Living in Yako

Yesterday I got to ride a moto for the first time. I was a passenger (not driving) and had a helmet. Plus the roads we were on were not very busy. Nevertheless, I was still a little bit nervous (yet also VERY excited). This trip was to visit the village of Kingria which is about 40 km from Yako- which takes at least an hour by moto. Throughout the week we will be visiting various different villages to talk to the producers about their needs for the upcoming growing season. As I said before, this upcoming season is the dry season during which almost no rain will fall. There may be a little bit at the start, but the plants planted in the upcoming month will rely on irrigation or hand watering for them to survive until the harvest in February.

It’s pretty strange to imagine Burkina getting so dry. Right now it is actually very lush and green. There are crops almost everywhere. We even have a couple of corn plots being grown right in front of our house by the guardian of the compound. The trees are full of leaves and traveling from one city to another the road is lined with grasses and shrubs. Right now, most of the animals (including sheep, goats, donkeys, sheep, some pigs and the odd cow) are generally tied up because finding food is not a challenge. During the dry season, however, they are generally untied to allow them to scrounge for food where it can be found.

The chickens are truly free range. They generally wander around wherever they wish. When you want to eat a chicken, you need to catch it, kill it, pluck it, and prepare it yourself, after which you pick through the chicken to try and get all the meat (or you can just go to a restaurant where they will do the hard work for you).

Anyways, back to the trip. In the morning we were in Kingria meeting with the women who were working the fenced area that SEMUS had established there in 2009. It is 2 hectares large and is surrounded by a fence that goes about 40cm into the ground and 1.5m above ground and keeps out animals. These “périmètres maraichers”- there’s not really a good English translation for that- have been established in a number of villages and another is in the process of being constructed. The area inside the “grillage”- fenced area- is divided into plots which are worked by women of the village. These areas range in size with the smallest being only one hectare and serving about 40 women.

So far, Jeannette and I have had the opportunity to visit a few different sites where these enclosures are established and will likely be visiting more in the upcoming months. One of the major activities that we will be doing is an impact study on these systems and their effects on the community. We will be developing a questionnaire for various groups in the village (women working the land, their husbands, leaders of the village, etc.) and creating a report on the impact the enclosures have had in a specific village. At the same time, we will continue to visit the different villages with our boss, learn more about the agricultural system in Burkina Faso, and help out wherever we can.

Well, I kind of went off topic a bit there, but I hope that gives you a bit of an idea about my life here in Yako. I’ll let you know more soon!