Provide reading opportunities to schoolchildren

Thanks to generous donors who keep giving to the Motorbike Mobile Library project, we're getting closer to our goal. FAVL's Motorbike Library will be the first of it's kind in Burkina Faso, a country with one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. The goal of the project is to provide access to books in hard-to-reach rural villages in the southwest. Many of these villages are hard to get to due to pot-holed, unpaved roads. While they may have primary schools and middle schools, the classrooms are overcrowded and the stock of schoolbooks is limited. Access to other reading materials to supplement lessons is out of the question. Novels and picture books are expensive, often out of the price range for the average family, and are only available in larger urban centers. While FAVL has established and continues to support village libraries in the area, not everyone can easily reach them. The motorbike library would supply 400 adult and children's books to 12 rural communities in 3 zones. People would be able to lend books from the mobile library for two weeks, at which time the coordinator/driver would return to allow them to take new books. While in the communities, the coordinator/driver will also perform local folktales and other stories to encourage people to take advantage of the library. The cart carrying the books on the back of the moto will be covered to protect the books from dust and rain. We know that community members will enjoy finally having access to novels by African authors, picture books and farming and hygiene guides in local languages, and it's thanks to many wonderful donors that this project will become a reality.

Links:

• FAVL's website
• FAVL's blog

So far, the Mobile Library project has received $112 dollars. Thanks to our generous donors, we will be able to buy 20 picture books for children and novels for adults for the mobile library. The books will be very much appreciated by the residents of villages where they do not have regular access to reading materials. Once we buy the books, we will be able to transport them by bicycle to certain villages, but we still need more funds to be able to buy the motorbike and pay the salary of a driver. The motorbike, which has a cart attached to the back, will facilitate the task of traveling long distances over various types of terrain and delivering books to more remote villages. We look forward to beginning the project, and thank our generous donors for their help in providing reading materials to those who do not have regular access.

Links:

• Get FAVL project updates on our blog!