"Hi, we’re from CNN, take us to your king."

Well it was worth a try, and maybe we will be successful. You never know. Those three letters -- C.N.N. -- have a funny way of opening the most difficult of doors. Femi Oke and myself are in the greatest sounding capital in the world ... Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in West Africa (Just incase you didn’t know!) We are here to do a story about a Priest, Father Morris Oudet. Otherwise known as the Cyber Priest, because of his use of the Internet to connect the rural villages in this poorest of the poor countries in Africa. Passing news and farming techniques on to villagers, via the internet.

We have a restricted schedule here, but making most of our precious time we want to film another piece for CNN’s Inside Africa. The Mossi tribe is the largest, with a strong culture, identity, hierarchy and a King. A nice picture piece on a place rarely reported on. So why not check first whether the King is a fan of CNN and Femi Oke. This we are still to find out. But after a cool reception with his spokesman a letter was formally passed and we wait, not with bated breath. The irony was not lost on our presumptiveness. Could you imagine a news crew from Oagadougou landing in London, and asking to meet and film the Queen? "Ideally today, but Wednesday would be fine."

What was easier to film later today was the most charming Mossi family introduced to us by our local fixer. Life is hard here, and the mud hut compound was without electricity, plumbing and water. In fact the nearest well was three kilometers away. But with great courtesy we were welcomed to their world for an afternoon. The extended family let us film them preparing food, cleaning the cotton crop and telling stories, passed on from generation to generation. A real privilege to witness, and also a most humbling experience. They had so little, but the family still felt they needed to give their guests a gift -- a live white chicken. I great honor, we learnt. But a gift we couldn’t accept for obvious reasons, disregarding the code of practices we have to follow regarding gifts from interviewees.

We still want to film more Mossi cultural activities in the next few days, and possibly, just possibly, the King of the Mossi people.

-- From CNN camerman Neil Bennett