Two Santa Clara University students (Mia Stephenson and Jenvieve Francisco) recently returned from six weeks volunteer work in the libraries in Ghana. They spent time living with the family of CESRUD (our local collaborators) board member George Akundiya. They hung out with Lucas, Bernard and Darius, the troika of librarians in the two libraries of Sumbrungu and Sherigu. But most of all, they tried to inspire the kids in the libraries to think of reading and learning as fun and wonderful things to be doing, and the way to succeed and improve one's life, even in the hard circumstances of Upper East Region, Ghana. So... here are the children learning "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes".... four very important English vocabulary words, immediately followed by "Eyes and Ears and Mouth and Nose."

Harriette Robinet and stories for children

One of our boosters over the years is Harriette Robinet, and I thought I would take a few lines to remark that her short novels- stories for young readers and high school students- mostly following experiences of African-American children in various historical settings- are great books to use in the classroom and also as 'books of the month' for libraries in Africa. We've sent a bunch of copies over to the libraries in Ghana, and I've asked to librarians to write back about the experiences of readers with the books. Should be interesting!

Two short clips from FAVL supported libraries

Below are two short clips of interviews from our librarian partners, and some students, in the libraries we support in West Africa. the first clip, in English, is from Sumbrungu, northern Ghana. Leslie Gray, FAVL vice-president, asked library patrons and library coordinator Rose Azupoka, and librarian Lucas Aligire, to speak on the library.



The second video is in French, and features Bereba librarian Sanou Dounko speaking about the library in Burkina Faso.