On my way to the unknown

Well I have not left just yet but my preparations are basically all done. I leave Friday January 8th at 7h00 pm and get to Ouagadougou at 2h35 am on January 10th with a stopover in Casablanca for approx 15 hours - just enough time for a little dodo and maybe a short visit. Burkina Faso means “the land of upright people”. It is landlocked with a population of approximately 15.3 million. According to the Human Development Index (HDI) it is the 6th most disadvantaged country of the world (187th of 192) – followed by Mali, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Niger (to put you sunbathers in a reality check the Dominican Republic is 90th of 192); average life expectancy is 52 years of age; the illiteracy rate is 78% with an average of 5 years of school. More than 80% of the population relies on subsistence agriculture. Agriculture consists mostly of livestock but also growing sorghum, pearl millet, corn, peanuts, rice and cotton. Burkina Faso's natural resources include small deposits of gold. Drought, poor soil, lack of adequate communications and other infrastructure, a low literacy rate, and an economy vulnerable to external shocks are all longstanding problems. In 2008/2009 Burkina Faso was hit with the triple external shocks of increasing oil and food prices as well as the global financial crisis. More than half the population earns less than $1.25/day. Since 1991 the country has implemented substantial economic and social reforms with support from the World Bank, the IMF, and other donors. Much progress has been made in liberalizing the economy and developing the private sector. As a result, Burkina Faso has established a good track record over the past 10 years (1995-2005), on macroeconomic performance. However, deeper structural and institutional reform are still needed to support diversification of an economy still based on low productivity agriculture with a single major export crop (cotton), which makes it vulnerable to exogenous shocks (volatility of export and import prices) and fluctuations in rain fall. The country’s major challenges remain the unfavourable investment climate, including a cost of infrastructure (electricity and transportation), lack of skilled workers and a weak judicial system (corruption). In the wake of the world financial crisis, Burkina Faso’s external environment remains fragile. The weaker external demand and lower commodity prices are likely to be the main transmission mechanism of the global financial crisis to Burkina’s economy. In 2000, Burkina Faso became one of the first developing countries to prepare a full Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). Donors have progressively aligned support to the PRSP. A third PRSP is scheduled to be presented in 2010 Key issues (among others) examined by the Government with the support of the World Bank include (i) how to better mitigate economic risks in the face of price, exchange rate and climatic volatility, (ii) how to identify new sources of growth and improve the investment climate, (iii) what reforms are needed for a more effective financial sector, (iv) how to increase the efficiency of government expenditure and ensure that it is pro-poor, (v) how to achieve effective decentralization, (vi) how to better protect the most vulnerable. While exact statistics on religion in Burkina Faso are not available and estimates vary widely, the Government of Burkina Faso stated in its most recent census (1996) that approximately 60 percent of the population practice Islam, and that the majority of this group belong to the Sunni branch, while remaining minorities adhere to the Shi'a branch, and significant numbers of Sunni Muslims identify with the Tijaniyah Sufi, or Salafi traditions. The Government also estimated that 24 percent of the population maintains traditional indigenous beliefs, 17 percent practices Roman Catholicism, and 3 percent are members of various Protestant denominations. Atheism is virtually nonexistent. A common proverb in Burkina Faso claims that "50% are Muslim, 50% are Christian, and 100% are Animist". This shows the large level of acceptance of the various religions amongst each other. Even for Muslims and Christians, ancient Animist rites are still highly valued. I will tell you much more in the months to come