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February 27, 2006
Birth and death in the sahel
There are many encouragements - and a few discouragements - as I continue my travels. On Saturday we went to see B, a Fulani girl who became a Christian in our yard in Gorom-Gorom a few years ago, and she is doing really well in Dori. A few hours later, after a sweaty bus ride to Gorom, i finally arrived home and was able to catch up with Seydou and Monique. They have a young man staying with them, from a Muslim family, who became a Christian and was thrown out by his family. Next year he hopes to do his A-levels, but his family won't pay for him to stay at school.
Walking through the market today took about three hours as I was stopped every few yards to greet people - at least I'm not forgotten... The church's response to the food crisis last year has also had a big impact, and many people even now are saying thank you for the help.
Yusufi came to visit yesterday, and is doing really well. He wants to go to Bible School to study the word of God more, and be equipped to serve God as head of the only Christian family in his village. As a husband of two wives, it is unlikely he will be allowed to have an official role as church leader, but he is effectively the leader of the church in his village. Please pray for him, and ask that God will guide concerning the possibility of Bible school.
Hamadou's wife Wadda gave birth to a little girl called Seyata a week ago, and we went to see them today out in their Fulani hut on the outskirts of Gorom. Mum and daughter are doing well, and dad is expected to arrive any time now.
On the other hand, I have been sadly struck by the number of people I knew here who are no longer with us. Most sad was hearing of the death of M, a Fulani Christian from a village 25 miles from Gorom. He was the only believer in his village and was struggling to grow in Christ there, but really came alive when he got away to the Fulani Chrisitan gatherings around the country. He apparently became very ill and went downhill quickly, and died about 2 weeks ago. Tomorrow Seydou and I will go to his village on Seydou's motorbike to give our condolences to the family. Please pray for this visit and for his family. Thank you.
As internet connection is not good here, I am not yet able to reply to emails, but thank you to those of you who have written.
More soon...
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso gorom-gorom travel fulani mission
February 25, 2006
Incontinent goats and other animals
Steve, Cris and I are now in Dori, in the north-east of Burkina Faso, trying to get to Gorom-Gorom.
Wednesday was market day in Djibo, and I spent the morning down the cattle market, watching the animals and greeting the Fulani herders. Djibo cattle market is big, and fun to watch, with occasional animals making a mad dash to escape bringing some excitement to the proceedings. Afterwards I went to join Steve in his market stall, where we played cassettes of the gospel, and spoke of the message of Christ to the small crowd who came to listen. Interest in the story and message of Jesus seems more alive in Djibo than in Gorom. I have also been encouraged by the number of people who have said they have been listening to me preach over the last months - either on cassettes or on the radio!
The next day we headed out to Boukouma, where we had the Fulani Discipleship Community and rice fields in 2003. Hamadou was there, with his two oldest sons Amadou and Isa. His wife, Wadda, and their youngest, Yunus, had returned to Gorom to her parents to give birth. Apparently she had a little girl on Saturday. Please pray for them.
As we walked around Boukouma, and visited the rice fields with Hamadou, we laughed at the many memories we shared: here Adama fell in the water; here we pulled the cow out of the canal; here we got caught in the sandstorm; here Keith chopped a bit off his finger... Ahhh... the good old days...
Yesterday we sat by the road at Boukouma all day, waiting for a lift to Gorom-Gorom. Finally, at about 4.30pm, a pick-up passed and picked us up to take us to Dori, and we climbed in the back to join a large goat. Half way down the road, the goat proceeded to send forth a stream of urine, causing us to all jump out of the way to save ourselves from being soaked!
Nearly home... This morning we will try to see B, a Fulani Christian girl from Gorom at college here in Dori, then try to find a lift to Gorom. Only 56km to go... More soon....
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso gorom-gorom travel fulani mission djibo goats
February 20, 2006
First lines from Djibo
I am in Djibo, and having a great time. In many ways it is just like I have never left.
The plane arrived in Ouaga on Saturday shortly after midnight, and Steve was there to meet me. It was great driving through the streets of Ouaga again, picking up the atmosphere of being back in Burkina. Steve and I chatted until about 2.30am, before hitting the hay, and by 7.00 am I had my first visitors – two Fulani friends, Jodoma and Elie, had come for breakfast. They are at Fulani Bible School in Benin, but were back in Burkina for a few days break. It was great to see them and their enthusiasm for the work of the Lord.
A few hours later, we were on the dusty road to Djibo. It is so good to be back, and to see everyone again, and to sleep in my Fulani hut, or sit under the stars drinking Fulani tea. Church on Sunday was very encouraging. About 25 Fulani adults were there. Not all are yet following Christ, but among them are those who have persevered through mocking, opposition, and hardship, and remained faithful – not unlike Heb 10:32-34. Please keep praying for them. I was pleasantly surprised at how well my Fulfulde came back. No major mistakes – apart from when, instead of encouraging us to look at the 23rd verse, I suggested we study the 23rd scorpion!
Steve, Christiano, and Irenaldo are doing really well. We went out this morning to see the land we are trying to buy for the radio station, and we prayed out there. Steve has put an enormous amount of work into this. We are awaiting two “permissions” – permission to buy the land, and permission to broadcast. There is competition for both, so please pray. It is a great vision.
Thanks for your prayers. More soon. I am having difficulties getting online here.
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso travel ouagadougou fulani missions djibo
February 17, 2006
I fly today !
Just a reminder of my travel plans for the coming month. Please pray for this trip. Thank you:
I arrive in Burkina Faso at Ouagadougou airport on 17th February. My itinerary will look something like this:
17 Feb: Arrive at Ouagadougou
18-23 Feb: Djibo, with Steve
23-24 Feb: Boukouma, where we did the Discipleship Community
24-8 Mar: Gorom-Gorom, where I worked for 10 years
9-13 Mar: Ouagadougou
13 Mar: Return to the UK
Please pray for the trip, that I can be a blessing to everyone, and that I can hear what God is saying. Thank you.
I will try to get access to the internet from time to time to post reports of how things are going. I don't yet have a vehicle, so please pray that God opens the way for me to get everywhere, and see everyone I should see.
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso gorom-gorom travel ouagadougou djibo
February 16, 2006
Back to Gorom-Gorom
So, I will hopefully soon be back at Gorom-Gorom, where I lived and worked for nearly 11 years, from 1992-2003.
It is here I have been working to try to see culturally relevant expression of church started among the Fulani in the multi-cultural community there. And it is here we have done famine relief through the local Mossi pastor.
Work and Progress
It is always difficult by post or even phone to get a real idea of how things are progressing, so it will be good to see for myself. I am keen to see how the little group of local Fulani Christians are doing, and to see if they are not only persevering in faith in Christ, but also in relationship with the Mossi church. Pray for them, and that I will be able to encourage them.
I also want to see how people are coping after the food crisis of 2004-5, and its long-term effects of debt, loss of herds, etc. I had a written report this week of the food distribution we did back in September: we apparently helped 300 people with cheap grain, and 280 with free grain. The money from the grain sale will go back into providing an emergency supply for the future. Thank God for what we were able to do, and pray that they will find ways to break out of the slavery of poverty.
Friends
But above all, it will be good to catch up with the many Fulani friends I have in Gorom - both Christian and Muslim. I have written about some of them here - though without using their real names - people like Yusufi, who was baptised shortly before I left Gorom. He lives on a sand-dune a few km from Gorom, with his two wives, who both decided to follow him in the way of Jesus shortly after. And Ali, who believes in Christ, but was not ready to "go public", preferring to point people to the way of Jesus from within the Muslim community. And Ibrahim, who likes to hear about Christ, but has not yet decided to follow him. And many many others with whom I have shared nyiiri and gappal and the strong and 
sweet sahelian tea. People with whom I have shared life and death, birth ceremonies and burials, weddings and lost cows, the message of Jesus, and laughter.
And of course there are Seydou and Monique, and their children, Oli, Sara, and Timotee, all of whom lived with me for about 8 years.
It will indeed be good to be back home!
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso gorom-gorom discipleship church mission fulani
February 15, 2006
Gorom-Gorom
Gorom-Gorom is where I lived and worked for nearly 11 years, from 1992-2003.
Gorom-Gorom is the capital town of the province of Oudalan, the most north-eastern province in Burkina Faso, bordering both Mali and Niger. In the last 15 years, the town has acquired both running water and electricity, and the market was being rebuilt when I left. But the town is still cut off in rainy season, as the dirt road gets washed away. The road from Ouagadougou is apparently being laid with tarmac as far as Dori at present, leaving just the last - and worst - 56km untreated.
But it is worth the journey. Gorom-Gorom is in all those West African guide books as a "must-see" for anyone visiting Burkina Faso. This is primarily because of the fascinating mix of peoples and cultures of the area, particularly in evident every Thursday on market day.
The Peoples of Gorom-Gorom
There are of course the Fulani. As in Djibo, the men are mostly found down at the cattle market, buying, selling, herding, or just watching the cattle. While debates about price go on, they crouch in the dust, or stand one-legged eyeing the animals that are their life. Fulani women, dressed often in the typical blue cloth of the Gaoob'e Fulani that dominate this region, and with silver in their hair, are in the main market. They may be selling mats they have made, buying food for the family, or just meeting up to chat with family and friends.
Then there are the Tamacheq - the light skinned Tuareg (the "blue men of the desert") and the Bella, the ex-slaves of the Tuareg nobles. There are many Bella, but not many Tuareg here. The Bella have adopted the turbans, robes, swords, camels, and language (Tamacheq) of their old masters' culture. Like the Fulani, the Tuareg's loss of their slaves has left them often ill-equipped for survival, whereas the hard-working ex-slaves are often now much better off.
And then there are the Songhai. Related to the Djerma people of Niger, this is about as far from the River Niger that they get. The name Gorom-Gorom comes from the Sonhai name, meaning "sit down, we're going to sit down." The name goes back apparently to two brothers who, tired from travelling first stopped here. And one said to the other.... The Songhai have a less strict attachment to Islam than the Fulani or Tamacheq, and have many animistic practices in the surrounding, mostly more eastern areas.
Also in the market you will find Mossi from Ouagadougou, Maalleebe from Mali, Hausa from Niger, Hasania Arabs from Mauritania, Yoruba traders from Nigeria, and the occasional backpacking tubaaku, who has read his "Guide to West Africa", and come up on the bus from the capital the day before. If he has the time and inclination, he will barter a price with the local tourist guides for a camel trip to the sand dunes of Menegou, or a bush-taxi ride to the more spectacular ones 60km away at Oursi.
Tubaakus aside, the particular mix of peoples and the flat, dry landscape does give Gorom, and the whole province of Oudalan, a feel unlike anywhere else in the country - more like Niger or Mali than the rest of Burkina. It will be good to get back home...
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso gorom-gorom tamacheq tuareg songhai fulani market
February 14, 2006
My new house
 This picture is the Fulani hut where I will be staying in Djibo. Steve has just had it built for me - or at least as a guest room for any transient visitors, of which I happen to be the first. You can read how it was made, and see photos of the process here. |
 This picture is the Fulani hut I had as my guest room in Gorom-Gorom (with a younger me in front of it). As you can see, the huts of the Gorom-Gorom Fulani (Gaoob'e) are different from the huts of the Djibo Fulani (Jelgoob'e). One day I will show you how the Gaoob'e make their huts. |
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso djibo gorom-gorom housing fulani
Boukouma
On Friday I will arrive in Ouagadougou, on Saturday, I will head north to Djibo, and sometime later in the week, I will head east, stopping off at Boukouma on my way to Gorom-Gorom.
Boukouma and the Fulani Discipleship Community
In the summer of 2003, Steve, Seydou, and I spent 4 months in Boukouma, with a small team of Fulani believers from around the north of Burkina. Some of you may have seen the video. Most of them were fairly new in the faith, quite isolated from other Christians, and experiencing some degree of local antagonism for following Jesus. Having become Christians, they had thus also lost their traditional networks of support, and were struggling provide for themselves.
The goal of the 4 months was to try a holistic approach to discipleship. We lived all together, ate together, prayed and studied together, and worked the fields together. A Danish agency had started a rice project, and we bought fields there, in order to teach the Fulani believers to grow rice. At the end of the year, they went back stronger in their faith, but also with food with which to provide for their families. Although, from what I gather, they all also gave a good part of it away to bless their neighbours and extended family members who had been making life hard for them earlier. Blessing those who persecute you, no less.
During that time, Hamadou's wife and children began also to make progress in the faith. Out of the pressure of their home village, they felt free-er to openly stand for Christ. So Hamadou decided they would stay in Boukouma for the time being. I will stop off to see them, and plan to stay the night with them.
Since I have been away, the Discipling Community has not happened again. But I think Hamadou has continued to work some of the fields, as well as continuing to work his little tailoring business, pedalling his sowing machine down at the little market.
Please pray for Hamadou and his family to continue to grow in Christ, and to be able to continue to provide for their needs. Thank you.
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso boukouma discipleship church mission fulani
February 13, 2006
Djibo
On Friday I will arrive in Ouagadougou, and on Saturday, I will head north to Djibo.
Djibo is about 125 miles north of Ouagadougou. When you reach Djibo, it feels like you reach the start of the Sahel proper ("sahel" means "shore of the desert"). To the south of Djibo is Mossi territory, to the north is primarily a Fulani area, and the small town of Djibo is the place where the two peoples mix - together with a few Kurumba from scattered villages in the area too.
Djibo Town
I say "small" - I guess Djibo has a population of about 10 000, which has grown up around the large lake and small hills. The weekly cattle market that meets down by the lake brings Fulani in from all the surrounding villages. Many of the herders are standing on one leg watching their animals, or crouching in the dirt discussing prices. This is the literal stock market - where the fall and rise of prices week by week can devastate community life. If the big traders from the city have come, and spent their money, they will be arranging for the animals to be walked down to the capital. (Steve's account of his journey with the herders is well worth a read.)
This is a Muslim area, but there are also a number of Mossi churches there, and even a bible school run by one of the national churches. As well as that, there is a small Fulani congregation, too. 
When I was starting my work among the Fulani, I visited Paul, a missionary who had been there years. He had arrived just before the famines of the 70's, and his work had been swamped by responding to that need. A small group of Fulani had decided to follow the way of Christ. The week I went to see Paul, the new central market had recently opened, and there was a Tuareg camel race in celebration of President Blaise Compaore visiting Djibo. Paul moved on eventually, but others replaced him, and there is still a Fulani church there.
After more than 10 years in Gorom-Gorom, Steve and I moved to Djibo - although I never actually spent much time there during my year based there. I travelled a lot during that time, and we also did the Fulani Discipling Community at Boukouma, so Djibo never really quite felt like home.
Visiting Djibo
I will arrive in Djibo on the Saturday, and on Sunday morning I have been asked to preach at the Fulani church. I hope I haven't forgotten too much of my Fulfulde in the two years I have now been away. Kiwi missionaries Carl and Sharlene will be there. But I hear they have - at least temporarily - a Fulani pastor from another town to help run the church. His name is Tongooga, and I gather he is on a one-year practical placement from Bible School in Benin. There are some lovely Christians in the Djibo church, some of whom have recently been baptised. And others have joined since I have been away - like Jaynebu.
I am looking forward to seeing all these guys again, and of course my colleague Steve, and our new co-workers Cristiano and Irenaldo from Brazil. Steve seems to be doing a great job, building relationships, integrating into Fulani culture, and sharing Christ with the Fulani, and it will be great to spend time together again. He has of course also been trying to set up the Radio Station in Djibo, so it will be good to see how that is going.
And then there's Ken and Jocelyn, and their team, running a hospital where they provided the excellent surgery and care for thousands who would not otherwise have any chance of survival. And Nikiema Amade, one of the teachers at the Bible School, who used to be pastor in Gorom-Gorom.
Please pray for all these people, serving God faithfully and for God to continue to pour out his blessing and his Holy Spirit on Djibo.
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso djibo mossi church mission fulani
Whatever happened to Keith...? February 2006
My latest newsletter is here.
Continue reading "Whatever happened to Keith...? February 2006"
February 10, 2006
Ouagadougou: In memory and anticipation
On 17 Feb, I will fly back into Ouagadougou for a 3 week visit to Burkina Faso. My first three years in Burkina, I was based in Ouaga, and I have many good memories from there.
My first years in Burkina
When I first moved to Burkina Faso with World Horizons, I lived in Ouaga with a Mossi friend called Dieudonné. The church in Ouaga was dynamic and growing - one church I sometimes attended had a Sunday morning service that lasted about 8 hours on average. But although I lived in Ouaga, I didn't spend all that much time there.
I worked for those first years with a team of Mossi pastors in a campaign called Project Javelin. As a team, we would go from Ouaga to the north-west of Burkina, around Ouahigouya, to bring the message of Christ in Mossi villages there, where there were very few Christians. One such village, unforgettably, was called Rambo. We would turn up in an old English Beford army truck, and move in at a local church or school. After a drink of "zom-kom", we would go and greet the village elders.
During the day, we would be pray, study, and visit local people. In the afternoon, some would cook, and some would set up the equipment for the evening meeting. As night fell, we would turn on the lights and sound system, and play Mossi praise songs. Soon, lights could be seen bobbing in the darkness across the fields as people made their way with lamps or torches to come and see what was happening. The team of pastors would sing, preach, and then we would show the Jesus film. Often, over the course of just a few days in a village, many people would decide to follow Christ, and sometimes a church would start over the course of those few days. They were very exciting times.
And yet, increasingly I felt restless - I knew the Mossi pastors didn't really need me there - they were far better at what they were doing than I could ever be. I wasn't really sure what I was doing there... Finally, it was through Project Javelin that I met the Fulani and was led to move on to work in Gorom-Gorom, where the cultural and language differences prevented the Mossi from reaching the local people, and where there were no local Christians. We gave the evangelism equipment to the pastors and they have carried on with the ministry without us!
It is easy to do missions badly. We can give ourselves an ego boost by going where God is already at work, and see "results" quickly. But usually the church is already doing a good job there. We need to examine our attitudes and motivation about why we are doing mission, and how we are doing it. Are we there to serve, or to feed our own ego? It is easy still to have a "colonialist" attitude towards Africa, whereas we are often actually the ones in need of input from the church in Africa to speak prophetically to challenge our materialism and compromise.
Possibly the western church has two main roles in mission today. Either to work with - and under - local churches to support them in their own ministry. Or to go where the church still does not yet exist - to the hard places, where there is no quick result. Mission must be cross-shaped. A true work of God will involve self-denial, service, and sacrifice. If instead it panders to our ego and feeds spiritual pride, there is something seriously wrong.
Friends
On my arrival in Ouaga this time, I will not have the opportunity to see many people - I arrive one night and leave the following day for Djibo. But on my return I hope to catch up with people - I still have many friends there. There are many pastors who have helped us and worked with us and put up with our white man's ignorance and arrogance and who somehow continue to love us. Pastors like Philippe and his wife Josephine. Philippe was one of the founders of Project Javelin, and now runs a large church and also an evangelical development agency called AEAD, a partner of Tear Fund. I also hope to catch up with some of the young Christians we used to work with, many of whom are now themselves pastors and evangelists. And of course there are some very good missionary friends.
Pray for the church in Ouaga
The church still has a lot of dynamism. But there are dangers too. Unfortunately, with our wealth and influence, we in the west have sometimes exported seminars, books, ministries, and values that reflect our own culture of individualism and materialism rather than the cross-shaped gospel message of Christ. There are some wonderful churches and committed men of God in Ouaga, the sort of men who we need to hear speak prophetically into our own compromised Christianity. There are pockets where the church is, with its limited resources, reaching out it mission to other peoples and nations.
The church among the Mossi has a missionary call. Pray that she will rise increasingly to this calling to send out servants to the peoples and nations around in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The easy life of the city is a pull that stops many from taking up their cross to follow Christ to the difficult places - just as our own comfort holds us back in the same way. There are churches in Ouaga with 10 or more pastors, yet there are also towns and villages in Burkina without church or pastor. Pray that the Ouaga church presses forward to fulfil her own missionary calling to bless the nations, and that the Lord continues to anoint and equip church leaders there - men like Philippe - to lead the church into the fulness of his purposes.
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso ouagadougou mossi church mission siao
February 09, 2006
Global Warming and God
Some interesting pieces of news on the environment today:
1. Yet more evidence of global warming due to human activity. Evidence published in the reputable journal Science shows that the world is warmer that at any time during the last 1200 years. This follows on from another article published in November that showed greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane are higher now than at any time in the past 650,000 years.
2. Encouragingly, evangelicals in the US are taking an increasing concern about what we are doing to God's earth. And throughout the US, some industries and states are also taking initiative to tackle issues of energy and carbon dioxide emissions - even if for many it is driven by economic rather than ethical concerns.
The science is increasingly overwhelming. And we have the moral responsibility to steward what God has entrusted to us, both in honour of God, and in concern for the most vulnerable, who are always most severely affected by environmental disasters. Christians should be at the forefront of those opposing the destruction of the earth in the selfish pursuit of prosperity.
Tags: environment global warming
February 08, 2006
Cotton subsidies update
Following what I wrote here about the end to US cotton subsidies, the BBC have a good photojournal of a cotton farmer in Burkina Faso, and his life and views on the subsidy issues.
February 07, 2006
Ouagadougou - the big smoke
On 17 Feb, I will fly back into Ouagdougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso.
The Big Smoke
Known affectionately as Ouaga, the capital of Burkina has a population of about 1 million, and is a city like most other capitals, where everything can be bought - if you have the money. There are of course the banks, hotels, restaurants, swimming pools, etc that are necessary to keep the western businessmen, development workers, embassy staff, and of course missionaries able to cope with life in Africa... But since my first visits in 1985, and my installation in 1989, it has developed considerably. Now you can find parts of town with car showrooms and fancy boutiques that clearly cater not only to westerners, but also to the growing Burkinabe middle class and elite.
At the same time, while there are not the vast slums you find in many other countries, there are the "non-loti" parts of town - the unplanned sprawls of mud-brick or cement houses and yards filled with communities of family members and friends trying to survive in the big city. You see them selling coffee or second-hand clothes at the side of the road, or bras and phone cards at the stop lights. Ouaga used to be "moped city", where the roads swarmed with what seemed like thousands of little motor scooters that jostled for their little bit of road space, and belching out Ouaga's own "big smoke". There are still a lot of them around, but many of the moped riders seem to have moved up in the world - there are certainly many more cars now than ever there were before. It was always a bit of a shock, and even nerve-racking, arriving from Gorom-Gorom on my motorbike. After months of open, empty country roads, the traffic of Ouaga felt claustrophobic and dangerous.
The wealth of culture
Most of Burkina's 60+ different peoples can be found mingling in the capital - each bringing something of their own culture to add to the mix. In the Fulani parts of town, the crowded yards also usually have several cows squeezed into the available space. But Ouaga is really Mossi territory. The Mossi are the main people in Burkina, traditionally farmers, and are generally very hospitable and friendly. Although, like cities everywhere, Ouaga does not always reflect the best of its people, the values of hospitality, respect, and community of the village are often still very evident.
Ouagadougou was the capital of the powerful Mossi kingdom from the 15-19th centuries. The Mossi were one of the few tribes to effectively resist the Fulani armies and their call to become Muslims en masse. Today, Islam is increasingly strong there, but there are also many Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, and the religions generally live peacefully alongside each other. The Protestant church in Ouagadougou is evangelical, vibrant and growing, with some very large churches.
In addition, Ouagadougou has become famous for two main cultural events that draw crowds from all over Africa and even the world. One is the biennial FESPACO, Africa's biggest film festival, which I wrote about here. In the intervening years is SIAO, Africa's largest craft fair. Both are dynamic and exciting events, bringing much-deserved attention to the wealth of Burkinabe art and culture.
Generally I prefer the quiet life of Gorom-Gorom and the villages, but I usually enjoyed my visits to the capital for a break and a rest. Ouaga has changed so much since I moved up north in 1992, and there are parts of town I hardly know now. It will be interesting to see how much more it has developed since I left.
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso ouagadougou mossi fulani fespaco siao
February 03, 2006
Burkina Faso Itinerary
I arrive in Burkina Faso at Ouagadougou airport on 17th February. My itinerary will look something like this:
17 Feb: Arrive at Ouagadougou
18-23 Feb: Djibo
23-24 Feb: Boukouma
24-8 Mar: Gorom-Gorom
9-13 Mar: Ouagadougou
13 Mar: Return to the UK
Over this couple of weeks before I go, I will try and tell you a little bit about the places I will be visiting and what they mean to me. I will also outline what I hope to be doing in each place, and what are some prayer issues for those places.
It will be coming to the end of cold season and I should be back before hot season really gets underway, so temperatures should only be getting up to about 40C (104F) in the day. (You can check the temperatures here.)
It is only about a 500 mile round trip by road, and the roads shouldn't be too bad at this time of year. The main roads are "improved" dirt roads, which get in very bad condition during the rainy season, and which become "corrugated" or "washboard" with the pounding of vehicles during the dry season. I will be going up with some missionary friends in their car to Djibo, and will hopefully have the use of a vehicle for the rest of the trip.
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso gorom-gorom travel ouagadougou djibo
February 02, 2006
US cotton subsidies scrapped!
The BBC reports today that the US has scrapped its major cotton subsidies! This has to be good news for Burkina Faso.
These subsidies had been declared illegal by the WTO because they distorted the global market.
In particular, they undermined the prices that poor cotton-producing countries like Burkina Faso could get for their cotton. Such subsidies thus actively damaged efforts of these countries to work their own way out of poverty. I wrote about the issue here.
Now that the US has taken this step, let's hope the EU begin to deal with the iniquities of the Common Agriculture Policy subsidies...
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso trade wto cotton justice poverty subsidies us cotton subsidies
