Onions from Holland

These last few weeks, onions have been a bit scarce here in Burkina Faso. Prices are up, and I even started seeing onions imported from Holland on the markets! How frustrating! We work with people growing onions during the winter, and when they sell at the end of the season the prices usually hit rock-bottom or you may even have trouble finding buyers. Everyone sells their onions at the same time. That's why we are working with conservation methods: if you can keep your onions in good shape for a few months you can get really good prices, and we won't need to import onions from the other end of the world.

Ouagadougou flooded!!!

Burkina Faso is known as one of the driest countries on earth. The rainy season, which lasts from about may/june to september/october, brings with it rains which often fall suddenly and heavily, but only come every two or three days. The rest of the year: not a drop! This is one of the reasons why I am working here: to increase the acces to water.

But this week, on tuesday september 1st, something quite the opposite happened: an extreme downpour plunged the whole capital Ouagadougou into the water. After a never-before seen downpour of 260 mm (whereas the total rainfall in one year would be about 600-700 mm) the entire capital was flooded. Water everywhere.

The city is not well equiped for this kind of weather, and thus about 150 000 people have lost their house and just about everything they own. Many poor people live in houses built with mud bricks, which melt like sugar in such extreme rain. And because of the speed with which the water rose many people did not have time to save their belongings. This is a hard blow to people who are already struggling for survival.

How come it's already friday, and still nothing has appeared about this on the news in Europe? Not important enough?

(picture: ocadesburkina.org)

check out this video on youtube

Africa's Che Guevara

One afternoon in Ouagadougou, the capital, we went to visit the grave of Tomas Sankara. Tomas Sankara was a charismatic revolutionary leader who seized power in a coup d´etat in 1983, with the help from the current president Blaise Compaore. He quickly started an impressive list of welfare reforms and anti-corruption campaigns; women were appointed into the ministry, and 3 million children were vaccinated against yellow fever, measles and meningitis in only 15 days. Having both Mossi and Fulani roots, he turned his mixed origins into a symbol of unity. He renamed the country from the colonial name Upper Volta (Haute-Volta) into Burkina Faso, combining elements from three major languages Moore, Dioula and Fulfulde. For all his welfare programs, he was still a dictator, albeit a relatively mild one by African standards. He maintained difficult relationships with Europe and America, as well as many of his African neighbors, in some cases leading to war. Refusing to curb the aggressive behavior of his party to opponents, and increasingly paranoid, he alienated many former friends. This eventually lead to his downfall in 1987, when he was killed in another coup
d´etat, this time his old friend and ally, Blaise Compoare ,seized power and have remained there ever since.

Tomas Sankara´s reforms, anti-corruption campaigns, and premature death has made him an idol all over the African continent, and thousands people visit his discreet grave every year. It is somewhat telling to note that when he died, after four years of absolute power, he left behind an old Renault and 560 dollars in the bank.

written by Johan

Norbert Zongo

Burkina Faso is a peaceful country on a continent in turmoil. Here we are safe from warlords and violent feuds and a culture of respect and peace prevails, despite widespread poverty.
This does not mean Burkina Faso is a model country. It too has its share of political troubles and none of its leaders since the independence in 1960 has come to power without the help of a coup. The person currently in power, Monsieur Blaise Campaoré, has been president since 1987. This despite a constitution which states that a president can only fulfill two terms of five years in office. Because of course, in power means being to get away with changing the constitution in your favor: now the constitution states a president can only fulfill two terms of seven years, and who has done any term of seven years?! Not I, he says…

The current president has been accused of being involved in a political murder case. Ten years ago, a journalist named Norbert Zongo died under suspicious circumstances. Zongo was investigating the death of the driver of the presidents’ brother: Francois Campaoré. This man stole money from Francois Campaoré and paid dearly: he was tortured to death. Zongo, in process of investigating this case, was found burned to death in his car together with three companions. This fact provoked a wave of indignation amongst the Burkinabè, who demanded the truth. However, the government has closed the case, unresolved, and to this day refuses to reopen it. This despite the findings of an Independent Commission of Inquiery which confirm that Zongo was murdered for purely political reasons. But the people of Burkina Faso will not give up. Every year around December 13th there are demonstrations and public actions. Newspapers publish articles, as in the picture above, and students protest. In a peaceful, legal fashion.

I admire the Burkinabè for their perseverance. And their peacefulness, despite the indignation and rage which still burn strong.

And I despise the government for not respecting their legally formulated demand for justice and the truth. Do people really need to use violence to be able to demand their legal rights in this world? The Burkinabè deserve to be treated with the same respect as they treat their government, despite its faults and shortcomings.

/Sarah