Blogs

This is my last blog for this trip, written in The Netherlands. Because of the coronavirus, Eugenie managed to book me for a flight last Friday (10 days early). Upon arrival we found out that this was no doubt Aire France’s last flight since Burkina was shutting down...

In Burkina, according to the authorities, there are 3 cases of corona virus. With all the news coming from other countries, people here are getting nervous. The health care system is not the best. Lets hope that it does not spread. Here no panic about toilet paper,...

Today is the international women’s day. While it is very much celebrated in Africa, there are very few celebrations in the developing world. The celebrations in Africa have become a commercial affair more than to advance towards equality of gender. At least one day in...

News from Burkina Faso In Burkina temperature is rising both in the air and among the people. The government wants more money and it is trying to put a tax on “allowances” mainly for civil servants. Today most civil servants have a base salary and many “allowances”...

The Harmattan wind is bringing a lot of dust in the air which in its turn brings a lot of respiratory difficulties. Also temperatures are rising. We have around 38°C in the day and around 24°C at night. Back to the gardening project in Nefrelaye In a previous blog I...

Another week flew by. The government has announced elections for the president and the parliament for the 20 November 2020. A lot of people doubt that they will be held because of the security situation. Maison de la Femme of Sidi 2  This village is one of the 3...

This week was busy week. Among the activities was a lot of cleaning of our administration which is not my favorite task. But we had a very good visit to the village of Nefrelaye where I could enjoy the day. Some projects in the village of Nefrelaye Nursery school...

I am back in Burkina since about 10 days for about 9 weeks. The dry season has started since November last year and will be going on until may this year. It is a period when herds are moving from north west part of Burkina towards the south east part. Those herds can...

We are back in The Netherlands since yesterday, welcomed by a cold rain. For iron, to harden it, it is first heated then plunged in cold water. For people, coming from 37oC to a rainy 4oC does not make you stronger. Marketing 101 We  developed a project for a bakery...

It was a short week with free days on the 31st of October and 1st of November in Burkina Faso. Climate in Burkina This year, as I mentioned in previous blogs, rains continue to fall in October. We also saw a decrease in the amount of rain at the beginning of the rainy...

At the beginning of the week we welcomed two visitors who will stay with us for about 3 weeks: Stephanie is from Switzerland and will help us improve our process linked with production and sales control. Lucile is French and will look at our beekeeping project. LAP...

Too much rain The rainy season started rather late this year. It seems that it will stop late as well. Since one week it has been raining almost every day. I had never seen as much rain as I saw yesterday. It kept pouring and pouring down. With so much rain, travels...

Eugenie arrived beginning of the week. Nice to not be alone in the house. Beginning of the lectures at the LAP So the final count for this school year is 271 students (140 girls and 131 boys). We have recruited a full time agronomist and a full time nurse. Students of...

Farms We have 2 farms, one in Sokourani of 22 hectares and one in Mogobasso of 6 hectares. Through the years we have been trying various ways to exploit those farms. First it was supposed to be a show case for farmers for best practices how to cultivate. This did not...