The Arabic word sāḥil ساحل literally means
"shore, coast", describing the appearance of the vegetation of the
Sahel as a coastline delimiting the sand of the Sahara. Its like a band right across Africa just below the Sahara, so countries in Sahel include Senegal, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Ethiopia Somalia and a few others.
The
Sahelian
kingdoms were a series of monarchies centered in the Sahel, between the 9th and
18th centuries Their wealth of the states came from controlling the
Trans-Saharan trade routes across the desert, especially the slave trade with
the Islamic world.
Colonized as
part of French West Africa. French West Africa (French AOF) was a
federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal,
French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea (now Guinea), Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory
Coast), Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Dahomey
(now Benin) and Niger. Chad was added in 1900 as part of French Equatorial
Africa.
Recent
history marred with drought, desertification & Political Rife.
An
average Sahel youth has very close ties to family and relatives, this comes out
strongly across all socio-economic groups
Aspirations
and ambitions are closely tied to the current socio-economic situation and how
to improve one’s living conditions
Main
fears and worries resonate around these social settings especially whether the
current relatively calm political atmosphere is going to hold to enable
personal ambitions to blossom
For
the youth who are still in school, their preoccupation is mainly on completing
their education and eventually getting a job.
The
younger generations are quite positive despite the almost cynical situation in
which they live today. They are enterprising, have an open mind and are on the
lookout for the slightest chance of success
The
atmosphere is rather optimistic and very far from politicians and economists’
alarming speeches. Young people have their own views of life and struggle to
live as they can.
The
younger generations are quite positive. They believe in hard work and even work
on holidays. They are enterprising, have an open mind and are wanting to
achieve it themselves and not wait for politicians to deliver it.
They
have the ability to laugh in spite of
the hardships and humour
is clearly appreciated given that it ‘uplifts’.
They
have the ability to laugh in spite of
the hardships and humour
is clearly appreciated given that it ‘uplifts’.
The
cinema of Burkina Faso is an important part of West African and African film
industry.
Many of the nation's filmmakers are known internationally and have
won international prizes.
No film festival in the world comes
close to rivalling the magnificence and ambitious
scale of Fespaco – the Festival Panafricain du Cinéma et de la Télévision de Ouagadougou.
Every African
country submits work to its selectors, so the films on offer represent a unique
snapshot of the contemporary African psyche.
Young People
speak about how their community defines what they are, its their identity and
hence any personal development needs the validation as well as should lead to
betterment of the community.
