January 03, 2013
Jambo! That’s hello in the Mòoré dialect. We here at ACEI wish you a very Happy New Year and hope that you had a nice holiday break. We’d like to start 2013 with a blog focusing on the landlocked West African nation of Burkina Faso. We have to give thanks to our friend Kathleen Hylen with ELS Language Centers (http://www.els.edu/en) who picked Burkina Faso for our fact finding mission.
1. Capital of Burkina Faso is Ouagadougou. Written as “Wogodogo” in the Mòoré dialect, it literally means “You are welcome here at home with us”.
2. It is located south of the Sahara Desert.
3. It was formerly known as Upper Volta, and adopted its current name after it gained its independence from France August 5, 1960.
4. The official language is French, since Burkina Faso was colonized by France. Other languages spoken include Mòoré, Gourma, Fulfulde, Dioula, Tamasheq.
5. Nationality: Burkinabe.
6. Burkina Faso has a population of 16.3 million.
7. The Mossi is the largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso.
8. Want to speak a little Mòoré? “Yam Kibaré?” (How are you?) And your response: “Laafi Bala, La Yamba?” (I am fine and you?)
9. Gold is Burkina Faso’s main export, followed by cotton and animal products. Burkina Faso is Africa’s largest producer of cotton. In 2010, almost 80% of the cotton planted in Burkina Faso was grown from genetically modified seeds. Burkina is second only to South Africa as Africa’s largest producer of biotech crops (100% of it cotton), and had the world’s second-fastest growing acreage of biotech crops after Australia. The Monsanto Company remains a major partner in this endeavor. (Source: U.S. Department of State http://www.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/burkinafaso/201466.htm)
10. Limited Brands/Victoria’s Secret is looking to expand the quantity, and improve the quality and value, of organic cotton it has imported from Burkina since 2009 (currently only 1% of the market), as well as to improve significantly the livelihoods of the primarily women farmers. (This is interesting, given the information noted in #9.)
11. Most food in Burkina Faso comes with sauce. Staple foods are sorghum, millet, rice, maize, peanuts, potatoes, bean, yams and okra.
12. About 80% of the population relies on subsistence agriculture.
13. Popular sports in Burkina Faso are: soccer, handball, cycling, basketball and boxing.
14. Burkina Faso is home to 60 different ethnic groups, each with their own variety of folk music.
15. Burkina Faso is a leader in African art and culture and hosts the largest craft market in Africa.
16. The Bobo, one of the ethnic groups in Burkina Faso make large butterfly masks, painted in stripes of red, white and black which are used to invoke the deity Do in fertility ceremonies. The Mossi are known for their antelope masks. The Lobi carve wood.
17. 60% of the population is Muslim, while 19% is Catholic, 15% are Animists, and 5% are Protestants.
18. Burkina Faso is prone to severe droughts. Burkina Faso suffered droughts in the early 1970s and the early 1980s.
19. The school week runs from Monday through Saturday. Schooling is in theory free and compulsory until the age of 16. According to UNICEF, only 81% of students reach the 5th grade.
20. The University of Ouagadougou founded in 1974, was the country’s first institution of higher education. The Polytechnic University in Bobo-Diolasso was opened in 1995. The University of Koudougou was founded in 2005, replacing the former “Ecole Normal Superieur de Koudougou.”
Barka! (Thank you.)
For more information on Burkina Faso and aid, please visit these sites: https://secure.oxfamamerica.org/site/SPageNavigator/donate_sahel_food_crisis.html?gclid=CNrSrPLczLQCFSTZQgodRmkA6w
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2834.htm
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