FAVL newsletter for Dec. 2016

1. Friends of African Village Libraries Newsletter December 2016
FAVL’s mission is to help create and
foster a culture of reading. Generous
donors and volunteers enable us to work
with local communities and non-profit
organizations to support libraries in
Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Uganda, to
develop innovative literacy programs
and to provide ongoing library staff
training.
As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization,
donations to FAVL are tax-deductible.
A team of North American volunteers
supports the FAVL paid staff in Africa.
Current fundraising priorities:
 Building an endowment for each of
the FAVL-supported community li-
braries.
 Renewing stock of locally-purchased
books by African authors.
 Producing more micro-books in local
languages and languages of instruc-
tion.
West Africa Director
Michael Kevane
Professor of Economics
Santa Clara University
mkevane@scu.edu
East Africa Director
Kate Parry
Professor of English
Hunter College
City University of New York
kateparry@earthlink.net
Address: P.O. Box 90533,
San Jose, CA 95109
Email: info@favl.org
Website & Blog: www.favl.org
The Year in Review
FAVL continues to grow, thanks to generous donors and grant organizations that share
our mission of promoting reading. We now support 34 village libraries in Burkina Faso,
3 village libraries in northern Ghana, the community library of Kitengesa in Uganda, and
the Uganda Community Library Association, with over 40 member libraries. We have
coordinating staff in all three countries where we operate, and FAVL Burkina Faso also
has six other program staff. The library services and reading programs offered at the
community libraries attract thousands of readers, young and old. We are very proud of
the dedication of our local staff and the village librarians. We are looking forward to new
opportunities in 2017 to extend the joy of reading, access to information, and enhanced
literacy skills to villages and towns throughout the continent.
FAVL had a busy year in 2016. Highlights include the following (there will be more
about some of these inside).
In Burkina Faso:
 20 new libraries in the provinces of Bam and Sanmatenga were opened in the begin-
ning of 2016 as part of a large $450,000 grant from USDA/Catholic Relief Services
Beoog Biiga II project. A 21st library opened in the town of Sebba near the border
with Niger. The marginalized populations of the Sahel, where life is made increas-
ingly precarious by insecurity and climate change, are very much in need of more
investments in education.
 A first annual conference was held in Ouagadougou, with 29 librarians from around
the country attending.
 Four new books were developed, printed and distributed, thanks especially to the
efforts of a volunteer university student from U.C. Berkeley.
 Summer reading camps were held in 22 libraries. These are amazing opportunities
for 4th graders to improve their reading skills and start using their village library.
 The staff is working with two libraries (Boni and Ouargaye) that were closed during
the political upheavals of 2014 and 2015, and they should reopen soon.
In Ghana:
 After-school reading programs were organized in all three libraries.
 300 books, primarily African novels, Ghanaian children’s books, and some school
books, were purchased in Accra, to replenish some of the now very old book collec-
tions.
 Coordinator Paul Ayutoliya continues to meet with officials to secure more local
support for the libraries.
In Uganda:
 The Uganda Community Libraries Association (UgCLA) held its sixth annual con-
ference in January 2016. The confer-
ence was hosted by one of the Asso-
ciation's member libraries, that of
Uganda Development Services
(UDS) in the eastern town of Kamu-
li. More than 40 people attended,
including representatives of 21 li-
braries.
 Kitengesa Library has hosted visits
from classes in local schools. Hun-
dreds of students had the chance to
spend class time reading books.
In the United States:
 FAVL has received great service from two Santa Clara University student interns in
2016. Maria Haddad-Khouri leveraged her French skills to produce four posters
about reading that are now on the walls of many of the libraries. Bethany Borowsky
has been keeping our Quickbooks accounting system up to date. They have both
also done a lot of blog post formatting, editing, book production, and all the office
tasks that keep us humming. We are really grateful for these contributions!

2. First Annual Librarian Conference Held in Burkina Faso
The three FAVL/CESRUD libraries
located in the northern region of Ghana
continue to thrive under the leadership
of FAVL Coordinator Paul Ayutoliya.
The number of patrons who visit the
Ghana libraries is impressive. For the
month of July, for example, 10,095
daily visits were recorded in the three
FAVL libraries. Children from the pri-
mary schools, students from local jun-
ior high schools, young adults, teachers,
and other members of the community
come to read, play games, or simply
socialize.
This past July the libraries partnered with the local
schools to offer several weeks of reading activities dur-
ing the school break. The “vacation classes” were different in each library, as librarians
worked with local teachers to design their own programs. In the Sumbrungu Community
Library, students were divided into two groups. The older children occupied classrooms
located near the library where they were taught their subject courses by teachers from the
community who volunteered their time. The younger kids gathered in the library hall where
they read stories and reviewed the basics of English, math, and science. The vacation classes
proved very popular with the children, who had to come to the library early in the morning
in order to get seats. They particularly enjoyed the educational games they learned, such as
the spelling games Yesse and Noun-Mania. The classes closed with a ceremony attended by
the teachers, the librarians, the students and pupils who participated, and the Executive Di-
rector of FAVL/CESRUD Ghana, Rex Asanga.
Support more projects like these!
Donate by mail or online at favl.org
Update from Ghana libraries (Sumbrungu, Sherigu, and
Gowrie-Kunkua)
The annual conference of the FAVL librarians in Burkina Faso was
held in Ouagadougou in late October. More than 40 participants
(including 29 librarians) came from all areas of the country to spend
two days discussing the management of their libraries and sharing their
experiences. Discussion topics ranged from how to encourage patrons
to return books on time, to the implementation of reading activities for
children, and the marketing of
the library to the community.
The librarians also had the
chance to hear from two Burk-
inabè authors, Ansonwin Ignace Hien and his daughter Flore Hien, who described the char-
acteristics of a good book and the different steps involved in its production. Professor
François de Charles Ouédraogo, from the University of Ouagadougou, reminded partici-
pants of the importance of reading in a much-appreciated talk. He offered his own story of
improving dramatically as a student when he discovered the pleasure of reading. Professor
Alain Sissao, an expert on Burkinabè literature, gave an hour-long introduction to the ma-
jor authors of the past and present. As a special guest, the editor of Planète Jeunes, a mag-
azine for young people that focuses on French West Africa, conducted a hands-on work-
shop about how to use the magazine as the basis for library activities and programs. Over-
all, it was a very successful conference, and the librarians felt better equipped to fulfill
their mission and reach their goals for the year as they returned to their villages.
Prof. François de Charles Ouédraogo

3. FAVL Produces New French Books
for Burkina Faso
Research in Uganda Libraries
The Multimedia Center in Houndé continues to produce books
by local authors to distribute in the FAVL Libraries. One recent
publication, Le Conducteur des Presidents, (The Presidents’
Driver) tells the life story of Koura Zama. Born and raised in
Bereba, Burkina Faso, Zama joined the French army in 1953,
serving in Mali, Senegal, Morocco and Algeria during the war.
He was taught how to
drive during this time.
After Burkina Faso gained
its independence, Zama
returned to his native
country and became the
private chauffeur of presi-
dent Thomas Sankara. The
book is co-authored by
Fankani Bovama and Mat-
thew Adams.
Volunteer Matthew Adams also created a book reproducing
Sankara’s speeches, and another book about the town of Bobo-
Dioulasso.
Three other FAVL photo books were printed and distributed in
2016. One on Bihoun Roger, a village council member from
Wakuy. Another was by Heather Cooper, with photos from her
time in the village of Rollo more than a decade ago. A third was
entitled L’acte de naissance de Djamilatou Gango, by Moussa
Ouattara. Moussa was the secretary-general in the office of the
mayor of the town of Boussouma, where FAVL recently estab-
lished a library. Moussa decided to write a book for parents and
children about he importance of obtaining a birth certificate
soon after birth. The book traces the story of Djamilatou and
her father. Djamilatou is 10, and wants to go to school. But she
cannot because her parents never got her a birth certificate. So
they must go through a lengthy bureaucratic process to get the
certificate.
The Houndé multimedia center, funded by Rotary International,
also printed more than 700 copies of other locally produced
booklets, for distribution to libraries in Burkina Faso.
The Girls’ Health Clubs,
in four FAVL libraries in
Burkina Faso, have con-
tinued to meet occasional-
ly to use Internet-enabled
smartphones. Koumbia
library had four sessions
during the summer of
2016. The project was
originally funded by the
organization Electronic
Information for Libraries
(EIFL). The young wom-
en are particularly keen on
using Facebook to net-
work with family who
live in cities.
Young Women Using Smartphones
During August 2016, Dr. Valeda Dent (FAVL Board member)
and Dr. Geoff Goodman returned to Uganda to explore the
impact of a six-month play-based intervention, known as Sto-
rytelling/Story-Acting (STSA). in two village libraries. Chil-
dren ages 3 to 5 in Mpigi Community Library and Kabubbu
Community Library were randomly assigned to participate in
either the STSA intervention (n = 63) or a story-reading activ-
ity (n = 60) for one hour twice per week for six months. Chil-
dren were measured in knowledge of colors, letters, numbers/
counting, sizes and comparisons, shapes, a receptive vocabu-
lary measure, and a theory of mind measure, before and after
the six-month intervention. Children who participated in the
STSA intervention had higher scores on the colors subtest of
the emergent literacy measure than children who did not par-
ticipate in this activity. When examining both groups together
(N = 121 post-intervention), only girls who scored low on a
baseline measure of receptive vocabulary ability showed im-
provement at post-intervention. Boys who initially scored low
showed no improvement.
The researchers suggest that preschool girls with poor recep-
tive vocabulary skills might show more improvement with the
STSA activity than preschool boys with similarly poor skills
because preschool boys might have lower emotional invest-
ment in an activity that includes telling and acting out sto-
ries. Additional forthcoming research includes a study of par-
ticipants’ twice-weekly drawings as markers of self-
representational change over time and a study of gender roles,
looking through the lens of the translated stories told by the
STSA participants.
FAVL nominated for consideration for
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
FAVL was proud that supporters nominated the organization for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The award is named after
the famed author of Pippi Longstocking. It is open to authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and reading promoters. Two years ago
the South African organization PRAESA won the award for their wide-reaching programs to promote reading Usually the award
goes to authors and illustrators of children’s literature, including, most recently, Meg Rosoff, Barbro Lindgren, Marisol Misenta,
Guus Kuijer, and Shaun Tan. What an amazing group of authors, some of our favorites!

4. NONPROFIT ORG
US POSTAGE PAID
SAN JOSE, CA
PERMIT NO. 1014
Friends of African Village Libraries
P.O. Box 90533
San Jose, CA 95109-3533
Current Resident or
Fourth graders in Tikaré participated in a summer reading camp in July 2016, one of 22 held in FAVL libraries in Burkina
Faso. The camp was organized by FAVL staff, the village librarian, a local teacher, and two village assistants. Breakfast and
lunch were provided to the kids. For many, it was their first chance to spend all day doing fun reading-related activities!