IRON VILLAGE: The Mossi Village of Dablo in Burkina Faso

The village of Dablo is quite typical of the lively, busy, creative rural farming village of much of West Africa. People spin and weave cotton, brew millet beer, form and fire pottery, smelt and forge iron, dance and sing, and enjoy life. Airfare from Iowa costs about $2500 through Paris, but I am sure you can do better than that, especially if you purchase your ticket to Ouagadougou in Paris instead of in the United States (so many people fly back and forth between Paris and Ouagadougou that the airfare is not very expensive). If you stay in a tiny rural village and ask a family to give you a room to sleep in and to feed you you could get by on $25-$50 a week. If you stay in a hotel in Ouagadougou it will cost you $150 a day just for the hotel. Meals in Ouagadougou can be cheap or expensive depending on whether you eat them in a local restaurant used by Burkinabes, or in a European-style restaurant mostly used by white people. All of this should be pretty obvious. If you live like a Burkinabe life is inexpensive, if you live like a European it is much more expensive. I arrive at the airport in the evening from Paris, check into a hotel (the Splendid Hotel, recently bombed by Al Quaeda) and stay for a day or two until I am ready to go out to one of my villages. While I am in Ouagadougou I spend a lot of money, but as soon as I get to a rural village the cost of living drops dramatically. Some villages have electricity now, so that you can actually use a fan and have electric light. Most of the villages I visit do not have electricity, and so the only way to stay cool at night when you're trying to sleep is to soak your sheets in water and lie in bed until all the water has evaporated and the sheets are dry. I have a lot of friends who drive me around in their own cars, including into rural villages. I pay them quite a lot of money, 10,000 to 20,000 CFA a day. You can do much cheaper if you take local buses and other local transportation. On the other hand if you're going to do that I hope you speak French.

[@florakabre8955]

Its m'y country and I'm mossi.

[@fibrodad1354]

I love these rare looks into African village life... I was in Cameroon and the congo areas in 1985 and sa some bits. my thanks the the author of these films which i love.

[@ChristopherRoyJamesCook1768]

It is my pleasure. I wish I could go to Cameroon and make some videos there.

[@siguian]

Enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing.

[@Desi-qw9fc]

You said that all the smiths are named Bamogo, and belong to the Bamogo clan. Does this mean that smithing is an assigned job that is passed down through the family? Or does this mean that anyone who wants to work as a smith becomes inducted into the clan?

[@tyrander1652]

The iron does not melt. The impurities in the ore melt and then carbon monoxide from the burning charcoal pulls the oxygen from the iron oxide leaving iron particles behind. The iron particles then then weld together in the heat to form a mass. You cannot smelt iron with just heat and ore. You must have carbon too.

[@playlistshift]

what about smelting gold, removing iron with heat?

[@peanutquezergue99]

Fascinating

[@g3on0i4]

Awesome!

[@ramesh.kkrishna5852]

very nice video of mossi village in burkina faso.i wonder where all the menfolks gone? looking for some errand jobs in ouagadougou or bobo dioulasso?

[@ChristopherRoyJamesCook1768]

Yes indeed. Most of them are working in cities where there are jobs, and not just cities in Burkina.

[@sonamjordanma452]

They out perform men doing works from taking care of the children 👶 to making pots.

[@Mrbowgunhunter]

Fascinating! In rituals, such as the one before the smelting, do the villagers/priests use psychedelic substances? As far as I noticed, the ritual takes part underneath some acacia/mimosacea trees, which contain an abundance of dmt.

[@anananamouse]

Just curious but can the tongs be squeezed up and down? Also, what happens to the sacrifices after they die?

[@ChristopherRoyJamesCook1768]

Yes, the tongs go up and down. The people eat the sacrifices. Nice roast chicken.

[@ChristopherRoyJamesCook1768]

Airfare from Iowa costs about $2500 through Paris, but I am sure you can do better than that, especially if You purchase your ticket to Ouagadougou in Paris instead of in the United States. If you stay in a tiny rural village and ask a family to give you a room to sleep in and to feed you you could get by on $25-$50 a week. If you stay in a hotel in Ouagadougou it will cost you $150 a day just for the hotel. Meals in Ouagadougou can be cheap or expensive depending on whether you eat them in a local restaurant used by Burkinabes, or in a European-style restaurant mostly used by white people. All of this should be pretty obvious. If you live like a citizen of the country life is inexpensive, if you live like a European it is much more expensive. I arrive at the airport in the evening from Paris, check into a hotel (the Splendid) and stay for a day or two until I am ready to go out to one of my villages. While I am in Ouagadougou I spend a lot of money, but as soon as I get to a rural village the cost of living drops dramatically. Some villages have electricity now, so that you can actually use a fan and have electric light. Most of the villages I visit do not have electricity, and so the only way to stay cool at night when you're trying to sleep is to soak your sheets in water and lie in bed until all the water has evaporated and the sheets are dry. I have a lot of friends who drive me around in their own cars, including two rural villages. I pay them quite a lot of money, 10,000 to 20,000 CFA a day. You can do much cheaper if you take local buses and other local transportation. On the other hand if you're going to do that I hope you speaks French.

[@spegasus25]

lt very intersting way to smelt irin from iron seed

[@billyoldman9209]

31:43 "...The prognosis for this goat is poor... I am afraid a chicken and a goat were badly injured during the filming of this sequence..." - Hah! That'll teach the hypocrites some culture-consciousness :P

[@ChristopherRoyJamesCook1768]

Which hypocrites, PETA, vegetarians?

[@billyoldman9209]

Just in general I had people in mind who are more concerned about the life of an animal than the existencial needs of human beings, or even their lives. But in the end, I guess those attitudes are also organic cultural developments, no matter how twisted their logic might be... Moral relativity sure is hard to grasp :P