810-Uncastar Famine, Saturday, Decambar 1,1984
Baobab tree provides shade
for Burkinabe village
BO ALA, Burkina Faso The
last 60 miles of the road to Boala is
a rutted dirt trade, impassable
during the June-September rainy
season. The sun-hardened, reddish
brown soil of the Mossi Plateau
stretches out to a flat horizon.
Firewood gatherers and grazing
livestock have virtually deforested
this sub-Saharan countryside.
In this stark scene, an old
baobab tree stands out like a giant
on the landscape, its dark, pen
dulous fruit hanging from nearly
bare branches. The people of this
country, the Burkinabe, have
found some 30 uses for the baobab,
including forage for cattle and
goats, string and medicine
produced from the bark, and food
from the fruit. The leaves are
ground into a viscous sauce to be
poured over the national dish
called “to,” a porridge made of
millet and sorghum.
IN EQUATORIAL HEAT
Moreover, in a country so close
to the equator that the seasonal
variation in the length of a day in
only 20 minutes, where midday
temperatures average 100 degrees,
all trees are valued simply for
their shade.
The deep black shade of a
spreading mango tree in a family’s
courtyard is a great luxury. An old
Nee re or Kaya tree is the scene of
village meetings and a resting
place for old people and children.
One who looks higher into the
branches is likely to see baboons
and vultures.
Until Aug. 4,1984, Burkina Faso
was known as Upper Volta. The
French named their landlocked
African colony for the three
branches of the Volta River that
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LAND AND WATER ANIMAL .
IT LIVES IN STREAMS,
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flow out of its heights, through
neighbors to the south, and into the
Gulf of Guinea. The Voltaics
gained their independence in 1960.
The national name change
marked the first anniversary of the
coup d’etat that brought Capt.
Thomas Sankara’s military
government to power.' The old
name represented the colonial
past, which Sankara is determined
to eradicate. Burkina Faso,
roughly translated, means “land of
uncorrupted men.” The citizens no
longer call themselves Voltaics,
but Burkinabe.
Burkina Faso is one of the
poorest countries in the world, and
its people face immense
challenges: how to increase
agricultural yields, provide pure
water and basic health care, fight
desertification, and build roads
where none exist. In spite of a
massive influx of foreign aid, the
Burkinabe are finding it very
difficult to translate expertise and
costly programs into substantive
change.
Too often, newly built hospitals
stand unopened and unused for
lack of personnel and medicines.
The rural population (90 percent of
the seven million total) continue to
work their fields with a “daba,”
the traditional handmade farming
implement.
STUBBORN REALITIES
In short, like countries
elsewhere in the third world,
Burkina Faso has found that it is
easier to change its government
and its name than to change the
realities of poverty and en
vironment.
Boala, population about 400, is
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120 miles from the capital city of
Ouagadougou. Only the 60 miles
nearest the capital are paved.
Visitors who make the arduous
journey believe at first that the
road is deserted. After a while they
realize that they are never far
from a cluster of mud huts with
thatched roofs.
On both sides of the road, the
terrain is crisscrossed with narrow
footpaths. Groups of women with
babies on their backs and heavy
clay pots of water on their heads
return from distant wells. If a
bicycle or motorbike passes, it is
most likely ridden by a man, and
generally a flapping chicken or
bleating goat is tied behind him.
Young boys commonly tend the
herds, while girls transport
firewood, water, or baskets of
grain on their heads. Only an old
man or a chief is ever seen on
horseback.
The rare foreign visitors to
Boala are usually greeted by a
crowd. Villagers bring buckets of
water so that travelers can wash
the dust of the journey from their
faces and hands. From the only
refrigerator in the village are
brought extremely cold bottles of
cola, orange soda, or soda water.
ft
Pencil Porky
place to put your pencils? Then make
trcupine pencil holder. Use a pencil to
an empty salt box. Cut a head §nd a
irdboard (see drawing). At one end of
cut a slit as wide as the tail. Cut a slit
ie head at the other end. Apply some
(lue to the slits and wedge in the head
and tail. While the glue is drying, cut
two strips of heavy cardboard. (Each
strip should be about 1" wide and 4"
long.) Cut notches on the ends for claws.
Glue these “feet” to the bottom of your pencil porky.
The villagers of Boala are
especially proud of their clinic.
Sparsely furnished, it has a small
dispensary where a young girl with
an elementaiy knowledge of first
aid treats patients with complaints
ranging from infected cuts to
serious illnesses. But vaccines are
scarce and rarely available to
people in isolated villages like
Boala.
The Boala clinic’s bare delivery
room is recognizable only by its
delivery table. A midwife is
available, but she lacks the
knowledge or resources to deal
with complications. Across the hall
is a small recovery room where a
new mother can rest and regain
her strength before returning on
foot to her own village. Just outside
the delivery room is a cooking area
where families can prepare food
for the patient who stays longer
than a few hours. Visiting
husbands can sleep in a mud hut
next door.
FILTERED THROUGH STONES
The clinic has a simple water
filter that is merely one clay pot
atop another. The top pot, partly
filled with stones, has small holes
in the bottom. When well water is
poured into the top container, it
passes through the stones, which
filter out some impurities. The
system is primitive, but it in
dicates the villagers’ awareness of
the connection between pure water
and health, especially for people
who are ill or weak.
At times of rejoicing or in honor
of special visitors, some 40 women
and children gather under a large
tree and form a circle. For an hourj
of high-spirited celebration, they
dance to the rhythm of clapping
hands, stamping feet, and singing.
One woman after another enters
the circle, each one trying to
outdance the other as the crowd
voices its appreciation with loud
cheers and laughter.
The two oldest women in the
village are the acknowledged
champions. The rapture of the
small children watching the dance
suggests that Boala will always
have dancers.