My Burkina Journal: First week back in Ouaga

Well I started off on the wrong foot today, not only still jet-lagged, but I set my alarm clock [telephone] an hour early because I was still on Paris time, an hour ahead of Ouagadougou. But I did meet an interesting doctoral student [and his wife] doing research in the SIL library, and through him another young African man [most are 'young' at my age] doing Bible translation work. The latter was looking for a Bible translation by the French rabbinate done in 1899. No it wasn't physically in the library, but it is out of copyright and available online! In Hebrew and French, it can be found here.

So yes, always the librarian! He asked me about Friends of African Village Libraries, as I had somehow gotten into a discussion about reading in the villages, so I gave him an email contact as well. He had seen one of their libraries and was curious about it. . .

Working in the library

Of course every step forward in this country seems to be accompanied by a step backwards. Today I learned that since September 15, the new workday is la journée continue, which means everyone works from 7 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. with a half hour for lunch. A miserable idea. Gone is the 3 hour siesta in the middle of the day [they would leave for lunch at noon, return at 3 p.m. and work until 6 p.m.] I have been trying to get an extension cord for the public access computer because I think the outlet doesn't work. After an email correspondence with the computer people, they sent me two power cords instead of an extension cord at lunchtime, but when I walked over to their office this afternoon they were gone for the day. So I wait another day. The SIL library, on the other hand, is open M - F until 5 p.m.

One thing, however, that has improved in five years is the Internet speed. I don't know whether it is Onatel [the only Burkina Faso Internet provider], or the policies here at SIL [no YouTube, Vimeo, DirectConnect or Edonkey, etc.] during working hours, a limit of two connected items per person, no downloading huge files during working hours, etc.] but I can actually function as a librarian and visit the Library of Congress website, visit the Bibliothèque Nationale de France's online catalog, etc. to look up information while working in the library--amazing! And ResourceMate's ISBN retrieval, for cataloging materials is an absolute time-saver when it works. I must have added a couple dozen books today thanks to that time-saver. [ResourceMate, by Jaywil, is the software the SIL library uses.]

Ah, but what a difference a day can make. Today the Dymo LabelWriter 450 Turbo that makes the spine labels for the books decided not to recognize the label type that I need to use. It worked yesterday, not today. I tried re-installing the software, and downloading a new version of the software, but it doesn't solve the problem. I have now emailed the company and am hoping that is is a simple template problem. This is, of course, after I brought with me some fancy pre-cut spine-label protectors this year to cover the spine-labels I bought two years ago. . .

the spine label maker

And now the OPAC doesn't work—it was working great when I left the country a year ago.. Most people don't understand how difficult it is to work here [in Africa]. Things just HAPPEN. And if I have to contact someone in the US [say, 6 hours behind Ouagadougou in time zones] using some form of chat software to discuss my computer problems, you better believe that the aforementioned "journée continue", with all the computer people leaving at 3:30 p.m., that I am not going to find a soul to help me with the networking problem on this end. . .

And I haven't been able to catalog a stack of local language materials piled on the librarian's desk because each item presents a different problem. I think they were just left here for me because they ARE problems. Languages that have changed names, languages that are now sub-divided and recognized as separate languages ... languages where there is disagreement on what's what ... I can see why people burn-out and just give up ...

Today's problem materials (including the box contents)

Since I always need something to read in a place like this, especially during the evenings or on weekends if I'm not going anywhere, I picked up a dusty book in the "donated library" here called The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton, to pass the time. According to the book jacket: "Fiona Sweeney wants to do something that matters, and she chooses to make her mark in the arid bush of northeastern Kenya. By staring a traveling library..." You get the picture.