More than Mud - Coulibaly & Brothers, Burkina Faso

More than Mud
Coulibaly and Brothers
Burkina Faso
With subtitles
Produced by Natural Light Films

To see Ten Thousand Villages products handcrafted by Coulibaly and Brothers, visit: http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/catalog/product.list.php?cart_artisan_id=6

Habibou Coulibaly named his workshop Coulibaly and Brothers because he considers everyone who works there his brother.

Coulibaly and Brothers is one of 20 ...workshops that Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Burkina Faso represents. Habibou Coulibaly and his 'brothers' have been making bogolan (mud cloth or 'batik') in the same way hunters in Burkina Faso have for centuries. Hunters used the mud cloth as a way to disguise themselves by changing their sent and among these hunters there were some who added designs. Habibou learned how to do the mud cloth dying process with his grandmother.

Mud cloth is created using natural dies including one produced from the leaves of the sycamore tree. The artisans use brushes and stencils to apply the design to the mud cloth. Women, who traditionally weave the cloth, are now beginning to learn how to do the bogolan or mud 'batik' work as well.

Today Coulibaly's workshop includes 8 artisans and 25 to 30 more people when they are busy with orders. Habibou states that fair trade provides just pay and is helping to change lives in their community. Their work and income helps to unite them and provides them with a decent living.

Because of the work provided by the workshop people now have a mode of transportation where they were before walking by foot. Habibou wants customers to understand that they are not only buying a product but they are also assisting in development. The sales of products provide employment, which eliminates poverty. Habibou wants customers to see the energy and the life of the artisan in their bogolan works of art.

"Don't just look at the price of the product but most of all see the image of the artisan." -- Habibou When you purchase a product at Ten Thousand Villages like this mud cloth, you are purchasing more than a beautiful product. Your purchase assists in development, reduces poverty and takes the image of the artisan into your home.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Ten Thousand Villages
• Natural Light Films
• Fair Trade
• Coulibaly and Brothers
• Burkina Faso
• mudcloth
• crafts
• artisans
• fair trade
• 10000 villages
• Burkinabe Rhythms Hanging
• 1801370
• bogolan
• MCC
• sycamore
• natural dye
• stencil
• mud