| A little over a month ago I went to Batié in the south west of Burkina Faso, invited by the manager of a small dairy. We held a meeting with around thirty men, all aged between 30 and 50. They were representatives from the tribal Peul campsites in the neighbourhood (at a distance of up to 30 km). During our meeting I asked them: “How many of you were born in Batié or in the vicinity?” Nobody! They all came from the north (Djibo, Yako, Koudougou …). Because of a shortage of land, the Peul families had left their native land and settled down in the area around Batié. Batié is situated in the southernmost point of Burkina Faso, between the two prongs of the Ivory Coast and Ghana (See map of Burkina Faso, carte du Burkina Faso). Upon this answer I said to them: “You have come down here because of a lack of grazing land for your cattle. Thus you have been able to solve your difficulties for some time. However, these same difficulties will catch up with you. I came to Upper Volta (as Burkina Faso was called at the time) in 1965. The country then had 4 million inhabitants. At the end of this year we will be 14 million. In 2035 the population of Burkina Faso will amount to 30 million. There will then be less space for both inhabitants and animals. The world has changed. And it continues to change. I believe that you should no longer ask yourselves: “Where do we go from here, to continue to live as our parents did?” but rather “What can we do to live well here and to allow our children in turn to do the same?” My point was well taken. The reason was, I think, that it was in line with the concerns that had already occurred to these traditional stockbreeders themselves. Until the present time they have lived enclosed in their own tribe, culture and way of life. But here and there across the territory of Burkina, they are beginning to wonder if they are not taking the wrong turn! By relying exclusively on themselves, they have missed out on some of the opportunities of the world of today. For example around Koudougou all villages now have a much better supply of safe water because of the wells that have been drilled. But the Peul population has not obtained one single well in their settlements, in spite of the fact that wells are badly needed, both for humans and animals! One aspect of their closed community life is the refusal to send their children to school and have adults learn to read and write in fulfulde. It is not an all out refusal. Whilst the general rate of literacy among the adult population of Burkina is 20%, it is probably only in the order of 2-3% among the Peul. This is an estimate, based on the outcome of the latest population census, in which the question of literacy was also asked: “Can you read and write in one of the official languages (and if so, which one)?” Their attitude is however about to change. The other day, around noontime, I found myself in an area of Koudio a few km from Batié, where the Peul live. Of the children who ran up to greet me on their way home from school, there were just as many girls as boys! Not very long after that I was in Pa, along the road between Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso, at the intersection where it crosses the road from Diébougou. I had been invited by an association of Peul women in search of support for a small dairy that they wanted to set up. When I told them that they had to start by learning to read, write and calculate, they exclaimed: “But that is exactly what we want! We wish to learn reading and writing in our own language.” There are now about twenty women and a few men diligently following a literacy course at the training centre in Pa, led by the Boni parish. I could multiply the examples that tell the same tale. I believe we are at a turning point. We now have to assist the Peul community in their wish to open up to the rest of the world. At SEDELAN Publications we are both impressed and concerned with the increasing number of disputes between livestock breeders and farmers. We believe that teaching the Peul reading and writing skills in their native language ,as well as developing the milk sector (on condition that it remains in the hands of women), are ways forward that would enable the Peul to adapt to a world in transition and, as a result, also reduce the number of clashes with farmers. We have therefore decided to devote a substantial part of our work to the promotion of literacy courses for the Peul and the setting up of mini dairies, to be run exclusively by Peul womens’ associations. Koudougou, April 3, 2006
Maurice Oudet PS. We have just published a French-Fulfulde dictionary of 864 pages. You may read more on http://abcburkina.net/sedelan/contenu/publication/dicoFF.htm | 
View from the South