I arrived in Burkina during the rainy season which is also the time the families plant most of their harvest. Most everything revolves around this time of year including school. Because the children are needed to work in the fields the school year ends the end of May and does not start until after harvest, around the end of September or beginning of October.
The Peace Corps staff has told us that this is a difficult time for village families. Though this is the time they must work the longest and hardest, it is also the time when the money and food (from last year’s harvest) is the scarcest. Often their supplies start to run out sooner then they can be replaced. Thus, this is the crunch period. I have witnessed the amount of work that is invested. There is no day of rest for some. The first week I arrived in Boyoga came the first rain (it was very late this year apparently). The very next day EVERYONE was out in the fields cultivating the soil.
My family is growing millet, another type of grain (used in the main dish- Tô, beans, peanuts, some rice (I believe) and I think another type of bean or pea. But it is mostly millet which is their main diet. Next time you visit a historical farm in the US and learn how farming was done then you will largely understand how it is done here. My family has many fields, spread out- some next to the family cartier (compound), some at least a km away. For an area about a third of a football field, I have seen two teams of bulls used (My family has five bulls). Two bulls are used for one hoe (on a wheel). A child around the age of 12, but can be much younger, usually a girl, leads the bulls. Another younger child holds a whip and ‘directs’ the bulls. The older man (meaning my host brothers- 19-28 years old) handles the hoe to turn up the soil, in order to plant the seed.
Right now it is mango harvest though the season is ending. Peanut harvest is also occurring and will last until August. Everyone in the family has a role. Women and children often use gardening hoes to help cultivate other fields used for beans and peanuts (this is crazy back-bending long, hard work- most Americans would look at you like you were mad if you asked them to perform this task for a day). Women are the ones harvesting and selling the mangoes. Two young boys, around 7-8 years old look after the family herd of goats, following them around during the day.
This past week was the week that rain was needed in order to have a decent harvest in the fall. This has been a drier rainy season then average. On Friday, the families got what they needed with a seven hour rain storm. My host father was very happy. And again, the whole family spent all the nest day in the fields. The Saturday before it had been too dry to do any new cultivating (so I think they had to play catch-up).
It is extremely impressive to observe how well my host family knows the land and the weather. They work hard and know how to survive with the resources available. But when I asked two of my host brothers if they liked farming, they said they did not because of how difficult it was. They said if they lived anywhere else they would not be a farmer.
Last night my host brother came into my courtyard. Obviously just finishing work, he looked exhausted. He said he was tired and wished he could work in America and send money back to his family so they would not have to cultivate anymore.
Though I question if he understands the hardships he would encounter in making a life and getting work in the US that paid enough money for him to significantly help his family, he reminded me that this is not a life of choice but necessity.
Most people making a living, in any country, living below middle class income, are making choices out of necessity. But there has to be solutions to make it easier to survive. There has to be a way to ease my host brother’s burden and still fill the children’s bloated bellies.
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