The events took place in a district of the city of Bobo-Dioulasso a few days ago. A young man named Souleymane, his real name, is the driver of a hearse (funeral vehicle) in his neighborhood. He is also very well known in his entourage because of his profession. Some even think that he is too young to carry out this activity, since it is generally reserved for old people in several localities in Burkina. But the story you’re reading isn’t about that. Sunday January 7, 2024 while the town of Sya, particularly sector 24, is walking timidly towards the end of the weekend, an idea comes to Souleymane’s mind. In the evening he sets off the hearse not towards the morgue or the cemetery as usual but this time towards a maquis on the square. Indeed, the young man had an appointment that day with Sara, assumed name, a young illiterate girl whom he has been courting for a while. He first picks up the girl from her home with the hearse. As Sara cannot read, she did not discover that she had been taken aboard a hearse. For her, her boyfriend had just bought a new car because it looks like a new vehicle. After the meeting, Souleymane and Sara headed to another unknown destination, still with the hearse. After a drunken evening, Souleymane returned to drop off the hearse. This is how the keys will be taken away from him. And since that day, he is no longer the driver of the sector’s hearse. He is fired from his position.
Ben Alassane DAO
