Blogs

This is the last blog for this trip. Visitors For a few days we had the visit of Frank and his daughter Stephanie. Frank has a company in The Netherlands called “Blue Wonder”. He has decided to sponsor manual water pumps produced by the association FAIRWATER called...

News about the LAP There was a bit of stress at the LAP since it was exam time for the 40 fourth year students (20 girls and 20 boys). Students need to be successful at this exam if they want to keep studying in secondary schools. Results came out Tuesday and 29 out...

Another 2 weeks in Burkina before going back to The Netherlands where I will spent the all month of July. Women microcredit This week we had 2 trips to villages to check list of women for microcredit. It is a rather hard work with the heat, the women are  not...

News from the LAP This week the fourth year students are passing a national exam called the BEPC. If successful the student can go further in secondary school. We have 40 students passing this exam this year. The results will be known normally for my blog of next week...

Clash between traditions and religion The religion in the villages where we are active varies with the ethnical group and the history of the village. In villages who are predominantly Muslim, there are no catholic or protestant. In animist villages, you can find...

27 May 2019 I am back in Burkina since a week while Eugénie is in the USA. In this first week we had two rains. You can see farmers getting ready for the rainy season which they call “l’hivernage”. News from the LAP It is the end of the year and lectures are finished....

This is the last blog for this trip. I am going back to The Netherlands coming Tuesday. I am not sure what is the weather like there, but I will not miss the heat we have in Burkina right now. Beliefs, witchcraft It is difficult to realize how people behavior is...

Time flies, only one week left for this trip in Burkina. I did not travel much this past week. We spent time interviewing candidates for a new commercial person in the local organization. Permaculture and Biodynamics We went to see Daouda Oauttara, a farmer close to...

It is a time when plenty of the yellow acacias blossom in the country side. Each year I take pictures of this pretty tree. Mango rains In the last week we have had a couple of rains. It brings the temperature down temporarily, but as soon as the sun comes out again,...

Wednesday was Eugénie’s birthday. The Dutch tradition is that the person who has the birthday brings cake to the office. So we had a “lekker” cake to eat at the office with all the personnel. It is time for the masks to come out (end March / April). Some of the masks...

Eugénie arrived this weekend. She came from a snowy Boston to a 40° C climate via  windy and rainy Netherlands. Here there is no rain but it is really becoming hot with a lot of dust in the air. The farm of Sokourani In Sokourani we have a farm of 22 Ha. It was...

Aquaponics Each month we buy smoked fish to add to the meal of the students at the LAP. So we are looking at solution to have our own fish farm at the LAP. To raise fish, water is needed. Most systems require a lot of water which is then disposed of. This water can be...

The vicious circle of cotton farmers I have written a lot about cotton in previous blogs, but I have to let out my frustration in writing about it once again. Cotton is the main cash crop for farmers because of the possibility to get field inputs at credit (seeds,...

Back in Burkina Faso since over a week. The dust carried by the wind from the Sahara desert is everywhere. The density of the dust is regulating the temperature, the same way as fog in Europe. It is the time when the trees blossom. Mangos and cashew fruits are...

This is the last blog for this trip. Back in The Netherlands on Tuesday and I will spend Christmas with Eugénie and Claire in Boston. Next trip to Burkina Faso should be mid-February.Improving harvest yields by improving the quality of the soilThe soil in Burkina...