Blog

Just a few days ago the curfew was lifted. It doesn’t make much difference to my daily routine, but it’s a sign of the country getting back to normalcy.   I mentioned in my last post “Six Days to Social and political change in Burkina” how impressive it is to see...

We could see it coming; everything pointed at what was to come.  Yet it was more surprising than what I had imagined. On Tuesday, October 21, in a Special Council of Ministers, the Government considered a bill to modify article 37 of the Constitution in order to allow...

Today is the first day of the 2014-2015 school year. Like she does every year, Rihanata, the maternelle’s headmistress, has "forbidden" me to walk around the classes today.   The thing is that the first few days of class for the maternelle children, particularly...

I’ve had writer’s block for so long it’s worrisome.  I attribute it to the heat we’ve been suffering. These last months have been really harsh. But the rains have started now, and with them my inspiration for this new blog post, which I hope you will enjoy (read...

Many thanks are due to the Barraquer Foundation. Together we did it! It was a week of intense teamwork, between the Friends of Rimkieta and the Barraquer Foundations – characterized by harmonious cooperation and a positive atmosphere. Among the 1,000 patients seen,...

Just a few days ago, Burkina’s national soccer team, the “’etalons,” played against Algeria for the next phase of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The Government declared a day off work so that people could go watch the game at a bar or a neighbor’s house, as here there...

The Muslim Holiday “Aïd al-Kabïr ” (Tabaski), more or less like Christmas for Christians, has been in the air for days.  It’s also called the lamb’s holiday because it celebrates a pasage of the Koran – also present in the Bible – in which Ibrahim (Abraham to...