The Country’s Context
 Burkina
Faso is located in the center of
West Africa, surrounded by Niger,
Mali, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo
and Benin. Burkina Faso, which
stands for: ‘’Country of honest
men’’, is a presidential republic.
This Sahelian country has an area of
274 200 km2 and a population of 13,
9 million people of which less than
a quarter lives in cities. Life
expectancy is estimated at 44 years
old. The literacy rate is 28% while
that of women is not more than 18%.
The official language is French but
several other dialects are
frequently used.
 The
South-Western part of the country is
the most furtile; receiving as much
as 1 300 mm of rain each year while
the Northern part receives only a
fifth of that. Agriculture
represents 39% of Gross Domestic
Product (GDP). The main exportation
products are cotton, gold and
cattle. |
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Religions and traditions
 In
Burkina Faso, most of the population
is Muslim. Christianity and Animism
make up the rest. Every event during
the year is underlined by the
‘’Sortie des masques’’, which
differs a lot from one population to
another. Besides the initiating
rituals to make the rain come down,
weddings and funerals are also quite
good reasons to have festivities
around the country.
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Flora
 Being
part of the Sahelian zone, Burkina
Faso doesn’t have a luxuriant flora.
On the other hand, nature has gifted
them with ‘’providence trees’’. They
are called this way due to their
usefulness to men. The fruits, the
bark and the leaves of the baobab
tree have multiple uses. The gum of
the gum tree tree is used in candy
shops, in pharmacies and in paper
mills. The shea seed in used for
cosmetics and the mango tree’s
fruits are delicious. |
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 Fauna
The big herds are at the Eastside of
the country within the huge national
parks of Arli and ‘’W’’, which are
very rich in wild fauna and of
savannas. |
Arts and culture
 From
the very beginning, communities have
expressed their artistic talent
through sculputure, music,
architecture and crafts. Burkinabees
are great sculptors: their masks, of
various shapes and of impressive
sizes, are carved in wood and
decorated with feathers and
drawings. Percussion instruments are
used everywhere. As well, vocal art
is well known for its vitality and
originality.
In this
agriculture dominating country,
craft is very important and comes in
various shapes: pottery, basketwork,
weaving, traditional dyeing,
leather-goods and jewelry. The
method of the ‘’lost wax bronze’’,
which is a flourishing one around
the country, allows the creation of
decorative objects and statuettes of
various sizes which often represent
women.
With the
coming of new technologies like
digital, photography and the cinema,
traditional art didn’t disappear but
its functions, expressions and
social ranks attached to it have
suffered transformations. |
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