Monday, July 11, 2011

Where the heck is Burkina Faso?

Every now and then,  I check the "audience stats" for Darby's Daily.   I'm always excited when I see that someone from another country -- and a faraway country, at that! -- is learning a bit about ordinary life in the United States by visiting this little blog of mine. 

My generation really studied geography.  Or maybe I studied geography because the Catholic nuns who taught me right up into college believed that it was important to learn, respect and value other peoples and knowing where the heck they lived on this big ol' earth of ours was an important part of that learning.  (They also believed it was important for us to learn about other religions and required us to attend the services of at least one other religion and report back to our high school religion class. The women of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet were extraordinary.) 

So, knowing a bit about geography as I do, I am rarely stumped as to a country's location.  OK, sometimes I am stumped by the new name of a country -- take Niger,  for example, where my nephew spent time on an important archeological dig.  When Chris first pronounced the name of the country -- "Knee - zhair" -- I was perplexed until the young whippersnapper said "You would know it as Nigeria."  Then, I could picture it on the giant land mass that is Africa.  I also didn't have a clue as to where Sri Lanka and Union of Myanmar were until I knew they used to be called Ceylon and Burma, then I knew just where they were.

This week I was totally stumped when I saw the country "Burkina Faso" listed in my visitor stats.

Burkina Faso?  Where the heck is Burkina Faso?  It sounded like it should be in Italy, or the name for a new style of my favorite sandals. Well, it just so happens Burkina Faso is quite close to "Knee-Zhair" and I knew it by its former name "Upper Volta." 

Welcome, whomever you are visiting from Burkina Faso!  If you come back, I hope you'll leave a comment and tell us a little about yourself!  And, be sure to tell us a little something about the dogs in your country.  Are they as funny looking as these? 




OK.  Just foolin' around!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love me some Pumpkin! That is the best pic yet of her! I love, love, love your photos and blog too.
Kathy & Spirit

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

Yeah, we get stumped with all the name changes....but I suppose most of them had name changes by Europeans in the first place...

Love the close up shots....we notice No sleepy ear.

XXXOOO Daisy, Kendra & Bella

Boo21's Mom said...

Kathy and Daisy and Co., I thought that photo of Pumpkin might be misleading. It is an old photo from the end of last year -- from before I broke her ear. (Leda assures me again and again that I didn't break her ear...but the Pumpkin-girl came to me with two upright ears and one of them is now sleepy... I'm just sayin'...)

Boo21's Mom said...

Daisy and Co., you made a very good point -- of course the country names I learned in geography class were those the various European countries assigned to countries and areas they colonized -- places that were called something very different by the people who originally lived there! it must feel very good when the name of one's country changes to (goes back to) something meaningful to the people living there! I thought I learned by geography pretty well, but I still have a lot to learn!