Our Director of Brand Communication, Christina Polychroni, will be documenting her upcoming trip to Burkina Faso. This is her first post.
Today is January 10th and my to-do list is growing exponentially. You see, I will be leaving New York in 8 days for Burkina Faso. Why Burkina Faso in the middle of a very cold NY winter?
L'OCCITANE and Burkina Faso
In 1982 , Olivier Baussan, the founder of L’OCCITANE, visited Burkina Faso and discovered that the women held a secret very close to their hearts- they were the only ones privileged to work and produce shea butter, a sacred to them and miraculous beauty balm that L’OCCITANE fell in love with. Often called Women’s Gold , shea butter is now a staple for L’OCCITANE!
Moreover, the L’OCCITANE Foundation was created in 2006 and one of the main aspects of help is economic emancipation of women in Burkina Faso. Literacy centers and microcredit programs have been set up to improve the women’s lives, and currently more than 12,000 women produce organic shea butter for L’OCCITANE.
So where and what is Burkina Faso?
In West Africa, north of Ghana, is a country not a lot of people are familiar with. I can speak for myself and say that before joining L’OCCITANE, Burkina Faso was a name I had not heard. And yet, Burkina Faso has so much to reveal! What does Burkina Faso mean? The “homeland of honorable people”- how nice and graceful does that sound? It also has the lowest GDP per capita figures in the world, mainly from agriculture (32% of GDP). Its official language is French, as it was a French colony until 1960- however there are more than 60 native languages and dialects spoken! Today only 29% of the population can read and write. Women also hold a very special place in Burkina (as it is often called). With an average of 5.9 children each, an annual income of a woman is close to 46 euros or 30,000 FCFA. 33% of them are literate and 95% of them work in agriculture. Plus…they are the only ones that have the privilege of creating Shea Butter.
Me and Burkina Faso
Counting the days, I will soon be on my way to meet the women and hopefully follow their schedule! So far my to-do-list has √ checks for :
- 5 vaccinations, including yellow fever which is compulsory for Burkina Faso
- A VERY WELL equipped medical kit
- Sun glasses, hat and light clothes, all three of which I am very very excited for- especially following the heavy NY snowstorm..
Together with April Long from Elle and Jihan Thompson from Redbook magazines, we will be waking up bright and early in the morning, pick only the shea fruits that are fallen on the ground, dry the kernels and crush them, roast and grind so they are transformed into a brownish paste, churn and mix with water, heat up the emulsion and finally..filter the oil and harden into butter- so I have been told but it is time to see for ourselves. More to share with you while on the road, for now I think I am ready, passport and vaccination book in hand, I cannot wait to visit the place where Women’s Gold is created and pay my dues to these women ..in the homeland of honorable people..
