Dirze

To say that the village of Dirze, Burkina Faso is off the beaten path would be an understatement. We reached the village after a three hour drive from Ouagadougou and were ushered inside one home by the most welcoming and genuine people one could ever hope to meet. The homes in Dirze all followed some similar constructions- there was a low wall enclosing numerous buildings, the number of which was determined by the size of the family living inside. Families were extended, fluid, and large. For example, the family we stayed with included an elderly mother, her son and his wife, their two children, four or five aunts and a smattering of children from an infant to children of eight or nine. The "fluid" nature really refers to the fact that at any time there were new faces, all related in one way or another, all eating and resting and visiting together. The saying "it takes a village to raise a child" is a truism in the villages of West Africa.
The buildings themselves were made of dried mud and as the family we were staying with was doing well financially, the roofs of the bedrooms were made of tin. There were also four or five circular rooms with the same mud walls but these had thatched roofs and housed the livestock- chickens, goats, the horse, dog, donkey, and sheep. The dried mud is a light brown color and is punctuated by colored doors or windows in blue. Beautiful fabric hangs in the breeze to dry and moves in splashes of color- swirls and sunbursts, geometric designs and wild patterns. The courtyards between houses were used for sitting together, preparing food, and eating. Peanuts are constantly being shelled (they are the big snack food) and sorted. The home of our hosts had six or seven round houses, six bedrooms, two shower stalls, and an outhouse style toilet. The entire compound was surrounded by fields of corn (these crops are rotated with millet and peanuts as well) and large, lush mango trees. There is no electricity and the stars that blanket the sky are breathtaking and awe inspiring.