Some Background on Burkina Faso (also 6 months till I leave!)

The country that is the focus of my research is Burkina Faso. Most people have never heard of it, let alone know where it is. Burkina Faso is a tiny, landlocked country in West Africa (that's the side closest to us).

Burkina Faso, formerly Upper Volta (also a former French Colony), is ranked as the world’s third poorest country in the world by the UN. Its population is 17.4 million people and its main export is cotton. The current life expectancy is 54 years. Eighty percent of the population lives in rural areas and fifty percent of those people live below the poverty line. The literacy rate (over the age of 15) is 21.8%. Their official language is French, but they have several national languages, including Mossi, and over 60 lesser used languages throughout the county. As I said before, languages are of particular interest to me, and I actually wrote a paper on bilingual education in Burkina Faso for my anthropology class but that's a topic for another day.

How am I getting to Burkina Faso? Since my tentative departure date is exactly 6 months away (January 2), I am getting very excited about making travel plans, even though I have to wait until I get my grant money in September to do anything. I'm planning on flying Turkish Airlines out of Boston. I'll have a layover in Istanbul and then another flight to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina. I'll have people waiting to pick me up at the airport, and then I'll be headed to Yako, which is the village I will be doing my work/research in.   

I'm very excited about this whole idea of travelling with everything I have coming up...I'm spending my junior year in Spain! Let the countdown begin!

Gold Mines in BF

For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the one to come - Hebrews 13:14