Burkina Faso at a Glance

As promised, I have some info about Burkina Faso for those of you who are not familiar with the country. I just got back to PEI for a nice two week vacation and I will be heading out to Ireland and then Burkina Faso in a short 16 days :)

*Neighboring Countries: Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast (Cote D’Ivoire)

*Population:12.1 Million

*Capital: Ouagadougou (1.2 Million)

*Major Cities: Bobo-Dioulasso, Po, Yako, Dori, Fada

*Life Expectancy: 47.5 Years

*Annual GDP: $3.1 Billion US

*Language: French (official language), Moore, Dioula and Fulfulde (national languages), dozens of local languages

*Religion: Animist, Muslim, Christianity

*Currency: Communaute Financiere d’Afrique (CFA) franc.

A Brief History

The story of how Burkina Faso became is difficult with very few written recollections; most of the history we know began with French occupation in the late 1800s. Mossi oral accounts dominate, telling us that they were descendents of Nedega, a powerful Mamprusi chief who ruled the kingdom of Gambaga, in northern Ghana. The exact details of the story are confused, but the basic understanding is that Nedega refused to marry his eldest daughter, Yennenga, because of her considerable fighting prowess. The story varies as to whether Yennenga escaped her fathers overbearing court or whether her horse bolted while she was out riding, but she got lost, far from home in a forest. Here she encountered Riale, an elephant hunter said to be of Mande origin. They fell in love and named their son, Ouedraogo (‘stallion’ in memory of the horse that brought them together). Ouedraogo was the first Mossi.

The Mossi were highly organized and as a result the population enjoyed security much higher than was found in other places. A French historian wrote:

The Mossi empire was centralized. The internal struggles often seen with other groups, between villiages, neighborhoods ad even compounds, do not exist with the Mossi. Therefore they have internal peace and security. . . . One is struck upon entering Mossi country by the absolute security that the population enjoys, where everywhere else war and slave-raiding parties desolate villages. One notices with envy the Mossi peasants who go out alone in their fields . . .

Documented history began with French colonialism. While Burkina Faso didn’t offer much in resources to the French, it was an important geographical bridge between Cote D’Ivoire and Mali. Since colonization, it has changed names five times: at first is was a part of an amalgamation state that consisted of today’s Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, called Colonie du Haut – Senegal – Niger. In 1919 is was renamed Upper Volta or Haute Volta. In the 1930s, the French dissolved Upper Volta and split it amongst Mali and Cote d’Ivoire. In 1947, when the initial pushes for West African independence where making noise, colonial authorities decided to recreate Upper Volta. In 1958 it was again renamed the Voltaic Democratic Union and within two years, Upper Volta was an independent country.

Friends around the world . . .

Hey hey and good day!

No, I'm not gone yet, however today marks one month - that's right 30 days - until I will be in Burkina Faso. I plan on posting some historical and contextual information about Burkina Faso in the upcoming days, so that all of you who have never heard of the place before can become acquainted with the place which has stolen my heart already, all the way in Canada.

What I wanted to point out today was that I have been adding links to the side bar there; most importantly I wanted you to note my fellow friends blogs. As I had said last time, I am involved with Engineers Without Borders and this year our chapter is sending two Junior Fellows overseas (Holly to Ghana and Owen to Zambia). Both of these folks are terribly smart and exceptionally articulate, so I encourage you to check out their experiences. Below those links, you will see the links of my friends on their Renaissance College Internships. I have friends going to Ghana, Vietnam, Bhutan, Ecuador and Slovenia. Thus far I just have Joanna's blog posted, but be sure to check it and the new ones I post with time. Joanna is going to Vietnam and she will be working in Da Nang . Joanna and our other friend, Dana, who is going with her, have been doing a super spectacular job of preparing themselves for Vietnam, so their posts are sure to be really insightful, not to mention full of beautiful pictures!

Anyhow friends, I'm going to continue to tie up the loose ends that are school work, and I will talk to you all sooner than later.

PS I am beginning to become rather frustrated with the fact that spell checks (both on this Blogger website and on my Gmail) fail to recognize Burkina Faso as being a word. I mean, it's a country, seriously!

'My Summer Vacation'

I did not always to go to Africa; the first time Africa ever crossed my mind as a potential destination was last summer. I had been introduced to an international development NGO, Engineers Without Borders (EWB) by my would be roommate. He actually spent the entire summer of '06 in the Upper West of Ghana, stationed exceptionally close to where I will be in Burkina Faso. Anyhow, my program at the University of New Brunswick (UNB), Renaissance College, actually requires that its students take an international internship in their second summer, or their sixth semester, so I actually had been contemplating where my summer would take place. For the longest time, I pondered the possibility of going to Bhutan, that little country nesseled between India and China, whose GDP measurement is actually the Genuine Happiness Indicator. . .

But as I became more and more involved with EWB, who focuses it's efforts on Africa for sustainability reasons, I became more drawn to the continent where The Lion King came from. The clincher came when I was at a conference in September of 2006 in Ottawa, where I seen Daniel Zopoula speak in a workshop; his story, a fascinating one to say the least, caught me off guard. I was quite emotional after the power of his presentation, so I failed to introduce myself. He stuck with me for the following few weeks however, and so I contacted his organization, Bridges of Hope, for more information, soon realizing that there was, indeed, and opportunity for me to do my summer internship with them.

To make a long and boring story short, I found a partner to go with me, cut through the red tap and now in possession of a plane ticket that will see me to Burkina Faso for 10 weeks!

So, along with my good friend Kristina Nilsson, I am counting down the days until I find myself in "The Land of Upright People", Burkina Faso. With time I will share some history on Burkina Faso in an upcoming post, as most people I come across raise their eyebrows and say, 'you're going where??' In the meantime, I hope you find yourself well!!

. . . And for the record, I am 49 days away from an opportunity of a lifetime!