Picture of the week
January 2008
2008: January February March April May
2007: January February March April May June July August September October November December
Sleeping beauty in Burkina Faso
2008/Week 5
Spinning and weaving are important for the economy of the village Barga. A shirt in traditionally woven cotton is still a status symbol, in the village as in town, and even more with plenty of embroidery.
Women spin cotton with a little stick made heavier by a small stone. My colleague told me that the village also has a modern equipment: a spinning wheel. When was the story of the Sleeping beauty told for the first time?
This man is weaving from those cotton threads. His feet pull sticks that move warp and weft. The wooden shuttle flies from the left to the right. When there is too much wind, the weaver has to stop. Otherwise the threads are getting tangled up.
Too much water?
2008/Week 4
Because of the exceptional rainfall last years, Bogoya's vegetable growers had to wait before being able to plant their onions: the gardens are still partly flooded by the barrage lake. A motorised pump conducts water from the barrage lake through earthen canals to the parcels. The man on the picture is applying organic fertiliser.
Salat at school
2008/Week 3
A school garden is the perfect means to apply the studied theory in practice: measuring surfaces and volumes, learning botany, organising and planning the production, calculating benefit and loss. Much more interesting than the encyclopaedic teaching rammed down the children's throats. If necessary by snapping the whip. The heritage of French colonisation…
New vegetable garden
2008/Week 2
Wamba Yiri is a neighbourhood of the village Mene. A long time ago monkeys use to live there, since Wamba Yiri stands for monkeys' house. Nowadays, all monkeys are gone and a farmer group has set afoot a vegetable garden completely by themselves. Impressive. Where there is a will, there is a way.
Xmas crib
2008/Week 1
For Xmas, people build cribs outside next to the front door, instead of hiding them inside the house beneath a Xmas tree. Monique is making a phone call, her son Hyacinth is sitting with her, while her brother Bertrand prevents us from seeing the neighbours' crib.
2008: January February March April May
2007: January February March April May June July August September October November December