complète. Depuis lors je la fréquente. A l'heure actuelle je ne poursuis plus mes études par manque de moyens financiers, mais je continue de la fréquenter pour ne pas oublier ce que j'ai appris et aussi je la trouve comme un endroit de recherche et de préparation de mes concours. Beaucoup de mes camarades ont réussis aux concours de fonction publique et je suis certain qu'avec elle je réussirai.  C'est le seul endroit pour nous de nous cultiver et préparer notre avenir. Je remercie les donateurs qui sont soucieux de notre avenir grâce à la bibliothèque. C'est un beau geste de leur part et je les encourage à nous soutenir. Les gérants font aussi du bon travail. Toutes mes félicitations à FAVL et je leur souhaite bon vent.

I came across this chart of the trends for the real value of the dollar (the exchange rate adjusted for inflation, or purchasing power, in a sense) in Econbrowser.com, and realized with a start that one of the reasons FAVL got started in Burkina in 2001 was... the dollar was so darn high!  And so establishing libraries seems incredibly inexpensive.  I wonder if we would have been so enthusiastic if the dollar had been at its low!  Anyway, 15 libraries later, all I can say it thanks to the hundreds of generous donors that have enabled thousands of kids (and grown ups to) become avid readers in some of the most unfavored places in the world.

From FAVL volunteer Brianna Osetinsky:

At the beginning of February we officially began the book distribution with the visitors from the Chen Yet-Sen Foundation. Randomly selected students from the schools in the library communities would be receiving three books of their choice. After visiting the libraries, the visitors met with seven of the students, and inaugurated the program by giving them books of their choice.

On February 27 Lucas, Richard, Maxwell, Simon, and myself began traveling to schools to complete the book distribution for the rest of the students. Our car was laden with 10 boxes of books, with a mix of titles to give the students a wide range of choices. Most were African themed, like Kofi Has Malaria, The Cunning Tortoise, or Mumaizu and the Hippos, but we still had several titles with international themes, such as A Trip to the Theater, and a young readers edition of A Tale of Two Cities. In total we had 75 different titles for the students to chose from.

Before we began, we met with the Heads who were very enthusiastic about the book distribution. They helped us arrange a room to set up the books and worked with the teachers to alert the students. They thanked us for supporting their school by providing their students with resources to improve their reading.

The teachers were also helpful in gathering the students who were selected, and volunteering their classrooms. Some of the teachers asked for books themselves, but we encouraged them to make use of the libraries and explained that the books had to go to the children.

The students had been randomly selected the previous summer, and were in Primary 6 or Junior High School Form 1. They pulsed with nervous excitement as they filled out their questionnaire. Some were talkative and had to be reminded that the questionnaires we to be filled out individually, and others kept looking around at their friends and classmates who hung around the windows curiously. Still others worked with grave concentration, as if they believed they would not get the books if they wrote the wrong answers or took too long to complete the questions.

Once they finished the questionnaire, we allowed up to five students at a time to select their books. Some of the children rushed through in their excitement, still managing to pick out some of my favorite titles from the bunch. Others were more deliberate, and leafed through all of the books before carefully making their selections. As I recorded the student's selections we reminded them that the books were now their very own. They could share them with friends and family, but they should take good care of the books because they were theirs now. The students smiled proudly as they left holding their new books. Even though they probably should have returned to class, many of them sat outside the classrooms already engrossed in their new books.

We are just beginning the second week of the Adult Health Literacy Course in the libraries in northern Ghana. Richard, the research assistant, is doing very well, and has been helpful with the language and assisting the students in the class. The first week of classes we only did one day at each library in the hopes that after word got out about the first class, more students who had already registered but ignored the first class announcement, would show up to class on the assigned dates and times.  

So far this plan seems to have worked, because in Sherigu this Monday we have more than double the original number of students, and even more than had originally registered (but still a reasonable number, and all recorded in a register). The majority of all of the classes are female, but the couple young men who are in the class also seem keen to learn. The first class we explained the purpose and goals of the course, discussed the reasons for enrolling in the class, passed out materials, and began the alphabet.

Today we progressed along the lines that the class will take for the coming weeks, with the first part of the class dedicated to basic literacy skills, and the second part of the class more focused on general reading help and health information.

We are about half way through the alphabet, and the general reading skill we are working on is using pictures to understand books when they do not understand the words. The students are doing very well with that, and after class today we assigned them practice of the letters the had learned by writing them and by coming to the library and identifying them in simple books, and also to use picture books and predict or imagine what is taking place in the story.

The health topic of today was a survey of the importance of health literacy in the student's lives. They are interested in learning about ways to keep themselves and their families healthy through clean living, how to prevent diseases, and how to read and understand information about medicine or written instructions from health care providers.

So far the students are doing great, they follow along even when it is hard, and get very excited when they understand the words and letters, or accurately interpret the pictures. I think they especially enjoy finding the letters in simple books, as it is tangible evidence that they are moving towards understanding books.

It is quite humbling working with older women who could be my mother or grandmother struggling to write and understand the alphabet. Their dedication to learning is admirable, and as a teacher I get to share in the triumph when they are able to take ownership of the written letters and words.

I am revising the instructors manual for future use, and with Richard's help we will develop materials for adults in the local language. Rex has spoken with me about looking into funding for an adult literacy program for CESRUD, so possibly we could get some funding for a small print run of them in the future.