I arrived in Niankorodougou on December 28th from Ouahigouya, Burkina’s dusty northern city and was immediately taken aback. As a Peace Corps Small Enterprise Development (SED) Volunteer, most of my time training had been spent in villages larger than 10,000 people. I had not had many experiences with the small communities that comprise Burkina’s myriad of 65 different ethnic groups. When I arrived in Nianko located in the southern, Jula and Sinafu dominated region, I was overwhelmed by not only the amount of green (of which I’ve been told only gets better), but also by the strong sense of community. Within my first week, I had been invited to several homes for dinner, met a wide range of village officials, and been introduced by those officials to local customs such as the “causerie” (fancy word for afternoon of catching up with family and friends).

Within my first month at site, it was easy to understand how the library continues to expand in members and projects… this strong sense of community is a big reason. The library is amazing. I cannot stress what a phenomenal impact it is having on the community, myself included. The library acts as a central location for all ages regardless of native tongue or reading level to congregate and interact. I owe a great part of the ease in my transition to the library which presents an ideal place for seeing new faces and interacting. For a country with one of the lowest literacy rates in the world, it is inspiring to see how much pride Niankorodougou has for its library and associated events. Before even entering, it is customary to greet the librarian, Moussa, with a salutation. Once inside, the library’s friendly environment encourages people to stay and read. The great news is that now the library won’t be the only place for readers to gather in Niankorodougou. We broke ground for the reading hanger the first week of the new year which was an excellent way to put yet another foot forward in increasing Niankorodougou’s literacy rate. Located directly adjacent to the library, the expansion can now host a slew of community activities including weekly story time. Also expanding is the book catalogue within the library. Brian Rhodes, Niankorodougou’s Girls Empowerment PC Volunteer donated two French children’s books along with a calendar full of pictures of readers all ages using the library and smiling and just this week, new books were purchased in Bobo-Dioulasso to help encourage next month’s school reading competition. Results from the new year’s first reading competition were very positive and these new book additions hope to spark even more interest in the months to come.

Our completed reading space!!!

The month of November was previously designated as the reading competition month for the 6eme (equivalent of 6th grade) students in Niankorodougou. Moussa and I passed by all of the 6eme classrooms at the start of the month to announce details of the competition… all 6eme students were invited to participate by either sitting and reading at the library or by signing up as library members to take books home. Each student had a list of books they read. After finishing a book, students would return to the library and give Moussa a short summary of the story and characters and he would sign off on their reading list.

I am happy to announce the three top readers of the 6eme class. Drum roll please!

Coming in third place, Moussa Ouattara read six books. His favorite book was Le Fete du Lion. He liked reading about the lion who didn’t have any friends and was always alone.

Yasia Ganame

In second place, Yasia Ganame read seven books. His favorite book was Les Trois Jumeaux because it was a funny story about triplet brothers with the morale that you shouldn’t mock other people because you never knew what might happen to you.

Soumaila Ouattara

And our first place reader was Soumaila Ouattara with eight books. Soumaila preferred the book Afi et la Tambour Magique because it was interesting and had magic in it.

Each of these students received a notebook and ruler and were given stars on our “Reading Superstar” poster hanging in the library. The students were especially excited because the notebooks and rulers were sent from America.

All secondary students have break during the month of December, so we will be continuing the competition for the 5eme class (equivalent of 7th grade) in January.

The month of November continued the trend for growing numbers of library members, visits and borrowed books. This past month we:

·         Signed up 40 new library members (34 students and 6 adults)

·         Had 348 books borrowed and

·         Had 2767 library visits!

As many of you may already know, we first opened our library doors in June of 2008 and have been signing up members and lending books since then. Throughout the summer months the majority of community members, adults and children alike, were out working in their fields and government employed teachers and officials went to larger cities for vacation. And so we never had an official opening ceremony.

With vacation over and everyone back in village now, the library committee and librarian were thrilled to host a grand opening at the library on November 9th. Village officials, teachers and members of the parents’ school boards, students, friends and family were all invited to join us for the celebration. The mayor, librarian and I gave speeches on how the library started and how it would serve the community and the librarian organized a short theatre skit with several regular library visitors. Local musicians performed for the audience between speeches. And then we had a ribbon cutting by the mayor and school inspector.

Everyone invited came to the ceremony and many people who weren’t “officially” invited stopped by to join in the festivities. All of the speeches and the theatre skit were done in the local language so that everybody present could understand the benefits of the library. Once speeches and the theatre performance were finished, I was pleasantly surprised that everyone who came waited around to get a tour of the library with Moussa (the librarian).

I couldn’t have been happier with how the ceremony turned out, and the most gratifying part of the day was when over an hour after we had finished four older ladies from the community were still sitting in the library reading over our collection of books in local language! These women have just recently learned how to read as part of an outreach program going on throughout Burkina Faso but they had never been to the library before then. I’ve told them about the library many times in my limited local language but apparently they never understood what the library was for. But now they know! They know that the library is there for them and the rest of the community and I can’t wait to see them back reading.

The school year started back up again for primary and secondary students the second week of October and as expected…more students returning to village equals more students visiting the library. I am happy to report that in the month of October we signed up 46 new library members (36 students and 10 adults), had 193 books borrowed AND 2,232 library visitors!!!

Moussa visited all of the secondary school classes to talk about the library and we announced November as the first month of reading competitions for the 6th grade class.

Just last week I was in the nearby city of Banfora and stopped at the post office where I previously had a PO Box (I have since changed my PO Box to the city of Bobo). I was pleasantly surprised when one of the post office employees recognized me and informed me that I had received a package about a month ago. It was there waiting for me to pick up. I had no idea who it could be from…

I want to thank Principle Bruce Hagy, all of the faculty, students and parents of Our Mother of Consolation grade school in Chesnut Hill for their generous donations of stationary and school supplies for the library.

We have planned several “competitions” for the students with the stationary as prizes. At the secondary school, each of the four classes will be designated a reading month and the top three readers in each class will win a notebook and ruler. The top readers will also be recongnized as “Library Super Stars” on one of the decoration banners we received. The top reading class will receive a world map to hang up in their classroom. At the primary school, every student who enrolls as a library member will receive a pencil. The class that enrolls the most students will receive crayons and markers to use during break time. Additional supplies will be used at the library.

I know that for students back in the states, notebooks and rulers don’t seem like big prizes but the students here will be delighted to receive them.

So once again – Thank you, thank you, thank you!

On Tuesday, September 2nd the community of Niankorodougou was happy to welcome Brian Rhodes as its newest member. Brian arrived in Burkina Faso from Boulder, CO on June 11th and has spent the last three months in the city of Ouahigouya training to become a Peace Corps volunteer. On August 29th, he officially swore in as a Girls’ Education and Empowerment volunteer.

Brian will be staying here in Niankorodougou through August 2010 and working with the school administration and parent-teacher associations at the primary and secondary schools. The three goals of the Girls’ Education and Empowerment program are to: build confidence in both male and female students to succeed in school and become healthy and responsible community members, raise awareness of the importance of a “girl friendly” atmosphere in schools, and to increase community involvement in the school system.

Brian attended our monthly library committee meeting on September 5th and has expressed his enthusiasm for working with the library. Together with Moussa, the library committee and the active library members, Brian gives me further confidence that the library will be a huge success in the years to come.

With the rainy season coming to an end in Burkina, each day seems to be getting hotter and hotter. Community members are slowly starting to return to the village from their fields and so I am happy to report that along with the rising temperature, the number of library visits and members keeps going up. In August we enrolled 23 new library members for a current total of 81 members. 144 books were borrowed and we had 919 visits this month!

This past week I had my Close of Service Conference in Ouagadougou to discuss administrative and medical procedures for leaving Peace Corps Burkina, saying goodbye to my village and readjusting to life back in the states. I won’t be leaving the country until December 10th, but an important part of the conference was discussing how to wrap up current projects and leave village with the confidence that these projects can and will be sustained by the community. And of course I thought about the library.

I am confident that the library committee and librarian have everything under control and running smoothly. I have actually been out of village since August 3rd. In the two weeks I have been away, the committee and librarian had their monthly meeting, which I will be briefed on upon return. The librarian wrote out the monthly report for July and had a photo copy delivered to me in Ouagadougou.

In the month of July, we enrolled 30 new library members (18 students and 12 adults), had 139 books borrowed, and 753 library visits, more than 20 a day. That’s also more than two times the number of visits we had in June, and as I have said before all of these numbers will only go up with the end of vacation and the rainy season.

I stayed here in the capital over the last couple of days to buy more library books with the help of Friends of African Village Libraries. We bought about 100 African novels and children’s books yesterday to bring our library catalogue up to a total of 470 books. And we still have plenty of library book shopping to do! I go back to village tomorrow and can’t wait to deliver all of the new books to the enthusiastic library members.

With the support of our library committee and librarian, the library members give me further confidence that the library will be a success in the years to come. Members have already started requesting specific authors, titles and subjects. Each time I come to village with a new selection of books, the community barely gives the librarian time to catalogue the new titles and put them on the shelves before they are borrowed. As cliché as it sounds, the participation and enthusiasm of the community warms my heart.

I will be sad to leave in December and know that I will cry like a baby. But then I will think about the library and be happy to know that through this project, I will always be connected to Niankorodougou. The librarian and I are continuing with his computer and internet training so that he can send me reports and updates in the future. I will work as the Project Manager for the library from the states after I leave in December.

With the grant proposal from Friends of Burkina Faso and book donations from Our Mother of Consolation, Greenwoods Charter School and Friends of African Village Libraries, we officially opened our library the first week of June with a collection of 300+ books! And we still have $3000 of the $4000 grant to purchase more books and library materials.

Right now it’s the rainy season in Burkina Faso and it’s the time for everyone (adults and children alike) to work in their fields. Despite the fact that many people have left village for work, the community is taking advantage of the library with regular visits. Moussa works at the library Tuesday and Wednesday from 1pm-3pm and 5pm-6pm, and Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 8am-12pm and 3pm-5pm. These hours were selected by the library committee and librarian as the best times that community members can use the library facilities. The library is closed Monday and Friday.

In the month of June, we had 374 library visits, 28 adults and children sign up as library members and 48 books borrowed. These numbers will only go up as people return to village from their fields. In October, children will be returning to start school and at that time Moussa and I will be visiting all of the primary and secondary school classes to give library presentations.

In the meantime… Summer Reading is Fun!