Fred's Burkina trip in January 2020

Fred Eckhard made a trip to Burkina in January 2020

Day 1 in Ouaga: Hélène, Adeline, Diane, Clément, Haoua

The temperature is very pleasant, around 21 degrees, for this time of year. I started the day with a good European breakfast in the garden of the Karité Bleu Hotel where I feel at home eight years after my first visit. My friend, the crested crane also had breakfast, under the benevolent gaze of her statue.

Day 2 in Ouaga: Sandrine, Aicha, Anne Géraude, Damien

Sister Vitaline, a Catholic nun who lived in Brittany for three years, suggested that we help Sandrine when we met her in Bobo Dioulasso. Sandrine comes from a village in the South, near the border with Ghana. As she was particularly good at German in secondary school, her parents sent her to Ouagadougou to continue her studies. She lives with a cousin who is studying medicine. We went to meet her by car.

Day 3 in Ouaga: Ursula, Sonya, Rajaa, Christine

This morning we headed to the Ursula Institute, a branch of the University of Ouagadougou. Ursula has started studying for a Master’s degree in communication after completing the BWEF-funded Bachelor’s degree program in translation and interpretation for three years. Alima Ki from the administration briefed us on the two-year Master’s program.

Day 4 in Ouaga: Josiane, Ruth, Pélagie, Jeanne d'Arc

I love the Sunday breakfasts at this hotel: a real croissant, fresh pineapple and a large freshly squeezed orange juice. We left for Josiane's fiancé's house by this road.

Day 5 in Ouaga: Roberte, Nadège, Madeleine

We started out at the University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, a highly-thought-of private university. We went to the Medical School to check on Roberte, in her third year.

Day 6 in Ouaga: Inès, Anayiss, Djènéba, Yahaya, Christian

Brrr. It’s cool this morning – I’d say around 20 degrees. The Shea tree that gave the hotel its name must have died before it was painted blue. Burkina Faso exports a lot of nuts from this tree for the cosmetics industry, including L’Oréal.

Day 7 in Ouaga: German Embassy, Imagine Institute, Resources Humaines Afrique, Armata, Deborah

The morning was devoted to Embassies, starting with Germany. I wanted to talk about Sandrine -- our German language student -- and naively thought I would get their attention. The Ambassador could not see me and was replaced by his assistant, who at the last minute introduced me to a friendly but even more "junior" employee, Jana Linstromberg.

Day 8 in Ouaga: Josiane, Fasodia, Winnie, Zalissa, Adjarata, Deborah

Every year, work is undertaken to transform old dirt roads into asphalt boulevards. We took one of these to visit Josiane.

Day 9 in Ouaga: French Institute, Lucie, Kalifa, Françoise

For all our students, French is a second language. However, to enter professional life in Burkina Faso, they must be able to express themselves in good French. This is why I wanted to meet the French Ambassador to ask him to grant us preferential rates for the French courses provided by the French Institute. We were very kindly received in the morning by the Director of the Institute’s Language Center, Chiara Sponga, an Italian whose French is also a second language.

Day 10 in Ouaga: Brigitte, Noëla, Adissa, Rajaa

Here is a beautiful story. Brigitte had failed the Baccalaureate exam twice and the Solidarité association had withdrawn its support. We took over and paid for a third attempt -- sanctioned by another failure. Brigitte then came to see us to explain that she could enroll in a teacher training program without the Baccalaureate. It was a gamble and we took it. She finished first in her class and passed the public service integration test.