Masifunde Sonke: Let Us Read Together
South Africa Partners, a nonprofit organization based in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Eastern Cape, South Africa, has launched a book project called Masifunde Sonke (Let Us Read Together), which features 25 South African children’s books. For each book sold in the United States, one is donated to an under–resourced school in South Africa. For more information, visit the South Africa Partners or Masifunde Sonke websites.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Nice-looking South African children's books....
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Talking on a misty morning provokes profound reflections
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Can someone help me with my hands?
The sound on the video is not great, so turn it up a little loud. And you see my hand gestures? I'm not Vice-Presidential material yet. I need the clenched fist with the thumb thing that Clinton would do, I think.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
How to network all the friends of community libraries of Africa?!
Friday, October 24, 2008
FAVL summer readings camps featured in Sidwaya, official newspaper of Burkina Faso
FAVL s’intéresse particulièrement aux élèves du CM1, en initiant des camps de lecture pendant les vacances. C’est ainsi que cette année encore, au sein des cinq bibliothèques villageoises, la coutume à été respectée. L’objectif de ce camp est d’encourager ces élèves et améliorer leurs capacités de lecture et d’écriture. FAVL n’a donc pas lésiné sur les ressources humaines compétentes pour atteindre ses objectifs. Ce sont des promoteurs de l’éducation par l’écriture et la lecture comme M. Jean Flavien Maré, Ismaël Ouédraogo, chargés de la psychologie de l’enfant et Rodrigue Sougué, chargé de l’éducation par le théâtre, appuyés par les animateurs locaux qui ont été promis à la tâche. Séances de lecture intensive, discussions en petits groupes sur des thèmes éducatifs, jeux d’animation, théâtre, chants, rédaction de contes, réalisation de bandes dessinées, pantomimes, mines, entre autres, ont occupé utilement ces élèves pendant le camp.
A la clôture, tous les animateurs se disent satisfaits des résultats réalisés.
C’est extraordinaire, nous a confié le coordonnateur : «Les plus cancres au départ, arrivent maintenant à lire couramment sinon de façon expressive. Les parents, même les plus réticents au départ, souhaitent que l’activité soit reconduite chaque année».
The full article is here.
Standard reading in U.S., never heard of it in Burkina Faso
La famille pauvre qui a une fille à marier peut espérer une amélioration de ses conditions matérielles grâce au mariage de la fille. La paix du ménage et la réussite éventuelle du mariage dépendent, entre autres, de la capacité du gendre à pourvoir aux besoins de la famille de son épouse. C’est bien le sens de la question que la cousine de l’héroïne pose à celle-ci : « Tu crois pouvoir être heureuse avec un mari pauvre ? Qu’est-ce qu’il donnera à ta famille ? » (p. 21). Pour protéger son intérêt, la famille se croit justifiée de donner la fille au plus offrant des prétendants, sans tenir compte de l’opinion ou des préférences de celle-ci. Oyono-Mbia a prêté à un des personnages de Trois prétendants... un mari une attitude fort cynique, qui est aussi l’aboutissement logique de la poursuite des intérêts égoïstes de la famille. Mbarga, l’oncle de l’héroïne, propose qu’on emmène celle-ci à Yaoundé pour la donner en mariage à quiconque pourrait verser la somme requise : « ...il faut que tu emmènes Juliette à Yaoundé cet après-midi même. Une fille de sa valeur se trouvera aisément d’autres prétendants en ville. Passe tous les grands ministères en revue, et propose la fille. Si quelqu’un accepte de te verser trois cent mille francs comptant, tu lui donnes Juliette sur-le-champ ! » (p. 101) Trois prétendants... un mari montre ainsi à quelle sorte de vente aux enchères peut aboutir la pratique actuelle de la dot en Afrique noire. C’est un procès bien articulé de la pratique courante de la vieille coutume de notre régime dotal.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Are you traveling Accra to Ouaga? Here's some travel advice
Visas for Burkina can be obtained at Burkina Embassy in Accra (same day if you go in early morning). Alternatively pickup the day after. Payment is $100 US cash. All bills must be dated after the year 2002. Speak French with the bureaucrats and they'll love you. STC Bus leaves from STC station in Accra ~8am almost every day to Bolga, takes about 14 hours and costs ~24 cedis. The bus makes many restroom and food stops.
To get from Sumbrungu to Ouaga we took the following route: Sumbrungu>Paga>Po>Ouaga
-Waited outside library for 45 min on main road to flag down a shared taxi ride. Cost is 1.5 person for a shared taxi with 5 people plus the driver or about 15 for private. The ride to Paga is 30 min and you do NOT need to pay the taxis a "luggage fee".
-At Paga you must get out of the car and walk across the border. You will be swarmed with offers for taxis and money exchange.
-Walk left at the border crossing and head into Ghana customs office. Ask one of the Ghana border agents to help you find a trusty person to exchange a little money for taxi etc before you can use ATM in Ouaga (about 423 F per US $ in 10/08)
-Physically walk across the border to Burkina passport control and then Burkina customs (which is to the right just after crossing the border).
-Take a taxi to Po. Should cost no more than 1,000 per person in a shared taxi. The ride is 30 min.
-In Po you will most likely be dropped at the bus station.
-Take the "Rakati" bus line buses up to Ouaga. The published schedule has a bus leaving every two hours or so starting at 10am. However, times may very and departure will most likely be at least 30 min late so be sure to ask at the official ticket counter to confirm the times. Tickets to Ouaga per
person should be about 3,000 F. The bus ride lasts about 4 hrs.
This may be too much info but we found this out the hard way.... General advice about taxis in Ghana and Burkina: Taxi driver will most likely quote you New York city cab prices if you look like you're from NewYork. Prices are quoted almost always at 2-3 times more than average. If you're comfortable bargaining ask a local friend what the right price should be and when approaching tax drivers name the place and price you're willing to pay. If they are unwilling to meet you're price then walking away will often get the desired results. Sometimes you may want to clarify if the taxi
is shared because the driver may sit and wait for other passengers or they'll pick to 5 others along the way. If taking TraTra bus with many other passengers you may want to ask them what they're paying before making your offer to the driver.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Bande dessinée in Central African Republic
Africultures continues to provide us with the info we need! A wonderful interview with Didier Kassaï on his art and story. An extract:
En 1990, je me suis fait découvrir lors d'un atelier de BD organisé par le Centre Culturel Français de Bangui. Dès lors, ma notoriété naissante a dépassé le cadre scolaire, obligeant du coup mes parents à changer d'attitude à mon égard. D'autant plus que j'ai été engagé deux ans plus tard, à temps partiel, comme illustrateur de presse biblique à l'imprimerie de la Mission protestante baptiste de Sibut où j'ai travaillé jusqu'en 1996. Ce fut un hasard salutaire, car à la même époque, mon père ne travaillait plus et n'avait plus la possibilité de s'occuper de ses sept enfants dont j'étais le second. Grâce à mes modestes revenus dans le dessin, toute la famille a pu survivre et mes frères aller à l'école.
AdVenture Capitalists
Walking in the breathtaking landscape in the remote Nepali village of Lamatar we proudly returned warm smiles of welcome with our newly learned greeting “Namaste.” Upon which, and without fail, the local children would gladly respond to our traditional gesture, with not-so-traditional demand in English “Chocolate, Please!”
Fast forward thousands of miles to Paga Northern Ghana and as we stand frozen with cash in hand to pay a taxi driver for a trip to the Burkina border he looks at us longingly, wondering why we would cheat him out of the “bag fee”
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Thomas Sankara speaks
Now, I was more Buenaventura Durruti than Andrés Nin, but who wants to talk about "old washed up terrorists" from 70 years ago? Anyway, reviewing a book of speeches involves basically making political critique, so I felt like I should be up-font about my background. Since I am an economist, albeit of the anthropological do-gooder variety (have you been reading this blog?) I get fairly impatient with meandering three hour speeches in the hot sun from the maximum leader. You can anticipate where I am going here in reviewing Sankara's speeches.
In the middle of what was a two year long struggle to the death for power within the Voltaic army (pitting Colonel Somé Yoryan against Sankara), on March 26, 1983, Sankara gave a speech whose title sends shivers down the spine, "Who Are the Enemies of the People?" Imperialism was trembling, Sankara affirmed, before the revolution that was unfolding in Upper Volta. (Sankara would rename the country Burkina Faso later that year.) But who exactly were the enemies of the people? A good speech, as is this, shouldn't be too clear, otherwise it becomes a list, like this:
1. Corrupt people who use public office for private gain
2. Politicians (he does not really explain why)
3. Forces of obscurantism
4. Unpatriotic people
5. Imperialism and neocolonialism... generally unnamed but presumably meaning France and the United States and the powers behind all oppression everywhere in the world that Sankara does not want to excuse (he does want to excuse Libya, the Soviet Union and Cuba) who are powerful enough to stop the revolution in Burkina.
6. And towards the end in what seems to be a throwaway line, people with diplomas (who are lumped together with "owls with the shady look in their eyes", "fence-sitting chameleons", and "lepers who know only how to knock things over" (unkind!))
Are these really the enemies of the people in the sense of requiring analysis and elucidation? Corrupt politicians? Who is in favor of them? Burkina at the time had been ruled for about 15 years by the military ruler Sangoulé Lamizana, and to judge by Lamizana's simply-written if troubling memoirs published a few years ago, Lamizana was not a diploma-holder, not a politician, not a force of obscurantism, not a corrupt person (to any large degree), and not a "shady owl"... so what was he: a supporter of French "status quo" in West Africa, basically.
Are there other enemies of the people? Now, I want to give Sankara the benefit of the doubt: he remains a charismatic and much-loved figure in Burkina Faso. He was murdered in a tragic and poignant way by his comrade in arms Blaise Compaoré in a coup in 1987. But still, I find his analysis insufficient. I can think, in hindsight, of four "enemies of the people" who were obvious to anyone in 1983:
1. Dogmatic leftists who insist on the primacy of ideological debates that bear little relationship to the realities and pragmatic governance needed in a country like Burkina Faso.
2. Urban elites who use their power to strike in Ouagadougou to ensure more comfortable living standards for themselves (better roads, schools, hospitals, parks) than the 80% rural population.
3. Traditional chiefs and rulers who brandish authority solely by virtue of their inherited status; surely such persons need to be immediately demoted and delegitimized, regardless of the cost. What egalitarian society can allow such privilege by birth, completely decoupled from any pretense of merit, to persist?
4. Men. It took Sankara four years before he gave his famous speech on the status of women, but gender issues had been the subject of political discourse for decades in colonial Upper Volta.
Sankara is unable to engage in clear dialogue on these points in this most important speech. What does that say about his revolutionary heart? It tells me he preferred oration to illumination. A politician, in other words.
Monday, October 20, 2008
A book I want to read... ‘ Madame le Président de la République’
From the U.S. embassy website in Ouagadougou:
On Tuesday June 24th 2008, the American Cultural Center in collaboration with Antoine Sanon, organized a book signing ceremony in honor of his new book entitled ‘Madame le Président de la République’. The American Cultural Center was proud to host this activity because it supported our mutual goals of supporting freedom of speech, women's rights, and democracy. Professor Loada kicked off the event with a brief comparative analysis of democracy in Burkina Faso and the United States. The Center's own Binta Mayaki welcomed attendees by addressing the need for more local civil society initiatives to explore issues such as democracy and women's participation. Over 90 participants listened intently to the description of the book and supported a lively Q&A session.
« Madame le Président de la République » is a literary novel, which addresses the question of political succession and change in Burkina Faso. Antoine Sanon is currently Program Manager at Catholic Relief Services in Burkina Faso and President of the Permanent Council of Citizens of the World (CIVIPAX).
Whimsy from the New York Times, the Burro-bookmobile
Here's the first extract:
“This began as a necessity; then it became an obligation; and after that a custom,” he explained, squinting at the hills undulating into the horizon. “Now,” he said, “it is an institution.”Wow, this guy is an amazing wordsmith. Few could have come up with a more succinct pitch line! I'm super-jealous.
The article goes on:
Unlike Mr. García Márquez, who lives in Mexico City, Mr. Soriano has never traveled outside Colombia — but he remains dedicated to bringing its people a touch of the outside world. His project has won acclaim from the nation’s literacy specialists and is the subject of a new documentary by a Colombian filmmaker, Carlos Rendón Zipaguata.... After Mr. Gossaín broadcast details of Mr. Soriano’s project on his radio program, book donations poured in from throughout Colombia. A local financial institution, Cajamag, provided some financing for the construction of a small library next to his home, but the project remains only half-finished for lack of funds.So.... what are we to conclude now? This philosopher-social entrepreneur is actually... not very successful at creating an institution? Does he keep accounts for all the donations received? Where is the investigative journalism? Oh right, it is whimsical... He's riding a donkey with books, why hold him to any normal standard of accountability. (I told you it would get snarky.)
The story continues:
They stole one item from his book pouch: “Brida,” the story of an Irish girl and her search for knowledge, by the Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho. For some reason, Paulo Coelho is at the top of everyone’s list of favorites,” said Mr. Soriano...Having picked up a Coehlo self-help book at an airport once, thinking it was serious reading because foreign, and discovering it was Jonathan Livingston Seagull redux (a book I thrilled to as a twelve year old, BTW...) I'm surprised at the lack of irony here all around.
The article ends:
In the village of El Brasil, Ingrid Ospina, 18, leafed through a copy of “Margarita,” the classic book of poetry by Rubén Darío of Nicaragua...Well, OK, now I have a tear coming down my cheek... who can complain about Ruben Dario, or be snarky? I read him all through high school in Puerto Rico...
Read the full story here...
And by the way... Blattman made me do it ;-)
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Kitengesa Community Library is the proud possessor of an eGranary
As you know, the Kitengesa Community Library [in Uganda} is the proud possessor of an eGranary – that is, a hard disk with literally millions of texts on it, mostly taken from the Internet, and with software so that you can search them. We installed it early this year, but in the first few months it wasn’t being used very much – only by the librarians and a couple of the library scholars. Now, however, we have a Canadian volunteer working at the library, and her particular task (and research project) is to teach people how to use the eGranary and record its use. The result,to quote her: "E-granary has created mild chaos in the library. Order in the court! Big crowds have started to cause a lot of disturbance...". All this strengthens the case for getting our new computer centre up and running...
And since Shimmer Chinodya is from Zimbabwe, how about
Friday, October 17, 2008
Shimmer Chinodya
My fiction seeks to explore and extend the borders of reality, to question and tease matters of identity, class and culture, the past and the present; to explore the human condition in the most interesting and sensitive way possible. Every time I put pen to paper I ask myself, ‘What can my writing do for me and for the world? How can I refine my voice? How can I shock my reader into reflecting on the subject of existence? What is existence anyway, and what is the truth, perceived and otherwise? Can I grab my reader by the collar and make him or her gasp: ‘Gosh, I didn’t know it was possible to do this in a story, to write like this.’ As a black writer I obviously and primarily seek to portray an African world view but I want my literature to speak to the world as a whole. My works are experiments on the effects of time and change and socio-economic pressures on humans, and human relationships tangled in the eternal quest for happiness and fulfilment. I perpetually seek a harmonious fusion of theme and style. I’d hate to write a single boring paragraph. I believe a good book should exalt the heart and mind of the reader and NOT punish him/her and that lazy, boring writers should be dragged out to the market place and flogged in public!
Read more here...
Library friends as heroes!
ETHIOPIA READS FOUNDER NAMED TOP 10 HERO OF THE YEAR BY CNNRead more at the CNN website.
Yohannes Gebregeorgis, a native of Ethiopia and children's literacy advocate, has been named a Top 10 Hero of the Year by CNN. Mr. Gebregeorgis was selected from more than 3,000 individuals nominated by viewers throughout the year. Finalists were selected by a Blue Ribbon panel of judges that includes Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jane Goodall and Deepak Chopra. The Top 10 Heroes will be recognized in CNN's "All-Star Tribute" to air on Thanksgiving.
Yohannes was first recognized as a "hero" by CNN in May for his work championing children in Ethiopia. A former political refugee who worked as a librarian at San Francisco Public Library, Yohannes is the co-founder of Ethiopia Reads, a non-profit organization that works to create a reading culture in Ethiopia by connecting children with books. In a country where 99% of schools have no libraries, Yohannes and Ethiopia Reads are improving lives, one book at a time.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
[French] Burkinabè women writers
Soumaïla Sawadogo, dans le cadre de son mémoire de maîtrise en lettres modernes, option Critique littéraire, s’est intéressé à la présence des femmes sur l’échiquier littéraire burkinabè. "Les femmes sur la scène littéraire burkinabè : les pionnières, les œuvres, les thèmes".C’est sous ce thème que l’étudiant a analysé la situation des écrivaines de notre pays. C’est au cours des années 1980 que les femmes ont marqué leur entrée dans le monde littéraire avec comme pionnière, Pierrette Sandra Kanzié, Bernadette Dao et Adama Rosalie Tall.
Mais l’acte de naissance officiel de la littérature féminine burkinabè revient à la première citée avec la publication de son recueil de poèmes "Les tombes qui pleurent" en 1987. Aux côtés de ces trois femmes, on note la présence d’autres telles Monique Ilboudo, Angèle Bassolé, Marie Bernadette Tiendrébéogo, Sophie Heidi Kam, Hadiza Sanoussi, Suzzy Nikièma, Henriette Nikièma et bien d’autres encore.
What Goes on in Strangers’ Minds: Effects of Reading Stories About Outgroups on Outgroup Perception
Frank J. HakemulderFull paper is here.
Utrecht University
Literature has often been considered as a valuable source of information about the human psyche. Palmer (1992), for instance, argues that reading literary texts acquaints us with the experience of being someone else. Rorty (1989) suggested that reading novels enriches our moral awareness, because during the reading experience we find ourselves in shoes of a wide diversity of people. Thus, we get better and better at understanding moral situations from different points of view.
In a series of experiments it was examined whether reading a story colour readers’ perception of unfamiliar outgroup members. Participants, Dutch students, either read a story describing the experiences of an Algerian woman or a control text. Afterwards they responded to statements assessing their beliefs about Algerian women in general. Results indicated that readers’ perception was indeed biased by the story. Follow-up studies suggested that such effects may be significantly stronger for stories than for a non-narrative representation of similar information.
Monday, October 13, 2008
[French] Some notes from Koura Donkoui on the summer reading camps
Dohoun
Le coordonnateur a assisté a l’ouverture du camp de Dohoun. On notait la présence du directeur de l’école venu pour s’assurer de la présence effective des élèves. Apres le petit dejeuner, les animateurs ont debute avec les chants pour motiver. Durant les dix jours, les activités ont suivi normalement leur cours. Le premier jour, un ressortissant de Dohoun, Mamboue Eric resident a Maputo en Mozambique est venu visiter la bibliothèque. Il a echange avec le président du comite, le gérant, le directeur de l’école et le coordonnateur. Il a ete impresionne par la bibliotheque et surtout le camp de lecture. Il a promis d’appuyer la bibliotheque dans la mesure du possible. A la cloture, le president du comite de gestion de Dohoun a bien apprecie l’initiative et souhaite que ce camp soit organiose chaque annee en tenant compte de tous les élèves.
Sara
Apres Dohoun le premier jour, le coordonnateur est allé a Sara pour voir le demarage effectif du camp. Les animateurs ont signale la faiblesse du niveau des eleves en lecture. Ils ont pris l’engagement de trouver des techniques, des procedes pour relever le niveau. Une semaine après, les élèves de Sara ont commence a déchiffrer les mots sans hésitation. Au cour de la deuxième semaine, l’équipe de FAVL composée de Leslie, Viviane et du coordonnateur ont assisté aux activités de lecture, de dessin. Le constat ce jour etait le suivant : les enfants ont fait d’énormes progrès. La clôture du camp de Sara a ete dirigée par l’animateur Sanou Dounko qui nous a rassuré que les invités étaient très satisfaits du niveau des élèves en lecture. Le directeur de L’ecole a reconnu que les animateurs ont fait un très bon travail. La pérennisation du camp a ete souhaite par tous les eleves.
Niankorodougou, Sept. 2008: 16 new members, 170 books checked out; 891 visits
Bibliothèque Villageoise de Niankorodougou
Bibliothécaire : Monsieur Ouattara Moussa
Mois de Septembre
Abonnements : Pendant cet mois de Septembre 2008 j’ai enregistre 16 abonnes repartis dans le tableau ci dessous.
Types d’Abonnes | Nombres | Prix Unitaire | Somme Reçu |
Elèves du primaire (Filles) | 2 | 100 | 200 |
Elèves du primaire (Garçons) | 2 | 100 | 200 |
Elèves du secondaire (Filles) | 2 | 150 | 300 |
Elèves du secondaire (Garçons) | 4 | 150 | 600 |
Adultes (Femmes) | 1 | 250 | 250 |
Adultes (Hommes) | 5 | 250 | 1250 |
TOTAUX | 16 | | 2800 |
Stratégie de livres prêtes : Pendant cet mois de Septembre 2008 j’ai enregistre une sortie de 170 livres repartis dans le tableau ci dessous.
Littérature Africaine | 117 |
Littérature Français | 05 |
Littérature Anglais | 01 |
Manuels Scolaires | 00 |
Langues Nationales | 02 |
Arabe | 00 |
Bandes Dessinées | 45 |
TOTAUX | 170 |
Fréquentation de la bibliothèque : Le tableau indiquant le frequentation durant le mois de Septembre 2008 dans le tableau ci dessous.
Septembre | Enfants | Adultes | ||
Garçons | Filles | Hommes | Femmes | |
221 | 164 | 344 | 162 | |
TOTAUX | 891 |
Sunday, October 12, 2008
[French] Review of Inassouvies, nos vies by Fatou Diome
Lorsqu’une vieille sans enfant et dont le mari est mort à la guerre remplit ses heures de solitude avec un chat roux tigré – le seul fil qui la retient désormais à la vie – Betty pressent que quelque chose ne tourne pas rond dans de la vie de la veuve. Elle croise la veuve dans une boulangerie – qui, jadis fut celle de son époux –, elles discutent brièvement ; elle l’évite parfois, refuse même une invitation de la vieille pour se rendre compte, bien plus tard, qu’elle est peut-être la bouée de sauvetage de cette « doyenne » envoyée sans voies de recours dans une maison de retraite par des ascendants qui ont disparu du jour au lendemain. Sommes-nous assez conscients du désarroi d’un être fragilisé par l’âge dans un monde où « si l’euthanasie venait à être légalisée, on risquerait de voir des malappris se débarrasser de leurs ascendants à la première fuite urinaire » ?
Betty se rapproche de plus en plus de celle qu’elle a surnommée Félicité à cause de sa gaieté. Elle lui rend visite à la maison de retraite et entre peu à peu dans les abysses du passé de la veuve. C’est le début d’une grande amitié, une amitié qui montre du doigt l’indifférence de l’Occident à l’égard de leurs personnes du troisième âge. Lorsqu’elle ne trouve plus Félicité dans la maison de retraite, Betty sait qu’elle sa propre existence est en train de prendre un tournant.Lire plus....
Friday, October 10, 2008
And a last, I promise, IRIN feature: SOUTHERN AFRICA: Feature - Save our libraries!
MBABANE, 22 May 2003 (IRIN) - Challenging the technocratic vision of "virtual libraries" linking people to knowledge, librarians in Southern Africa say their "brick and book" buildings will remain the primary information centres for communities for some time to come.
"Information and knowledge are the catalysts that will empower Africa in her quest for development. By pursuing information for all, African library professionals are key actors in the attainment of the African Renaissance: the vision of a prosperous and peaceful continent," said Penny Birangi, co-chairperson for the Standing Conference of Eastern, Central and Southern African Libraries (SCECSAL) at its most recent biennial meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Last week, at an information summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by the UN's Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), southern African libraries made an impressive case amid the high-tech glitter of the Internet, geo-information and other computer-generated data providers. Old-fashioned libraries, they argued, remain the information source for a vast majority of Africans. Libraries are also the most cost-effective means of knowledge dissemination.
I couldn;t agree more. Read the whole article here.
Another IRIN article, this one on libraries in Africa
MBABANE, 1 September 2005 (IRIN) - African libraries are discovering new roles in society - no longer stuffy repositories of tattered books, but centres of community relevance where the youth can learn the habits of good citizenship.
"We are rethinking what a library is supposed to be. In Africa it can be much more than a warehouse to keep books," Katherine Parr, a consultant with the International Reading Association (IRA) working in Uganda, told IRIN.
Primary school fees waived in Togo
For the first time in recent years, primary school students started a new school year on October 6 in Togo without paying enrollment fees. The government has waived primary school fees as part of a more than US$80 million investment in the education system. While parents celebrated the savings, administrators taken aback by the surprise announcement worry how they will pay for school operations the fees had helped fund. Read the article at IRIN News online.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
New old film from Burkina Faso... for those of you in New York
Will it even get out here to San Jose?
I don't normally link to the NY Times... but "that one" suggested it.
In the feminist fable “Delwende” the African filmmaker S. Pierre Yameogo tackles social injustice in present-day Burkina Faso with grace, economy and exquisitely controlled anger. Read more...
Please tell me whether this ever happened... a public library in Kumasi
He spent restless nights mourning our throwaway culture until he hit upon an idea he was convinced had potential. He wanted to put together a library in Ghana with discarded books from Western.
Seven years later, Agyeman is set to officially open a 50,000-book public library in his hometown of Kumasi in central Ghana next month.
Literacy studies from Nigeria
The summary of the brief report is available here.
The first study, conducted by Isaac Adetunji Olaofe, examined public schools and illiteracy in Zaria, northern Nigeria. This action research was undertaken to get first-hand information about literacy teaching in five primary schools. The researchers set out to study teachers and students of English and aimed at better understanding the constraints each group faces.
To achieve these goals, inventory schedules were designed to record the materials and equipment in each classroom. In addition, an observation schedule through one school year allowed the research team to code activities during lesson presentations and to record classroom actions. In part, the researchers' findings revealed the following information: (a) All of the primary schools were deficient in the basic infrastructural facilities that make learning conducive, such as access roads, buildings, furniture, and toilets. Many classrooms lacked window covers, doors, ceilings, and basic items such as tables and chairs, and children generally sat on the floor. (b) The schools had very little in common in terms of ideas for teaching literacy. Working more in isolation, teachers did not share teaching experiences with one another. (c) Literacy materials were almost nonexistent. Copies of the sole text that was used were in short supply, and children were not allowed to take them home. (d) The schools lacked libraries and other teaching materials. (e) Lead teachers, inspectors, and supervisors saw themselves as administrative heads of a top-down administration and were less concerned about literacy development than with handing down directives. (f) Parental or home support was found to be extremely limited. (g) High absenteeism rates, especially during the planting and harvesting seasons (when student attendance fell below 50%) were credited to parental dissatisfaction with student progress. (h) Corruption was widespread, and most of the resources allocated for education did not reach the classrooms.
Monday, October 06, 2008
Gowrie-Kunkua library rewards top readers
Reading the sign for the hump in Uganda
Apart from perceiving reading and writing as vital to passing tests a majority also gave other reasons to why it is important to read. The children said that reading is important because you can “learn things”, “understand new things” and “get new skills” through reading. Reading also “helps you learn how to behave” and is a way to “communicate”. Moreover, some children said that it is important to read because otherwise you are not able to understand information given in written text. Those children stated that if you can not read you can miss out on information (and secrets) given through letters, signs and sheets. In addition, one child explained why reading is something to take seriously, since your life can depend on it.
A driver who didn’t know how to what? Read. Now like what? Like a sign. There is a hump ahead. That means you have to decrease what? The speed. This man just rushed, when he doesn’t know that it is ahead there, what? A hump. He ended up making an accident. Because he didn’t know how to read. He saw a doctor, there was nothing he could do. It was the ending of his life (Boy 13 years old, Mityana, 2007-02-27).
Some children also express the view that writing can be part of their everyday lives outside school. This view came through when some children stated that they wrote letters to pen-pals, poems and in their diaries at home. One girl stated that she wrote about the war in the North which she had experienced first hand and said that it made her sad to write about the war but that she felt better afterward (Girl 11 years old, Mityana, 2007-02-26).
Saturday, October 04, 2008
The Vice Presidential candidates on Darfur
Biden (was asked first): I don't have the stomach for genocide when it comes to Darfur. We can now impose a no-fly zone. It's within our capacity. We can lead NATO if we're willing to take a hard stand. We can, I've been in those camps in Chad. I've seen the suffering, thousands and tens of thousands have died and are dying. We should rally the world to act and demonstrate it by our own movement to provide the helicopters to get the 21,000 forces of the African Union in there now to stop this genocide.The complete transcript is here. The Sudan-related media picked it up immediately as both candidates agreed to favor a no-fly zone.
Palin: ...[first talked about Biden and Iraq]... But as for as Darfur, we can agree on that also, the supported of the no-fly zone, making sure that all options are on the table there also.
Friday, October 03, 2008
The House at Sugar Beach
Helene Cooper's memoir has been widely promoted; I read about it in Entertainment Weekly (don't ask) and I just saw something saying it was a Starbuck's promoted book. Hey, it's OK. It is written in a breezy informal reporter's style. Much of it is frivolous fluff (a little too much about her clothes, and the globalizing pop culture she grows up in- Michael Jackson and romance novels). Since her childhood is in Liberia, there are truly horrific scenes. Would be a good book for an African politics class; bringing that personal/political mix that is so potent when learning. If you want to read a memoir both searing and literary though, then I recommend Robert Graves' Goodbye to All That.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
I'd love for someone to do this in Koumbia...
Kindergarten as Nexus of Practice: A Mediated Discourse Analysis of Reading, Writing, Play, and Design in an Early Literacy Apprenticeship
Karen E. Wohlwend, Indiana University,
How does “playing school,” an ordinary childhood pastime, shape children's reading abilities, classroom identities, and relative social positioning? This ethnographic study of kindergarten literacy play situates children's combinations of play, reading, writing, and design within a nexus of practice (Scollon, 2001), the web of seemingly natural combinations of ways of interacting shared by an embodied community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991). When literacy and play practices combine, they support and strengthen one another, proliferating ways for children to “do school” and increasing access for diverse learners. For example, playing school produces a reading/playing nexus where (a) reading supports play goals—reading to play—as children read books and charts to make play scenarios more credible or to gain the cooperation of other players and (b) playing supports reading development—playing to read—as pretending to be the teacher and teaching pretend students enables children to share and explore reading strategies.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Philip Kwame Apagya from Ghana featured in Snapped
"The use of bright coloured backdrops creates an alternative reality in which all the convenience of Western Consumer culture are at the subject's fingertips while simultaneously playing with the viewers ability to read what we see at first glance. Apagya's work turns a flat canvas backdrop into an opulent suburban fantasy remade regularly to reflect current trends, popular fads and the wishes of his clients."