Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Fertilizer blues....
Remember we read the paper on the returns to fertilizer? Turns out that in the Bereba village are (where I have my house) an organization tried last year to promote fertilizer use for maize. They gave farmers loans of fertilizer to apply to their maize fields. The fertilizer was applied, but it turned out that last year was very rainy and maize was a bumper crop for the country and the price fell, so it ended up not profitable. Farmers started defaulting on the loans, and the fertilizer project collapsed. Wow.... just like we discussed in class!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Back from villages and Bobo
Hi all,
Just got back this evening from the villages and southern town of Bobo-Dioulasso, which was in a lot of disrepair. Beautiful nights in Bereba village taking bucket showers outside under the Milky Way in 90 degree heat. The libraries were all great.
Heard an interesting story from a friend who is secretary at the local prefecture. A man came in early in the morning. He said his father had died last year. After his father was buried, other villagers came and told him, "Do not bury your father in your compound; he was a sorcerer. It will be bad for you if he is buried there." So they unearthed the body and buried it in the village waste area (where animals are slaughtered etc). Then last week a woman died. The villagers said, "Your father was a sorcerer and so are you. You must leave the village or we will beat you to death." So the man asked the prefect for protection. The prefect called the villagers.
"You cannot beat him and hurt him. It is not allowed by the law."
"But he is a sorcerer, like his father, and a woman died, so he must leave the village."
The prefect said, "I cannot say anything about that." Everyone left muttering.
That reminded my friend of another story. If you are accused of sorcery, you can go live in a village called Koura, for three years, and then sacrifice an ox, and you will be cleansed. That happened to an old woman who had lost her husband and had no children. She was accused of sorcery, so she left to live in Koura. At the end of the three years nobody would pay to buy an ox to sacrifice. She committed suicide.
Sad tales from Burkina Faso. Sometimes life is sweet, but often it is very bitter indeed.
Just got back this evening from the villages and southern town of Bobo-Dioulasso, which was in a lot of disrepair. Beautiful nights in Bereba village taking bucket showers outside under the Milky Way in 90 degree heat. The libraries were all great.
Heard an interesting story from a friend who is secretary at the local prefecture. A man came in early in the morning. He said his father had died last year. After his father was buried, other villagers came and told him, "Do not bury your father in your compound; he was a sorcerer. It will be bad for you if he is buried there." So they unearthed the body and buried it in the village waste area (where animals are slaughtered etc). Then last week a woman died. The villagers said, "Your father was a sorcerer and so are you. You must leave the village or we will beat you to death." So the man asked the prefect for protection. The prefect called the villagers.
"You cannot beat him and hurt him. It is not allowed by the law."
"But he is a sorcerer, like his father, and a woman died, so he must leave the village."
The prefect said, "I cannot say anything about that." Everyone left muttering.
That reminded my friend of another story. If you are accused of sorcery, you can go live in a village called Koura, for three years, and then sacrifice an ox, and you will be cleansed. That happened to an old woman who had lost her husband and had no children. She was accused of sorcery, so she left to live in Koura. At the end of the three years nobody would pay to buy an ox to sacrifice. She committed suicide.
Sad tales from Burkina Faso. Sometimes life is sweet, but often it is very bitter indeed.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
See Githingo video here
Students,
It proved impossible to upload a video here in Burkina, the connection these days is too slow. Here though is an excellent video of John Githingo.... please watch in class time,
MK
It proved impossible to upload a video here in Burkina, the connection these days is too slow. Here though is an excellent video of John Githingo.... please watch in class time,
MK
Sunday, October 23, 2011
For exam, best to do it at one setting during class time.
I am not completely sure it will let you login and then logout, so best to do it in one setting, where you will have 90 minutes.
MK
MK
Thursday, October 20, 2011
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