David Pace visited Bereba village regularly over for more than ten years starting in 2007, doing photography and teaching students in the Santa Clara University Reading West Africa program. He was a regular supporter of the Bereba Library, a small one-room library established in 2001. The library is in need of rehabilitation and book collection in need of renewal. Help us honor the legacy of David, who passed away in October 2020, by contributing to the Bereba Library rehabilitation fund.
The Bereba Community Library was established in 2001 with generous donations channeled through Friends of African Village Libraries (FAVL) and in cooperation with the village community. In 2010, "authority" over the library was transferred to the newly created office of the mayor. Bereba commune, unfortunately, is one of the poorest communes in Burkina Faso, and the budget only has funding for a small monthly stipend for the librarian. Little rehabilitation work has been done since 2010.
The rehabilitation fund will enable repair of one of the mud-brick walls, which is fissured, "crepissage" (cementing) the exterior and painting the exterior white to make the building cooler, install electricity and fans, repaint the interior of the library, reconstruct the outdoor "hangar" area for reading and games, and, if funds permit, build a "reading room" annex for students to have light in the evening to do homework.
More and more children in Burkina Faso attend school, but complementary activities (leisure reading, night time studying, playing educational games such as Scrabble) are lacking. Access to these activities through a local public library likely enhance social and economic returns to schooling, resulting in more fulfilling lives. Schooling success also leads to more schooling attainment (into secondary school and, for some, university education) which delays child marriage and delays parenthood.
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