Dobrahima Traore
Age: 18
Ethnicity: Senoufo
Occupation: High School Student

What do you like about the library?
I like reading books by African authors, like The Ambiguous Adventure by Cheikh Amadou Kane and God's Bits of Wood by Sembene Ousmane.

Future Goals:
"I want to graduate at the top of my class so I can win a scholarship to go to college. I plan to study physical sciences and to become a pharmacist or doctor."

Book currently checked out: Maïmouna by Abdoulaye Sadji (it's my favorite)

*Librarian's comments: Dobrahima is our library's most prolific reader. He is constantly reading different books in the library, and always leaves the library with a new book.

Fernanda Traoré
Age: 9
Ethnicity: Senofo
Occupation: 4th grade student

What do you like about the library?
"I love to read! I come to the library for the weekly story-hours with the librarian. I like to read the comic books in my free time."

Currently checked out:
The children's magazine, Astrapi.

Future Goals:
"I want to become a nurse."

Ini Kambiré, winner of "The Library's Best Reader of 2002"
Age: 14
Ethnicity: Bwamu
Occupation: 7th grade student

What do you like about the library?
I enjoy reading novels and legends about Africa because they help connect us to our past. History is my favorite subject at school because we can learn so much from things that have already happened.

Future Goals:
"I want to become a nurse."

Book currently checked out: The Beautiful Tella, by Yollande Teme (it's my favorite)

*Librarian's comment: Ini is by far our most prolific female reader. She can read a novel in the morning and come back for another book in the afternoon.

Lohabate Koura
Age: 22
Occupation: Farmer

What do you like about the library?
"The library is a place where I find a variety of reading materials, from newspapers that update me on current world events to history novels that inform me of things before my birth. The library is very important because it allows people to be [intellectually] awakened, to learn good manners, and to develop the mind."

Future Goals:
"I would like to become a school teacher so that I can share my love for education with others."

Book currently checked out: The Suns of Independence, by Hamadou Kourouma

*FAVL intern David Guo's Comments: I found Lohabate reading "Theory of Economics" at the library because this year, since his father died, he had no money to start high school. Thus, reading textbooks at the library would be his only recourse to continue his education and possibly land him a job other than subsistence farming.

Sayouba Dera
Age: 24
Ethnicity: Mossi
Occupation: Bike mechanic, Vice-president of the English Club of Bereba

What do you like about the library?
"I go to the library to improve my English skills. I wanted to pursue English through the university level, but my high school did not offer English so I enrolled in technical school. Since then, the library has been my only access to English. Going to the library is like getting a free education, and things rarely are for free in Burkina. I can't thank you enough for the gift of reading."

Future Goals:
"I want to travel to America and speak English!"

Book currently checked out: Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier