Burkina Faso

The upbeat young adult resources from Burkina Faso were a fun break for me and not at all what I expected from a poor country with a history of struggle. I’ll start with the fun stuff and end with a truly dramatic story which is told over and over.

I always enjoy young adult movies and books, as well as children’s books. Here are those I found from Burkina Faso:

· Berni Goldblat’s movie Wallay won the 2018 European Films Awards (EFA) Young Audience Award. It’s the story of a thirteen-year-old boy who is sent to live with his uncle in Burkina Faso. I watched it on Amazon.

· Stephen Davies’ novel Outlaw tells how the teen son of the British ambassador to Burkina Faso meets a teen Burkinabe under some highly unusual circumstances. It’s a fun adventure book with some scary turns (and therefore not for younger children). I read it online through the Los Angeles County Library.

· Stephen Davies also wrote All Aboard for the Bobo Road, a bright children’s book about a trip through Burkina Faso that can also be found on Overdrive through the Los Angeles County Library.

Both young adults and those who are older might enjoy music, cooking, oral traditions, and art from Burkina Faso. The following are easy to access:

· An introduction to a variety of hip hop artists in Burkina Faso through the mini documentary Hip Hop Burkinabé at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf0OUz6LDEo

· Some native food such as chicken thighs with mashed sweet potatoes, yam chips, and banfora (a kind of fried pastry with pineapple) found at https://www.internationalcuisine.com/category/burkina-faso/

· Tales of Mogho: African stories from Upper Volta (I’m so excited that the Los Angeles County Library is now open for curbside pickup and am anxiously waiting for this to come in!)

· Information on a Bwa mask from Burkina Faso: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-africa/west-africa/burkina-faso/a/mask-nwantantay-bwa-peoples and advice for artists on how to make an African mask: https://artyfactory.com/africanmasks/masks/bwa.htm. Scroll down below the Bwa mask on this second linked webpage to find other masks from other parts of Africa as well as the advice for artists. Wikipedia claims that the 20th century European art movements cubism, fauvism, and expressionism took inspiration from African masks. I never thought of that before, but I think I can see it. Students in Burkino Faso created Festima to celebrate masks. They meet every other year. The picture included with this blog is from Festima.

More sobering resources on Burkina Faso include:

· The Man Who Stopped the Desert (which I watched on Amazon). I was impressed with this farmer in Burkina Faso who figured out how to grow a 30 acre forest and a farm of grains in the sahel.

· Exposing The Inhumane Conditions Of Burkina Faso's Gold Mines at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7iv1fef6qo. It is truly sad that this kind of working conditions continue here. I'm hoping the YouTube exposure can make a difference.

The most sobering, and most often repeated story I found about Burkina Faso is the assassination of the man who named the country and led it from 1983-1987, Thomas Sankara. I watched the first two documentaries listed below, and noted a couple more options:

· Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7Vlt41HPUE

· Political Assassination: History Forever Changed Episode 12. “Thomas Sankara & French Africa: Fratricide In Africa” on Amazon

· Burkina Faso Africa: A Rectified Revolution DVD available at Los Angeles County Library

· American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson (a fictionalized version of the story available in Kindle, Audible, paperback, and both as downloadable audiobook or book from Overdrive through the Los Angeles County Library)

Things to see during a great trip to Burkina Faso can be found at https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-to-visit-in-burkina-faso/. When this pandemic is over, you might want to plan travel to Burkina Faso using your local travel advisor. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive - may we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Burkino Faso and throughout the world.

Photo Credit https://www.matzuri.com/festima-festival/