Provide reading opportunities to schoolchildren

In the past year 2020, FAVL received just over $1180 in donations for this project. Most of the funds were received in the last month of December. We thank the many donors!

We are planning then to use these funds to continue to pay the salary of the "animator" who drives the mobile library and organizes the visits. Last year we had a great animator who regularly took out the mobile library. He recently accepted another job, and so in December we recruitred a new animator, who is doing very well.  The animator is paid about $100 per month (it is a part-time position) so your donations cover the expenses for 2021.

On regular library activities, the FAVL blog has been filled in recent months with news of activities from various libraries and programs since October when activities resumed after the end of the Covid19 lockdowns and restrictions. Librarians in the Tuy region have resumed monthly gatherings. The FAVL representative in Burkina Faso, Sanou Dounko, regularly visits libraries. In October, he held a meeting with several mayors to coordinate efforts to ensure that librarians are hired as “municipal” employees. He met with librarians in three regional meetings in early December. Over in Ghana, CESRUD library coordinator Paul Ayutoliya has overseen the re-roofing and refurbishment of Gowrie-Kunkua library, as the roof blew off in a violent rainstorm in May. The Sumbrungu and Sherigu libraries have been very busy since they reopened. FAVL has also been committing funding to modest renewal of book collections, and locally in Burkina Faso the Ministry of Culture as well as the U.S. Embassy have been supporting the libraries. More news is available on the blog.

Over the past month, the BMP (Bibliotheque Mobile Pénélope,) has been going out five days a week and visiting schools and some other locations, offering young schoolchildren opportunities to read books, do coloring and drawing activities, and work on puzzles. We thought we would share some recent photos from the outings. School is set to resume in Burkina Faso in October. The BMP will then establish a regular schedule to visit schools during lunch and after school hours. One priority for the BMP is to restock with new children's books and more puzzles. FAVL has been lucky in that the current driver and animator of the BMP has promised to continue on for at least another six months.