Here's one translated into Kasem, a language that Urs and Idda Niggli worked on, so it looks like they are aware of the site. They were mentioned some years ago in an earlier post of mine. Idda was my jogging partner a few years back when they were living and working nearby, and she taught water aerobics at "The Rec Center" (formerly part of the American Embassy building) when I visited in 2014. It was at their house that I met their Swiss compatriot, Alice, who also shared a mutual interest in libraries.
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| Idda and Urs Niggli |
I also sent an email to Simon Nicoulma about the African Storybook Project, and he has already alerted a few of his colleagues. The one negative is the interface language is English which is problematic for those who are not proficient in that language (think Francophone Africa). I have emailed the African Storybook Project people about this and received a positive response, so maybe they'll act on my suggestion.
This is also the week of FESPACO, the Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou, that African Film festival held here in Ouaga every two years. I've had a look at the schedule, but somehow nothing seems to catch my attention this year. Some of us will probably make it to a film or two, but probably more out of convenience of schedule, rather than going to see a film that is a "must see." Here's the FESPACO website.
We're currently thinking of seeing a film from Ghana, "Praising the LORD, Plus One", because a colleague from that country is interested in seeing it.
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| The SIL Archives |
Meanwhile, it looks like next week is going to be a busy one with possibly library visits so I am trying to get the routine things done (like the boring cataloguing, and re-cataloguing of the SIL publications and archival materials) which tend to be put on a back burner whenever I am interrupted. In the photo above, the language in question is Kasem [Ethnologue spelling] / Kassem [French spelling] / Kasim [local language spelling]. You can see from looking at the shelves that the study of this language by SIL started around 1983. I have decided to add see-references for some of these variant spellings as subject headings in the online catalog. The catalog itself, which can now be searched in French or English, is semi-bilingual with subject headings for French language materials in French and English, and subject headings for English language materials in English alone. That way a person who speaks only French (in addition to his or her African mother tongue, of course) will find only materials in French. Most anglophones searching the catalog are are at least semi-literate in French.
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| My desk--the remote to the A/C is to the left of the keyboard |
There are the library regulars, and one who I thought was going to be practically a resident there--Abou Sama. He is a doctoral student from Togo, who has managed to find himself an empty office at the Center while someone else is away, and now only comes to the library rarely. He is my neighbor, though, lodging at the other end of the building where I am staying, and we use the same kitchen, intended to be shared by 4 rooms. At the beginning of the month when he arrived, the refrigerator and kitchen cabinets were lined with fresh vegetables, and other perishables, but now that his time here is winding down (he leaves at the end of February), his stash has dwindled considerably.
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| Here is the dwindling kitchen counter stash of fruit and veggies-- there are still a dozen or so tomatoes, carrots, and a bag of tiny limes in the 'fridge |
Yesterday morning at breakfast time he was cooking a huge skillet of vegetables, which was fine, but the odor of rotten fish (was there something mysteriously lurking in there with those veggies?) permeating the kitchen was not, so I had my pain au chocolat and coffee out on the patio.
For a few days the expat woman rooming next to me with an unidentifiable accent seemed to limit her kitchen activity to making some sort of macrobiotic tea, which she made in gallon containers, several at a time.
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| The finished product, Kombucha tea |
And for days we were like two ships passing in the night, so I had no idea where she was from or why she is here. It turns out her name is Jenni Beadle, originally from Australia. She is apparently not new to West Africa, now living with her British husband in Chad after spending many years in Cameroon. She works with SIL there and is currently attending a 10-day long IT workshop here at the Center called Outilingua, which is training on various computer applications related to her work there. From what I can tell, there seem to be about 20 participants from various West African countries attending that same workshop.
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| I spoke too soon--a new supply now fills the kitchen sink |
The other thing is I have found a good tailor, who goes by the name of Hervé. I foolishly bought some fabric from one of the women who works here as a cleaning lady, who supplements her income by selling fabric and peanut butter. Not wanting to take fabric home with me (as 5 yards of fabric is quite heavy), I decided to have a top and pants made. Tailors here are almost all men, for some reason, and the one recommended to me was no exception. Since tailors don't use patterns [earlier blog posting], I decided to design an outfit myself, giving him sketches of both the desired back and front views along with my verbal commentary. I wanted a loosely fitting top with a faced v-neckline, rolled sleeves, the hem in the front of the garment rising slightly higher than the back, with two patch pockets in front, along with some slim-fitting pants. Here is the result:
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| the pattern up close--it is waxed cotton |
And, if you noticed my cryptic remark about the A/C remote, here is the reason:
The pictographs representing what would appear to be partly cloudy sky conditions actually mean party hazy... Fortunately there is a back-up generator at the Center, because the power cuts have been occurring with increasing frequency.
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