My Burkina Journal: Dry season

Burkina Faso is a poor land-locked country whose primary industry is agriculture, for lack of any other natural resources. According to a video Fina owns, Noir Coton, 80% of the population is involved in farming, one quarter of those in cotton production—at least this was true in 2009 when the film was made. Because I always visit during the dry season, this seemed amazing to me, especially in Ouagadougou, with its red, dry and dusty soil. I had seen cotton fields in our road trip out to Nouna and beyond, an industry that has apparently been around since the late 19th century, and became interested in learning more.

Cotton

The industry is dying, though, as much of France’s textile industry
has moved to China. Competition from that part of the world, and huge subsidies from the US producers, keep the prices artificially low, so that local farmers are now looking elsewhere for income. Cotton is an expensive crop, and like corn, requires regular rainfall, expensive fertilizer and pesticides, and eventually depletes the soil. The once-flourishing textile industry has virtually disappeared, so that when I gave Donkoui (from FAVL) the book Le Tisserand (The Weaver) last year, he recalled the weaving of his childhood—few do it any more because it is no longer profitable.

Harvested cotton seen on the way back from Nouna

This was sad to hear, as African textiles are something that is unique to this part of the world.

Woman weaving

Local hand-loomed fabric

It's starting to take on the reddish dust color, but below is a purse, with its hand-loomed front panel, which I bought a year ago at the Village Artisanal de Ouagdougou. The sturdy slubbed fabric that the bag is resting on is also hand-loomed. I'm hoping to visit my favorite souvenir shop, Nuance, this Saturday. I haven't been in three years, but I remember it as a treasure trove of carefully selected authentic Burkinabé handicrafts such as handbags, jewelry, textiles and decorative objects. At the time I bought a set of lovely striped, handwoven placemats and napkins, in purplish and turquoise hues.

I remember seeing some gold jewelry at the Village Artisanal as well, which struck me as odd in such a poor country. I have since learned that in 2003 serious mining exploration for gold began in Burkina Faso, with the passing of a new Mining Act, and there are now thirteen international companies active in the country. I became aware of this after meeting a number of people associated with this industry in "the English church", the predominately white English-speaking non-denominational group that meets at ANTBA, (the Association Nationale pour la Traduction de la Bible et l’Alphabétisation) on Sunday mornings. The quality of the gold is not as good as the South African variety, but gold mining provides a livelihood for many, bringing with it a scourge of new afflictions, including the exploitation of many children. I was horrified to learn that parents seeking extra income for themselves often encourage their children to visit the mines on days off from school, or to drop out of school entirely.

On a more cheerful note, I decided to add a little color to this blog. Although it is always the dry season when I come, there is more to see than the red dust everywhere here in Ouagadougou, even though sometimes you need to look carefully to find it. Some of the plants are strangely familiar

like the spectacular bougainvillea, the common vinca, snake plants, aloe, hibiscus, or the occasional rose. . . Others I have no clue what they are, but their presence is welcomed nonetheless!

Otherwise it has been a pretty quiet week working in the library. I mentioned to a principal of a small private elementary school that it might be nice to have his students go on an occasional educational field trip, suggesting that he take them to the big Mediathèque Municipale, the closest thing here to a public library, visit the children's room there and find out if they had any special programs for children. . . If you recall, I visited it last year, and have a colorful poster to give to children's room this year if I ever make it there again myself! And this time I'd like to take Martine with me to introduce her to the director there, Boubacar BERTE, whom I met last year.