Burkina Faso
In the past six
months the CLT has had considerable correspondence from Fr
Expedit Gnoumou, a priest of the diocese of Dedougou in
Burkina Faso. Fr Expedit has come to know our Brothers at
Woodeaves in England and at Tamale in Ghana. It seems that
Fr Expedit has been captured by the charism of Edmund Rice
and he saw the possibility of setting up the Edmund Rice
Associates in Burkina Faso. Accordingly he has brought
together a group of well educated young people and together
they developed a Charter for the Associates. The Charter
was sent to the CLT and the CLT has authorized this Charter
and formally accepted it.
Fr
Expedit
Expedit was my guide, taking me to many towns and villages around the west of Burkina Faso. It was a good time to visit as everything was so green. My image before I came there was that it would be desert as it borders the Sahara, but in the rainy season, it is quite fertile and much agriculture, mainly corn, millet and cotton and a range of household animals abound. Donkeys and bullocks seem to provide all the power for agriculture. I slept in a different place each night, once in a village house with no electricity and no flowing water. I attended Sunday Mass in a three sided mud brick building with an iron roof.
The Associates
Expedit is very keen on getting our Brothers to come up into Burkina Faso – there is no question of the desperate need for education especially in rural areas – a big percentage of the population is still illiterate. Expedit even showed me a property which he is reserving for the Brothers.
I availed of a translator for most of the session – most educated people have some English as it is taught through secondary school. Our meeting was held out of doors under the shade of trees and I was rather amused by how many other village people came along and sat on the periphery – probably the most exciting thing that happened in the village for weeks!! French is the common language, except in village areas where people speak their own local languages. Fr Expedit speaks five languages fluently and I attended Mass with him where he presided in a different language each day.
The Church around Dedougou
We also visited the Carmelite Sisters – 23 in the community from a number of nearby countries. We met quite a few of them, a lively lot, mainly younger women.
Despite the fact that this country would be regarded as a missionary country, much has happened in terms of development – many large church properties, providing courses for Formation, Catechists [3 year live-in course], Youth, a Seminary with a Junior section of 60 and a major section of 90, about 3-4 priests ordained for the Diocese each year. There are about 15 Dioceses in the country, most of which have their own seminary. The White Fathers [SMA] evangelised the country originally – 100 years ago, and Catholics represent about 15% of the population.
The Brothers of St Gabriel have arrived and are commencing a school in Dedougou at the start of the new school year. The Brothers of the Holy Family seem to be in numbers around Burkina Faso and in Ouagadougou they run an accommodation ‘hotel’ which is a fund raising investment – we stayed there one night – very good. They are involved in education as are a number of Congregations of Sisters – Providence, St Joseph, Immaculate Conception etc. The De La Salle Brothers have three schools in Burkina Faso. The Bishop of Dedougou was away, visiting sponsors in Spain.
There is an easy mixing of Muslims and Christians in Burkina Faso and no detectable tensions. Libya is the source of much funding of new mosques. The China presence is influential in growing numbers of African countries.
If anyone or any group is able to provide any support to Fr Expedit or the Edmund Rice Associates, it would be very welcome. Fr Expedit’s email address is: expedit_gnoum@yahoo.fr
Michael Godfrey