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Village Artisanal de Ouagadougou
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Ordinarily, an empty can of
condensed, sweetened milk
seems to have come to the end
of its useful life. But in the hands
of a skilled artisan, the can is
transformed into a great toy: A
colorful little car, a butter fly or a
dragon fly.
The little can started out on the
shelf of a small boutique, one of
the many that serve people
living in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. After its owner has used the last sweet
drop in her morning coff ee, perhaps, the can seems useless. It is headed for the
trash. Later that day, however, a local youth passes by and saves it from the
trash dump. He is one of many young people in the city who collect cans that
have been emptied of all sorts of food and drink. He then sells the empty cans
to artisans at the Village Artisanal de Ouagadougou.
"It's very good for the environment," says Patricia Badolo, director of VAO. "It makes it so there is less trash going to dumps. Young people do it – they know the artisans and where to find the stuff and it earns them some money. And then we have some products we can sell outside of Africa." |
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