Tiébélé - Colourful Villages

The village of Tiébélé is located just beyond the Ghanaian border at Paga and consists of 67 villages that together form this municipality. This is not far from the slightly larger town of Pô and is therefore close to the main route from Paga to Ouagadougou which means that if you travel this way you can just stop here for a visit. On my first trip to Burkina Faso we couldn’t travel beyond this place because of time trouble. So for a long time this was my only impression of Burkina Faso.
The highlight and main attraction at Tiébélé are undoubtedly the painted houses which are not uncommon across the state borders in this region. The decoration here comes from the Kassena women who decorate the clay walls with patterns and symbols with black and white color (derived from a graphite water mixture or soapstones). In particular I found the variety of symbolism attributed here to plants, objects and especially animals insanely interesting. So decorations are not chosen by chance but are always an expression of a deeper meaning.
Because I like these little animals so much, I was particularly pleased with the history of the geckos, which are considered to be a blessing for new houses in the area of Tiébélé. At least according to the guide's narrative, a new house will not be occupied until a gecko has settled in it and thus has shown that the new home is easily habitable.