Schlingensief's opera village opens infirmary
Four years after the death of theater maker Christoph Schlingesief, his project in Burkina Faso is taking another step forward: tomorrow the infirmary will be opened.
It was Christoph Schlingensief's last great lifelong dream: with an opera village in Africa, the theater and filmmaker wanted to create a cultural meeting place that would bring life and art together.
After a school for 300 children, a second step is now being taken to open an infirmary in poor Burkina Faso. It offers first aid to around 5,000 people from the surrounding villages, and up to 20 children a month are to be born here.
A doctor, a dentist, a pharmacist, two nurses and two housekeepers will work in the infirmary. They will be provided and paid by the local government. The concept for the approximately 800 square meter building was once again designed by the award-winning architect Francis Keré, who Schlingensief was able to win over for the project at an early stage. The son of a Burkinabe chief, he has already developed a fascinating natural cooling concept for several schools in Africa.
Christoph Schlingensief witnessed the laying of the foundation stone for the village about an hour's drive from the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou in February 2010 - already severely marked by his illness. A few months later, he died of lung cancer at the age of 49.
