Burkina Faso Winter Break 2006 Study Abroad Photos

From December 26, 2006 to January 13, 2007, I led a group of 14 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students on a study abroad trip to Burkina Faso, with the goal to learn about economic development at the micro level in rural Africa. Below are some pictures from our adventures.

One of the more uncommon ways to get to class—I am just outside of Gorom-Gorom:

This is where we camped over New Year’s Eve, just north of Gorom-Gorom:

The group is in front of the mosque in Bani (students from left to right, Matt, Andrew, Adam, Jim, Rebeccah, Melanie, Chris, Katie, Marlyn, Erin, Jessica, Treva, Kenzie, and Brock):

Visiting with the women’s micro-credit cooperative in Tougouri:

Visiting with the villagers of Dassari to see the primary school they are building (students from left to right, Antonio (University of Ouagadougou student and our guide), Treva, Katie, Kenzie, Brock, Jessica, Rebeccah, :Marlyn, Adam, Andrew):

Receiving a sheep from the chief of Dassari (seated on the left in the pastel blue suit):

Visit with the villagers of Tamasgo to see their dry-season gardening project. The students and I are receiving our welcome millet drink from the villagers (students from left to right, Jim, Marlyn, Chris, Matt, Rebeccah, Andrew, Melanie, Kenzie, Katie, Erin, Jessica, Adam, Brock, Treva):

Erin is using the water pump outside the school in the village of Silga Rasla:

Visiting the irrigation and dry-season gardening project in the village of Simidougou (students from left to right, Andrew, Jessica, Matt, Brock, Chris, Jim, Antonio, Adam, Katie):

In the village of Bereba, men are preparing bales of cotton to be weighed and sold to the government:

In Bereba, we visited the rural village library built with aid from FAVL, Friends of African Village Libraries. In the photo are the primary school students who use the library on a regular basis and along the wall are the University of Illinois students and the librarian: