Jamila Hassoune, the Librarian of Marrakesh, announces a new Book Caravan

Seated womanI've been privileged to meet so many awesome social entrepreneurs around the world, doing fabulous work without much recognition (and often, even less funding). Jamila Hassoune is one of those social entrepreneurs, and we share a love for books and the power of access to books. We've been in touch for almost fifteen years, and I met her in person in 2014 when I was attending the diplomatic conference that resulted in the Treaty of Marrakesh. She's known as the Librarian of Marrakesh, in recognition of her dedication to books and her role as Morocco's first woman bookseller.

She leads Book Caravans into Morocco's rural regions to share knowledge, books and history with students and women. She just sent me the announcement of her new Book Caravan:

The 13th book caravan

Under the theme: The valorization of our heritage is a responsibility of our present and our future.

Jamila Hassoune is pleased to announce the 13th Edition of the book caravan from April 16 to 20, 2018. This edition will take place in the region Draa-Tafilalet in the south-east of Morocco, whose main city is Errachidia. Tafilalet is historical region famous for the largest oasis in the world located in Erfoud. 
Its living heritage and earthen constructions are a particularity of the pre-Saharan architecture. It was formerly known as Sijilmassa which was a former capital of Tafilalet. The date of the first foundation of this city is still imprecise. Léon l’africain reported that the City might be traced back to the era of Alexander the Great or that it would have been founded by a Roman general. Re-founded in 757 on the Saharan caravan route between the Niger River and Tangiers -- time before Tiaret (761), before Fez (808)-- Sijilmassa seems to be the oldest Muslim foundation in the Maghreb. 
According to resources of the East, it was a real center of civilization at that time. Many books and writings have helped to describe this region. The books of the geographer and historian Al Bakri, the traveler Ibn Batuta, european explorers like Renè Caillé, Gerhard Rohlfs, Walter Harris, Meunié…ect are among the famous references that document this civilization. These writings deserve a great and profound reading to restore the value of this region. 
Related to this subject the book caravan is intended to organize a four days vibrant event of culture full of activities for middle and high school students in Errachidia and Erfoud. This event aims to offer a context of exchange between participants from different parts of the world and the local community.
If you have an interest in women's literacy and literacy in general, please learn more about my friend, the Librarian of Marrakesh!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bringing Millions of Books to Billions of People: Making the Book Truly Accessible

Image
I believe in the power of books to change the world. That is not a particularly radical belief among librarians, but I hope to make you believe even more in the power of books. Literacy and access to knowledge underpins just about every social good, from education, to economic development, to health, to women’s empowerment, democracy and respect for human rights. Today, we are poised at a moment in time where we can transcend the limitations of past book technologies and bring the power of books to all humans. To bring the power of books to everybody on this planet, we must make books truly accessible. Love of the print book. It made me who I am. I’m a big fan of the printed book and always have been. However, as a technology, printed books come with serious challenges for some communities (like blind people) that technology can unlock. Consider the issues with printed books. First, they are place-based. In order to read a printed book, you must have physical access to it....
Read more

10X: CEO’s Update: Spring 2014

Image
10X: ten times the impact. That’s what’s been on my mind lately. How can our existing successful programs reach ten times more people? How can we use technology in a new way to improve people’s lives that is an order of magnitude better? Can we help stimulate the creation of far more technology-for-good ventures? The Benetech team has already accomplished great things for our users, but there is so much more we can do. Technology currently serves privileged groups through tools that provide access to education, literacy, health, and justice. But what about everybody else? While it’s not a panacea, technology has been the engine of so many improvements in society. The time has never been better to think 10X bigger! I have disruptive approaches to social innovation in mind, with an increasingly connected society where the cost of prototyping and deploying new products is extremely low, and where innovation is no longer the sole purview of well-funded for-profit corporations. We del...
Read more

On the Future of Braille: Thoughts by Radical Braille Advocates

Image
Guest Beneblog by  Betsy Beaumon, VP and General Manager, Benetech’s Global Literacy Program. Betsy Beaumon I recently had the honor to speak at the first-ever Braille Summit , hosted on June 19-21, 2013 by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) and Perkins School for the Blind. With the goal of promoting braille literacy, this landmark meeting brought together braille experts from around the world to Perkins’ campus in Watertown, Massachusetts. My biggest takeaway from the summit: the time could not be more urgent, and more hopeful, for the future of braille and the prospects of those who need it. That’s why braille is an important focus for us in Benetech’s Global Literacy Program — we know that we must keep braille relevant and make it more available. One of the biggest reasons is that among people who are blind, braille literacy has been linked with higher education levels, higher likelihood of employment and higher income. Accor...
Read more