After a sweltering hot summer followed by a non-existent and then potentially catastrophic rainy, it will be so nice to sit back without the need of a paper or palm leaf created fan for air-circulation. Welp, not exactly. This is still Burkina. But it does mean that all of the surrounding villages youngest and brightest are arriving to start a new school year. This is my first time witnessing that influx of people and I have to say the difference at the library is night and day.

The numbers of visitors and books checked out from the library were reflected starting in September, the month students started arriving to pick the small grasses from the schoolyards. In anticipation for the return of some familiar faces, the library received  a lot of new materials from Paris courtesy of a donation from Hallettsville Rotary Interact. 20 new books including the Harry Potter Series, woven techniques, health and hygiene books and some great alphabet flashcards/tapes await eager reading hands.

new books!

The library also received a donation from FAVL (Friends of African Village Libraries) who donated 5 copies of Kathy Knowles’s new Jula/French book.

Moussa welcomes new copies of Crocodile Bread to the library!

Though the donation from HRI, we were also able to rebuild our hanger. Right before rainy season, an unfortunate gust of wind not only managed to topple our hanger over but left some nasty metal parts strewn across the dirt roads close to the library. After much discussion, we have built a metal roof with larger columns that the mason has assured me will stand the test of “many, many rainy seasons.” The new hanger really is a sight.

Early arrivals for children's story hour!

The construction lasted less than a week which is a huge reflection of how motivated the community was to rebuild the structure.With so many faces commenting on the pretty hanger, it seems like a good time to add more programming.

The month of November will kick off with reading competitions with Nianko’s 6 eme public and private CEG classes (US jh equivalent). Moussa just last week presented the importance of the library to each of the participating classes emphasizing hours of operation and that library cards are not necessary to compete (the library is free to all!).

Moussa speaks with the 6eme class at Nianko's private school

Top readers will receive notebooks, pencils, and rulers. Stay tuned for those results as well as how our new programming comes along!

After school readers at ease at the library

Over the past trimester, the library hosted two reading competitions with the 5eme and 4eme classes of Niankorodougou’s CEG (US junior high equivalent). After the final comprehension tests were taken, and tallies totaled, statistics digitally verified (errr on this —its africa!), Moussa presented the top three readers of each grade with a folder, pencil, and pad. Here are the very deserving, “travailleuse” winners!:

April Competition for 4eme:

Two way tie for 2nd, ladies first…..

Sita Traore read 7 books!

Zoumana Ouattara receives his cadeau for his 7 books!

And coming in first—-

Here are the results from earlier in the year, when the competition was held with the CEG 5 eme classes A and B. Since I assist with some extra-curricular clubs that align with this age group, I’ll try to spice up the commentary:

Join me in congratulating:

Third place winner….

Miriam Sanou

Miriam already gracefully towers over the boys with her gorgeous 6 foot frame. It is only fitting that she comes in as one of the tops in her class. Her favorite book was of the english title, “The Lucky Feather.” Miriam is a dream to have in any group activity as she is a natural born leader and very sharp. She has been instrumental in creating good discussion in girls club and during cooking sessions is one to always hold the pan. Her favorite dish from around the world (so far…) is Mexican tortillas!

Coming in 2nd:

Beh Ingan Ouattara

Beh speaks better english than I do french; really.  He wants to become an english professor and travel the world. I honestly know the sky is the limit for this smart kid. His favorite read for the competition was “L’adventure d’Albarla”, a true reflection of his personality. Beh enjoys “climbing mountains for sport like the white people” and is a joy to talk to because he is a classic example of a why kid with humor.

And the winner of the 5eme competition:

Abdou de Massa Coulibaly of the 5eA class!

Abdou read 16 books! I bet you would never guess that half of them were in English! Abdou is the pensive student who you at first think is not listening and then blows you backwards with his serious, introspective questions. His favorite classes are history and science and is a tough player on the soccer field. He is a very welcomed regular at the library!

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!