Much happens in a few months. As I mentioned in an earlier post, over the summer I heard that there were plans to move the library to another building close to the entrance of the SIL Center to make it easier for those not affiliated with SIL. There was also discussion of sending one of the Burkinabe SIL staff to library school in Burkina Faso as there is an institution that provides higher education for librarians, archivists, and museum curators in the country. As a result, at the annual alternative gifts at Christmas fair at National Presbyterian Church, I proposed a project to raise funds to pay for schooling for a local staff person working in the library to attend that institution as one of the possible "gifts."
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| Draft floor plan for the "new" library |
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| Alternative gifts Christmas market at NPC |
Much has happened in my own personal life as my father passed away at 93 at the end of of October, and my sister Karin spent extended time in the hospital at the same time, followed by a lengthy time in rehabilitation. In addition, the political situation has been unstable in the country as the president of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaoré, suddenly resigned that same month after protests in the country when he tried to change the constitution to allow him to stay in power. But the situation has settled down it seems, and I have, consequently, made plans to return in mid-February.
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| A family portrait taken after my father's funeral |
I will be spending three weeks in Paris on the way there, and a new crisis has struck in France as well. Seventeen people have died in what many are calling the French 9/11. Radical Muslims killed most of the editorial staff of a weekly satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, that had published in the past what they perceived as blasphemous cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. This assassination was followed by two hostage-taking situations by the same, and related, radical Muslims. It must be understood that several of those killed at Charlie Hebdo, were extremely well known personalities in France, and were individuals who published in other satirical publications as well. For the French people, it was an enormous shock. These events were taken to be an assault on freedom of expression by the French, a most cherished French value, and a huge solidarity march resulted this past Sunday, along with a now very visible police presence, which is likely to continue for some time.
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| The Charlie Hebdo sharia edition |
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| The march on Sunday in Paris |
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