Henry Wilkins

In October 2021, a trial on the assassination of Burkina Faso's former president, Thomas Sankara, began more than three decades after he and 12 others were killed in a 1987 coup. Former President Blaise Compaoré, the main defendant in the trial, who lives in exile in Ivory Coast, will not be attending. I met the only survivor of the attack that killed Sankara and revisited the site where it all happened. You can see the video in the window to the left.

In July 2021, I made a feature on Burkinabe triple jumper Hugues Fabrice Zango who months earlier set a world record to hop, skip and jump more than 18 meters indoors. He was on his way to the Tokyo Olympics and ended up bringing home Burkina Faso’s first ever Olympic medal - bronze in the triple jump.

The UN has called Africa's Sahel region 'the canary in the coalmine' for the effects of climate change: drought and desertification that contributes to conflict and migration in the region. In July 2021 I met Burkina Faso rapper turned farmer Art Melody, who channels the struggles of being on the front line of climate change into his music. You can watch the video by clicking the window on the left.

In August 2021 I reported on Burkina Faso's six-year conflict with terrorist groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida, which was spreading to the country's southern region, according to analysts. I went on a patrol with a group of vigilantes as they prepared to defend against the Islamist militants near the southern town of Bobo Dioulasso. You can watch the film in the window to the left.

In June 2021, I travelled to Sahel province to see Angelina Jolie make a statement praising Burkina Faso's efforts in helping people displaced by Islamist militants. But rights activists said Burkinabe authorities have also been fueling the conflict by detaining hundreds of people without charge, including IDPs, and also by extrajudicial killings.

In September 2021 I reported from the Burkina Faso town of Ouahigouya on displaced people who were struggling to register for aid distribution. Shortly after this report was published the Burkinabe government suspended the Norwegian Refugee Council from humanitarian operations in the country for comments made in this video. You can watch the video in the window on the left.

The U.N. has called Burkina Faso's 1.2 million internally displaced people the world's fastest growing humanitarian crisis, but the government refuses to recognize thousands of IDPs, who get no support. And media access has been closed to over a million IDPs living in official camps. I followed a day in the life of one such "invisible" IDP in this report from June 2021.

In February 2021 I made a video piece for Voice of America. United Nations data shows Africa's Sahel countries have the highest rate of child marriage in the world, with more than half of all girls being married before the age 18. I profiled a former child bride who fled her 54-year-old husband and now mentors other child marriage survivors. You can watch the piece by clicking the video to the left or read the text piece here.

In August 2021, I reported on the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism, a day that is unfortunately relevant in Burkina Faso because of its fight with Islamist militants. A Burkinabe nonprofit, Go Paga, is helping widows and orphans grappling with the loss of husbands and fathers to rebuild their lives.

In January 2020, I shot a piece for VoA on the many children in Burkina Faso forced to leave school following threats by Islamic militants and work in the country’s informal gold mines, where they are at risk of accidents. You can watch the video and read the article here.

I made this report shortly after an attack in Burkina Faso in June 2021 that killed 160 civilians. The attack was in retaliation for the activity by pro-government civilian militias in the area, according to Human Rights Watch. I spoke to victims of human rights abuses by these militias and members of the militias themselves. You can watch the video by clicking the window on this page.

When Burkina Faso’s former president, Blaise Compaore, fled a 2014 uprising to Ivory Coast, he left behind a private zoo of exotic animals. The animals were starving to death until a nonprofit stepped in to rescue them and this year reopened the zoo to the public. You can watch the video piece by clicking on the video on the left.

In August 2021, a report found that community leaders in Burkina Faso were exploiting internally displaced women, demanding sex or money in return for food aid. I spoke to a victim in the town of Kaya.

In March 2021, I reported on disabled IDPs in Kaya, Burkina Faso. The U.N. refugee agency calls Burkina Faso’s the world’s fastest-growing displacement crisis, with more than one million internally displaced people and counting. Among the displaced are some 140,000 disabled who struggle with discrimination, exploitation, and accessing aid. You can watch the video by clicking/tapping the video on the left.

In August 2021 I reported on a Belgian-African company operating in Burkina Faso planting trees to help curb desertification and open up lands for grazing cattle and farming. The project by the company, Hommes et Terre (Men and Earth), is taking place in some of Burkina Faso’s most dangerous conflict zones where expanding desertification is a cause for strife.

In January 2020, I worked as local producer on a documentary for Vice News and Showtime - ‘Terror in the Sahel’. With journalist Ben Anderson, I travelled to Burkina Faso’s north, set up interviews, found locations and greased the wheels of the whole production. You can see a trailer and a clip on this page.

In October 2021, I reported on the Pan-African Film Festival of Ouagadougou (FESAPCO) returning to Burkina Faso despite insecurity and after being canceled the previous year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You can see the video in the window on the left.

In October 2021, I reported from Burkina Faso, on at least 400 people awaiting trial on terrorism charges for years, including several minors. I spoke to family members of those living in legal limbo. You can watch the video in the window on the left.

In July 2021, I shot a piece for Al Jazeera English TV about protests which spread across the country against a lack of insecurity. This came in the aftermath of the Solhan attack which killed at least 160 people, the largest attack in Burkina Faso’s conflict so far. YOu can watch the piece in the window to the left.

In May 2021, I reported on scientists in Burkina Faso who had been breeding genetically modified mosquitoes that could reduce the ability of mosquito populations to spread malaria. I went down to Bobo-Dioulasso, to take a cutting-edge research for Voice of America.

In August 2021, I reported on how Burkina Faso had been making headlines for an Islamist insurgency that has created one of the world's fastest growing humanitarian crises. But one man was showcasing what the country has to offer beyond conflict, with a group he created called “Burkina Faso is Chic.” You can watch the video in the window on the left.

In early 2021, an investigative report accused the Burkina Faso representative of Swiss-American tobacco giant Philip Morris of funding terrorism through tobacco smuggling. Despite a U.N. report also calling him a smuggler, Apollinaire Compaoré, rejected the findings in an exclusive interview I did for VoA. You can watch the video on this page.

In 2021, I shot most of the footage in Nanoro, Burkina Faso, for this Al Jazeera English piece on a major scientific breakthrough. A new malaria vaccine developed by Oxford University and tested in Burkina Faso had just been revealed as having a 77% efficacy.

In May 2020, I shot a news piece for Al Jazeera English. The subject was Fatoumata, a girl who like 350,000 other children lost access to education in Burkina Faso due to the ongoing conflict. You can watch the piece here.

In July 2021, I reported on cuts to foreign aid in the wake of COVID from donors like Britain. It had just slashed its aid budget by $5.5 billion, hitting those on the ground in Africa. In Burkina Faso it could lead to the shut down a group that helps thousands of gender-based-violence and rape survivors.

In April 2021, I got an exclusive interview with the director of Oxford University’s Jenner Institute who said their new malaria vaccine, tested in Burkina Faso, had shown a preliminary efficacy rate of 77%,. As part of the piece, I also filmed in Burkina Faso a story about the burden of malaria on families in the region and the potential impact of the new vaccine.

In January 2021, Burkina Faso’s re-elected President Roch Kabore appointed a minister for national reconciliation as part of a vow to end the country’s ethnic and political conflicts that are fueling terrorism. But, resolving deep-rooted tensions over land and power between the ruling ethnic Mossi and the ethnic Fulani, who are often labeled as terrorists, was going to be a difficult task. You can watch my self shot report here.

In November 2020, I made a video piece for Voice of America on around 400,000 IDPs cut out of voting in the upcoming Burkinabe election . Analysts said this would leave a clot of illegitimacy around whoever won the election. You can watch the video in the window on the left.

In November 2019, I appeared on air for Al Jazeera English to give some context around the recent attack on employees of the Canadian mining company SEMAFO, which killed 39. You can watch the video by clicking on the image opposite.

In August 2014 my old friends at Bloc. asked me to do some drone piloting and filming for their promo videos. The videos were produced by David Terranova and the imagery was used across the festival's artwork.