1976 was the year Chris and I returned to Upper Volta. We lived there for a year, and found a small house to rent in Yako, two and a half hours northwest of Ouagadougou. Chris was researching Mossi masks and crests for his doctoral dissertation in art history, and I was collecting children's tone riddles for my master's thesis in folklore.
We chose Yako because it lay in an area rich in traditional culture, but it was also close enough to Ouagadougou to give us opportunities to go "into town" to check for mail, go to the market and the grocery store, swim at the American Embassy pool, and eat at a nice restaurant once every couple of weeks.
Our house, formerly used by French nurses in training, was relatively luxurious. We had plenty of space for living and dining, a room we chose as our kitchen, three bedrooms, and a bathroom with flush toilet, sink, and shower. Our water source was a 50-gallon drum mounted on the roof, with a system of hoses serving the kitchen and the bathroom. We pumped the water manually from a drum on the ground. We loved the fact that the man who delivered our water was named Sawadogo, or "Rain Cloud".
Our large yard lacked shade, but did have several young acacia, neem, and flame trees. It was surrounded by an adobe wall, high enough to keep wandering livestock out, but low enough to offer our neighbors glimpses of our daily lives.
A commitment
9 hours ago
