A Very Busy Month: October at a Glance

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.

A Special Thanks to Our Mother of Consolation

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.

 

 

I waited to bring the package back to village to open it with the librarian. Moussa was thrilled by the stacks of notebooks, rulers, pens and pencils, crayons, markers, colored pencils and more. With both primary and secondary school classes starting on October 15th the material is coming at the perfect time.

 

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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A New Face In Niankorodougou

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.