Under the Acacias - a blog about the Fulani of Burkina Faso: April 2007 Archives

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April 30, 2007

Gorom-Gorom Floods Report (Aug 06-Apr 07)

A short report on the Gorom-Gorom floods and the response of the Gorom-Gorom church can be found here.

Tags: burkina faso africa burkina flood building gorom sahel emergency housing aid gorom-gorom jesus kingdom of god

Posted by Keith at 08:39 PM

April 16, 2007

Too busy

Life is too busy at the moment, so I'm afraid I am not finding time to post anything very much. Shame really, I have some great stories I wanted to tell you...

The busyness is exciting though, as I continue to explore ways of getting behind the Christians and pastors around Gorom-Gorom in their ministry and mission there. When I get time, I will tell you more about that too.

I am off to the US this week for a few days. It will be a good opportunity to visit the good folk at Hatteras Island Christian Fellowship, but I suspect my laptop won't be far away...

Posted by Keith at 07:50 PM

April 09, 2007

Feeding the 3-headed monster

The Times has more on the iniquities of US cotton subsidies and their impact on the poor of Burkina Faso:

Burkina Faso's cotton market has been brought to its knees by “the monster with three heads”: a weak dollar, low world prices and US cotton subsidies. The Times makes the following points:

America’s 25,000 cotton farmers receive about $4bn in subsidies, allowing them to undercut their developing competitors.
The same year, farmers in Burkina Faso produced a bumper crop of cotton more efficiently, and yet made a loss of $81 million
The US subsidies were ruled illegal by the World Trade Organisation three years ago, yet only 10 per cent have been dropped so far.
Washington still pays many times more in subsidies to these farmers than it gives in aid to Africa each year.
As a result, world cotton prices are now at the lowest since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Burkina Faso depends on cotton for 70 per cent of its cash exports, and income for a quarter of its 13 million people.

The Bush Administration has said it will consider increasing aid to boost African farmers’ productivity, but that has been dismissed by developing nations, which would rather have a “fair playing field”.

One Burkinabe cotton farmer, Mr Outtara, is in despair, saying: “Cotton production is meant to be a way out of poverty, not a means of keeping us there.”

François Traoré, president of the Association of African Cotton Producers, says “Families who don’t even know where America is are being punished by their policies. We are not their enemies. Why are they destroying us with their riches? One day, when we face the same God, how will they explain themselves?”

Tags: burkina faso africa burkina cotton subsidies farm bill justice sahel poverty

Posted by Keith at 09:41 AM

April 05, 2007

A day at Slimbridge

Last weekend I had a lovely day at Slimbridge, home to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. Here is a selection of photos of some flamingos, a barnacle goose, swans, wood ducks, a coot with four chicks peeking their heads out, and one species of duck, whose name I can't remember.