The WBFN Book Project’s donation of 52 boxes of books to my library project in Côte d’Ivoire—the Bibliothèque du Lycée Municipal de Jacqueville (BLMJ)—came as an unexpected surprise. Happy to receive this donation but not yet ready for shipping, I suggested that the books be kept till the day I had an opportunity to ship them. Little did I know that that day would come sooner rather than later. Indeed, an opportunity arose soon after my meeting with Zena, Pushpa and all the wonderful volunteers at the Book Project. I was given the opportunity to share space in a container bound for Côte d’Ivoire. In no time, the boxes were prepared and made ready for loading and shipment thanks to the dedication of everyone at the Book Project and family members.
The BLMJ opened its doors in January 2008, serving some 1,500 students thanks to a joint effort of a school principal and a group of dedicated teachers, who had agreed to work with me to bring the project to fruition. Thanks to the Book Project’s donation, the BLMJ is about to improve its current ratio of 1.2 books per student to a ratio of 2.8 books per student, all genres included.
But the story began much earlier than 2008. As a child growing up in West Africa in the 60s, books were not common, which is why I keep a vivid memory of my first experience, deciphering words from the first book I remember ever having in my hands. I realized then that the story forming in my head as I was reading it was similar to one I had heard several times at church. In 2002, I went back to my hometown to visit a teacher in my old primary school. Both my conversation with the teacher and the almost derelict state of the school where I first learned to read and write brought home to me that I had to do something, though I was unclear what it could be.
In 2005, I took my children to visit a secondary school where I had taught English in the late 80s. To my great disappointment and to my children’s shock, the school was in a terrible state, difficult to access and sad to look at. We could hardly make it through the trees and shrubs covering the dirt road leading into the school compound.
After these visits, I knew I could bring together my love for books and my search for a vehicle to give something back to the community. The reality was that both my old primary school and the secondary school I had taught in both lacked a school library. I decided I could help build brain muscles by facilitating access to books, education and information.
Rolling up my sleeves and getting down to the task, I quickly discovered that a secondary school in my hometown was well-poised to host a library project: it had a group of dedicated teachers willing to put in the extra time, and an existing shelter that could be transformed into a reading room and office.
The WBFN Book Project’s donation to the BLMJ goes a long way to increase the number of books the library has, covering a wide range of genres and significantly increasing the number of English language books. Indeed, though set in a French-speaking environment, this library project considers that sourcing age-appropriate books in English is an opportunity to open up new avenues, both for students and teachers, in a wider sub-region with 16 countries using French, English, and Portuguese as languages of access to education and information.
In places where the culture of libraries and reading is almost non-existent, school libraries can serve as a foundation for local, national and regional library networks. Assuming that libraries have a strategic function in any education system, a library-aware citizenry is likely to grant libraries their due place in a community. And, the students of today will be the citizens and community members and leaders of tomorrow. By reaching out to the students who come and research, read and borrow books from the BLMJ, the WBFN’s Book Project is contributing to the noble cause of preparing a better citizenry.
To find out all about the hard work that went on behind the scenes to make this shipment to Côte d’Ivoire possible, see last month article, Excitement in the Basement!
By Nicolas Nianduillet,
Senior Translator-Interpreter, GSDTI