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Village life A mother, Dayamba Puamoni, a girl, Tindano Joyce and a boy, Gayeri Yeniban, describe their daily life. A day in the life of a mother, Dayamba Puamoni. My name is Dayamba Puamoni and I live in a village near Piela in Burkina Faso. My village is quite small with 1000 people living in it and everyone knows each other. I got up at the first cock's crow this morning and just as it was getting light I was sweeping the courtyard. It gets quite dirty what with all the goats and sheep in here. My children are up too and two of them will get ready to go to school. It is quite far away in another village but I think it is good for them to go.
Mind you, the very eldest will never go to school because we need him to look after the animals.
And the girl won't go either because I need her here with me to help out around the house. I just could not get all the work done with out someone to help me. After the sweeping I have to make the breakfast and get some water ready for my husband to shower when he gets up.
After that I have to get some wood for the fire, but it is just so far away my heart sinks when I think about walking back 3 miles with it piled on my head, especially with another baby on the way. That is 6 now. But my husband is proud of having so many children so I don't complain. I don't complain about anything really. It wouldn't change anything. I have to get lunch ready when I get back from searching for wood. It is strange that I have to go so far now. Only ten years ago there was loads of wood everywhere, it really wasn't difficult to find. But now the trees are disappearing so quickly, I wonder where they will be in another ten years time?
I make lunch from our crops grown. We haven't got enough money to grind the millet at the mill so I pound it with a wooden pole and my daughter helps. Between us we can get it done in a couple of hours. Then I make it into 'to' for my husband Djombouga, and us. The sauce is not very good today. I managed to pick some leaves from the Baobab tree to put in it but I know he will be angry. The thing is I can't make a good sauce if he does not give me any money. My eldest son had an infection in his leg last week and I was terrified that he would lose his leg so I took him to the clinic and it cost so much to treat him properly. Now my husband says that the money is finished. Still it will be the rainy season soon and then I can plant my peanuts and a bit of maize. If the harvest is good I can get a bit of money from selling that. My husband's farm will provide all the millet we need to make 'to' for the year. I hope it will be a good year, it all depends on how much rain we get. Last year there wasn't enough rain and the plants did not grow. There was nothing to eat and I can't tell you how many people were hungry. The government gave our village a few sacks of grain but it did not really go round. The evening meal that I have to cook is the same as the midday meal. Still, my husband will have been in the market all afternoon, drinking 'dolo' and will hardly notice. The kids come back from school excited but are frightened to speak when he arrives home. He eats his meal and goes to bed. I stay up and clean the dishes.
Tomorrow I have to wash all of the family's clothes by hand. I need lots of water for this so I will have to make several trips to the water pump. At least there is a water pump in the village. It was put in only last year and it is such a relief to have clean water. Before I had to draw it from the well and it was always so brown. Now it is clear and my children can drink it without getting stomachache. I will always be doing these jobs everyday. But I do sometimes think that if my children get a job, one-day they could help me out with money and clothes. I go to church every Sunday and pray that things will change. Village Life.
A day in the life of Tindano Joyce My name is Tindano Joyce and I am 10 years old. I live with my aunt and uncle and my 5 cousins. My aunt and uncle needed some help in the home because all my cousins go to school and my parents agreed that I could live with them and help out. I am called a ‘bonne’. My home village is Pantanloana but I am living in Bilanga and I don’t get to see my parents very much. I like living with my aunt and uncle but it is very difficult too sometimes. I don’t get treated like the other children, who (all except the youngest one) go to school, and I wish I could be like them. My parents don’t think that girls should go to school and my aunt and uncle need me here so I don’t have a choice. I get up at 5 with the first cock crow and I have to sweep the yard which is big and usually very dirty with the chicken and goats’ mess everywhere. Then I go to the pump and fetch some water for everyone else in the family to wash with and place it in the outside washing area. I have to do three trips to get enough water. I start washing the dishes and cooking pots that are left over from last night whilst everyone is getting dressed and ready to go out to school or work. My uncle is a teacher and my aunt works in the health clinic in the mornings so I get left alone with just the toddler Rebecca in the mornings. Today there is a big pile of clothes to wash and I have to find several buckets and basins to do it. My hands get very sore from all the scrubbing but at least it is only twice a week that I do this! Rebecca is crying now as she has just fallen over and grazed her knee and I am so tired of trying to keep her out of mischief with all this work to do. I have to make ‘to’ and sauce for lunch and my friend Kadi comes round to help me pound the millet. It is much more fun when we do it together because we can make up songs at the same time. It takes two hours to grind it all down and then I mix it with water over the fire and cook it. The sauce is not going very well today as I could not get fresh leaves so I have to use dry ones. Rebecca spilt them on the ground and I had to pick them up. She has a temperature today, I hope she will not be ill. Last week my other cousin was off school with malaria and I had to look after him too. Everyone comes home for lunch and I am the last to eat. This afternoon I am going to the market, which I love because I can meet my friends and see other people doing things. I have to sell the little cakes and soap that my aunt has made and I will load them onto a tray that I carry on my head. I try so hard to sell as many as I can because otherwise my aunt thinks that I am lazy and also she might not give me any money. If I sell a lot she always gives me something – I usually buy bubble-gum with it but I am trying now to save up for a new pair of flip-flops. This evening I will have to fetch firewood and cook another meal and prepare water for more showers but the girls help me do this. I can have a wash myself tonight. My cousins usually do their homework in the evenings and I can go to bed. I wish that I knew how to read and write like they do. I don’t think that I will ever learn but I have heard that some women can learn when they are married. I hope I will get married and have children of my own one-day and I will make sure all my children go to school. But I will make them all do housework when they get back from school so that we don’t make anyone like me do all the work.
A day in the life of Gayeri Yeniban My name is Gayeri Yeniban and I am 12 years old. Well, it says I am 12 on my birth certificate but I think I am older than that. My parents did not organise any papers for me until I was signed up to go to school and I think they put down any old year. I have got 12 brothers and sisters and I am the youngest son of my Dad's first wife. He has got two. We are Muslims and Dad can have four wives if he wants to. I get up when it is daylight at about 5.30 or 6 am and I eat the 'to' that is left over from last night for breakfast. Sometimes Mum will make some 'bouillie' which is like porridge and there is lots of sugar in it.
I walk to my primary school, which is in Piela and I live in Langouassi, which is a village next door. I have to walk 2 kilometres every day there and back but it is not too far and I don't mind walking except when it is too hot. At school we learn French and Maths and History and Geography. There are 70 children in our class and 30 are girls. I like going to school because all my friends are there and we play football a lot.
Last year we were in the final of a big tournament of all the primary schools in the district but I wasn't allowed to play because I was too tall. They would have won if I had been on the team. Football is good at school because we always have a ball. When I play with my friends in my village the ball is sometimes too flat or we can't find one at all.
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