Among the words that are very important to my family, my culture and me, there is the word “Burkindi”. By definition, it means the quality of being honest, diligent, having humility, generosity and dignity. In other words, it is the art of being irreproachable. This word derived from the name of my country “Burkina Faso”, a land locked country in Ouest Africa. “Burkina Faso” is in Moore language (spoken by more than fifty percent of my county’s population), means country of honest men. Over there people tend to put a lot of importance in how we should live and treat each other. Culture wise, we try very hard to be as perfect as possible. Burkindi was widely used by one of my country’s leaders, Thomas Sankara. He was betrayed by one of own close and childhood friend Blaise Compaore who later on took over and became president. In almost all speeches Thomas Sankara gave throughout his presidency, he mentioned about being strong, honest and generous towards others and defined all of this with one word “Burkindi”. He furthermore mentioned that Burkindi should be the biggest wealth in poor countries.
In addition to mutual respect, that our worthy president encouraged his compatriots to have one another, he also wanted us to adopt principles that will reflect our dignity for a better future. The word Burkindi also encourages Burkinabés (inhabitants of Burklina Faso) to adopt other morals and behaviors among which I can quote the total respect towards the older people. In fact, while greeting older people, it is more respectful to kneel.
One more person, who also praised the word Burkindi and spreaded its usage among our culture, is Norbert Zongo, a Burkinabé investigative journalist who worked for a news company “L’independent”. He was one of those who fought for the country’s development and perpetuating the values of our cultures, customs, social behaviors, cultural events and education. However, as everywhere in the world, some people just can’t be like others and will do what we are all fighting hard to prevent.He was also know for his integrity and desire to put light in every shaded spot. His hard work paid off as he was able to expose some conspiracy, impunity and extortion within the government of Burkina Faso. That conspiracy was related to the President Blaise Compaoré. His Newspaper investigated the murder of a driver who had worked for the brother of the president Blaise Compaore. He was close to proving that the driver was tortured and killer by people close to the president and was assassinated. After his murder, regarding all he did throughout his career, his oeuvre must be kept alive and what he fought for, “Burkindi”, praised.
Many other brave men have helped to preserve and perpetuate our cultural value in many ways, but for those two individuals who lost their lives in the struggle will be honored and “Burkindi” will also be more important to us Burkinabes. This had a very big impact in the population and the sayings “Burkindi” will be kept in their mind forever.
