We started the day at the Center Delwende. This Center is one of two in the city- it is a compound about the size of half a football field. The center of the compound is an open, common area with one or two trees which offer much needed shade. The open area is surrounded by VERY small, connected housing units (each are about 8x8). About 300 women live in the compound we visited and 150 live in the other Center which is also in the city. All of the women who live at the Center have been accused of sorcery/witchcraft and banished from their villages. The woman in the photo below who is wearing the yellow dress has been at the Center for 32 years. Recently her family (she has 9 children and 40 grandchildren) has invited her back to the village and she is preparing to leave the Center. The two women standing next to her will be taking over her role as Center leader. Can you imagine the plight of these women?

Burkina Faso recently adopted a plan of action to end the practice of banishing women accused of witchcraft. Francois Bado (the man in the red cowboy hat-wearing an 'Obama Family' t-shirt) and his staff, are leading this effort. Francois is currently running for parliament.

After visiting the Center, we traveled to the Ziniare Animal Park which Terry Link has so eloquently blogged about. Stay tuned for more animal pictures!

Following the Animal Park we ate lunch in Nakamtenga, a village about 1/2 hour drive outside of Ouaga. An interesting aside- I could not understand why the waiter serves each drink with the coaster on top (vs. underneath) of the glass. I left the coaster off of my drink and within minutes, 15 flies were sharing my drink. Those coasters come in handy when lunching in West Africa.

The afternoon included a trip to the Ziga Dam. The Ziga reservoir started providing water to the Ouagadougou (capital of BF) in 2004, supplying about 70% of its needs in 2008.

We then finished off the day at the Granite Sculpture Park in the area of Loango near the town of Ziniare. This is a granite sanctuary. Loango is well known in the sculptors’ world and about 15-20 meet there once every two years for one month to carve the rocks. The stone carvings are magnificent and each holds a special story. Pictures to come!