Guest Post: Dad

I figured that no one could give you all a better perspective on Burkina Faso from an outsiders point of view than my Dad. Here are his thoughts about what he found here that I thought might be interesting. (With photos provided by me

In the words of Mr. Marc Droppert:

Having traveled in third world, under-developed countries, I wasn’t so much surprised by the individual things I saw, as I was by the pervasiveness of the experience:

• There is seemingly very little “middle class” – a few, connected well-off and the rest living more or less at a subsistence level.
• It seemed almost like a trip back to colonial times in some respects – cotton being picked by hand and being hand carried (actually “head” carried) to the collection points a km or more away; cooking on an open wood or charcoal fire; drinking millet beer every day as seemingly the primary source of fluid intake; farming almost entirely by manual effort ( I saw fewer than 5 tractors, and it wasn’t clear that oxen  or other animals are used much), and since there is little electricity (even in towns that were on the grid, many perhaps most, homes were not connected), living by the light of the sun and moon.
• The gentility of the Burkinabe – I can’t recall any third world country I have been to where I have been hassled less.  Except for a very limited amount in Ouagadougou (including the usual gaggle of taxi drivers at the Airport), virtually no one  tried to take advantage of us.
• The lack of any economic base – it appeared that BF’s economy is principally dependent on Foreign Aid and NGOs. I just didn’t see any thing else of substance that provides BF with an economic base to use for trade with the rest of the world.
• Garbage and wandering animals everywhere.
• A lack of interesting food, flavors or odors (the country is not that densely populated, and while one did the get occasional whiff of sewage or BO – it was otherwise generally devoid of defining smells) – certainly nothing like my experiences in the Far East.

Its not surprising that BF is regarded as one of the 5 poorest countries in the world, and that it is considered one of the most difficult Peace Corps assignments.  I, by sheer coincidence, was reading Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” when I arrived in BF.  If you aren’t familiar with the story, it is essentially a time travel by the lead character from the late 1800s to the time of Camelot, and its “message” is that you just can’t import improvements and expect that they will work.  A small example is your experience with propane – i.e. running out while I was there, only to find out that propane hadn’t been available for the prior 10 + days and still isn’t available as I write this (so that you too are now cooking on a wood or charcoal fire).  I was left with that feeling that the Burkinabe – as poor as the they are and as limited as their life is – overall  seem happy. Improving their lot in a way that is sustainable and that doesn’t in fact make things worse requires a delicate balance

There is one, potentially major concern, that I was left with.  I was in BF during the Dry Season – it was readily apparent, as the crops (other than cotton) had all been harvested, the grasses were all dry, there were non non-sunny days, etc.  I understand the Hot Season is next (with temps at and over 110) and that it isn’t until late June that the Rainy Season starts.  I certainly don’t have prior, relevant experience, but it was apparent that the watering holes and barrages (lakes/reservoirs) are already low, and when we asked the locals, they acknowledged that they are lower than normal.  Given how close everyone lives to a subsistence level and their dependence on community wells for water (e.g. what would happen if some started to go dry) – I can only hope that this is not a serious disaster in the making.