Michael Kevane

Le 9 mai 2018 était la journée de célébration des projets à l’école américaine appelée International School of Ouagadougou (ISO).  A cette journée ou FAVL a été honoré car suite à l’invitation nous avons voir à l’école une vingtaine de projets que les élèves ont présenté tant dans le domaine de la santé, de l’environnement, de l’énergie que de l’éducation. Ces projets ont été bien présenté et nous avons été touché par le choix d’une groupe d’élèves qui ont fait le déplacement sur la bibliothèque de Korsimoro et on produits 3 livres-photos pour les enfants des 20 bibliothèques. Ils disent s’être inspiré du modèle de livre-photo de FAVL et des conseils pour réaliser ses livres. C’est avec une note de satisfaction que nous avons félicité ces élèves qui ont pu faire aboutir leur projet.

And unfortunately there is so little known by small farmers about successful bee-keeping in Burkina Faso! Low hanging fruit for development projects?

Shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) is an important fruit tree in West African parklands, and its successful pollination is a requirement for fruit production. Size-based pollinator exclusion experiments combined with visual observations showed that presence of honey bees (Apis mellifera jemenitica) was important for pollination and thereby the production of fruits and seeds. Smaller insects, mainly species of stingless bees (Hypotrigona spp. and Liotrigona cf. bottegoi) and solitary bees (Compsomelissa borneri) could partly compensate pollination in absence of honey bees, but fertilisation and fruit yield was reduced. A positive correlation between fertilisation percentage and number of honey bee colonies within radii of 900 and 1000 m was observed. The percentage of fertilisation and number of mature fruits per fascicle were higher in trees with colonies of stingless bees in the trunk when honey bees were excluded by bagging. We conclude that local beekeeping with honey bees and stingless bees is likely to have a positive influence on fruit production of shea trees in the farmed West African parklands, which speaks in favour of a pollinator friendly environment.

Source: Honey bees are essential for pollination of Vitellaria paradoxa subsp. paradoxa (Sapotaceae) in Burkina Faso | SpringerLink

From a recent study in Food Science & Nutrition:

E. coli strains were found to 27.45%. Forty samples (38.24%) were unacceptable based on the aerobic mesophilic bacteria (AMB) load. Fifty‐nine samples (57.85%) were contaminated with thermo‐tolerant coliforms (TTC)…. Diarrheagenic E. coli strains were detected in 21.43% of all samples. This study showed that flamed/grilled chickens sold in Ouagadougou could pose health risks for the consumers. Need of hygienic practices or system and good manufacturing practices is necessary to improve the hygienic quality of flamed/grilled chickens. Our results highlight the need of control of good hygiene and production practices to contribute to the improvement of the safety of the products and also to avoid antibiotic resistance. Slaughter, scalding, evisceration, plucking, bleeding, washing, rinsing, preserving, grilling, and selling may be the ways of contamination.

“Safety of ready‐to‐eat chicken in Burkina Faso: Microbiological quality, antibiotic resistance, and virulence genes in Escherichia coli isolated from chicken samples of Ouagadougou” Namwin S. Somda, Ouindgueta J. I. Bonkoungou, Cheikna Zongo, Assèta Kagambèga, Imael H. N. Bassolé, Yves Traoré, Jacques Mahillon, Marie‐Louise Scippo
Joseph D. Hounhouigan, Aly Savadogo

Apparent change in independence of national election commission (CENI) and the thorny question of how to organize voting for Burkinabè abroad.

Au Burkina Faso, l’opposition se mobilise contre un projet de loi modifiant de code électoral…. La semaine dernière, les partis politiques ont reçu le document de travail qui prévoit notamment la dissolution de la Commission Electorale nationale indépendante, remplacé par un nouvel organe sous tutelle du ministère de l’Aménagement du territoire. L’opposition est montée au créneau pour dénoncer «un net recul démocratique» et une atteinte à l’indépendance de l’organisation du processus électoral…. Zéphirin Diabré (président de l’Union pour le Progrès et le Changement) et chef de file de l’opposition, explique à RFI quelles sont ses réserves.« Il y a une formule alambiquée qui a été utilisée. On parle d’autorité qui sera chargée des élections, mais quand on regarde de très près, en fait c’est une disparition de la Céni et l’assujettissement d’un certain nombre d’opérations électorales au ministère de l’Administration du territoire. Ça, ce ne pas possible, ce n’est pas acceptable ». Autre point qui n’est pas « acceptable » selon Zéphirin Diabré, « la question du vote des Burkinabè de l’étranger. Là, on nous sert maintenant une formule alambiquée qui dit que le vote aura lieu à partir de 2020. Ce n’est pas la même chose !Et nous on voit bien la manœuvre. En fait le MPP et son gouvernement vont regarder les pays où ils pensent avoir le meilleur score et ils vont dire que ces pays-là sont prêts à y aller en 2020… ».

Source: Modification du code électoral au Burkina Faso: l’opposition vent debout – RFI

You see, I wrote, “basically” there which I think is what he meant.

Fr. Sosa gave the opening address at the conference, which celebrated and encouraged the need for women’s voices to be heard in the church and in the world. Organized by Voices of Faith, Jesuit Refugee Service and the Fidel Gotz Foundation, the event’s theme was “Stirring the waters: Making the impossible possible.”Although Pope Francis has voiced his support for broader participation of women’s voices in the decisions of the Catholic Church, Fr. Sosa said, “that inclusion, which would bring the gifts of resilience and collaboration even more deeply into the church, remains stymied on many fronts.”

Source: News Detail | Jesuit Superior General Says Women’s Full Inclusion in the Church “Has Not Yet Arrived”

FAVL gets several anonymous donations a year and I have no idea who they are from… (they come from a fund or a bank).  So let me say thank you right here!

What’s intriguing about anonymous giving, and other behaviors apparently designed to obscure good traits and acts, like modesty, is that it’s “hard to reconcile with standard evolutionary accounts of pro-social behavior,” the researchers write. Donations fall under a form of cooperation called “indirect reciprocity.” “Direct reciprocity is like a barter economy based on the immediate exchange of goods, while indirect reciprocity resembles the invention of money,” Nowak wrote in his highly cited 2006 paper “Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation.” “The money that fuels the engines of indirect reciprocity is reputation.” Donation evolved, in other words, because it granted a good reputation, which helped humans in securing mates and cementing alliances. But if that’s true, how did the practice of anonymous giving arise? The title of the new paper suggests a solution: “The signal-burying game can explain why we obscure positive traits and good deeds.”

Source: Larry David and the Game Theory of Anonymous Donations