Rehabilitate Bereba Library to honor David Pace

FAVL staff in Burkina Faso have been working with the office of the mayor in Bereba to hire a part-time librarian to replace the now-retired librarian. Unfortauntely the mayor's office has been extremely slow about processing the transition. In the meantime, we cannot proceed with the refurbishing until the personnel issues are resolved. We hope to have more news in the coming weeks.

In more general news, because of the Covid19 pandemic, most libraries supported by FAVL were closed in March. The pandemic did not strike Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Uganda as hard as the United States or Europe, for reasons that remain somewhat poorly understood. Starting in October 2020, many local public health authorities allowed facilities such as libraries and schools to reopen. Most libraries supported by FAVL reopened, and were equipped with handwashing stations, and required patrons to wear masks.

The FAVL blog has been filled in recent months with news of activities from various libraries and programs. The mobile library in Houndé has been active since October, delivering reading materials to kids in schools. Librarians in the Tuy region have resumed monthly gatherings. The FAVL representative in Burkina Faso 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 January 2021. Over in Ghana, CESRUD library coordinator 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 in January 2021.  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.