Interview

I decided to do an interview with my Burkinabe counterpart. I hope that I will be able to interview other key people from my field. If you have any questions you would like me to ask them, please do not hesitate to let me know! Enjoy!
Mr. Marcel Kan – development agent for bissap’s at UGCPA
· 1 wife, 1 daughter, and 3 sons
· Has been working at the Union for 15 years

What is not working in Burkina, and what should we do about it?

People do not have enough to eat and are lacking access to proper health services. Sometimes, the centers are too far away to be easily accessible. In my opinion, the problem is due to the government. My kid could go to school free of charge, he could have access to health care free of charge, and he could be treated free of charge. However, we must always pay. In some regions, the government has created a program to make school more accessible to girls. All of the school fees are paid for (tuition, books, etc.) I think it is important to encourage such initiatives. Some regions, including ours, is being left out by our political leaders. For example, it is the only region of Burkina that is not connected to the capital by an asphalt road. This means that the region is completely landlocked, even if it is called Burkina’s breadbasket.
However, policies are needed to raise awareness about the importance of education. Right now, we must send our kids to private schools if we want them to receive a quality education. In the public system, there are too many kids per teacher (often 100 students per teacher). Students are not followed properly, there is not enough room, and there is a lack of teachers and proper infrastructure. Teachers who are able to teach many subjects can find a job more easily since they can teach all of these subjects. Young teachers do not want to teach in rural regions because in the city they can go to continuing education to improve their skills or give private lessons (in the countryside people cannot afford such expenses).
Burkina also has land problems. Due to financial pressure and population growth, farmers use their land to capacity, without giving it enough time to rest and to regain its nutrients and its richness. This leads to degraded land. To this, we must add erosion, which makes the situation even worse. Moreover, farmers still lack access to machinery, which means that they work harder and longer.
Nowadays, seeds are of utmost importance for success, and farmers are starting to understand this. Organic manure must be used to enrich the soil. However, before this can be achieved, it is necessary to raise awareness, and this is what the Union is doing. In the past couple of years, farmers have started to realize that climate varies: rain does not come when it is supposed to, the wet season is sometimes shorter than it should be, etc. The seeds must thus be adapted for shorter cycles to make up for climate change. It is known that humans are responsible for climate change. It is thus important for us to change our habits: encourage reforestation, reduce our use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and everything which is degrading the land, use public transportation where available, use bikes from time to time, walk once in a while, use more environmentally-friendly fuel if possible, etc.

What is your opinion on foreign aid with regards to the development of Burkina Faso?
I do not think the country can get out of poverty by itself. Sometimes, foreigners can give constructive feedback. As Burkinabes, there are some things that we do not see anymore, and foreigners can help us notice these things. In my opinion, real change would imply changing mentalities but this proves to be one of the biggest challenges. Old people are very conservative (almost feudal) while young people are much more open due to globalization. I believe that if a person is well prepared and sensible, it is possible to change him/her. For example, when we first got computers, we all thought it was complicated while it really isn’t very hard. All that is needed is opportunity.
In villages, during elections, parties give out hats, t-shirts, and many other gifts so that people vote for them. Since many people from these communities are illiterate, political parties abuse their credulity. These villagers believe that they are helping them. In Burkina, there are many ethnic groups, and people’s votes are still greatly influenced by that or by the region where they live. All of these barriers hinder the change of mentality that we were discussing before.
The main problem of development projects (and even of some local projects) is that the material we get is not adapted to our needs. If no study or consultation is done beforehand, it is bound to fail. Initially, even the Union’s project for the marketing of cereals was not started properly. The Union had only focused on adding 200 to 400 CFA per bag over what commercial traders were offering. When the traders’ price became higher than the Union’s, the farmers started complaining and some of them sold their cereals to the traders. They then realized that being a member of the union had other advantages such as PA1, credit and subsidies for inputs (20 000 CFA at the Union vs. 22 500 CFA without subsidies), various training programs, less expensive seeds, etc.

Do you think emancipation is seen as being negative?
We talk a lot about women being leaders. The main problem is that some women use this expression while considering themselves to be emancipated. They then rant about it at home and in their relationship. Therefore, some people perceive emancipation as a negative phenomenon since it brings dissent. The emancipation of women is seen as men obeying to women. This explains why most people encourage education for men. There are more women than there are men but they rarely reach high school, or if they do they quickly quit to work.
The concept of the emancipation of women is not well understood. Since it was at the source of break-ups, some men do not support it. However, who does not want an educated woman who can work and help the household? Women are smart. They work hard and they are honest. They often hold management positions (accounting, bank manager, insurance clerk) since women are more trusted than men for such positions. Unfortunately, our parents’ mentality is to put men over women. The woman should only take care of the family. If a girl is not married past a certain age, she is classified as such.

Quick Recipe!

At the end of June, I went to Bomborokuy, a village located close to Dédougou. I was living at a bissap’s producer’s house, a member of UGCPA. My main objective was to better understand their daily lives. As such, I spent each day (or almost) with a different producer. At one of these ladies’ place, I got to learn how to prepare the famous tô. In Burkina, tô is one of the favorite meals, and most of the Burkinabes love it (similar to our meat pie in Quebec!) Tô can be made from many different cereals: millet, corn, sorghum, or beans. Once it is ready, it looks a bit like a thick puree. You then add some gravy (there are some many different types of gravy!), and you enjoy.
However, to reach this stage, many different steps must be undertaken (in my case, the cereal used was millet).

1- Take some millet that you have carefully grown in the last year
2- Using a pestle, crush the millet to extract the seeds
3- Clean the seeds to remove impurities
4- Still using the pestle, crush the seeds to get flour
5- Sift to remove impurities (once again!)
6- Light a fire and put a pot on it
7- Add some water to the flour, and put in the pot
8- Add some more flour, and stir energetically until the mix is a thick dough
9- Cool down, and eat along with some gravy

I tried to stir the mixture after adding some flour…but I barely managed to move the wooden spoon in the process! All of this took a few hours of work, and a lot of energy! To get to the field, most of the time you use a cart (otherwise a bike or on foot). Before the field is ready for sowing, it is necessary to remove the small bushes that have grown since the last harvest. After removing only three bushes, I had to stop because I already have three big blisters on my hands! Everybody was laughing…and they were right to do so! My skills are quite limited: I cannot prepare tô or remove bushes! Afterwards, it is time to plow the field, most of the time using a cow or a donkey.

The plots surround the village, and absolutely no space is unused. Since farmers cannot increase the size of their field, they need to find ways of increasing their yield. After finishing cleaning and plowing their plot, it is necessary to create lines of small holes using a daba. Men dig the holes, and the rest of the family pours some manure into these holes. After the first heavy rain, they will sow right next to the fertilized holes. Due to the manure, the land will be more fertile, and the seeds can grow!
At the village, farmers wait for the rain to come before starting to sow. Thus, they keep on preparing the land so that all that is left to do is to sow when the rain comes. This year, meteorologists have predicted that rain will be scarcer than usual. This is clearly felt here, as everyone is telling me that usually rain has already started at that time of year. This clearly shows how vulnerable the farmers are. Without rain, the field may be ready and very well prepared but still, nothing will grow. In these situations, the government doesn’t financially support the farmers. The harvest, their main revenue source, is lost, and there is no financial security.
Moreover, most of the farmers have no idea how much profit they make. The CEF is therefore a tool that can be used by the farmers to better follow and manage their plot. For example, a farmer might own a big salad plot. This year, he has been able to sow on a greater area. However, when harvest came, he hadn’t thought about the fact that he and his family wouldn’t be able to harvest all of the salads, and he loses part of the crop. A good solution would have been to hire an extra person or to sow at different times so that he can harvest at different times. The CEF is a tool that reduces farmers’ vulnerability.

Why am I here?

Dédougou is a small city west of Ouagadougou (Burkina’s capital). I arrived here a bit more than a week ago and I must say that everyday I learn something new about Burkina….and I think the opposite is also true! Burkinabes keep on asking questions about Canada and westerners in general. In just a week, I went to a christening, to a town hall’s opening ceremony, to a local wrestling competition…there are a lot of things going on here!

Despite all the excitement this brings to me, I always try to stay focused about why I am here and about my role overseas. A Junior Fellowship placement involves 2 main parts: 4 months overseas and then a year with my chapter after my return. For me to be here required a lot of energy and efforts from my chapter, and as such it is important for me to reflect on why I’m here. Junior Fellows have three main goals:

• Create impact overseas
• Create impact in Canada
• Accomplish their personal goals

From these 3 goals, I think the first one is the most difficult to measure because at the end of this summer, it will probably be very difficult for me to quantify my work. Four months is such a short period of time. By the end of this summer, I won’t be able to say “I helped build a well or a school” because EWB usually doesn’t conduct such projects. Even though they are important and useful, these projects often lack sustainability. For example, let’s say I am on a team responsible for building a school. At the end of the summer, I leave without knowing what will happen to it afterwards. What if there are no teachers in this district? Or if the kids are too busy helping their parents so that they can’t go to school? Will the school be maintained over the years? If yes, who will pay for that?
Sustainability is a key concept in all of EWB’s projects. We strive to build capacity within local organizations and leaders. We believe this can be achieved by trying to understand their specific situation and their livelihoods. That’s why I’m also living in a host family.

In Burkina, 80% of the population are farmers (compared to 2-3% in Canada!). This explains why EWB focuses on agriculture (along with water and sanitation).

I work at the UGCPA/BM (Union des Groupements pour la Commercialisation des Produits Agricoles de la Boucle du Mouhoun). It is a farmers’ union in charge of selling the local farmers’ products (mainly cereals) in the Mouhoun region.

The Boucle du Mouhoun is an agricultural region, referred to as Burkina’s bread basket. There are many farmers’ unions in Burkina. When a farmer is part of a union, he can get some advantages such as better prices.

Our union decided to start implementing a counselling tool called CEF (Conseil à l’Exploitation Familiale). Note that exploitation doesn’t have the same meaning in French as in English! The CEF is an approach that enables willing members to better manage their activities. However, our union is only getting started on this project (as compared to other unions in which the CEF has been in operation for many years).

Even though I’m still learning about the union’s complicated structure, I have learned that its members grow cereals (corn, sorghum, millet, etc.) As for women, they grow certified organic bissap’s (hibiscus). My role within the UGCPA is to work with these women, more particularly within the CEF.

If you would like to have more details, please let me know!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!

You will find here throughout the summer news and updates about my placement. Don't hesitate to leave comments or questions, I will be more than happy to reply. For me, this blog is a way to communicate and share my experience overseas. I would like to apologize right away to English speakers as my posts will first be posted in French (French version website). As you probably all know, French is the official language in Burkina and it will therefore be easier for me to write first in French. I will translate the posts as fast as possible.

And now, a bit of background about Engineers Without Borders (EWB). EWB was created in 2000 by Parker Mitchell and George Roter. After 9 years, the organization now has 35,000 members over Canada and sent over 300 volunteers overseas! EWB believes that poverty is not about weakness. Poverty is an absence of opportunity.
For more information, you can visit: http://www.ewb.ca/ or ask me any questions!