Peace Corps BF new BUS

This would be a malaria slide in 100 degree weather...no fun

Ibe bought me a Owl for christmas...Unfortunatly it died before christmas! (its okay Kyle)

ELEPHANTS....so i was supposed to be on this car trip where my sitemate saw these guys

Cos Conference...Jenny and I having wine at the end of 2 years

In a small village seeing real Lobi culture...this woman is 98 and her husband was the king and had 200 wives...she is the last living one he died 40 yrs ago

Making shea butter oil

George our friendly Brit...hes in Africa for 6 months to draw...

Drinking dolo...a fav pastime in small villages

Eating lunch in a Lobi house

At the gold mines Im trying to help dig dirt

Its hard work

8 MARS...INTERNATIONAL WOMANS DAY

My girls club did theatre...im introducing them in village

Football match...cm2 (im the coach) 6em Janes the Coach

Jane wins 1-0

Jane-you got to love her

Jane and Ibe waiting for the bike race to start

Bike race about to start

Kadija doing an opening statement for 8 mars

Youl introduces people for the intro ceremony

Audry my Homolog and I in our 8 mars outfits

Mamo one of my closest friends

Juneau with a sling shot around his neck

Juneau not being good and running away and he is HEAVY too much fish

Ibe has a praying mantis on his back

I am sooo scared of this thing....its nothing for ibe

Hello all....Im really sorry its been awhile though when I was here for the close of service conference i really though i would have enough time to blog but....I didnt becaue i was just too stressed out to even think about doing a blog. There were also soo many people here for our big party...sorry no pics of the party because my batteries died...though I must say time is flying by and I offically am done with PC Burkina Faso July 28th 2010 and I found a ticket to be on a plane on August 18th though wont touch American soil until the 19th. So thats the plan stan. 8 MARSThis is an event that happens every year...on march 8th. It is international womans day. I think you all can remember from last year i put up pics on it too..though i must say this year was way cooler then last year. My girls club put on their first theatre presentation for the whole village and they LOVED it. We are doing now another one a the ending of school ceremony. We also had a bike race that never happend last year. It was pretty interesting. These women are so strong but they cant bike for the life of them. Sure they can lift water all day long and walk miles and miles though put them on a bike and they think they will die. They had only a 4k bike race and 20min they arrive pract falling off there bikes...im telling the truth ask jane! ...it was so funny though the village loved it. We then had a parade where all the womens groups show off there dancing and walking skills. After that was a really really long opening ceremony where the mayor and all the other big wigs talk. and finally we got to eat food...well the very limited amount of people did. Politics of village is something i dont really like...here 8 mars is for all the women of the village though they only invited the poeple who had big jobs in the community and so most of them were men who were fed. anyways...after an hour break Jane and I were ready to get our game on. Jane coached the 6em class and I coached the cm2 class on a awesome soccer match that we lost! and I was told I am a bad coach...understandable I have no idea of any rules and Jane has played soccer for her whole childhood life....anyways what matters is the kids had fun and so did i....after the soccer game came the ball where the girls did there theater project on unwanted pregnacy! I was sooo proud of them they worked so hard and finally the village was able to see there work! all in all a successful 8mars though Ibe and I didnt wake up i think until 9am the next day!LIFELife is great! hello...though the heat season is getting on my nerves. Its almost over thank gosh...i think only about a month left. We finally got rain the other day. I think my mom finally sent some because she said its been raining like crazy in washignton! though easter was a killer we were all sooo hot and just thought it was just another hot day until my buddy vincent called and said Jill want to know why its so hot? because its 117 degrees thats why....HELLO you have to be kidding me...though no egg hunting for us this easter...there are no eggs...its not the season...Ibe and I had a quite day together eating rice...WORKMy work is almost finished. I am right now workign still with the maternity ward. I am doing AIDS sensiblizations and discussing nutrition. I am working with cm2 on their exams that they will be taking on june 10 to pass into secondary school. I am also still working with my two girls clubs that are doing amazing theatre projects. They are working on one with forced marriage and the other is female gential mutilation. They will be preforming them at a even on the 22nd of april and also at the end of the school year. Im still working with Moranga! and my last project will be 3 girls camps that will happen in June. After that IM DONE!!RANDOMSo just to share a little african story with you, the reason why i am pushing for the forced marriage theatre piece that will go along with a talk i am doing targeting the fathers in the community is because my little host sister will be forced into marriage if she does not pass her exam here on june 10th. My sister is 14 years old she has had her period for only 4 months which is big news! but she failed the exam last year which is like failing 5th grade so you cant get into middle school. So if she fails again this year she will be kicked out of school. My host father does not want her to stay at home and do nothing and fall pregnant and shame the family if she does not pass...thus he has found an old man who lives in Mali in the bush who he will force safi to marry if she does not pass her exam. I am completey outraged by this situation and to think it is sooo close to my family. I respect my father alot though he has not been educated by the school system and thus is only looking out for her best interests though come on now....anyways Ibe and I are helping safi out with studying...and I am happy to say that she has passed her trial exams so keep on prayin for her...JUNEAUGot to love the kid. He is getting so big and sooo heavy. He eats everything even salad. I dont know where he came from but he is not an African dog. His health though was a little werid for a moment though the vet gave him a shot and he is alot better now. I was so sad when the vet gave him his shot he peeded all over himself poor little guy and wouldnt come near me for a day and cried alot..though the needle was HUGE!LOVE & MARRIAGEsooo everyone has been asking me about this...heres whats going on. We are getting married on July 31st In gaoua at the mayors office. after that there will be a ceremony. We are expecting 200 people to be there with 50 of them peace corps. there will be dancing and yes food and gatou. after which Ibe and I will be dashed away on a bus to spend 10 days in Ghana for our honey moon. All we really want is a beach and nice cold drink in our hand. After that I will head back to BF and spend one week with his family in Bobo where on the 17th well head to Ouaga and i hop on the plane on Aug 18th. I arrive in washington on the 19th. Ibe will not beable to go on the plane with me because we have not started his visa process due to not having money. we also feel that i will be sooo overwhelmed with readjusting to america seeing as though i havent seen it for ever that i should tak ethat 6 months to get my act together get an appartment and a job. Ibe wil follow hopefully by January though it can take up to a year for him to get his visa this is the US government. soo that is that! oh yeah and we will be having another wedding in America. I hope if he is in america by january we can have a small ceremony and reception in someones backyard (any volunteers) in April. So I dont think i missed much...Lifes great though be excited your not in BF hot season. I just want to say Congrats to my sister Jen and chris for getting engaged, and also Timmers for having a baby girl named stella. I cant belive so much has changed in so little of time....

Adventures in the SouthFeb-9thOkay soo...pics will be uploaded next month when I get to town again....SOOOOO Barbie arrived at 10pm Tuesday night. I got us a room at the Ode which is a Christan hotel here near the peace corps house.Feb-10th The next day we decided to take th 13 car to my village so we had all morning to get aquanted with Ouaga. Our first stop was good coffee though really there is no "good" coffee here in Burkina though we did find a cute little hotel in town where we got to have expresso nescafe with real milk. It was funny because if you dont know barbie, she spends her life traviling...thus she is a magnent for talking to everyone she sees...soo we met a woman named Ilona from somewhere north who ended up in Burkina 7 years ago and found a small village and decided to help them improve there village...so she comes yearly to help with the school, pumps ext she spends most of the year in her country then only a few weeks in country to help out or really just give money to the village. After that we went to search for a bank to exchange barbies money..Though as i am not quite the world travler i told barbie it would be fine to bring english pounds but unfortunatly 2hrs and 5 banks later we learn that they dont exchange pounds in this country only at the airport. We ended up there but by the time we made it to the airport it was time to head to the gare to get to Bourm bourm. Now that we have money the adventure is set!We ended up in my village at 20h where my mom had rice with peanut sauce waiting to give barbie, and Ibe had decorated my house with welcome signs for her and even set up her bed with misquito net and all is good. Though it was pretty hot in my village that night and the sleeping wasnt as comfortable as USA. Though she was able to realive her self with a bucket bath. I set up a pee bucket for her too so she didnt have to go out to my latrine and have a run in with cockroaches ext. When barbie got to my house too her african panga, neckless, and body scrubber (since dirt collects more then you think) were ready for her. It was fun for her to wear african things. My village really liked seeing her in an african clothes. Feb-11thThursday was marche day! When we woak up and had good coffee and bread for breakfast. We walked to the marche where i bought food for a rice lunch. Barbie was able to go see the schools, the village ext. She even got to eat beesap from my fav lady who comes on marche day. After I made lunch at my house and jane came over and at with us...we walked to the jr high where my girls club put on a theatre project for barbie. The theme was family planning. The girls did such a great job and were really excited to see barbie and ask her questions. After the theater project they shared with barbie traditional african dances. Barbie then got to see Janes house and also a tradtional lobi house where she was able to experience "fitiches" that the lobi use to ward off bad sprirts. Later that night we went over to my moms house where she made us to with jose sauce with salad. It was SOO good. we even got to eat apples that we bought as a present for my host family to say thank you for making all the great food. Feb-12thThis day we started out thinking we were leaving at 10 in the morning but ended up not leaving until 12 30 since the car that Ibe and i rented ended up breaking down in Gaoua before Ibe could pick us up...though all is good since then he showed up in this white 1995 hatch back car that has no back windows that you have to push start to get it going. We ended up at Gaoua at 13 though the lobi musum was closed though thankfully Barbie was able to get internet access while we waited for the car to finish getting fixed. finally at 14 30 we were on the dirt road on our way to Loripini. Finally we get to the ruins and they are really cool apparently they were left over from the 1500's and are these walls made out of rocks which is weird since all of the walls in this area are made out of mud, so they dont really know why they are all still left in the middle of no where falling down but there is speculation that they are there because it was a place to hide slaves during the slave trade in the 1500's-1600's. After the ruins we headed on west to get to whitneys village about 100k away. Though on route we got our first flat tire. The road is really bad and has pot holes everywhere and no clearence...soo after we fix the tire in 15 min flat we were off again....though about 30 min later ibe sees that we have no gas and so we stop the car to see we have hit our gas line and the 30 mille we put in is now falling all over the dirt road though thankfully at about 18 we make it to whitneys village with gas. where we are welcomed with salad, and soup de pantard (ginney foul) it was sooo good. barbie then was able to see other pc houses that well are a lot bigger then my house. This night to sleep was particually hard on all of us since the heat was soo intense. I would say in the middle of the night the tep was 100 plus and the humidity was at 90 percent. Though the reason was cloud cover came in and at about 3 am rain started to fall!!! and barbie was then able to see her first sprinkle of african rain!!Feb 13thsoo we wake up and head into town to turn in the car to get it looked at again.....2 hrs later and 1 mille in car fixin fees later we are on the road to Banfora to see the cascades...Though as we are on our way we get our second flat tire...though this time 7 min to fix. We end up in banfora just as the rain is about to fall again...Ibes friend Mada takes us to a wonderful resturant called Mcdonalds which of course isnt the american McD's though has wonderful food and you can even buy the art on the walls. I had a hamburger and a well deserved Beer there. Though as we were sitting there the real rains fell...the 1 hr lunch turned into 2 1/2 hrs of cold flury...which is great since it was soo hot though not so great since with that...we havent had rain since october 31st...and so this flood of rain has flooded all the roads out of banfora...thus making it impossible to go see the cascades or even the peaks of sindu...and so we ended up not staying at jenny's house in the south and staying right in Banfora...Brad a fellow volunteer invited us into his house where i made spagetti for dinner and brad played a french film with his electricity!! a plus for us since well most of africa doesnt have electrisity. Barb was able to see the marche there too and pick up some braclets.Feb 14thWe wake up to another flat tire! so ibe chages it again just as fast...then were off to head up north to BOBO because we want to spend the whole day up in the big city seeing the grand marche and Ibes family. Though as we get ready to go we realize we dont have the insurance papers to get into bobo,thus the guy who we rented the car from had to send the papers on transport that was suppsed to arrive at 12 though since the rains have broken the road he was going to take the bush taxi never showed up and by 15 30 we decided to take the chance of going north and running into the police and if have to pay them off to get into bobo....so just as we are getting ready to leave we notice our car has another flat tire!!! igh...so we fix that and end up in bobo by 18! which is great ibes mom had dinner waiting though...we missed the marched and spend another day waiting around for the car to get better...im feeling really bad about this but barbie doesnt seem to mind she says she feels like its like being in the 60's where nothing ever works like its supposed too....Feb 15thIbe ends up droping us off at the bus station at 7 30 am...where we catch a bus to ouaga so barbi can catch her ride at 1 am the 16th...we end up getting into town at 13 30 where barbie is really ready for a real shower with hot water and fans!! so she showers at the transit house...I make spagettie for her at the house..and now were ready to go into town and have some expresso. I take barb to my fav store Nuance...where she spends about 2 hrs shoping and finding really cool african things...and then she takes me out to an amazing dinner of hawaiin pizza and tap beer! after that we end up at the Thouse again where barb catches a taxi and heads back to london....I tell ya nothing happend like i thought it would though i feel she was really able to see how i live and what i have to live with being here! She says its not for everyone...most moms couldnt really handle it...barbie thinks im off in my perception of distances...she thinks due to living in the bush lol...(i made her walk alot in the sun) though i think i really just dont think of it like that and I realize that I now have forgotten alot of luxuries that american can and does provide for you~!

HELLO FROM THE SOUTH! Wedding Panga (Sangawillie)...This is what everyone else will get to make dresses and shirts out of for our wedding!

DIRTY FEET...I'm trying hard to keep them pumus stoned though its not workin

Mom and I joshin around...with gwen on her back

Alima (my best friend) and I jokin at her house with her daughter (Oraliatu) in the background

Random Lobi woman begging for rice/corn at my house...she is still sporting her traditional plug

JUNEQU he is so dang cute..with bobby his cousin givin him a kiss

Pumping water...This woman is tuff

On my way to pump water...got a ride with the cows

Now this is HEAVY...we walked 300k

Water Pump

Ibe pumping

My Girls club..working on

Alima at her site on Marche day

Inauguartion of our new mayors office and the now police office in village!!

The village giving traditional lobi fighting arrow to the police chief

Standing in formation (our new police team for brbr)

NEW YEARS!

Baba, Ibes brother and Adama celebrating the new years

Strike of Midnight Kiss at the bar

The after party in a club in Gaoua

CHRISTMAS!!! (celebrating my first jewish christmas with Aaron our token jew!)

Christmas tree hunting in the bush...well christmas bush hunting in the bush

Ibe found it!

Headin home with the bush

Christmas morning..I made pancakes...Jane and her cat (Herman) got to open gifts

My stocking

Our tree! which got the award for best tree in burkina faso!

Ibes first stocking

Presents galore

Ibe tackling me x-mas mornin while drinkin starbucks coffee

Yeah!

Hey guys its good to be back! I'm in ouaga because I had a PSDN meeting and I am picking Barbi up from the Airport tonight! Woot...she is flying in from London. Though I thought I was her main destination but come to find out she was just in Iceland too...So I cant wait to hear the details of her adventuers around the world. I know she was just in India for Jenny's wedding with Amed. Anyways...I pick her up today and we head to village tomorrow where she will spend a few days before we head off to the waterfalls and the domes/peaks in the south. Then Ibe, barbie and I will head further south stay with Jenny another PC volunteer and eat good food, head to bobo the next night and stay with Ibe's family (show Barbie the muslum life) then back to ouaga to catch a plane next tues!ChristmasLifes great! Lets see christmas happend. Now that was really fun. I stayed in village and Ibe and I went out in the bush and found our tree, which is a bush. We put it in a bucket with rocks and water and you know what it lasted! We had presents and stockings and all kinds of fun stuff. We woak up really early christmas morning (well i did and made ibe get up) i was so excited. It was Ibes first christmas. He opened all his presents and was really blown away. We had starbucks coffee and then ivited jane over and had pancakes and papaya for bfast. It was wonderful. After that we started cooking. We had chicken and potatos and all that good stuff. I even made no bake cookies. I gave them out to my neighbors and we had 3 other familys give good food in return. I had so much chicken that day. In the night beth b called with her Hawaiian wedding and my family called that night too. Ibe got to talk to everyone and now he knows everyones voice with there faces! It was great.New YearsHeaded to Gaoua. On New Years Eve I ended up picking up some really great wine and Ibe and I found a chicken joint. We had good wine with good chicken. Then we payed 500 cfa for each of us to get into a club where we met up with a bunch of friends and danced the night away. They really dont do new years like they do in the US and when midnight came they forgot to anouce it and at 12:07 finally it was midnight and we all kissed and gave benidictions to all the other people in the club and wished everyone happiness and joy for the following year. In BF new years is about the day not the night before. The next day everyone again is making chicken and delivering it to your friends and family and wishing everyone good luck!Inaugeration We just had a new Mayors office built in our village its really beautiful and had a big party where we invited all the minists of the country to come down and see us doing the opening ceromony. We also finally got a police department in my village. This is really exciting. So they had the head of the police department of Burkina Faso over and we had a ribbon cutting cermony also. I went and it was really cool to see my village being so proud of well the village. WorkDoing alot here now...I am working on my 6em girls club. They are working on Theatre peaces now which is really great. They wrote them themselves. We have two one on AIDS and the other on family planning. They are presenting for Barbie on Thursday and again on 8 mars for international womens day. I am also working on a sex ed/std and a (why the heck do you not wear a condom) workshop that is a 3 seminar series for the collage students in 6em it will take me 3 months to complete the seminar. I have had 3 sessions and they have been recieved very well. I make the children really think abstractly which is difficult in this school system that is based on memorization to get a passing grade. But my classes are working i believe. The kids have fun and ask questions and i get to work with fake penises and vagina's so that is also fun. Im still working with my cm2 children on life skills and now they have their big exam to get into jr high here soon and i am doing review session with them. I am doing my camp for 6em in april. This camp is a chance for the girls to think about the future and help plan and make goals that hopefully they will be able to keep and work toward. I am really happy with my work and where it is going. I feel that i am really challenging my village to be invested in themselves and plan a healthy productive future.LifeIve only been sick a few times. I had a hugely horrible chest inefction due to the winds that have started though the docs gave me some meds that just cleaned it right up! Im happy and healthy. Nothing much to report on that!JuneauIs cute as ever and really very calm. He is so different from Alaksa. He has grown so much and weve decided he is crazy since he just eats everything even papaya and salad.FoodSalad season! Lots of wonderful food is going on now with all of the gardens. I have been making some really great sauces and even turned in the recipie to the bureau here in PC so that all the other PCV's can make it in village..its a mix of peas and other vegies! YUMWedding/LIFESo what we think is going on is wedding July 31st. It all depends if i get to COS early which means getting out of the peace corps a month early. If that is possible (i hear its really easy to do) then all is good so im about 99% sure the date is july 31st. The wedding will be in Gaoua at the mayors office then the reception will be at a bar in town. We have rented the bar its pretty beautiful thankfully since there are no decorations you can buy or even flowers to use. Im expecting about 250 people to go there. We plan on having Goat, regraw, salad, chicken, popcorn, gateau, crevets, zoom coom, besap, and soda. There will be dancing local and modern and also everyone will be wearing the panga i picked out. It is in the pics above. People can get there outfit made out of the same material, most likley shirts and dresses. It should be really great. We are having our Mosque wedding 2 or so weeks before the wedding that is in Bobo and is mostly for his mother and father. It will be a smaller party where we pretty much just eat food and hangout. I have bought my wedding dress material and turn that into the talior here soon. I hope to pick up the dress by March 22. Its getting close though all are welcome to come. Its big news here in the PC life and people are saying they think about 50 PCV's will be comming, could you imagine so many in gaoua! FunnySo we have our closing of service conference week starting March 22. It is here that I will find out all the details of how to close up my service. Though the plan is to end on July 28th and then be on a plane August 21. Beth B is getting married and has asked me to be in her wedding, i just hope she realizes that i will be coverd in henna from my own wedding a few weeks earlier! so get those partys planned people. LOVE YOU ALL XOXO

Pics AIDS sensiblization....Lets talk about safety

This is a Vagina

exciting

Yes...this is a penis Jane

A student asking questions

THANKSGIVING

Finger Lickin good...Turkey

The Peps eatin dinner

Jenny and I enjoying Thanksgiving

Ibe eating the Head and the Feet of the Turkey

WEDDING TISSUE!

POOL time....at the Obeirge

Getting some sun in Bobo

POOL

Loving Life and Drinkin a beer on TAP!

THE ZABDA FAMILY

Showing Ibes dad (mohamad) the wedding material and the picture of the dress

Ibe's mom (fati)

My prayer mat that Ibes mom gave me!

Ibe's dads older sister (tauntie) she is remarable

Ibe and I after my first Prayer at 5am

Ibes dad, me and his Mom (with the new baby on her lap of his cousin)

Prayer with Mom in the Morning 5am

TABASKI the fete of Muslums (killing a goat to eat)

Praying with the village (im wearing a red dress, white shawl)

Prayin

my mom in village(isha) and I she put black makeup on my eyes for tabaski

My traditional fular for praying

My sisters Safi, me and DJ the little one is Aisha

Get together in Gaoua...lots of whities

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IBE

My birthday gift from Ibe

Ibe making a wish....

Killing a Pantard (guinney faoul)

Juneau wanted to eat it while Ibe was killing it

Poor little guy doesnt know hes going to be killed

Tour De Faso

HALLOWEEN

Juneau

My pumpkin on the Left and Ibes on the Right

Ibe and Jane Carvin Pumpkins

Ibe

Howdy....so Im going to start with halloween and go from there just to now....

...Lifes been great...Kyle down in Gaoua invited all of us in the area over to his house for some halloween fun, we all drank some good beer and wine then headed out to dance and have fun...he even got a projector from his school and we watched some movies on his big wall...its fun since last year I didnt celebrate halloween though this year ive been in the festive fun....In my village I found 3 pumpkins for sale about 1,200cfa for too ($2.50) and I gave one to Jane and Ibe and I. We all went to janes house and went to carving. Ibe didnt understand anything that we were doing and he was wondering why we wernt eating the pumpkins as they do here though I just said you guys here sacrafice chickens for your fetes so Im going to sacrafice a pumpkin for my fete. Though my mom in village saw the pumpkins in the house and was so excited to see that i would be cooking with my pumpkin even though i wanted to carve it so i felt so bad that i explaned that i wanted to not cook it but cut it open and put a candle in it and set it outside and watch it...she was completley confused by the whole thing and in the end i felt so guilty for wasting food that we only carved two pumpkins and i gave the 3 to my mom after halloween with a face drawn on it lol....though she cooked it and we ate it with TO the next night!.....

....In november the cold started up...so there is the harmadon winds that come from the north in the dessert...that come down and start making a dust storm...the winds start at about 9 am and dont stop until 16 or so at night...though with that they bring cold mornings...and i mean cold...my hands and feet are freezing and im wrapped up in blankets and sweatshirts just to stop shivering...though in all reality i think its about 70degrees in the night...maybe maybe it gets to 68 or so...its crazy how the body changes...It was Ibe and I's birthday the 20th and 21st of november and we had a party at my house for him. He has never had a party before so I made some decorations and we were gifted a pantard (ginney foul) from jane and ibe killed it and we cooked it outside...then i made potatos and green beans it was finger lickin good! i also found a cake like thing and bought frosthing though it was more like Nutella...and i put a big candel on it and Ibe got to make a wish and eat a cake! it was fun making all the decorations and since it hasnt rained yet the chalk i put on the outside of my house has yet to wash off so even as of today it says Happy 32nd birthday Ibe! i didnt have any string so i put up all the docorations with floss!....Ibe bought me traditional clay statues of african women and he gave me an african purse with leather african shoes...it was really fun to exchange gifts...I payed for his rent of his house and then of course dinner ext at the party...Jane my site mate came too and she gave us chocolate and cravates which are like chips...and american candy from her package form home! i was deff chocolate-ed out! .....In november too there is Tabasky the 27th and that was really fun...it is the muslum holiday of the story in the bible where jesus tells josheph (or someone like that) to sacrafice his son for jesus and as he goes to cut the neck of his son Jesus replaces his sun with a goat...so for the muslums it is a fete of sacrafice and giving...so every family kills a goat and then cuts it into 3 parts...one part goes to his family, one to his closest friend and friends...then the 3rd goes to chairty..also they give money to charity and so theres just a whole lot of eating and funness...I prayed with my family under the big tree and got to eat so much food that i couldnt fit in my complay that i was excited that i could fit in at the begining of the day! though since tabasky was on the 27th of november we waited until december 5th to have thanksgiving down in the south....oh yeah i forgot to tell you also they have Tour De Faso here also in the begining of november or maybe end of october and that is just like tour de france though it is a 2 week long bike competition that goes on all over the country and can you believe that they came through my village! the actual race so i got pics and it was so exciting my whole village is lined up on the sides of the street and here comes about 50 bikes of professional bikers from all around the world...it was just COOL....the 3 weeks before when i would bike to gaoua in the mornin i would see them practicing on the hills in my area and they would always say hi and invite me to bike with them though they are soo much faster then i could ever dream to be!......

....December...well Ibe and I just went to bobo for thanksgiving and it was AWESOME there was about 30 americans with 4 burkinbe there that ate turkey, mashed potoatos, stuffing and green bean cassorole...so i got all the goods and we all drank wine and danced the night away...i was so proud of Ibe because he is close to about 5 pc volunteers and he was soo comfortable there it was like he was american with all of us...when we walked into the party Kyle who lives in gaoua with ibe came running and screamed IBE and gave him the biggest hug and everyone got to see how much Kyle likes Ibe lol...so that was fun...i also stayed with ibes family for the week and got to meet his mom and all of his family and friends....his mom introduced me to the whole neighborhood as ibes fiance and it was fun...his mom gave me a muslum prayer mat, and they bought me a fular...which is a material that you wear on your head...the muslum women here cover their heads and arms and so his older sister is pretty strict muslum she bought it for me to blend in lol.....his mom made me some good food and we bonded really well...she told ibe she liked how strong of a woman i was and by the end of the week asked if she could trade ibe for me! The neighbors even killed chickens and gave us good meat to eat to say that they are excited and welcome me into the family...his dad was fun too i would drink tea with him in the mornings and he would buy me speical bread to eat lol...ibe told me i should be lucky because he doesnt do that for people so he must really like me. His family doesnt speak french so that was hard though his dad speaks alittle so i would end up talking to his dad the most. In bobo also i found my wedding material..that was exciting and nerveracking since i wanted my mom (sherry) to be there to help me pick out the best stuff..though jenny my american friend here helped me and i ended up buying Bassin Rich in white with a design kinda like a half lilac flower pedals blended in...its hard to describe though it should be great...we got it for about 60 american dollars and now ill give it to the taylor for about andother 60 and it should be finished a handmade beautiful dress for 120.00 how wonderful is that...i showed it to ibes dad with my picture of the dress i want and he was so excited he said that it looks beautiful and the material came from mali....

WORK

works going great...im working with the girls so much right now. I have a girls camp that will be the 28 29 30 of december where im bringing 10 girls to gaoua to see the high school there, work with computers, and recieve information on what schooling they need for what type of job. The girls here dont make goals or have dreams of the future so that is my goal for them so maybe they will think twice before sleeping with a man and falling pregnant. last year alone there were 28 pregnancys in 6em that is like 6th grade the girls were from 14-15 yrs old. Its just so heart breaking because they have no money and now no education so how are they supposed to live. and usually the men they are sleeping with are 30 plus years old. im also working with sexual health jane and i gave an AIDS sensiblization and it was awesome all the kids about 400 came and participated...we just told them about AIDS and gave condom demostrations....im also working on my 4 girls clubs where i just got to describe to the 4th graders how you have sex and how to protect yourselves...and I just also gave a sensiblization on your women cycle...they dont have any idea what the blood comming out of you is and why its there....thus why they are getting pregnant! I am happy to say they just caught 2 more women who were doing Female gential mutilation and put them in jail and they are awaiting trial...that kind of news makes a body feel good!!!

JUNEAU

is cute as ever and loving life. He is so loving and is like a big bear...he eats everything so unfortuantly has gotten worms 3 times and its gross just big tape worms comming out his butt..though were helpin him and hes getting treatment...Ibe and i bought christmas stockings and a stuffed animal for juneau for christmas and we found real dog food it was expensive though juneau is getting a big can for christmas (i hope he eats it)!

HEALTH

Perfect. I have to say i havent had such a great long run of goodness in a long time...Lifes good and Im loving it...I can tell there is a real difference since last year and im just inviting all the goodness to keep on comming

AIDS

do you remember i told you about the story of my dads brother having aids and giving it to his wife and his wife feeding her contamidated milk to her 9 month old..well unfortunatly the brother died...we had a funeral for him last month..the mom still gives milk though im working with the major at the hospital and we are setting up a intervention to help stop her from further exposing her child to AIDS...so if i can successfully help this situation i think my work will be done...saving one child from contracting AIDS whats more cool then that.

well other then all that I want to say thanks and Happy holidays to everyone! Im only 8 months away from commig home. Ibe and I are trying real hard to get him into the country soon. Though i go to the embassy on monday and see what my options are. I hope to go to ghanna for the new year...and thanks again for everything you have given me and all the love you send my way...I am blessed more then i ever thought possible

Hello everyone! Ramadan...my mom made me wear this african outfit (with Lamini my brother) Lamini is sick day of Ramadan with Malaria...we went to see him in the hospital

Safi and safi with my sister Gwen...Go Ramadan

Ramadan Praying at 9 am (look at the makeup)

Praying under the big tree

Out on my visit to the smaller villages to look at my work with the aguculture we found a Honey bee hive! isnt it cool

This is Bad cultivating

This is good cultivating!

This is a bush bandaid....yep smashed my foot on a rock...

The Minist of Sante (Health Secretary) came to Br Br with the Presidents Wife!

The kids from Banlo doing traditional dancing for the Minist

Ibe, me and Claire ...saying good by to claire she left back to London...we'll miss her

A beautiful Cloud cover on Ibe and I's Bike Ride

Two Flat Tires from our bike ride!

We went only 25k for Ibes first time...the stoped at a caberet and had dolo lol

Ibe exausted after getting half way to 25k!

GO POLIO CAMPAGIN jane and I at 5 am after Ive had Heritage coffee (i am way more excited about this then jane is)

My shirt says "Kick Polio out of Africa"

Momo Inni my parter in crime, look at her lobi traditional ethnic scaring!

A Phul out in the bush like really far away they are nomads and this is a portable house!

Another Phul...With her child..on the polio campagn

This woman never saw a camera before...LOVE IT

What a Big fish! they were cooking this up in Gaoua

Ibe eating Catipilars

Catipilars....

Muton Head!

A mouse Ibe killed with my shoe!

The baby mice that were born in my shower!

JUNEAU

hes so dang cute

A little baby!

Smile

Hey everyone! Back in Ouaga for a few days...unfortunatly the internet is down again for what the past 2 weeks in gaoua so I headed in to do my quartly report in ouaga, though its not too bad I got to pick up my package from Anne with my skinny pants (pants that for the life of me couldnt fit in back in america though low and behold after a year in the african sun...I can fit in them!) thanks anne! okay so I am so sorry bout pictures...I lost my computer cord at the moment i can not post pics though I am working out a plan to get these pics up here dangit! I have some really good ones...though well just have to wait until next month..ou bien?

DOG

I have a new Puppy! his name is Juneau. He is so dang cute. I have to tell ya after dealing with Alaska being a puppy I thougt i couldnt take another though I must of been blessed becaues Juneau is so great he has yet pooped or peed in the house! and he wakes up in the middle of the night to scratch on the door to let me put him out. No one could of asked for a better dog! He even eats bannanas, and cucumbers...wild huh. Ibe gave him too me he came from gaoua. I though had a tragic moment with him i was about to head out to gaoua and i saw juneau trying to go to the bathroom but was having difficulty and so i walked over there and here he has white tape worms comming out of his butt! can you believe that Ive never been so horrified in my life...I tried to pull them out (5am in the morning) though they just kept going and going and so i went inside got a pair of sicisors and cut them off ...though he still had so much inside of him...i called the vet we gave him medicine though it took 3 days for him to poop them all out...omg africa is crazy.....

BUGS

Now this is the season for all the creepy crawlers to come back and have i had my share these last few months...so i have pics that ill post..but I had an infestation of mice...they were driving me crazy..they come out at night and i cant catch them. here im tucked in my misquito net so they cant run over me while im sleeping at night...Ibe finally bought rat possion and now im just finding dead mice in my house...though the crazy thing i heard this mouse at like 12 at night in my shower...which is just a cement section in my livingroom...i was excited to think that i could catch this mouse since he is in my shower...so i see it and its not going very fast or crawling up the walls or anything...so then i notice it ran into the wall of my shower..now its dark and my only light is a candle..so then i ran and got a piece of material to shove into this hole in the wall and then i was excited because i caught this mouse..the i notice something on the ground in my shower....it was 6 baby mice brand new! the mom must of just given birth in my shower...it was so discusing...i rounded them all up and threw them outside...then the next day ibe bought cement and we cemetned the hole with the mouse still in there lol...igh ...

FOOD

now this has been a pretty exciting few months for food...so well the fact there is food is good. the gardens are up and going and the cultivating season is here! that means roasted corn for everyone! okay so last month ibe was excited to bring me food from his town bobo...guess what it was ...catipilars...yep he loves them and they are sooo gross i cant beleive it but you just roast them in a sause and eat them...i cant even describe the taste other then i wont be having it again any time soon!...and other then catipliars i also ate muton head! thats a goat head...now that was gross too im not into brains though they love it here and for 300cfa you can get a muton head (pics later)....okay also my neighbor gave me beans...right from her gardern it was cool she cooked them for me and i just had to peel them and add rice. thoguh that took alot of work..igh i never realized how much work goes into beans...and the other coolest thing with food this month...is SHANNA AND BETH SENT COFFEE!!! yep eat your american hearts out im having Heritage and starbucks coffee! yum yum

AFRICAN

igh so life here is been really good latley...though as always stuff happens huh...well my sister asked me if i could help her with her schooling when i leave for america because come to find out my mom and dad will be arranging her forced marriage when she gains her cep which is finishing 5th grade. Now my family are good people and i was really shocked to hear this though with the help of Ibe and local langauge i found out that infact my mom and dad were a arranged marriage. And that now my dads oldest child is almost the age to get married that he is obligated to the family that gave him his wife to give him his daughter. igh..though if she is in school then he will not send her to get married...so ibe and i are thinking of how we can help her with the situation....My mom is all for us helping her since she doesnt want her daughter to be forced into marriage so soon, though my dad being a very traditonal man im wondering how much we can really even help....

...igh other news of the month is my moms sister in law who lives next door and is 26 yrs old....has been sick and her husband has been even sicker (45) now they are un educated individuals who dont speak french only local language...the sister is a great friend of mine..she has the cutest 2 children...well anyways i come to the house one day and my mom gives me medicine that her sister in law has been given from the doc and she asks me is it good medicine or not (this is not unsual ever since my mom knew i worked at a pharmacy she brings everyone over with there mediceine asking me if its good or not lol and i mean everyone) anyways i go to look at his and ive never seen it before...so i pull out the paper and come to find out its HIV/AIDS anti viaral medicine..I asked my moms sister in law if she knows why she is sick and she said no the doc just gave her the med and told her to take it though didnt tell her why...now i am shocked and angry so here she and her husband have aids...and no one has told them you have to be kidding me...then i said to mom look ....i need to talk to dad because theres something they need to knwo about this medicine...all i could think of is the two small children ...and if they have HIV also...so my mom said alright...I go and call Ibe to see if culturaly is it okay to talk about this to my dad...since here its really wired with AIDS everyone has it but were not aloud to talk about it or anything...so he said yes you can talk to dad and he can 3 party to his sister to tell her she has HIV...so anyways I go and talk to dad and ask dad if he knows why they are sick and he said yes i do know they have HIV....i was shocked beyond reson that he knew then i said why doesnt your sister in law know this then...he said that the doc told him she didnt need to know...and here she is still breast feeding her child which will give her child HIV....so then i asked my dad about that and the doc in gaoua told him the children were okay and that the little one wouldnt get HIV....so that pissed me off even more...finally though with enough talking i was able to talk my dad into telling his sister and brother in law know what is wrong with them and to understand the full effects of their disease...that went over well i guess...though we still havent solved the stop breastfeading...the baby is young and the family cant afford milk....so...yeah ....working on that one.....

on to other work stuff...i was workin at the hospital weighin babies and this woman was rolled up in a wheel barrel getting ready to give birth...she came 5k in that thing lol...it was so funny and incredable...her husband rolled her in and 5 min later no screaming or anything later there was a beautiful little girl!

my work is kickin butt this year...ive got some girls camps going on...girls clubs...i talk about sex all day everyday with all my kids...they love playing with the fake penisis and vagina's that peace corps gave me...they are getting so comfortable talking about issues that affect them like pregnacy and AIDS...my 6th grade girls are making a AIDS sensiblization thats going on the radio here.. i got a hand washing campagn going on here with soap to help stop hand/fecial problems....

RAMADAN

it was just the holiday of ramadan which was cool, i handed out candy and ate good food! everyone looked soo good..now i cant explain the story of ramadan only that its a mulsum holiday where they fast for 30 days and then on the last day pray for a long time and eat good food!

JANE

I love that kid...my new site mate...she has me switching from burkina beer to fanta orange soda...she drinks a coke a day or even two...so now im drinkin fanta...Juneau loves her and we call her Tante Jane...come to find out shes from washington too...well she went to University of Puget Sound! though her fam is from new mexico...when she tells people that here they think she is mexican lol....also we look alike have brown hair and are the same hight..though she is about 40 pounds lighter then me so at first people were saying Jillian i just saw you yesterday did you loose weight lol...the town didnt know there were two whities living there lol

RANDOM

My flipflop fell in my latrine...yep here i was peeing away and there goes my beautiful expensive teva flipflop down the shitter...though thankfully samantha has sent new ones which is good...it was deff a crying moment that turned into anger every time i went to go take a poop cuz i would see the darn thing down at the bottom coverd in magets...

I panted my shower blue with an octopus and fish...its really fun! though Ibe doesnt know what an ocotpus is and i didnt know how to describe it...i told him the biggest one in the world lives under the bridge in washington lol....now he really doesnt want to go sailing with samantha and brian lol

Ibe planted me more flowers so now i have a flower bed with two papaya trees! he stole one from somebodys yard (rude huh) and the other we found out in the wild...its beautiful and the flowers are purple

well thats all for now...lets see for the future...its Ibe and I's bday here the 20th and 21st of november...i think ill throw a party in gaoua...Ibes never had a party because they dont celebrate b days here....so far everyone has gotten me everything i asked for last time though still no Razors...that would be a big help....and I am not asking for anything for chiristmas execpt money to go to Ghana...so if you want to help with that get ahold of my mom... THANKS EVERYONE!!!!!

Alaska 09-2008 to 08-2009

My Poission Face!

Ibe's Poission Face!

A Muslium Drinkin a Beer, and Eating Pork (the two things your not supposed to do)

Makin Beesap Yum...a local sweet drink

A monkey off the side of the road on my way home from Gaoua

Takin the brades out! OUCH but when you dont have a pick you use a Fork

Eatin African style...Achece...yum its ground up Manioc

Drying clothes African style...got to love it

Issa and I at Colleen's Wedding in our wedding wear!

Ibe and I in our wedding wear for Colleen and Lido's Wedding

Colleen, Lido, Ibe and I at the wedding

Claire my Britin friend who lives in Gaoua! we speak English together !

My two best friends in Village...Alima, Marriam and me!

A Camillion who changed from green to brown when he fell off the tree

Ibe with the Camillion...hes scared of it!

This snake was in the same tree its a baby Mamba

Womens sensiblization of Aids and how to make Bouilli the local porrage here

Women waiting to eat the porrage yum

Bein Funny in village

Down town! Village during the day where you can buy onions and maggie

Omo, she is a wonderful girl Cm1

Omo, making a dolly...shes brading the roots of grass to make a doll to play with

Hey everyone! wow alot has happend here in the last month I feel...well first off I am sitting here in beautiful Ouaga again for MST which is where you head up here to get medical exams and go to the dentist because weve been here now a YEAR!!! so that means that i only have a year left! Which is hard to believe because I feel like i have just gotten here. I found out here that the earliest day that I could head home is July 28th so what Im thinkin is heading home next August so you can look for me then. Other then that here I learned that my health is pretty good though I do have a bout of bacteria in the intestines again...my 3rd time since being here...it started the friday before i came up...it was pretty bad i ended up having a temp of 103 and gosh at first I had no idea just thought I was cold then my body hurt...took my temp and saw how high took some ibuprophen and gosh what a would of wonder it does because the temp went down fast and i all of a sudden started to sweat...its amzing how something so small in america as ibuprophen can really save lives here...there are alot of people who get sick with a temp and have no medicine to take or they cant afford to buy it for the 500 cfa it cost which is roughly about a dollar american. though i started strong antibiotics and doing pretty well now...though my body reacted pretty wierd to the fever and i broke out with 5 cancor sores in my mouth...i guess it was just my body's way off fighting off what ever was inside of me...igh...so alog with medical the Mid Service Training has been a good time seeing all the other people in my group and eating some good food. I found a really good sandwich last night for 350 cfa of muton and bread spices and yummyness with a great beer for 550 cfa for roughly 1.50 i had an amazing dinner and good time! Got to love africa....Okay sooo news....well will start with work..Ive been not really doing a whole lot because its cultivating season so all the people are out in the fields and I want to help and there is this woman her name is Poko and I asked her if i could work in her field doing corn or something and she said yes..so the next day i got up early ate good food and set out to her house to go the 5k to her field to work and she was so shocked i showed up she didnt think i would come and then she said i coudlnt come because it might rain and she doesnt want me out in the rain because i could get sick. I tried to convince her that Im a tough girl and it should be fine though she didnt accept it so I went home though told her ill be back the next day though when i came back the next day they told me again that im not tough enough to go out to the fields so then I gave up...I think one day though Im just going to show up! Ive been working at the hospital alot this summer. Ive been helping with this AIDS sensiblizaiton and porrige making and baby weighing and vacine giving...it happens on marche days and mondays...its fun these women come from all over like 10k they walk to get there babies weighed and check and its the perfect opportunity to talk about family planning and really get in there and be exposed to women who dont really get to see ya...they laugh at me because i dont know the local language and the women dont speak french...they all think im the rich docotor from the states...though i have fun and i really love giving the sensiblizations for aids...though thats pretty much it for work...I will start my clubs up again here in October because thats when school starts and ill be working alot with Pregnacy because so many girls become pregnant so early...we just had another 13 yrs old pregnant this summer who was even in my girls club last year. Its kinda discourging though I know i just needs to keep on talking about it and doing the sensiblizations......Rain...Rain..Rain I love it...its the season of rain and in the south everything is green and beautiful...just last week we had two days of non stop rain and that is just not heard of because here the rain will start it will be alot and then it will end though not in the south it just goes and goes...which is awesome because i wore a jacket and pants...!!! pants cant you believe it and my sweatshirt...man lifes good...though with the rain were seeing alot more animals...like the camillion at my house and the mamba snake out in my mango tree in the front yard! how awesome is that! We killed it though so no harm to us.......so I have some not so good news too...Alaska passed away...it was really hard for me...though he was sick for 5 days before he died..we think he had blood posioning...since Ibe and i 8 days before he died had his testicules removed..now here they just with no pain killer or anything just grab alaska a it took 5 men then with a razor cut his balls and out came the testes then they just let go of him and he ran home blood following him...now that was tramatic for me i was a crying mess...i went out and bought alaska speical fish and everything afterward...though Ibe and I were pretty tramatized though everyone said no no jillian he'll be fine...so i belived them until he started to act really wierd...then attacted me twice...now that was scary...and then he couldnt breathe really well...i called the vet and for three days he didnt show up when he said he was goign too then the main doctor at the hospital was out of town so no one was alvalible then at 10 in the mornin he passed...my dad came and took alaska i thought he was going to burry him but no he gave alaska to a lobi kid who then prepaired alaska and sold him in the marche for 5000 mille franc...igh...though my heart was hurting so bad after alaska's death that i went to gaoua without telling anyone...and at 11 30 at night my dads calling me all upset wondering where i was i told him i was with Ibe and everything is fine my heart just hurt and he didnt understand very well and just hung up the phone...when i got home the next day the whole village was so worried about me...15 families had went to my house th enight before looking for me to give me food to eat becaue they knew i was too sad to cook...so then they ended up at my moms house and she had 15 plates of rice there for me when i got back...Ibe helped explain why i left with out telling anyone....it was just what i had to do ya know...though here when someone dies close to you the africans dont leave you alone your watched after until you stop crying...because they think that the burden might be so heavy that you ll go crazy...they were all soo sweet and i was sooo shocked that they treated my alaska just like he was a person and honored him with me....because here animals are just that animals and you eat them to live ya know...though now everyone wants me to get another one...Ibe wants to buy me a goat lol well see what happens...its been pretty lonley at the house so maybe another puppy will help?.......sooo on to happier news...Im getting a site mate...and 3 other new people in my area...my new site mate is Jane...she will be teaching math at the jr high...im pretty excited about this because meighan who was my closest neighbor had problems at her site and ended moving up north so i was all alone down there but now I have Jane she comes on the 27th this month! then i have another kyle in gaoua, mikey in kompti and jon in peirgban! so that should be fun more close neighbors!So I was thinking if anyone did want to send any packages to me that i had a little list of things i could use....maskara, fiber powder, AAA batteries, razor refiller, ground coffee, tooth paste, good tooth brush, any spice you want to send, deoderant, tanktops..nicole sent hanes his way size large and they worked well..maybe though in black since white gets so dirty...because it seems i cant really find good quality of these things here...anways Thanks so much for everything all of you guys have sent...i love it and really appreceate it...though one thing i have yet to get is PEANUT M&M gosh that would be wonderful! lol...anways hope to write more later

Yeah Fun in the Ouyagoua sun...The old crowd back together for some Lebanese food...

Vinni and I at training for the new stage

Colleen (I was her replacement with her new husband Ledo) woot congrats

Ibe and I enjoyin a night with Colleen and Ledo

Ibe and Alaska

My new hair lol its Hot! and ichy

Jenny and I enjoying a very expensive bottle of wine! 7 mille 500cfa

My two sisters Safyeta and Gwen!

Break time in the bush....Dolo and Sardines

School out in the bush...its were i did a sensiblization for aguculture

Sensiblization for aguculture and moranga

Teaching about aguculture...

Hey all...gosh it sure has been pretty long...im thinking 3 months and trust me both rachel and jen keep on telling me that i need to update this so lets see ill take a stab at it...im sure it will be just a rambling of things okay lets see.......So you all know i am now engaged...and a volunteer in africa we got that squared away so on too new knews.........I got to ride a camel it came right to the back of my house can you just imagine its like 7 in the morning and i am making coffee i look out my little window in my kitchen and see a camel out the back door...i scream and run outside and this man is riding a camel just trottin around...he sees me and comes over and now the camel is in my yard it is HUGE i cant believe how big it is and Alaska hates it he doesnt know what to do with himself...oh i forgot to say that there are about 100 little kids with the camel too were all so amazed that this guy is here then you know what the man asked if i wanted a ride and so he made the camel sit and i hoped on its Butt....and held on to the camels hair for support it was the most scary thing ever...i almost fell of and lasted about only 30 sec on it before i told the man put me down which he did lol....it was so fun though and to think right out my door...after i was done though alaska couldnt stop trying to hump me because my clothes smelled like camel...i swear i need to cutt off those balls of alaska lol....gosh i dont know where to go from here...so other then camel riding ive been trying to keep myself busy....work here is kinda stagnet with my village...cultuivating season has started and school has ended so the kids are all out in the field there fore there is no one to really talk to in village....thus i have decided to work stage...that is the new training group of americans that came in here in june...they are really fun and nice and im excited also because i am getting a site mate in my village...i found out yesterday her name is Jane! woot so now two americans in my village which is small it should be interesting lol im excited to have someone so close its going to be great...and we got someone just down the road in gaoua so now we will have a place to stay when we want to head up to the regional capital....stage is fun but gosh i sure did forget how exausting it is i dont think ill be able to ever work a 9-5 again this work is all on the computer planning sessions ext...deff taxing work compaired to playing with kids and having soccer practice like i do in village.........so like i said it is cultuivating season so that means also rain!! yeah its rained quite a bit though they say not enough they are kinda worried for the crops for next year...i sure hope that all works out these people i tell you work so hard...they start at about 5 30 am and work all day with maybe only water and some to mixed in for energy...every day...in the hot sun....its increadbale though i ask if i can help and they say that i couldnt last so now its a challege and next week when i show back up in village im going to go out with the mossi and cultivate corn it should be interesting........so random i saw a monkey for sell at my marche a month or so ago...yep for 13mille i can buy myself my own spider money...sorry i dont have pics of this conventley my batteries are always dead though he was soo cute and just sits on the shoulder of this guy whos trying to sell him...he eats mangos and bannanas...i had ibe take pictures with his picture phone...(yeah a picture phone in africa they have them random huh...they poop in a hole but have picture phones)...speaking of marche it really sucks right now..theres no food to buy ive been living off of white rice and soy sause though that might sound better then it really is the soy sause is magie soy sause which is like top ramen noodles sause lol....you can only buy onions and hot peppers for food right now....mostly everyone is living off of to and baoubob sause...i guess i am too thats what my mom sends me almost daily...shes afraid im not eating enough and she says i cant eat spagettie everyday because its not good lol...she is so funny.......now i have a story for you oh gosh i almost forgot so lets see one night i had ibe at my house with a bunch of burkinabe hanging out chilling walking in and out of my house and we were all sharing eachothers shoes because you cant wear shoes in my house anyways i dont know if you guys know but i have only two pairs of shoes here flip flops and my chaco's which i wear daily..i love them to death anyways the next day after this party thing at my house i end up going to gaoua and end up wearing my flip flops random because i always wear my chacos daily though i dont know why i choose my flip flops...okay so im in gaoua enjoying myself and i head back home two days later and when i get there i look for my chacos to wear in village and i cant find them anywhere...no biggie i think that maybe one of my friends here took them so i go around village asking my friends if they have seen my shoes ext...no one had...so now im getting really discouraged...i even call up ibe and yell at him and say Where are my shoes where did you hid them? i know it might be funny to hide them but its not just tell me where they are dangit...though he said jillian i dont have them i dont know where they are...i dont believe him though he is telling me over and over jillian i dont have them...so now pissed i hang up the phone...and i walk into my house in a despreate condition...im like i dont have a computer anymore, my solar panel was stolen, i had money stolen and now my shoes are stolen..i might as well just be fully african since all my great american stuff is gone...(im at a really low point here) though i do some self talk and just decided to accept my fate...i now dont have my $100us shoes...so 5 days pass and colleen and ledo show up for a visit...shes is the volunteer i replaced...and were talking and i explain how i dont have my shoes ext...the next morning safyeta my sister comes running at 6am in the morning saying Jillian Jillian i saw your shoes...i was like where....she said they were on the foo (crazy person) in town! I was like what you have to be kidding me...nope she wasnt the foo had my shoes and when she tried to get them he threw rocks at her...so ledo then went and bought flip flops in the village and went out to try and get my shoes...he wouldtn let me go and see because jack the foo is like really crazy and might get upset...so i guess it went smooth none the less ledo placed the shoes infront of jack and jack just took off my way to small shoes and put on the flip flops....and so ledo brings back my shoes which are now coverd in poop from everyone...people, dogs, animals ext...and washes them with bleach ext...come to find out i think on that night of the party when we were all sleeping outside Jack who by the way lives in a run down shack next to my house came over and took them in the middle of the night since they were laying right next to my bed...thank god i was sleeping next to ibe or i would of been freeked out more...so the moral of the story always lock up your shoes or the crazy person might snach them lol.........okay weather...rain and in the 90's mostly not so bad though the muggyness is out of control...im always wet!...Alaska...okay hes doing well hes gotten sick quite a few times...aparently open sores are common this time of the year with all the muggyness ext....he keps on getting open gashes...though we treat him and he getts better...Ibes falling in love with him more and more...hes thinking that we might not beable to leave him here when we both go to america so were still discussing maybe bringing him back home with us...beth b sent me some dog treats for alsaka and also a dog toy and HE LOVES the dogy toy though hates the dog treats weirdo so he sticks to his to and fish and i cant find anyone to eat the dog food yet...though Ibe wants to try it lol.......health...good....i havent been sick in so long...nothing to report here...life...okay so i went to colleen and ledo's wedding last week now she is a volunteer who i replaced and she came back and now married one of ibs friends which is really cool and she is from washington and lives near bellingham....she plans on going back to washington with ledo in a year so im excited to have another burkinabe in the area to hang out with ibe lol....so yeah after there wedding which was really beautiful i now know what to expect for my own...so heres the low down...we will get married before i come home then have another american wedding in america though we are getting married here to start the visa process that will help him get into america 6 months to a year after i come home...hopefully all will work out..at the moment we are thinking of june next year...so still some time to plan and prepare....it will traditional wedding though i think...so it should be interesting...ill explain details later ........other then that all is good...i just found out and see all these people in my life in america getting married and going on with wonderful things in their lives and i want to say that i am sorry i cant be there and it saddens me though i really feel like i am a part of your lives when i see all the pictures....like Jenny F wedding this saturday...samantha in auguast...anne and walton got married last month...and ashely is going off to university here next month and my mom is moving into a new house...gosh life is sure changing im not sure ill recognize anything when i get back...samantha also said there is a sonic on south hill now...whats the world comming too...okay well hope all is well and ill really try to write more...just know im doing well and loving life....oh yeah Obama hes just next door in Ghana how cool is that! woot

Ibrahim & Jillian

I remember one day back in september walking through Gaoua (my district capital) and hearing my name as I walked near this reasturant as I turned around I saw Ibe and Issa sitting drinking tea. The first thing I thought was this man is very handsome. At the time I didnt know Ibe though I knew Issa because I was dating his younger brother. Issa introduced me to Ibe where very shyly he said hey and that was that. It wasnt until a month later that I really got to know who he was. Flash forward a bit and here I am waiting for a friend to show up in Gaoua. I walk down the street and see another burkinabe friend under a large tree working on his leather work for his artisin things that he sells. When I walked over to say hello there was about 5 other men under the tree taking tea. Ibe was there too. He asked me what I was up too and I told him I was waiting for a friend though as I said this I saw a chess board that my friend had just finished...I was shocked since chess is my favorite game. I asked if anyone knew how to play and no one did. To my surprise Ibe asked me if i could teach him. Right then and there I taught him how to play in my horrible french and the fact he could even follow what i was saying was surprising...though he did and after I taught him how to play he totally won the first game!!! So after that we ending up playing about once a week. In my mind we were totally friends nothing more. Though in November my best friend in village husband died and I was completely devistated. Ibe had called me that day to check in and through my crying and sobing on the phone I could barely get the story out which didnt matter really because after we hung up 30 min later he showed up with a chess board and a smile ready to make me feel better. It was then that I started too look at him differently. He spent the whole time trying to make me feel better and explaing his culture it was so comforting. After that you could say we were pretty much together all the time. Though still not dating just friends. Then Christmas came and he asked me what I was doing I said I was going to Bobo to spend it with PC's and he said he was doing to the same because his family lived there. I asked him if he wanted to spend Christmas together in Bobo, I was soo nervous asking. I mean thats a big deal and Ive never spent christmas with any boy. He of course said yes. So off we went and I got to meet his family. His family is very very traditional and I was so nervous also they dont speak french only moore! Though I brought Yams from my village and honey to give to them and when I came they were so warm and inviting. Ibe helped me with some phrases in Moore so I could talk to his mother. After the successful introduction his family let me help with dinner and all went well. When we got back to the hotel where I was staying it was there that Ibe and I decided that we should be together!Life with him has been wonderful. Its been so enlighting to be with someone who teaches you something new everyday. Though dont get me wrong its been very hard too with the whole language department thing though we make it work. I dont know how he can work with my horrible french and he even picks up english to help out alittle. We always tell eachother that we cant remember when we wernt together because it feels like we've been together forever.EngagementSo now Ibe showed up at my house like any other regular day. It was a refreshing day because it was about to rain and I was able to wear jeans a sweatshrit (unherad of in Africa) and I was in the house when my phone rang. It happend to be my mom, though the connection was really bad due to the storm that was brewing over us. Though while talking to my mom I notice Ibe acting really wierd. He askes if he can take the phone and talk to my mom. So i give him the phone and he walks away and starts talking (he has a notebook in his hand) and I hear him repeating and repeating...he came back to me and gave me the phone and I looked at the paper he had written "Sherry is it okay if I take your daughters hand in marriage" as I look at this and look at him all I could think was Yes Yes Yes my heart starting pumping and as he got down on one knee he asked me if I could ask my mom and as I did he pulled out a silver ring from his pocket and as my mom was telling me yes though in a very speachless way i just looked at Ibe and grabed him and huged him and said YES! I will marry you. He put the ring and I lost connection with my mom on the phone. Thats our story!

The wedding itself though wont be until I get out of the Peace Corps in 2010. We hope to live in the States and start our life in Washington as I am applying for grad school in the fall of 2010! Oh yeah Ibe is 31, Mossi/burkinabe. He builds schools here in BF and wants to go into construction and eventually the police force in the states. We plan to live in the states long enough to make enough money to head back here and open a non profit organization helping children in BF.

Hello Hello Hello Mom and I cooking Rice and Sauce

I finally get to wear a sweatshirt! The rain came that day! Only 85ish great for a pullover

The gift of Live, On my way to the latrine a mama was givin birth 5 babies

BEAUTIFUL....

Moranga Project...Cow Poop mixin time with help from Abe and Alaska

We planted 30 moranga trees

The children picked flowers for me! Fun though they died an hour after i put them in the house

Top of the morning to ya...

Slingshot (lansper) time alaska trying to steal it

Alaska loves the slingshot

Lesson 101 slingshot...Now i scare off all the pigs and get mangos out of the tree!

Alaska is so tired...Hes been chasing pigs all day

hot season is here...sleepin outside!

Off on a walk into the middle of nowhere

A Traditional Lobi dancer for 8 mars day

A Traditonal Lobi Dancer

The Mayor of BrBr giving a speach celebrating Womens Day

The Mossi womens association fo 8 mars

Traditional Women Lobi dancing

Ceremony for Womens Day 8 mars

The Catholic womans association

8 Mars Inspector, Mayor, President of Womens assoication of BrBr, and the Prefait waiting for the parade to start

Babysitting Burkinabe style

Kyde selling Mangos she picks in the tree 25cfa for one....during Marche day

Marche day from the poisson (fish) stand looking into the area where they sell fish and oil

Vegies...Marche day...Cabbage, tomatos, onions, egg plant...and maybe bannanas lol

Cotton...they just cultivated and waiting to send off to ouaga...

BABY GWENDOLEN'S BAPTIM! NOW SALIMATA

Mom and sister

Women enjoying music and food at the baptim

Salimata...they shave her head the day of the baptim...

My Henna work for the Baptim all the women in the family have it done for the new baby...

HELLO MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS.....this new blog is the result of Jennifer's (my sister) non stop hounding for an update.... .....The delay is due to no internet in Gaoua. Lesson I have learned here in Africa is that well if something is not working like the internet you just wait but just waiting doesnt mean wait and hour and all will be fine this means maybe you wait weeks or months and then just then maybe whatever it was you were waiting for will come or not...and if it did it usually doesnt come out or look like you wanted ahh. Africa got to love it....Okay Life...March was the start of the hot season here in Burkina. It was the first time i was being hit with unbelievable temps where showers 3 times a day becomes ness and sleeping out side isnt an option its a requirement. I was told numerous times as im complaining of the heat that Jillian just wait until April then the wind that comes is hot and burns you as it blows...after the recover from my mouth being droped open in disbelief i was in Horror (now that it is april i know now its true) IT IS FREEKIN HOT HERE. Though as the time has moved on I have found ways to deal with it. Usually it involves doing a whole lot of nothing! nah what you have to do is leave in the morning...come back to the house by 11 shower, changed into a pange and then sleep at 13ish wake up at 15 maybe shower again..though dont towel off...hang outside drink water in the shade read a book dont move then at like 17 you can go back into the community and finsh workin again or ride the bike....and this is pretty much true for all the people in my village. You dont see anyone outside in the middle of the day or i mean out walking around...they are all hiding next to a house with shade or under a tree sleeping...when it gets too hot all you can do is pray that you can fall asleep and just miss the heat of miday....this season of heat has also brought its share of heat rash and boils that just never go away...i at all times have a million little red bumps that look like pimples on my neck where i have to douse myself in babypoweder and anti ich cream...i dont know if you have had heat rash but it feels like a million needles poking into ya...oh man and the burkinabe dont understand the skin of white people its funny the children look at my extreamly white legs and ask why have i painted all these green lines all over my body and how long did it take (they are taking about my veins) and a pimple or heat rash to them of course is mosiquto bites they are horrified to think that that many mosquitos live near my house....for them we are quite strange little beings...okay .....Work.....March was a fun month for womens empowerment...on March 8th is international womens day here and its a HUGE day for all of BF. They shut down everything and hold a big party. Everyone gets clothes made for the big party and then each village holds a ceremony or some kind of event for the celebration. I had a huge hand in organizing the events in my village. We had bike racing, soccer matches, traditional dancing, a ball, food, theater, singing and a ceremony that sensiblized on womens empowerment and Aids....I was really shocked to see how my village came together to represent women from all different ethnicities and really took the time to recognize and talk about women. Its unfortunate that it is only one day that this happens and infact alittle ironic that in looking at the work that was put into this day from the cooking to well everything it was still women doing the cooking for womens day and serving it to the men of the village...which for me being from the western part of the world erks the heck of out of me, though i have to remember that this is still a developing country and this is why I am sent here to help sensiblize and help change the mentality of the people here. I did my part and questioned why the men wernt cooking...i got alot of werid looks though thankfully most of the time it is because im a white person talking nonsense though really why are the women cooking and the response from the mayor was well they know how...that lead into a great conversation of what womens day ment to him and let me say there is some real work that still needs to be done in my village though im optomistic enough to see it through......I am still continuing my girls groups and we have launched into safe sex and aids...they are convinced that aids does not exicite in Brbr and remember these are 11 yr olds though its horrifying that they think it dosent exsist when just 30 k away Gaoua is in the running for the second city of all of BF with the highest aids rate. but here they just dont talk about it. They would rather say they have something like malaria then say Aids because of the negative condisations that go along with when you say that. Its been really rewarding though to teach awareness and help them understand how to protect themselves and their family. I am still working with 6em girls on goal setting and why not being pregnant is a good idea which is kinda hard concept for them to understand. I get asked all the time why am i not married and dont have children if i am 27 years old here that is unheard of though one can understand if you are droping out of school at the age of 14....I have been having a challenging time incorporating american thoughts and ideals into burkinabe thoughts...they are very different you know just the idea of a goal is hard for them to grasp....it took me an hour to explain and they still barely got what i was talking about... My English club is going well. I really need to find a way to get french/english dictonarys here. They are all so lost when it comes to learning english and i always have children at my house wanting to borrow my book. i only have one and there are 80 kids in 3em. I have been using all my Us magazines that beth sends me or sam to give them to 3em to practice the english at the same time looking at the pictures of american celebs. I have started a sensiblization with the women who come into weigh their babies on mondays to teach nutrition. I went around my village and picked up every item you can get at the botique or buy at the marche to build a healthy diet for their family. Its been fun to teach them though at the same time im really starting to understand the poverty and the reasons why they choose to give their children the food they give them. There is just not money here to buy the food they need to feed their children. Though knowing they dont have enough money to buy the stuff they need i work also with the idea of giving food to the children first. Here the adults eat before the children do. Moranga...woot Moranga is a tree that can help cure malnurition in my country! Here PC has started a mornaga project planting trees and sensiblizing the women on how to use the leaves and pods in the food that they eat. Do you know Madagascar is the number one country that exports mornaga leaves and the mornaga plant itself is just amazing! only 8 months after planting it you can start eating the leaves. Ahh here the women use leaves of all trees to put in there sauses for to. so it was fun to plant 30 trees here in my village. At the moment i planted them all in small saches for two months then i will be giving one to each family in my village who went to my sensiblization. Abe, Alaska and I planted them in my yard and now just been watchin them grow grow grow. I had to get a girl to go and get cow poop for me though...she told me she walked after a cow and just scooped up his poop when he went and when she deliverd it to my house it was still hot! ha...though i cant believe the difference in responce in my village in the reception of mornaga work compaired to GEE work. I think its because moranga directly affects their life in a way that can provide imediate benifits unlike girls education and empowerment which is more of a theory that is abstract and hard to grasp or even see the results of. Village life really is just moving along. They have repaired my hanger because it fell down in a huge wind storm. I spend more time with my family now then before. Daily my mom is sending rice to my house for me to eat. Though i have found potatos now here so ive have been making fried potatos and onions alot! vegies now are kinda low all we have is cabbage, egg plant, tomatos and onions to buy at the marche. though now i am starting to see green peppers a little. I have stoped myself going to buy my vegies because they are still charging me way too much for 3 peppers they make me pay 100cfa though my mom in village pays 30cfa so now safye who gets my water for me buys my vegies! Im sad that papya season is over though i hear guava is going to start up here soon. I ate an Apple the other day it was heaven though just for one small one 200cfa! Expensive because for 5 bannana its only 100cfa....oh yeah and Avacato has showen up last week 250cfa for one though worth it! that and some soy sause yum yumWe had the baptim for my sister salimata too that was really fun. it was for the women only...they give two the first is for the men and its where she is given her name and her head is shaved this is 7 days after birth though a few days after that we had the womens baptim for her where we danced ate spagettie and salad i really enjoyed it with all the mossi women. Here there are still lots of deaths my grandma here died a month ago and just two days ago her daughter died which is my mothers sister. It is so unfortunate. I am not understandign why there are still so many deaths in my village when i talk to other volunteers they deff are not having the same experience as me though. I have learned my lesson with death here and am not as affected as i was before. I deff dont invest myself as much into the funeral process...its just too taxing for me to be that involved. though you still show up give money and give respects. I have grown alot in the last year involving death. I understand that its natrual and a part of life thus here is treated with as much appreceation and love as a birth which i think is healthy! okay okay im still biking but not as much as before due to the internet never working an me not really having a place to stay in gaoua now i just hang out in BrBr. just this last week i had to bike three daysi n a row to gaoua that is 150k total let me tell you think my legs and butt were hurting so much and i have vowed to not bike for at least a week ha...though i needed to go to the bank and it was closed for holiday then internet connection was down thus no money...though all worked out and now its all good....Other then that lets see Alaska is doing really well...he is getting really big and stoped killing chickens and pantards though i think its because the locals are trying to beat him with sticks when he runs after them! Hes in good health and is a happy little addition to my life. Though he hates my cooking and refuses to eat anything i make thus he goes to moms house daily to get his fill of cow bones and fish that she and dad save for him daily. I just resently bought a sling shot to hit the pigs with rocks when they come to steal alaskas food and Abe has taught me how to use it. It was only 100cfa and its the coolest thing ever. Abe taught me how to get mangos out of the tree though for him it takes like a second to get a mango though for me 3 hrs for one mango! Now im really cool with the little boys in the village who also have them, they love to shoot things and kill birds to eat them ha.......well im out of things to say for the moment....when its been this long i loose track of what to update ya guys on....though Life is really good and oh yeah Im comming back to the states i think i dont have a ticket yet though my sister sam is getting married on august 15 WOOT SAM AND BRIAN and so im working to get over then and not miss it...so you can all expect me then...other then that later!

I just read Brack Obamas blook that was given to me by Beth when his wife wrote after she visted Keyna, "I'm ready to go back to america, I never realized how american I was." I will have to say that I agree with her. I never realized how american I was. Ive always held america as a curse more then a blessing but in the last nine mounths i have a new love for america. In BF as i sit in a bus on my way to Ouaga it is stoped by the military where instead of getting in trouble by smuggling motos the driver pays the military money to let them free. My friend here has finished a trade school, he is a skilled worker though since he is the only one in his area his boss wont let him go and the boss refuses to give him his papers of authenticity though why does he want to leave? well he hasnt been paid in over a month though when i asked him to turn him into a better business bureau, he laughed and said there is none. In schools here children are beat, the wives are beat though when the beaten have enough courage to tell someone in the hospital or a friend they are told you deserve it. Here you walk to get water to bathe, eat and drink with all the while holding on your head in 100 degree weather, you do this at least twice a day. You pull wood from the woods daily sometimes walking 10k or 15 k to get just to have fuel to make dinner. Your children dont eat at school because there is no food, you dont wear shoes because you have none and there are holes in your clothes that are brown from not washing. Children have to leave school because there parents cant pay the 3.00 usd to keep them there for a year. When I ask a girl what she wants to when she grows up though her only response is a teacher or dolo (beer) maker because that is all she sees in her village and the teacher most likely came from another village. The girls have no idea of their possibility's or place they can go. All the water is infested with parasites, the bellies are over sized from malnutrition and worms in their stomachs. You go to the bathroom in a hole, or in a field and you have no water to wash your hands with. Your only choices of drink are water or dolo and you choose the dolo because at least in the beer there isnt any parasites. The children drink dolo at noon with their parents. The children here's mom cant recognize her own name let alone hold a pen to write though you need help with your math questions what do you do. The moms still give their breasts to a 2 yr old child because breast milk is free though the child is only 6k the same as an american child 3 months old. the list goes on....though I and you should be glad were american...to be given the opportunity to go to school, drink fresh water, have a toilet, an opportunity to know what we can be when were older...to have the chance to depend on the government, trust the police and know in your heart that there are people out there that are there and willing to help you....I know in this time most of you are scared for the economy scared for your jobs and scared for well your life...though you have to keep it in prospective...You can never compare your life of everything to the life of a person living in the second poorest country in the world....YOU HAVE EVERYTHING....they have nothing....please keep that perspective when you want to complain about not being able to go and buy starbucks that your used too or this year you cant take that vacation you planned....i think we can all benefit from a prospective thats alittle bit more open then the life we live in america......

....Okay on to other news

UPDATES

Alaska is into eating chickens its getting pretty expensive since it costs me 2mille each chicken and the village is starting to call him a bandit ha...he is also into cow tails its his new things so life with him has been interesting these days ha...

...My house got broken into again though nothing of value was stolen though the village is so upset by it all that my Chief is in the process of making me a Fetish which is a huge cement like structure that you give blessings too and feed it gifts to keep you safe! Its from the animist culture...wierd i know but ill post a pic when it arrives in village....

...My health is great and I havent been sick in a month...

...Mango season! Wooot

....I think i have abolished finally the children in village calling me Colleen they now call me Jillian! its a Triumph for me here...

Okay so I want to send a shout out too all the people who have sent me things

Nicole- Hello beauty supplies galore...she sent me Avedia Products that have changed my life here and have provided beautiful hair and face! I also never thought that i would have perfect nails or eyebrows here in africa but i do! Woot

Beth- okay the packages with her are out of control but i want you to know that I have used every single thing youve given me...the coloring books and crayons went to my cp1 class and for the first time they colored...it was really wierd to teach coloring they have never even held a coloring crayon before! the other paper and goodies you send ive made decoration for 8 mars activities which is worlds women day...and of course the endless chocolate and trash magazines have feed my soul yum!

Uncle Ron- you guys have given me so much for the children that ive been able to start a goodie box and the children that score high levels on tests have been able to come to me and grab out of the box! its a really good incentive program...also one frisbee you gave went to an orphanage and the other i use on sunday nights for frisbee football....the other paper and markers i do art crafts with kids one day a week!

Mom- you help fund the soccer team that improves the self esteem of the girls in my village also help me buy decorations for the international womens day here on 8 mars!

Steph- Hello chocolate feeds the brain and the pictures you send feed my heart!

Anne/Walton- hello please send again the granola bars and oatmeal it feed me for a week! and the pictures were great!

Family- I LOVE THE LETTERS they mean so much to me so keep it up

So all in all life is going well here and seems to get better daily. It rained here a few weeks ago which is odd and its never rained in feb in BF history Global Warming anybody? Im continuing my programs in village and seeing a difference with the people...Im closing in on 9 months here which is incredible for me and i can see a real change in how i feel and act it will be interesting to go back to america..... I leave next week for my bike trip...excited though know that its going to be HOT! the heat starts in march...im going on a Safari here at the end of march to see the elephants near my house 50k away so ill keep you posted and take pictures! okay well love you all

Where can I possibly begin after this long of time has passed. Well then lets see ill start from christmas and work my way up to date! Christmas rocked! I spent in Bobo with 15 americans and one Burkinabe! It was fun we watched movies all day and turned up the air conditioning so that we could use the blankets. A few of us made stocking and handed them out and a friend Rob dressed up as santa clause and handed stuff out! We made amazing food no turkey but you could not beat the food everything from potoatos to chicken to salade and we had all the deserts to go with it. well christmas was amazing though during the whole deal i ended up with a spider bite that turned into a nasty infection that involved me not being able to hold my arm up and crying at the touch of my arm! It got worse of course because i pick at everything! though with meds it healed after 2 weeks though the scar is still real as ever and tender. though right after this infection thing happend my necklace got caught on my finger and it fished its way deep real deep to the point i thought i would end up in the hosptial to remove it because the necklace is a b shaped in a hook effect and yeah it hurt...though after a whole bottle of wine and courage i got the sucker out and all went well...i was able to get on transport and head down south to spend new years with meigan. It was great she had a bomb fire for all the kids, she made beesap a sweet koolaid type drink and then handed out popcorn to about 25 children who danced the night away to american music and bombfire, though after awhile we all got tired and ended up counting down at 10 at night and heading to bed early hah!

After the holidays ive been keeping myself busy with bike riding and working. I have continued my girls club and now am working on a cainteen for my primary school. the children do not eat food for lunch because they either are too far to go home or their parents do not have anything to feed them so i am working with an NGO here in the area to try and get funds to start a lunch program to help these kids out. Its so annoying the teachers hit the children when they dont answer the questions correctly though you wonder why well they dont have food in the stomachs its hot and they have harldy any clothes on...come on now...i am also working on the beating in the schools i am trying to fabricate a new displine system so the teachers dont ahve to resort to beating the children with whatever they can find. Other then that its been pretty chill...we have 8 march comming up which is womans day and is really popular day here its fun and i am putting together the programe and helping getting it organized. We do a day on Aids and health and empowerment for the woman also the woman have a soccer match and then there is a parade and a dinner in honor of the women in village it should be fun!

Other news around here is my mom in village HAD A BABY!! and I got to watch the birth! Sophie showed up on my door step at 4 am in the mornin on the 23 of Jan to tell me mom was walkin to the hosptial and i needed to get there she was "cushin" the baby so i got up threw on some clothes and heading out to the hospital...my mom beat me by only 10 min they had her in the back on the cement floor as she was all ready to push and before i knew it the baby was out and screaming with no meds or anyting or even a scream from my mom. SHE IS SOOO STRONG! the baby was 8 pounds and 5 ounces a very very healthy baby for africa...mom says its due to the fish and beef she consumed while pregnant. I gave the baby an american name Gwendolen Rose and its hard for the village to pronounce ha...though her african name comes on the 30th with her baptim! Dad was not really involved but nervous as heak through the whole process....the men cant see the baby until the baptim so there all waiting until the 30th to reveal her....i though since have helped out alot at the house making dinner and helping to clean for the family because after the baby your just supposed to get back to work...mom looked amazing during and after birth...she walked home 3 hours later CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT! ahh these africans! Love it

...Other news Alaska is great he got vacinated for Rabies so now if he bites someone i dont have to worry ! it wasnt that expensive and now my heart is at ease...though hes being alittle agressive these days and come to find out when im gone these dang kids come around and have been throwing rocks at him so i had to go talk to the prefer and he helped by takling to the kids parents though here they eat dogs so what can i expect ya know!

...i have had quite the med report here...i broke both my glasses though now have a new bright purple pair...i got my cracked tooth taken care of, it was chiped by eating off a fork!....i have a cycst apparently on my eye that gets removed here in a few days...and i just got meds for a lovely round of paracites that entered my body from drinking well water...not that smart but hey its africa...though as of now im in TOP HEALTH and all is well....

...I want to send thanks to Beth, uncle BoB, Nicole, Uncle Ron, Steph, and my family for sending me amazing things for christmas and the children here...my next blog with explain what i have done with everything you guys have given me....its just so overwhelming to recieve so much! though i have to tell ya alot of people are worried to tell me about their lives in america becase they think it cant compaire to what we go through here but im telling I WANT TO KNOW about your lives and everything in and it does matter to me because its your lives so tell me everything as silly as it sounds to you to tell me! I love it....also Nicole wants to know why im not Tan but the answer is IT IS SOOOO HOT and i stay in the shade at all times or lavish in sun screen....i think my tanning days are over along with dyed hair...my silver and grey is showing more then ever and ive accepted it as my body and my body ha....Im now a white, grey haired 27 year old woman in Africa ha....okay okay

new adventures to come

i am biking 200k to banfora with meigan down a hilly non cement road to find elephants and well adventuere....we met a peace corps lady from the 60's who lives here now and works with the chruch and so were going to hang out with her and then visit some villages along the way...it should be a blast...im going to waterfalls on the 9 of fev and then i am heading to the huge film festival here at the end of the month so fun things ahead which are greatly needed!

well love you all and will write more later...

Bonjour! me in my everyday wear! when im at the house im in a panga! Relaxin after a long day at work

We have Fire!

Papa and I enjoying a campfire outside my house

Papa, Megan and I hanging outside my house as clothes dry for the day

Alaska aww he is so cuteHes stickin his tounge out!

Alaska NOT being a model

Harmadan winds took down my fence so now they are building me a new one

My court yard! small and well just small ha

This is how i wash dishes!

Babys first bath! Auntie is helpin out!

2 hrs after birth Moma (Issa with daughter number 2 Dj)

Scared Papa! Ali is tired from all the work he did (haha)

Gma holdin the baby

The hour after the birth! 6am in the mornin

The day before birth!

ITS A GIRL!!! 8 POUNDS 5 OUNCES!!! My mom in village has number her name is Gwendolen Rose!

My new friend who is right out my door eating off my mango tree! Mangos come in March

Very stylish in AFRICA

YEAH my chief of village accepting the present that Uncle Bob sent! (He has never taken it off)

The butt head that bit me!

The spider bite after the infection has started

Burning season...I think it looks like a seen out of the bible though right in my village

The Road to BrBr from my bike there is the sign

then while dealing with the spider bite this happens (im in a hudge state of panic)

Infected spider bite! and Kait has a staph infection...way to go christmas

A Crush! It is where the children build a netivity set kinda and put presents in for Jesus

Jenny and I after opening presents

Christmas Breakfast! Creaps Merry christmas...The morning watching all the good old christmas movies

Okay one more sunrise...i just cant get over how beautiful pictures on the wall!

The paint has started!

My kitchen before the paint!~

Inside my house after the change of furninture though before Paint (living room/kitchen)

Sunrise out my door.

This was across the street from the pic below though the sun was casting perfect...it hasnt rained for months...everything is dead

While riding my bike i came across the burnt fields I feel like its a seen out of the Lion King

"Mom" On the day of Tabaskee

"sambsa-Sambsa" These children are my family here, there mom is deff my mom!

My friend

Tabaskee has come and gone. I arrived on marche day to a village full of people who are dressed to the nines ready to party the night away. I didnt have much time to relax after the long journey home due to the festivities. I showerd, was gifted with rice for me and Alaska from my neighbor before I dressed for the fete (party in french). I sported a new African outfit, and set out to tour the village. I was greated by many people who just stoped in their tracks to see the white girl in the village in tradtional clothing it was fun. I was surrounded by children who keep yelling "Samba-samba" which means like give me money or candy kinda like trick or treat. I decided this time to hand out candy that i bought in Ouaga. Then I went from house to house greeting and eating a whole bunch of food. At 16 hr it was time to feast on meat, yum then after a little repo before we head of too dance the night away. Sadly enough I never made it to the dancing part i was so tired from all the talking and travling from the day that i returned to my house by 18 30 and fell right asleep. ....Life in village is improving. I have made major changes in my daily life. I've Painted and decorated my house! Its freekin sweet now. I wake up and am so happy to be living in my little hut with my walls all colors of purple and blue. I have written all these insperiational messages everywhere and well its pretty cool. Beth sent me so much stuff to decorate my house with so i have used everything and its starting to look like my house in america..clutterd with color....The children cant get over it and love looking at all the pictures. The painted has helped me too by giving me time to chill out and have a project to work on. I am not finished and i have my bedroom still to work on, but my livingroom its pretty cool. Ive also decided to take up yoga in the morning and im proud to say that for two weeks straight ive been faithful and its been great, i get up at five in the morning give breakfast to Alaska then read my quote of the day, then i was able light the incence play my Ipod and yoga away. after its tee time and then off to work. You know before i wouldnt buy anything for my house or for me because i would always think of all the people with out things and think gosh that six mille i just spent of paint could of gone to a family to buy food for a long time though after some really good and really long talks a few weeks ago in Ouaga i realized i am only as good as i can give and by living in a house that is drab is making me drab well then thats no good, for well anyone. Thus i let the colors fly and its been fun. I also decided that it was time to make the house mine by having the furniture that was more me, the volunteer before left all these bookshelves ext that well didnt fit my style so you know what i just gave it all away to my neighbors who were more then excited to recieve such things it was great because its like you know what I am a different person I have different style and thats okay...its good to say that to yourself when you are always being compaired to the last american they knew...so yeah it was good......I know things are changing just by this last week. I was in village and i found out that the closest friend of mine in village her husband died. She had told me two days prior to his death that he was sick and went to the hospital in the next town that that she would be going the next morning to check on him, though when she arrived she was met by awlful news. I can see why people would be scared by the hospital it seems like every time someone goes there they dont come back. Though when i found out i was extreamly hurt. I knew her husband, ive talked to him every day for the last three months. so when i was waiting at her house for her and the corps of her husbad to arrive that night with all of the women of the village there too, crying together waiting for our friend to arrive it clicked i was just a person in the village too just like everyone else. And when she did arrive and went into the room to start her grieving process i was asked to come in and was surrounded by 30 women that i know dearly and respect even though im dressed differently, im a different color and i dont speak thier language i was the same a woman whos has a friend whos husband died. Our hearts were the same and we sung together the sad songs that pass the time. It was at that moment that i knew im accepted here, for all that i have to give and all that i have to learn.

Its about that time.  I head back to village on sunday.  I have had quite the week.  We finished our action plans for our work in village and were able to find out about how NGO's work and also how to find grant money to fund our projects.  Its pretty excited to think that you are going to make an impact in your village.  It was really cool to hear everyone elses experiences that they have been having for the last three months also their ideas that they have decided to do in village.  For example one girl is going to build a Maison De Femme which is a place that women can go to be helped with income generating ideas like learn how to make soap, or yougart to sell in village.  Another is going to rebuild a pump so the girls do not have to miss class to go fetch water, we have people rebuilding that cantine services at the primary school so the children have things to eat during school.  Many children do not eat before they go to school so they are unable to concentrate during class which then leads to the teachers hiting their children.  Others are working on art projects or panting a world map on the wall of the school, this is really cool because most people here think that france borders BF or that America is just next door.  Along with my other ideas i have decided also to do a garbage/sanatation project.  My village is so dirty they just throw their garbage out the door and just pee and poop everywhere they dont really care so do sensiblisation on those and then have a place to put the garbage and work on burning it would be good.  Also we have alot of kids who stay up until 11 oclock with school the next morning so making an after school program after dark so the kids are all in one place and not off having sex in the bushes would be nice.  Kids here are pregnat in my village at the age of 13 so to work on that will be nice.  Its just nice to be back here and sharning the ideas that we have and get re-energized is awesome.  Food here has been great Ive ate hamburgers and pizza every day almost i think ive gained about 5 pounds in the last week which has been awesome!  I also got to eat icecream yum.  Oh yeah and i recieved 8 packages not 4 uncle ron and beth bloc sent some out they are sooooo great!  the snickers and gummy bears are soo soo good.  Its really hard not to eat all of it in one day ill tell ya.  Ive even got to drink wine here (ive been spoiled).Weather here is crazy its so cold in the mornings but the wind from the desert up north is driving me crazy i have such bad alergies right now and my nose is so full of nasty stuff.  I have been taking so much meds.  You cant even look outside with out it looking like the fog has rolled in but nope its just the dust.  Everyone on the motos are wearing surgical masks its pretty funny.  I love that now is the season for winter jackets...now when i say cold that means what 90 degrees here and the africans are wearing jackets with fur linings inside them no joke as i sweat off to the side.  Monday is a huge holiday for the Mossi culture its called (Ta-bas-kee) i dont know anythinga bout it but apparently its huge and there is food and drinks to go around....zoom coom which is a ginger drink and besap which is like a surgery red syrup drink and all sorts of other things to celebrate and dancing.  I should be in village so im excited to see the events that will unfold.  In the west of the country there is a huge parade and the peace corps has this huge stand where they explain us and a life size replica of Obama which everyone is excited about!  they love him here.  Last night i went to a Regge bar and listen to music and danced the night away.  It was alot of fun and we hung out with students from the international school of Burkina Faso the guys were from the ivory coast.  Regge here is so beautiful and alot of people play it.  There was also this art galery where i purchased a panting of a naked woman it is sooo beautiful and i love that she is naked since that is so taboo here in this culture but i met the artist and he was awesome he even signed the painting.  it was about 60 american dollars, needless to say ill be eating alot of 100 cfa rice at home this next month!  Tonight I am heading out again to listen to music there is this art bar that has a huge concert that is playing so it should be fun, though i have to remember to wear long pants last night i didnt and woak up with about 100 bites from mosquitos (no joke tim not an exsageration but 100 bites)  my legs looks like someone took a marker and made all these points.......Well I have no joined Facebook its a new deal for me i did it to talk to Larry but from this i have found so many people so if you look for me on that you can find me....alot of people said they have been reading my blog and that means the world to me because i want you guys to know what i am going through...Your words of encouragement mean more to me then you could ever imagine so thanks keep up the good work........chirstmas is in BOBO and ive decided to sew stockings for all of us so that should be a fun project this month also im painting my house blue and purple so ill take picture so you guys can see!! well love you all

Sunset...right outside my door!

Beers...Beers....More Beers...

The consert! Its videotaped by Jaquline the Swiss Director of the Orphanage shes donating the tape to me, so you can all see it when I get back to America. Fun thats all i got to say about that! Im wearing my earings and braclet that were given to me by Narcis. The children who put on the concert for me! with their shirts so dang cute! Narcis who bought the tie just for my birthday! He is the one who orginized my concert! My painting! It says Happy birthday Juluian ! My first present! Its even wrapped (never seen before in Africa)

Miday at PP a bar in Gaoua waiting for my Raggu to arrive (ignams mixed with red sause my favorite) Megan avoiding the picture, obviously Im in the mood for pictures!

Bottoms up! Beer at 9:30 am with pork to follow (I didnt eat the pork) Beers with Megan after she made me birthday dinner-theres American R&B in the background

Alaksa being Alaska...that means not wanting to cuddle instead trying to bite me! Mice have decided they want to live with me here is one caught in my chest, but too fast for a pic Sunrise my new obsession now its been rising at 6:10 am though it changes daily! Alaska wishing he could be of the chain to chase the pantards (turkeys) that are squaking

YUM!

Megan brought be back a gift from Ouaga wine!! I drank it with spagettie though no opener though thankfully I drank enough wine in Alaska the ghetto way to have the skills to use a dull nail and hammer! You know this means I finshed the bottle!

Alaksa! He is on his way out the door. He has gotten so BIG!!

I am so excited to finally be here in Ouaga. At the moment I am using really fast internet at the office. I arrived yesterday after a 5 1/2 hour bus ride. It was pretty interesting ride, though it arrived at 7 am thankfully I was able to drink my coffee at the cafe before I left though I was hoping for some bread to go with the yougart that my friend Clovis brought over for me to eat because he knows its my favorite and only avalible in Gaoua, though to my great amazement the bread was done in BRBR there is no bread! If you wanted bread you had to wait until the first bus from Gaoua arrived, though thats my bus which is on its way to Ouaga...so no bread for me though no need to freat about that due to the fact that women of my village couldnt fathom me riding all the way to Ouaga with out food so they gave me a present of Peanuts they just finished roasting. What a good snack. It was cute when I left so many people from the village came to meet me on the road to send me off with good luck. It is my first time leaving for so long. Okay so on the bus...Africans are interesting...there are so many seats alvalible on the bus so why the heck do they have to sit next to me? Thats the question of the day. Nope heres how it goes on the bus...they all charge on pushing eachother to enusre they get a seat though you dont really have to worry because there more seats the there are people but none the less they all fight for a set then they have to sit next to me, two people who are not small so now im squshed up aginst the side of the bus its hot and the window next to me does not open. Fun. Oh yeah and there is no deoderant in Africa well maybe in Ouaga but deff not near me, so throw that into the equasion and there ya go. It made me laugh though I turned around thinking maybe I just didnt see the mounds of people get on to fill the bus but nope turning around the bus was empty. ahh africa...but i arrived. When one gets off the bus you are surrounded by tons of taxi drivers who want you to choose them, I know it only costs 300-500 cfa to get to the transit house, though the men were trying to get me to pay 2 mil which is 4 times the price, I declined with a very american sqrew you I live here and started to walk down the road where a taxi pulled over and I spoke Moore with him told him my name was Kindo Safyeta and he lead me to the house for only 300cfa!! score....Its amazing the confidence Im having now in my country. After these 6 months you start to understand how life works here and whats supposed to be going on. Okay so im here for information. I get to see all the other GEE volunteers too. When I arrived yesterday it was so much fun to see the older volunteers here having fun watching tv (The office). We orderd out and had pizza deliverd and I drank red wine. Training starts tomorrow and will last for a week. It will be fun to hear all the other stories going on across Burkina.life for me in burkina...village has been better that is true. I am really finding my place. Okay my work here..I have now a Bike riding club, a running club, two girls clubs, a english club, and a study hall for math. I am also giving one hour of my time each week to each teacher at the primary and secondary school. I am taking over the PE at each school too. so thats my main work here. I have decided to start up a counseling program at the secondary school. Im sure its going to be alot of work but there are so many kids here who have big problems going on in there life and maybe need help with direction so I hope to start a peer network where voices can be heard. Im pretty excited about it, it is so new here that the people dont even understand what counseling is. My health has been great latley and the finally fixed my latrine and now the hole is bigger and I dont pee on my feet anymore! woot. The village is looking soo different because of the burning that is hapening after the crops have been harvested. It is so flat and you can see so far now. I need to take some pictures of my village. Though taking pictures here is pretty hard because people are so obsessed with wanting to be in the photo and once you take one picture they are all posing for you and ya cant really get just a natrual picture but ill work on this for ya all. Okay well Im going to head off here though since im here all week ill write another post! I hear too that I have 4 packages waiting !! woot!

I took so many pictures for my birthday but they will all be posted in december so sorry bout that but let me pull you into my little world here

....Its an average thrusday for me i leave to have my girls group with the 11 year olds...right now it is dance club where we are practicing the macarana which is awesome seeing a bunch of african children dancin to it also as were leaving all of us are shouting ohh-ehhh-ohh-ahhh-haa-ting-tand-wada-wada-bing-bang which they love...after that i had my english club where we took the new york times magazine and looked at the pictures and learned new words...okay after i arrive at my house ready to give my dog his daily rice dinner because i know he is so hungry from me being gone so long though he really doent need food seeing as though he is fatter then any african child right now...but when i get there i notice my door is open...this is odd and my dog is off his leash...why you ask well nothing other then Megan another volunteer near me came to my house as a surprise for my birthday and made me my favorite dinner spagettie and decorated my house for my birthday...how freekin cool is that...i was so taken away by the surprise....so then after dinner we went to the local watering hole and had a few beers and cozied a bit...okay the next day we head to Gaoua for dancing and good food though as we are waiting to catch a taxi bruse there is this man that works in my village who happens to have a sports car who offers to take us in his car for free...as a present to me then we get to Gaoua early by 9 30 am...he of course says jillian we need to celebrate so we started drinking beer at 9 30...woot...i was toe up by 11....after i ate yams which is my favotite....we left hung out in town then my friend Clovis here gave me this huge personalized panting that he had made for me that is a picture of the southwest with a woman teaching that says happy birthday jillian on it...its huge and beautiful...then thats not it we ate chicken drank more beer then headed off to Bucan for dancing to american music though when i get there i see all these children at the bar from the orphanage which is really wierd...and alot of people i know just waiting which is really wierd because the dancing was just supposed to be me and a few friends but come to find out my friend Narcis created a concert for me at the bar where the children from the orphanage put on a traditional drumming concert for my birthday present...there were so many people there and all for me....i cried it was so beautiful...we danced traditional dance and then they played all american hip hop you would hear in a club in seattle today...needless to say i drank alot alot of beer and had one of my best nights ever in Gaoua...what a way to turn 27....

I feel like i have lived here a really long time but not really just hitting up six months in country. I have to first send out a HUGE shout out to BETH B she is number one this week in my heart because she sent so many packages and letters i almost couldnt fit them in my bag...the same day i was blissfuly hurting with a stomach ache due to the snickers, gummy bears, granolla bars ext that i managed to consume all in one day....I deff have no control when it comes to the american pleasures that come my way just last night i was dreaming of cold stone creamery reases peanut butter cup ice cream ha....you deff know your deprived if your dreaming about food.

...Okay so Africa...work is going great actually I have been working in the classes correcting math homework and attempting to read the childrens chicken scratch french for language corrections but i dont really do a good job its really difficult because well my french level is the same as the 10 year olds that im correcting...with that i have two girls clubs where last week i taught them the macarana and other american dances ha...and after i had my english class again with the older students...its been really fun...I also played soccer with the kids this week and introduced them to frisbee which thank god for samantha who sent them...man are they brutial though and play very aggresive...its kinda hard to go play when you have about 100 children just standing there looking at you but we managed. I have been working in the hospital too and really like the work there. People in the village are really starting to see that i have a place here, the children run up to me on their way home showing me their scores on the tests they have taken to prove to me they are being good students...school is tough here though i saw for my first time a teacher slapping children with both bamboo sticks and her own hand, i didnt know what to do i had so much respect for the teacher before and she is actually one of my friends then to help her class and for getting the wrong answer she takes her hand and slaps the girl right upside the head and hard too it left a mark...she also made 3 kids kneal on there knees for an hour then after beat them with a bamboo stick...we were told in stage that it is okay here in the school district to hit the children and dont be alarmed when you see it but trust me i was alarmed shocked and repulsed....afterward i went and talked to the director he is like the principal and told him of my findings and he said well yes jill the children here are bad...ahh its like a toss between cultrual and right and wrong you know...im going to wait to talk to the teacher until i talk to my advisor in december but hopefully i can help in that department....

Bugs are back in my house and last night at 3 am in the morning i was awoken by nothing other then a huge black rat...yes a rat which of course i screamed in my bed as my dog looked not alarmed and then i spend the next 30 min chasing it around the house under the bookshelves ext until i finally got the damn thing out of the house...it all happend at 3 oclock this morning which of course my light is the little lamp on the end of my cell phone ahh this was after i had to put up my mesquito net because these incets called an earwig pincher bug in america has decided to take over my house and my bed....i will search my bed before i go to sleep but non the less i feel a bite and then noticed im sleeping with 4 or 5 so i put the net up as a little protection and when i woak up this am they were all on the other side of the net...i tell ya if i can get past the incets then im up for anything...i am a little worried about the level of toxins i am taking in from all the incetisde that i am using everywhere in the house breathing in all those fumes hopefully my body and my future children will all come out with 10 fingers and toes and all limbs....

Health is great after a pretty bad spell last week of fatigue and such where i even took a taxi bruce to goaua im back in the game this week and made it here in 1 hr 10 min which is pretty good for me well damn good i should say....the heat rash is consistant though and i look like a prickly red rash woman where all the villagers are convinced there is something seriously wrong with my body and they keep touching my arms and face saying mustique....which is mosquitos which of course it isnt but a rash but they know no difference...

..my dog is hating life at the moment apparently since i have not been tying him up in the mornings he has been letting himself into other peoples houses in the morning and eating their food even though he is fed enough to feed a cow at my house...so as a present from isaac i got a collar and leash so my neighbors wont decided to set me aflame and now he is tied up outside...HE HATES IT...wines and for two days wouldnt even let me touch him...but were working on things and at the marche day i was able t walk around with him on the leash which everyone here thinks im a wack job for but he was able to see everyone...he is so fat though no one can believe he is only 3 months old...this one guy offered me 9 mil and his cell phone for Alaska i had to politely decline as he demanded and uping the price to 11 mil...what can i say hes a cute dog...

....the wind has started here and makes for some pretty cool afternoons...its still 100 degress but doesnt feel like it and i even wear a sweatshirt at nights....the sunsets and sunrises are so beautiful and ive made it a game to see the sun rise every day at 6 am its so beautful purples yellows and pinks and the sun is so huge aginst the landscape.....we have found out that its been getting to 75 at night though feels 50 i cant believe i am saying that but it does feel cold ha....

...I cant believe ill be missing thanksgiving i hope all is fun and well with everyone and ill write more later

...you guys asked if i needed antyhing else well beth b send post cards of seattle that were really cool and the poeple here loved it so i think that a picture book of seattle would be really helpful...they cant understand simple things like the road and buildings because it is nothing like here so a picture book would be great also i dont have a calender so that would be helpful too...and one last thing any school supplies like paper for the children blank preferably for drawing would be greatly helpful i have no paper to draw with and no money o place to buy it here....

okay peace

Happy Holidays everyone

Thought i would give a little update because i can and i have time. I got here to Gaoua on Sat mornin doing a little typing so i can turn in the Etude tu Mileu by monday though I dont really think ill have it done seeing as though the questions are in french and im now typing on a french keyboard ha. Im excited to head to Ouaga on Dec first to see all the other GEE people its been almost 3 months and i have only seen 2 people from my stage it should be fun. I have to send a shout out to Megan another GEE volunteer close to me because she is bringing me back pakages she said were building up at the office in Ouaga so if you sent me something then i get it to day woohoo...I was dreaming about american chocolate yesterday yum....

...life...is good not a whole lot going on though guess what they have pumpkins here it was so much fun the other day the women from village told me i had to try the new to that they had with sauce that is orange i went to try and yum yum yum i said what the heck is this stuff and they pull out a huge pumkin. it was a few days too late after halloween for me to carve it but how cool to have something american in africa it felt like home for a second. It wierd to think that its holiday season here when it feels like summer still with the days getting up in the 100s still...though at night it does get cold...last night i slept with a sweatshirt and a sheet...wierd...and the leaves are starting to fall of the trees though not changing color still green but falling to the ground its like fall for real here....the area is starting to look really diffrent with everyone clearing the harvesting...they are cutting and burning all the land to get ready for next year so now when you look out on the horizon you can see really far unlike before when the corn stalks were in the way...i forgot to tell you guys i saw a BABOON woot i couldnt take a pictue well because i dont have battiers for my camera at the omoment but i did red butt and all...i was ridding my bike here last week and as i was staring off into space trying to forget how long the bike ride really is..thogh now its only one hour and five min for me...but i saw something move and i stoped and watched and then saw it a baboon sitting on the ledge watching the land it was really cool...not as cool as brian seeing elephants but cool enough....

...I think there is one thing ill never get over here is the crying from the lobi women for the funerals...there was another one the other day the crying started at 11 that night and didtn stop till late the next day...the women do a whaling crying song thing that is bone chilling...then the dancing and the drums...it is so different then anything i have ever experienced...the person who died though was old so they told me its okay...but because of the funeral everything else is closed down or opening late...i treid to take the taxi bruce the next day though had to wait an extra 3 hrs so the driver could show his respects to the family....

...heres another cultrual difference i was at isaacs house my friend here in Gaoua and i had just woken up from my afternoon nap where i walk to the latrine to use the bathroom i dont say bonsoir or anything to the family sitting outside because well im gorggy and i have to pee though when i get back i still dont say anything because well i just said bonjour two hours before my nap but his dad said jillian how dare you walk by twice with out saluating me...he was really upset by the fact i wouldnt say hi to him again...its so wierd i told him i was sorry and that in america it is so different and we dont have to say hello 3 times a day but here you do no matter what so that lesson was deff learned....ha

...work is good here I started my english group with the 3em kids. its fun there was about 60 students that showed up to practice the english and i taught them whats up as a salutation ha but said they couldnt say it to athority but all the kids in america said it so now everyone who sees me says whats up ha...

...there is salid in my village for a 100cfa it is so good so i havent been cooking lately just eating salide and samsa which is fried beans that well ic ant describe it at all other then saying its yummy fried dough beans ha...you get it with a red tomato sause and salt...they put salt on everything here and my new obession here is ragu which is yams that are cooked in this stew that tastes so good i cant even tell you and it is so cheep...i dont know how to make it myself and i cant buy it in village only in Gaoua already made but the girl who gets my water for me told her mom and volla the next day on my door step is ragu that the mom has made....the village i tell ya the women care about ya so much....

....well i dont know what else to say at the moment ive decided to head off to sindu for thanksgiving and go camping with 3 americans over there i guess we can get a guy to kill a turkey for us so that should be american...and christmas is still in the air

...oh yeah OBAMA....woot forgot to tell you its the best time to be an american in africa right now everyone loves that there is a black president and there was a party here two nights ago celebrating the american presidency it was awesome...i even got my pic taken and my response is going to be in the local newspaper on how im excited to have a black president ha...well thats all im off love you all

Family and friends gosh I am so sorry its been so long since my last post. I have written my blog three times and its been erased each time so this time im free writting off the top of my head so if there is spelling mistakes well then you know its me really writting the blog. Okay so in Africa when the internet connection is down well you have no other choice but to well go with out and here in the big G its been down for 4 weeks...needless to say each week with never ending optomism me and Megan treck the 30k here to see if its working and nope not working the nice lady at the post tells us maybe tomorrow...she was saying that for so long i thought it would never work again...though today it works so today i can post...i would be posting with an already made up blog that i would of written on my laptop if i didnt drop my laptop breaking the monotor. I cried. Though this is Africa where someone is lucky to even see a computer let alone have one in their house so im being humbled in the fact that my friend should be able to fix it by next febuary. Though this news means no new pictures...which also means you cant see you new pho hawk that is growing quite beautifuly ha...

Health

Im great excpet for my body deciding to hate the heat that reached daily at 100 with no chance of rain. Daily i am attacked by heat rash that is so scratchy that i have to strip my clothes off at miday and wear my panga chill and take some benydral which is nice for me because it knocks me out and i dont have to worry about fighting with the heat to fall asleep. Latley its been so hot at night i just lay naked and that still doesnt help to fall asleep. I always wake up in the middle of the night in a pool of water where i turn over my pillow to find tranquility in the wet but cold otehr side of my pillow. Though other then that im super.

Dog

Hes big and eating nothing but rice and fish now. He has a ball that he plays with and the people here think i am crazy because well the children dont even have toys and her ei go and give one to my dog. though everyone in village knows my dog and they bring him food to eat so I think im safe from him being eaton. He has made new friends here two goats and a heard of pantard they chase him daily and wresstle with him its fun. He has found the pig pen though and likes to roll and eat pig poop so we daily have bathing sessions and a discussion about his health ha...he doesnt listen though...he is offically speaking french and english though and is following commands and can even sit....

work

I actually have work so thats a start. Its going good now dont worry I know i sounded like a big pile of sorryness last time in my blog because well its hard here but now its getting better daily. I have 3 groups two are girls groups with CM2 students and 6em students where we work on self esteem and have theatre....the other is with 3em and its an english club with about 100 boys and girls im sure it will be less here soon but they need to practice for their big test in june that will get them into high school. my other work at the moment is at the CSPS hospital weighing the babies and helping with vacinations...its super fun though makes me mad too. you can see really the malnourishment here in village. On monday i weighed a baby that was one year and 6 monhts old that was 7 k 15 pounds and then a 4 month old baby that was 9k. Of course the mom didnt speak french but we found out through translation that she was still only feeding her baby breast milk that was still forming because she has had other kids since the first one i tell ya...i think we got to her by the end but who knows... but other then that i have my two big meetings next week with the heads of the village to create a schedual of work they want me to do. Were having a battle at the moment over me being there and giving money fo rsome reason they think i have all this money to give and they get all sad when they find out that its just me and my brain but here its so ingraned that white means money. For example i ride my bike here in the morning to G and the children walking to school say La Blanche Bonjour Je demand une bic, white person give me a pen. Its every day when they see me and just on the marche day this woman about 20 told me that because i am white and i am here i have to buy her besap the juice that is made with local leaves...my response was well since im here working for free and a guest in your country you should buy me besap...she didnt like that response and pulled her brother into the conversation to persuade me to buy her besap i just walked away but it is so ingraned here white means money.

BrBr

Cultivating season is almost over so they are clearning the felds and burning them. The corn is layed out in the sun to dry and harvest. The penuts are shelled and everyone is busy daily getting all this work done. in a month the work will be finished and the pockets will be full of cash though that is when the population leaves village to find other work in other places like Ivory Coast and Ghana. The women go to bigger towns to do little comerence work im told so its going to be interesting to have not that many people in village. The sun is hot daily and now there is no rain. It should be cooling off here in December im told to where at night it is 60 degrees right now its about 80 degrees at night. The skys are blue daily and at night the clouds roll in and threaten rain by thunder and lightning but it never comes. The bugs are out full force and i pulled my first black tic off the back of my leg the other day. I FREAKED OUT. Though Isaac pulled it out for me and it left me with a huge red welt. My house is being taken over by anohter type of insect pincher bugs. the ants are just a little but the pincher bugs are in full force i kill about 100 daily and have to shake my bed so i dont sleep with them at night but it never fails they love my bed still.

I head to Ouaga for my first time here on Dec 1st so if you have sent me anything i wont get it until then. ill be there Dec 1st 6th for work. I dont know what im doing for christmas or thanksgiving but my birthday will be here in G with a big party and dancing. Ill be 27 this year i cant believe it the time does fly. well love you all and think of you often hopefully things will work out and ill my computer will be up and working again...love ya

During my 60k bike ride to Goaua Bush bush bush on route to Gaoua

There is only one word for this Expossed

I wonder daily if I am cut out for this thing called peace corps. I thought that this is what I have always wanted but I think I don’t really know what I want. It’s really hard here in BB. I think partly because the people here have something to compare with. For example my French is not as let’s say equipped as the volunteer before me and people in the village make sure to remind me daily of my shortcomings. My collogues here also treat me I feel like an idiot because I don’t always understand what they are saying and let me tell ya it’s a little embarrassing when I had this big meeting with the director of the primary school (principal) and my homolog failed to make sure I understand that the meeting was solely about me and not just a meeting that I was joining to see how the meetings here work. So here we were all sitting in a circle and the director looks at me and says okay introduce yourself and tell me why you are here. Now normally that wouldn’t be a problem but I had no questions prepared to ask the teachers and the director then said well since Jillian has nothing to say then the meeting is done. It was so embarrassing. I think it is just hard here because there isn’t a schedule I don’t have any thing really to do and I don’t know what my village needs me to do for them yet so at the moment I am in limbo. And let me tell ya limbo sucks. I hope that I find something here that my heart is into big time because that’s the greatest thing about girls education program you can mold it to your liking so there has to be something here that I can do that will satisfy my hunger to do good. I still haven’t adjusted to the people invading my personal space daily. I have to remember to breathe and tell myself to chill out when the kids come knocking all hours of the day. Though all my frustrations and irritability does melt away the second I walk out my door and each person greets me and is so happy that I am there to work. Everyone in the village knows my name and wants the best for me. You know that you are loved when each day someone new delivers new African food for me to eat or eggs or some other kind of valuable thing for me to eat or try. That’s my struggle I need to be content in my work it’s not the people or the village it’s just my position in the village that needs some work. The other day I woke up its like ground hog day for me in BB because I do the same thing every day and talk to the same people its quite funny but the other day I woke up and went to go talk with my ladies at the marche. Now this is the day after the Muslim holiday Ramada which is where they don’t eat during the sunlight for 30 days for Mecca its crazy because its so hot and they cant even drink water but the last day was Sep 30 and their was this huge party where everyone drank soda (Muslim don’t drink beer) and danced the night away. But anyways the next day the women who are about 40 invited me back to their home where they put on this lovely Jula music and we just chilled and ate rice and chatted. It was so much fun I felt that I was really one of them even though only one woman speaks French and the others only Jula and so there was a lot of translating but it all seemed to flow. It’s funny how the women spend their time relaxing they have a mirror in their mud hut and we tried on different traditional clothing and danced all kinds of dances and just had fun. I loved it because the women are old enough to be my mom. BB loves my dog Alaska! Everyone asks daily where he is and why is he not with me when I walk the village. Alaska is growing daily but still not big enough to walk by himself for the length of the village. He is still drinking milk and the people of the village can’t believe I feed milk to the dog that they think of as their meal and not a companion. Alaska has graduated to milk and rice though which is big for us ha…he has so much energy and one can often find me yelling at Alaska late into the night to shut up and go to bed because he is up terrorizing me and trying to eat my mosquito net. I think he and I have a love hate relationship and the part I’m hating now is the fact he won’t stop craping and peeing in the house even though I throw him outside all the time. He really loves to spend all day outside then decided to pee in my kitchen the second he comes inside. I think he just likes me to chase him since he doesn’t have any toys because well this is Africa and if the kids don’t have toys then sure enough the dogs don’t have toys. I have a dog babysitter in village and she watches Alaska when I take day trips to Gaoua she is so funny we created a sac full of stuff for Alaska and her mom thinks I’m crazy that Alaska has his own bowl, towel, milk and rice that I make for him and store for later use. It’s great though to share the cultural exchange. I think the village is getting the hang of the fact he is my baby and not dinner. I went to church for the first time here last Sunday. I went to the Catholic Church and let me tell ya its a lot different then anything I have ever experienced. There is a lot of standing, sitting, standing, sitting and hymn singing. The priest who spoke in French first then in Loberi. There were about fifty people who went to the church that morning. It’s in a shack with a tin roof where you sit on benches made out of wood. There was even a dog that went to church and sat next to his owner. In BB there are four religions Protestant, Catholic, Muslim and Animist. I have yet to visit the Protestant church, the Muslim experience was a trip none the less their there is a lot of washing of the feet, mouth and hands before you pray on the mat. But back to the Catholic Church so it’s different then American because there isn’t a sermon it was just reading word for word out of the bible and then singing a hymn. I was really confused the whole time and didn’t know all the rituals. You have to make a cross a lot with your hands and chest I never really got the hang of it and you have to greet every single person in the church at the end of service also. The Priest introduced me to the congregation that was pretty interesting because I had to speak a few words that then got translated so everyone could know what I was saying since well no everyone speaks French. Its was quite the experience. At the end it started to rain really hard so you couldn’t leave the church you just had to sit and the rain pounded so hard against the tin roof you could hear the other people talk or what the Priest said but they just went along on their marry little way and kept on worshiping. I’m excited to experience the other churches to see the difference. I wanted to do a last shout out because a lot of people have been asking me about my mail situation well there are no mail boxes in Gaoua to purchase so my address is staying the same. I get mail about every three months and I have gotten everything that everyone has sent so far which is great! I wouldn’t mind some take tops since well all that I have from Old navy are way to big due to me loosing so much weight. I am at 35 pound lost right now. My pants fall off me daily its pretty funny. I’m getting some skirts made here but they don’t have good tank tops….lots of people have asked what I needed and that’s it from Target the extra long size xl in women I think should be fine. I wouldn’t mind any dark color since well its dirty as all heck here. Also there isn’t a whole lot I need I just crave American stuff a lot so chocolate and gummy bears is something that I think I would of died and gone to heave if I were to receive. I also wanted to send a shout out to my sister Samantha who has turned 21 today and I’m sure is doing her 21 run and I cant be their to support her go Sam!!! Woot happy birthday! Also Jennifer’s birthday is on the 7th so woot to her too. Uncle Ron I wanted to give you a shout out I get your texts and they are great I always need the encouragement! Also the Solar Power unit you sent works wonders I need to take a picture and post it for you but I have purchased a battery to hook up to it so now I can charge my ipod and other stuff which is good. GO FAMILY woot for the support. I never thought I could feel so many emotions daily in my life but each day is a roller coaster for me I think I have grown more then ever in myself and what I believe in. Here one needs to be so confident in ones self to keep going so to all the other PCVs who are also experiencing their first month at site great job because its so tough I never thought it would be like this. If you can get through this I think that you could do anything you put your heart too. Oh yeah Health report I have yet to get sick again since my first week at my new site which is good. Though I did get a Urinary Track Infection where I made sure to call the PCMO at three in the morning since I couldn’t sleep and felt like I had to pee like no ones business but never could go so I wanted to share my misery. It’s easy here to get since well there are no sanitary conditions here just water and me since well I don’t have toilet paper since the damn kids used it as decorations. I tell ya when your sick here you tend to love America for its convenience the fact if the same problem were to happen in America I would of just went to Safeway and purchased the meds but nope here I had to wait until the next day go and talk in French and ask for the antibiotic which let me tell is so not expensive for Amox 500 15 pills is 500 cfa which is about 1.25 American. The hospital here is interesting to me it doesn’t even look like a hospital it looks like a run down shack but nope it’s a hospital where they do every kind of work there. I saw people getting sown back together, getting shots, having check ups, puking, crying, and all kinds of things all in a 3 room building where the paint is falling off the cement walls, the ground is uneven and the doctor is in flip fops with a tank top but don’t worry he has a lab coat that make him look professional. Ahh Africa got to love it. Okay until next time

Some of the women i talk with in the morning in the marcheMEEEE

My first dinner at my house there is Safyeta the girl who gets my water eating her first American meal spagettie she hates it

my new puppy Alaska he is on the right

The chief du village lobi with all of his chidren at the moment

the snake that was found in my bedroom i screamed my head off

the ants that will not leave my house this is just one section there are more everywhere else

my friend mr Da were drinkin tea

naked boys swimming as i was riding my bike to Gaoua

September 18 I killed myself today. I rode my bike the 30 miles here and back to Gauoua, that won’t be happening again any time soon. Uphill, downhill, my crotch hurts more then anything and when I got off my bike at my house to use the latrine I couldn’t even bend my knees to pee but I think it’s something that I can improve on. My latrine is brand new though and is something that I think is awesome because is yet inhabited by cockroaches. It’s difficult to use though because the hole is so small there is no way one can go to the bathroom both ways at once. I am convinced that the reason why the Burkinabe wear the plastic flip flops because they pee on themselves daily like me but there shoes are easy to clean. I am determined to master the latrine though I can’t wait until the fly’s leave after the rainy season because I hate at the moment having to keep on bouncing up down trying to make the fly’s stop landing on my butt as I try to use the bathroom. I put toilet paper in the latrine along with hand sanitizer so it would be easier for me to use but when I went to use it the other day the toilet paper was used as a decoration everywhere and the hand sanitizer was sprayed everywhere. The kids I guess just don’t understand the western ways. So my homolog is not here yet. She got into an accident with her moto and a car which is easy well because there are no rules here to follow on the road for anyone. But she needs to hury up and get here because I swear I am screwing up every cultural standard here. The Lobi Chief of the village found me at the market the other day saying he was sad that I didn’t come visit him yet and was wondering when I would take tea with him. He said I’ve been here so for 3 weeks and so he was pretty disappointed I wonder what other cultural norms that I am failing to do daily here. The other day I was on my way to Gauau with a taxi bruse which means there are goats, chickens, and other unusual things riding with you but also a screaming baby about 6 months on her way to the hospital too. I held her and tried to make her stop crying because in Africa when a child is upset it is up to everyone there to make the child feel better unlike in America where one is left to parent their own child here everyone has a say. Well I held the child it screamed and I couldn’t make it stop it went on for 30 min but we parted when we got to Gaoua. Though when I arrived back into town I found out that the child died an hour later at the hospital. I happens here a lot, especially this time of year with malaria so heavy. Then the next day I woke up to welcome a new baby into BB. She doesn’t have a name yet but at 6 am the baby came and let me tell you there is no way in hell I want to have a baby in Africa in a mud hut it made me thankful for hospitals and comfort in America. Though beautiful at the same time and these women are so tough you have no idea. This baby doesn’t have a name yet but at the baptism she will be given a name. Another werid incident that happen was the following day I was sleeping and was awoken by this yelling and drums at 5 am in the morning I didn’t know what the heck was going on. It wouldn’t stop it went on for hours and hours and was so loud. I was so mad because I didn’t sleep well the night before due to the heat. I didn’t find out until 8 am that a girl age 8 died that morning randomly. She played at my house the morning before. That day the drums and the loudness which is the crying song of the women in the village congregated under this big tree and didn’t stop all day. They buried the girl at sunset. I saw her body as they had her propped on a chair and all the women dancing in circles around her. The men were sitting under the tree separated from the women drinking dolo (local beer) everyone from the village who was Lobi was there. The women in the dancing circle wore also a thin strip of material around the outside of the shirts and over their breasts like a bra so they could jump with out it hurting. I didn’t know what or how to feel in this event. It was so surreal to me, I sat with the women and watched their dancing I donaed money to the mother. I was told later that it meant a lot to the village for me to come and just sit with them. I guess there was probably 400 people there at the ceremony. I wish I could of captured the voice of the women though the way they cry is so specific for death. It is a song almost that they hum. I felt the pain in sorrow of each women there. Update September 25 I rode my bike again to Gaoua today and you know what its not that bad! I’m getting the hang of it and today I brought an extra pair of clothes so that I wouldn’t have to sit in my nasty sweaty clothes that I drove my butt in here on. Today I am determined to understand Gaoua and so I made a map and am going to visit all the head people of importance today which includes the Museum of Lobi people. I like it here in Gaoua though I think because of the internet and they have yogurt which I make sure to eat every time I am here. This morning I picked up my first package African style. Here to get something for the head quarters of Peace Corps they send it on transit and even though the bus goes straight through BB on its way to Gaoua it still has to go to Gaoua for me to pick it up and so today I picked it up. Its pretty funny just a whole box full of packages in brown paper bags that is very unorganized and just kinda there but there is a system and it works I guess. The package wasn’t interesting though it was just medicine for malaria but all is well though. Okay so other things in my life I have danced now in Africa in my village. On the jeau to marche there are always fetes and well I went to one and danced the zoot, for anyone who doesn’t know the zoot oh my gosh its some dirty dancing I tell ya. I had to fight to get the very good looking African man to keep his hands in the appropriate places ha. It was fun though to dance with the people who I work with so they can see both sides of me. I now have a puppy! He is so cute his name is Alaska and is more work then I was really cut out for. I actually on the first night I had him was about to give him back because she pees so much. After each time he drinks milk he pees its inevitable but all is well and I think were getting into the hang of it. He is deff my little man in the house, he is starting to eat my shoes and other stuff so I had to go and buy him a ball and a collar and let me tell ya African people think I am crazy for treating my dog as a little person since well they eat dogs here. My little girl Safyeta who helps me is going to get Alaksa when I leave and I think her family is more then happy to take him thinking they get a nice fat meal upon my sorti. Food has been good here I have found the wonderful world of peanut butter and jelly on toast here. It has saved my life and now I eat it for desert. You know that you are in Africa when you’re a choosing jelly as a sweet addition to the end of a meal but I do and its great. I eat a lot of cucumber here and avacot its so cheep here its 300cfa for 2 really big ones that’s like 90 cents American. I also ate some TO here and I still don’t like it. My new friend here in Gaoua his mom is trying to get me to eat it each time I come but I have yet to induldge I just cant get past the paste that looks like snot. I have yet to get sick again and like is going well in that department. Zalia talked to me yesterday she is the head of my department and when I answered the telephone in French she was blown away seeing as though she cant believe the leaps and bounds I have come along here in the last month. My Homolog also came back and thank GOD because I swear I was about to rip out my hair. She has introduced me to the people I need to be talking to and have yet too….they all wish I talked as well as Colleen the girl before me but understand that I need to still work on my language skills I mean Rome wasn’t built in one night right. Life has been tough here there is no doubt about it but as the days go on I get better in my adjustment. I still miss my life at home though. And cant wait until I can call here home. I think having a dog will help! Well Im off and will write again soon Love you all

I al getting used to the ants and termites that fight with the duck tape i use to keep them out of my house, i understand that they lived here before me but still its rude and they still come alive at night i hear them often ha...I live also with many lizzards in the house who crawl up the walls making the cement fall down like it is raining. here there are two kinds of lizards the good and the bad and the bad like my house alot their spit is acid and if it was to touch me then it would look like a burn but no harm yet keeping my fingers crossed. ive even had a little ,ouse in my house but im getting usecd to having to sweep daily and make sure to clean and wash my dishes and if you know me at all that is not a task im used too but it keeps the bugs away. just yesterday i was refolding my clothes and there was a dead cockroach stuck to my clean shirt i scream so loud when i saw it, hopefully ill become tough here soon. after the rainy season i am told that all these critters will leave but now since i walk outside and its nothing but corn and mill fields theres lots of bugs. I am going to build a wall with bricks after the rainy season too so i can keep out the stray dogs, cats, pigs, chickens, ginny foul and all other sorts of animals and the children too. the children come to my house at 6am all ready to cooo cooo coooo which is their attempt at a knock shince no one has doors. I send them away dailybut they just step 10 feet away and stare.

Life in BB is surrouned by market days. For there are not days of the week but a rotation of 5 days until the next market day which makes me hyperventalate just thinking about. it is like IKEA here with so many people lots of stands music and everyone drunk from the dolo they started drinking at 6 am even the children. when people here need to give a relation of time they about something they say it in relation to the market days like youll be back 3 days before the marche. though i love it because you can get besap and yougart on market days which are my favorite things.

Im starting to really inetrgrate here. I cant go 2 feet with out my name being called and another salutation has to be made. They expect me to remember everyones name but i just cant its hard enought for me to make the sounds with my mouth for the language alone let remember the names it sounds like chineese to me ha...here there is pull, moore, jula, lobi and french that people speak and they all dont know all the languagues so you have to take a guess and go with it. They love that i have a moore name Kindo Safyeta and now i am getting a puppy in 1 week and ive named it Kindo Alaska everyone gets a kick out of it since here hey eat dogs and now i go naming it like a person. I think they almost undertand that the dog will be like my child but well see.

I experenced dancing here the other night. I went to the buvette and tehre were so many people out danicing to regge from the ivory coast. I saw children too but it was at 11 at night they were dancing too but later i find out because they have been drinking all day since it was the market day. I could barely stand myself to watch such behavior, the next day i took tea with the elders and we discussed the alcoholism here and i think ill be able to do some good work here in this arena because even the pregnant mothers drink its just so bad, that along with domestic violence but their is always room for sensibilization.

yesterday i sat on my nat that is mat in english...and made a braclet out of the hepmp that was left over from the girl who was staying here before me. the gilrs just surrounded me and they love putting their hands all over me and looking at the comparison of color in our skin i am so white now and they are so black its pretty cool. they love my hair too its pretty funny though most of the women here dont have hair so its not that big of difference and they dont know me with hair so all is well. Here they also get a kick out of my tattos they dont quite understand that they are forever and think they will wash off but i try and simulate to scarfication that they do here for beautification but i dont think its working but they love it and any chance they have to look at it they will. I sometimes get lost here and think that these people are the same as home but everytime i start thinking that way i get taken back. for example i was with those same girls and one of them went and picked up my bucket of garbage and notices that it has scrapes of food that let me tell you have been coverd with coffee grinds and egg yoke and all kinds of stuff but their was bread and some moldy cucomber and old onion and they just took it right out of the can wiped it off with their hands and started eating it right in front of me ididnt know what to do at all i just stood there in amazement and bewilderment wondering how the heck they dont get sick. and these kids arnt even the poorest children here and they still eat garbage it boggles me. It took all my might to not go inside and cook up all my rice to feed them right there but i am starting to see that it would be no good for they will still be hungry after that and that my help can not come from money and food it needs to come from empowerment and helping these people make their own money to buy their own food though education and confidence. Its still a hard thing to think of and deal with but it was a deff reality in my work here i need to focus on sustainibility.

Okay i want you all to read this book called the Posinwood bible because if you want to know about the people here at all it describes them so well its really a beautiful read and i suggest it too all its part of the oprah book club mom so it will be good. Bon okay im off pics next time love ya

the complay and I after swear in with the african band behind memy little friend that visits me at my new place

what do you think

Jenn and I enjoying wine

my first day at BB my friends welcoming me in with a beer

so i finally did it i shaved my hair my new name Demi in the eyes of friends at stage

right after swear in woot im offical in my complay made just for me for about 4 us dollars

Jen and nick buying Absenth hoping for a buzz of somekind in africa before swear in

Hey all

Okay i am now in my own village of Broum Broum i arrived a week ago and let me tell you its been an adventure ever since. So i wrote out a long blog at home but forgot it so yet another wee until ill post some funny stuff about village...at the moment i am in Gaoua my regonal capital locating things like the internet cafe which is located inside the post office which also acts like a bank and you can withdral money from your account here too....

This Morning as I was leaving my mothers friends asked me for a photo

My Mother salimanta and her oldest daughter Zalisa

my brothers Jack, Adama, then their friends Gary and Frank of course the american names donated by me...to take this pick they all changed into their best clothing and they had to show their best animals

all of my children who surroun dme daily this is infront of my house Mamie is on my lap she is my favorite

my sister Zalisa and I after the fete yesterday a big ceromony saying thanks to all the families

My host dad and I his name is Kindo Osuma this is at the party

The women preparing for the party we ate fish and macoroni it was yum oh and did i day Fanta also that is soda thought it was hot but it was still something other than water

Me holding a week onld baby his name is Miles notice all the kids in the back they are always around

my mother and I at the Party

August 25, 2008

It is almost over, my time here in Ouyaguya! I can’t believe it. Today is the last day on language class and we have a big party tonight here at the hotel/hostel that we are staying at. At 6am we head off tomorrow to Waga the capital of BF. Okay so I have a lot to say and so many topics to talk about which I’ll get to here soon. I feel that I haven’t been able to sit down yet and compose all my thoughts yet because we have been doing so much here. I finally got to talk to the family yesterday which meant the world to me. Its probably been a month & ½ since the last time I’ve talked to anyone due to living in the village any my cell phone not having the best coverage and what not hopefully that will all change at my new cite. Okay so here’s the lowdown okay we have swear-in on next Friday which is a big deal actually in country. We all get together at the ambassadors of United States house in the capital city for a big ceremony where there are press ext for the big official you’re a PCV type of occasion. After that whole shindig we head off and buy our crap for our houses and then cart it all back to our village where the peace corps vehicle will then drop you off at the front door step to then hopefully never see you again for two years! One could only hope. On top of all that in the last few weeks……

Stage has been dragging on for a really long time and most of us are ready to just get fake peace corps over with and start on with our new life in our cite so a lot of us have been antsy and that defiantly includes me. In the last few weeks though I one night was taught traditional moore dancing with the little girls who visit me it was really amazing and felt surreal under the large full moon. These girls dance in a circle with a clapping and rhythm that can not be replicated by me at all and the chanted using my name in this story of a song. A lot of the songs here tell stories which is pretty cool. The boys also did some traditional singing and dancing for me too. I have been playing a lot of soccer with my brothers and I taught them how to use the Frisbee that Samantha sent me it was great they have never seen one before and didn’t know how to use it but eventually we all got the hang of it. I also was able to share peanut butter that was sent by an old stagair named Jessica who ET, she sent a care package to us and in it was Peanut Butter and let me tell ya they love the stuff. My family life by the end was pretty routine and I defiantly was just another part of the family by the end of my stay there. I dedicated a lot of my time to learning French and am happy to say that I passed my language test and have now functional language skills.

At this moment I am deff ready for this adventure to start and well see where it goes…ill update more and write out a more detailed story about my peoples down south…as in the Loberi people who are pretty crazy….

…I just wanted to send out a hello and Congrats to Beth Fox who just got married last sat to Nate I think its great and I’m so sorry to miss your wedding and too My mom because she’s the only one really writing some emails to me…I would love some updates on the emails they are what makes the trip to the post a good one…and when I get to my site it will be a 50k bike ride in the hot sun to use the internet and for anyone who doesn’t know the metric system that’s about 30 miles…okay love ya all ps for mail you can send to the address that is in the top corner it works and i have been getting mail often so woot...

A girl named MaMie who is preparing her families dinner which is TO

My Mom is an advanced woman in villafe and last week she constructed a desert fridge this keeps the water cool....it tastes soo good you can also keep your vegetables cool and fresh for a week inside of this

My lang professor teaching me french....giv ehim mad props his name is JZ and hes amazing...notice the school we are in its where the children of my village go to school...

My favorite picture by far this is the day i was called African...This is an elder in front of my house she is making TO also for her family she is so old and wise she only speaks moore but comes to say hi every nigh and says Amena which is AMen too me

My Mom with her friends on their way back from cultivating all day in the fields

The view from my house sooo beautiful

These children aee all the little boys that come to say hi each night we go over french words for they are also learning but also we color they love it

Me...red hair and all on my way to bike into town

Hello again this blog is being written from the cafe so spur of the moment....so anne wants the layout of my family....okay so i have a father and 2 mothers for they are muslum and poligomay is okay...my secon mother is deaf though so she does all of the grunt work and i dont really talk to her she is like the cindrealla of the family...i have 3 brothers Adam Jack and Bob who are 16 13 11 they do so much aroun the house then lastly i have 2 sisters that live in the city who are married off i think they are 26 ive meet them both and they seem really cool....my family are cultivators and they cultivate mill and peanunts did you know that peanuts are grown in the ground because i did not....my family is rich though because they have a lot of live stock and also sell pigons to eat thankfully they have not fed me a pigon yet well i think they havent....a typical day for the fam now is wake up at 4 go pray at the mosque and then sweep make tea and get ready for the day by showering....in our family one is not alloud to talk to another unless you have taken a bath so you must imagine this is really difficult for me...but i make it work by mostly avoiding them at all costs so i am not tempted to talk then at 8 they leave for the fields where the cultivate until 5 or 6 at night where they then shower pray and clean and cook....it is very busy for them this time of year it will slow down for them here in october when the cultivating season is over....

Ill post more tomorrow and will try and get some pics for Anne, i didnt realize that i didnt have pics of the fam up so tomorrow...I just wanted to send out a high five to my amazing family...I recieved 2 packages in the same day from both Grandma and Uncle Ron......Hello amazing and ment the world to me....They even had some really great granolla bars which I was able to share with other peps....though the personal letters wernt inside i woul dlove to know whats going on in your life too.....my host family loves the candy also...I have not given them the pop rocks that uncle ron sent but soon my friends vincent and bryan want to be there so video tape the thing and then well put it up online...okay its late and ill head out came into town to charge my cell phone that was dying....love you

In reading other Peace Corps volunteers blog’s I realized that I don’t really describe much about my life here as I do my feelings towards life here. I really want to convey the different cultural differences that consume my life daily. If you want to see a really descriptive account of different aspects of Burkina Faso you should look at Vincent’s Blog he is a Stageair who goes beyond with words describing everything from the Marche to who knows what. So to start off I’ll put stuff in categories to make it easier.

Bucket Bath

In Burkina most do not have running water, so in my instance my bath in the morning consists by my Brother or Mother filling up a plastic electric green/pink bucket. The water comes from an oil barrel that is turned on its side with a funnel on top and has attached wheels that my Brother Jack (an American name I gave him) will wheel to the pump that is up a hill about ¼ a mile to then pay 100 CFA to fill up with a hose. The water is straight from the well that is not filtered but it has a hose so one doesn’t have to pull themselves the water out of the well. If my brother was to wheel the barrel across the dirt road he then would be able to use the well to pull water out of for free. Since my family makes about 2,000 CFA daily for me living with them so they are able to afford the easier way to attain water. So once my bath water is poured for me (usually cold but not too cold, though on really cold mornings my mom will boil water for me to put it in there so I don’t freeze to death as I am bucking it up at 5 am in the morning when the sun is not up yet) I take the bucket into my shower area. I wear a peace of cloth to walk from my house to my shower which is outside. The material is called a panga it is about 3 feet of material that all the women wear as skirts, dresses ext. I use a cup with the bucket to utilize the water and thus wash with. I love the bucket baths they are really relaxing since it is outside and you can look up and see the sky. Usually there are really pretty birds the fly around from the tree that is right outside my Cartiea (living area). I also have to remember to either use all the water or make sure I pour out the remainder of the water so the bucket is empty as a sign of respect since water is such a valuable source.

Funeral

Unfortunately I had to go to two funerals this week. There are many chiefs of Bogoya F where I life they each are in charge of a different section of the village. Joanna, a peace corps volunteer in my village, the chief of her section passed away last week. Funerals in Burkina are a huge event that are usually celebrated multiple times of the year for the same person. This funeral ended up being a gathering of indivudals from all over Bogoya F. You don’t have to dress a certain way to go to the funeral but you are expected to go even if you didn’t know the person who died. So after French class on Saturday the facilitators took us. To go to a funeral you don’t go empty handed so you always bring money to give to the family. We each gave 200CFA. When we got there, their were many women dressed in traditional Muslim wear(Bogoya is a Muslim community). All the women’s faces/heads were covered with a large piece of material, all the women had different colors they wore. I saw a lot of colors one would see during Easter. When we walked in there were about 300 women there and only a few men. The men that were there were sitting on a mat, I think the men were the elders of the community. We all walked giving benedictions by shaking the hands of the women and saying lines in Moore. We ended up at the mat with the men where we all bowed down to give our condolences and present the money. After a few minutes we then were able to walk back outside. Usually during this time they also have food that people can eat and dancing as a celebration of life. We did not participate in this due to time constricts. As we left we gave benedictions again to the people standing outside of the area. As a tradition in Burkina the family gave us a token/gift as we left as a way to say thank you for coming. They gave us a bag of chocolate candies.

My second funeral that I attended was that of another Bogoya F Peace Corps Volunteer her name is Elsa and her host mother passed away from a heart condition. This giving to the family was the same though not as grand of scale due to the time we said our condolences. We arrived at her house at 6 30 am in the morning before we biked to the city. We pulled together money again and gave benedictions to the family and gave our condolences for the loss. It is so hard here, people do celebrate life when it passes though with Elsa’s mother she was young and left multiple young daughters. I know that Elsa is very sad because her mom was her host mom for 2 months. I was glad though to be able to give condolences. It is very official here with the traditions and things happen at a certain time, the day before we visited Elsa’s family a few others came to see Elsa and they said they sat with Elsa’s family for 4 hours where you didn’t say anything and you just let the people greave. It was all a beautiful experience.

Village/Bread bar, Television Hut

This needed to be said well because I think its just funny. In my tiny village we have a bread bar and a television hut. Off on the left of the road there is a straw hut with the only television in the village that is hooked up to a car battery. The men of the village frequent this area mostly to watch soccer and I believe hang out. I am sure they are drunk though because the man right next door sales homemade liquor. My brother though enjoy’s it a lot because he is able to watch the Burkina soccer team play. TV in Burkina is a relative term. It is really really bad here, mostly it is repeated commercials and if you are lucky you get a channel that will play Brazilian soap opras that women in the city love to watch. Sometimes you will be able to see a music video every once in a while by Celion Dion or TLC haha. In the city at the shack where I get an omelet for 300CFA and by omelet I mean two small eggs cooked and put into a loaf of white bread and covered with salt but oohhh soo good…..but yeah if were lucky he will put the Akon DVD and let us watch it……

Dinner

Yum this is one of my favorite days unless my family is serving TOE! Okay so Toe is a millet mush that takes on the consistency of cream of wheat but its not and it’s a little more stiff. Okay so you have the toe in one pot and then in another you have a sauce of some kind. They make toe sauce out of a million different things but one of them that I get in village is bo-abob (spelled wrong) tree leaves. The sauce is green and takes on a kind of snot feel too it, though the villagers love it and eat it for all three meals. I absolutely gag when I am served this. You also eat with your hands you smash it into your right hand (left is for the bathroom) then make a little cup shape with the toe and then dip it in the sauce and put in your mouth….my family kind of looks like monkeys when they eat it because of the way the shovel the food into their mouth. It is amazing how they are able to eat it with out ever getting it on themselves unlike me where it is a total mess and I don’t really feel comfortable using my whole hand like they do so I use my fingers and look really funny. They deffently like to laugh at me when I eat with my fingers. My mother has now taken away my forks and spoons so I now eat only with fingers. I live on a rotation schedule with my dinners… there is no meat in village and all carbs….Spaghetti, Coos Coos, Yams, Rice, and Regraw are my choices well I don’t have a choice they just serve it to me. I don’t help mom cook well because she cooks in this small cave looking place with a wood stove that is really hot. The food comes out in a pot with a cover and I get a plate. I still eat with only my brother and not my family because usually I am being fed something better then they are and it’s a sign of respect. It amazes me the amount of carbs that I do eat here…I crave vegetables and in village the most vegetables I get are onions and maybe if lucky a green pepper which is different if in lived in the city where one has access to multiple different vegetables. There is no fruit in village either their was mangos but its right at the end of the season and so until the watermelons and oranges come were out of luck. Yesterday though Vincent’s mother just came back from Bobo and brought back gigantic mangos the size of my head that are extra sweet as a gift so I’m excited to share those.

Biking

All day every day we bike. I never knew I would love it so much. I also never knew how much I could sweat until I rode my bike into town. It is amazing how I look like I have just walked out of a shower, or fell into a pool when I roll up to the education center. I now have to bring an extra set of clothing just to change into, but I don’t mind because it’s the best workout ever. I bike about 14 k a day which is not too bad up hill some times on dirt roads. Though being on a bike puts you the lowest on the totem pole so one always has to watch out for moto’s and huge trucks that are just waiting to run you over. I have recently discovered the different gears on my bike and now run at almost the hardest you can 3/6 its so great you can actually go pretty fast. Daily I am in a competition by myself against all other PCV to get to the learning center first. I say by myself well because all of them think im crazy and would never purposely ride their bike fast to get to school first. I though think I am going to travel at the end of my service by my bike going around Burkina Faso so that would mean going to Mali, Niger, Togo, Beien, Ivory Coast and I think that’s it. A few friends here have decided to plan the trip with me so hopefully it would work out. Biking though is scary when its raining out, or there is thunder or lighting because well your on a metal bike with nothing else around.

Soccer

People here LOVE it. No one plays anything else really. My family plays with a ball that is deflated and they are bare foot. It is amazing how competitive they are and everyone takes it so seriously. I got to play with the girls team here it was the girls against the Peace Corps and they kicked our ass. They ran hard and not on grass. We played on dirt with rocks and everything else and when they fell hard from trying to get the ball their coach would just say get up and that’s that. Brutal I tell ya, I deff was scared because I have to wear my glasses to play and they like to run into you and push you over. I hope to get better I have played in two games so far and well lasted about 15 min in each game before I gave up and went to the side lines. We have started a girls club in Bogoya F where we play on weds nights at 6pm with the girls of the community. Its been pretty fun.

Ill finish part two a diffrent day.....today has been pretty intense we visited individuals with hiv or aids and asked them questions about their lives and also learned applications to implementing sensilizations to our village im getting really excited about my work here and really think that i can make a difference gosh to beable to see all the work that needs to be done is amazing okay until next time love ya

ps

peanut butter

gummie bears are also welcome yum yum

The tree I look at whenI am standing at my front BLUE door!! Its a Mango tree yum

My new house in BB that is being redone and a latrine is being built

The red hair is comming out now due to the sun, Its me at the Transit House

The Camel that was walking outside my house in Bogoya F which I later cultivated with in the fields with my family!

My Shower - the Latrine is on the other side to the left

My Toilet what I would do for a seat to sit on

I am writing from the transit house in Waga, it is so sweet here. There is free Wifi and it is really American. I have just returned from an adventure in the transit system. This last week we have had the counterpart workshop in Ouyga, it is there that we were able to meet out counterparts that we will be working with one on one in village. My counterparts name is Audrey, named after a Catholic saint. The workshop was very interesting it consisted of 15 Burkinabe and all of us we spent most of the time going over very redundant information regarding how to cross culturally get along and understanding customs of Americans vs the customs of Burkinabe. Though I was excited because I was able to live in the city for a week and eat some good food and see my Secondary Education friends who live in the city. After the workshop that lasted 3 days we then headed off to our villages. I ended up taking a bus towards Waga which is 2 ½ hrs south though had to stay there overnight due to not being able to transit in the dark. In Burkina one never knows if the bus will have windsheld wipers or even if it will break down. Though we got to Waga in one piece, I stayed with my counterpart’s brother who is attending the University and only has 3 years left before he will become a doctor. It was very odd to see a Burkinabe individual with a laptop in his house, and a T.V. We enjoyed a night of great food and he even took me out for ice cream yum yum. Then the next morning we headed off to BB this ended up being the longest trip ever. On transit the bus stops all the time and you never really know why people just get on or off it is really werid so see how they can pack everything on a bus that you think will never make it as far as you think it needs to go. When the bus stops at the random stops all of these girls come with buckets on their heads selling peanuts, water, soda, or fried bread they scream to get your attention seeing as this is their only means of money in the country. I purchased some boiled eggs for 50 cfa each and it was amazing to actually have protein in the morning seeing as though I am used to Nescafe and bread for breakfast. On route my legs swelled so bad due to not moving and the trip being 5 1/2hrs. On the way back it had rained so hard that the roads were flooded to the point people were waiting to their hips in the water but the bus just plowed through the standing water. Driving here is insane I cant believe there are not more peace corps volunteers hurt in route. Okay so back to my trip once in village I didn’t feel so hot which was probably due to the eggs I ate on the bus so I took a nap then my host took me on a tour of the village, I love my village there are huge trees everywhere and it is so green. Apparently we are known for our honey and sweet potato’s people come from all over to get those items in BB. I went on a tour but a lot of the people were not around due to a funeral happening in village. When someone passes away the whole village shuts down, there is usually a car that has a bunch of leaves in the grill which is taking the body by transport and no markets are open well the village just closes down. Even if you didn’t know the person you are expected to pay your respects. I went by and saw the funeral though since I arrived in village late I didn’t have to actually go to it. My host cooked me the most wonderful meal that consisted of a bunch of vegetables cooked with potatoes like in a potato salad with a vinaigrette sauce and we met and chatted with friends in the village. I never spoke as much French as I did this weekend and by the end of the trip my head hurt. I couldn’t wait until I saw my American friends to just be able to express a thought. The site visit made me think a lot of how life will be in village. The dynamics and how it is so important to learn the language so you can communicate in an intelligent fashion and be able to do some actual work. I had to leave the next morning at 8 am. To get transport out of my village you just walk to the main road and hail a huge bus that comes along. You just put your hand out and they stop and you hop on it is so werid. It costs about 4500 cfa to get from my village to the country capital. And 500 cfa for my bike to be transported. When we got to Waga we took a taxi and when I say taxi I really mean a car that is about to break down that does not have working windows and you cant get out yourself and they will pile as many people as they can, I had this baby sitting on my lap in a taxi for a while here in Waga and when I say baby I mean a little girl who is dirty and is not wearing any diapers because they don’t exist in Africa and the whole time I was so worried that the damn thing will pee on me, though in Africa its good luck to have a baby pee on ya. The baby did not pee on me so I am in the clear.

I am leaving today back to Ougya with the other PCVS at 2 pm so this am were sitting watching tv and I made omelets for the house. It feels good to cook your own food and well just to have that control over what your eating because at the moment were getting everything made for us by our host family’s or at a restaurant. I will stay the night at ECLA in Ougya and return to my village tomorrow. Im excited to see my family. I miss them and my brothers, I left them mango jelly before I left as a surprise gift outside their door so I hope they were able to enjoy it because in village they never eat food like that.

I wanted to update ya guys on my health. So yes I was sick the last time I wrote and well I never really got better I did for a day but then I fell sick again and had a really bad few days where all I was doing is shating my brains out to the point where I couldn’t be that far from a latrine. When we were in Komsilga the neighboring village doing a training I had like 6 bowl movements that involved blood, so then they made me do a MIF kit where they examine my stool and the next day the found Ecoli in my stool. Though before I found this out I had gone home and had a miserable night to then wake up and my tongue was BLACK the whole thing it looked like my mouth was infested with mold it was soooooooooo gross I almost passed out it took me 5 min to brush it clean. I then called the PCMO on my cell and told him what the hell was going on with me he said that my tongue was black because all the blood in my body was going to my butt and thus leaving no blood to carry the oxygen to my tongue so he immediately gave me some medicine and 3 days later I was a 100% and I no longer have Ecoli. It scared me though but its what we all go through here to get accustomed to the food. I’m deff the first person to have a black tongue in country.

Jennifer wanted some pictures of my house in village so I’ll post some and also I am putting some pics of my house in my new village. I got a package from SAMANTHA SHE IS AMAZING. I LOVED IT. It was just what I needed and Kyle even drew me a picture. Mail is really important or even email I still would love some updates on peoples lives and family and stuff. So I was thinking if people wanted to send me a package here is a list of things that would rock my world

Snickers

Gummy bears M&M's peanutPop Rocks

Small juice packages

Peanut butter

People Magazine

Family Pics

Pop Tarts

Books

Tee shirts male size L (light)

Post Cards in envelopes

And anything else you can think would be great!

Well thank you guys so much for all the support I LOVE YOU ALL only 6 weeks left of Stage and them I’m really a PCV!

Bouroum Bouroum is a medium sized replacement site located on the paved road 25k from Gaoua, the regional capital of the Province of Poni. It is a vibrant commerce-focused town with many camions and buses coming through on their way to Gaoua. The community is fun and willing and ready to bring about change in their region. There is a need for health education on issues such as basic hygine, HIV/AIDS, and sexual education. GEE is an essential part of the development needs in the community especially at the secondary level, as unwanted teenage pregnancies are a huge block to girls success in education in addition to ingrained and outdated views on girls, education, and women’s roles. Bouroum is a fun, happy place to live with a supportive group of people working in the ducation sector, so with the support group of people working in the education sector, so with the support of the people behind you, anything is possible even in a place where the name of the village means Bizarre Bizarre in local language! Tioyo, the health PCV’s village is located just down the road from BB.

Yeah this is my site, I will be visiting it next week! We found out yesterday as they crowded us into a small and very hot room and had us each pick a name out of a box read the description then we found out the name, we then placed a cut out little person with our head on a huge map of Burkina Faso on the wall. I am in the SOUTHWEST!! I am so excited they told us that not many people would be going south but I wanted to go so bad because that is where the fruit, trees, green, mountains, and waterfalls are and look at this I made it!! I told Zaliha that I really wanted green and as they were describing this site I said there is no way this can be anyone else but me. I AM SO EXCITED. I can’t believe I get to work with sexual health in Africa its right up my ally. Also BB is only 70k north from the Ivory Coast and 70k west from Ghana. I’ll have to take a jump and a hop towards Ivory Coast when the war stops at the border, at the moment Americans are not allowed into the country due to civil unrest.

On to other news……

I finally have a Cell Phone, it is free to have anyone call or text me! I highly suggest texting because it is just fun and faster then air mail. My number is in the side column just remember it is a 7 hr difference if you want to chit chat as in I am seven hours ahead of you. I’ve been here a month and Ill tell yeah one really does need to be connected to the family back home so it means a lot to me to have you guys write emails, or put comments on my blog I love all the comments so far so keep them coming!

I was almost arrested!

I tell ya I really cant wait until my language skills are amazing, so the story goes another PCV and I went to the market to buy some goods for the 4th of July party. We didn’t think we needed much so we just jumped on our bikes and headed out. We both have never been to the market before and turned down a road that we’ve never been on before, it ended up being a one way road that we were biking down the wrong way. The Gendarmes comes out makes us stop, I get frustrated because I think he is making me park my bike and pay 5,000 francs to park my bike that if you were to park your bike in Africa it only 25 franc, but come to find out he was telling us that we had to pay a fine each for 5,000 franc for him to let us have our bikes back though we only had 2,000 on us to purchase the goods for the BBQ so then he asked for our passports or identification which we didn’t have either since we were in a rush so now I have no way to prove that I am American thus he said he will have to take us in if we didn’t pay him the 5,000 Franc each…finally the other PCV who knows more French then I just kept saying sorry and pleading with him and finally after about 15 min and all the local people surrounding us he let us walk next door and buy our vinegar, salt and pepper but told us we had to come back and pay our fine he gave us his phone number because we didn’t have a cellphone or didn’t know the number to ECLA where we were staying…..so anyways we went back to ECLA and told a LCF who is a local here the story and she started to laugh saying that yes it is a fine but in the end he was just hitting on you and that you found yourself a husband and not a night in jail. Oh Africa…..

I have finally gotten sick in Africa. Everyone else has been getting sick and I thought I was saved the wrath of diarrhea and vomiting but nope we had the 4th of July party where I’m sure we didn’t use the best sanitary conditions to cook in, if you could only see the kitchen we had to use but yeah the food was good at least….but on Saturday I started to get body aches that continued into Sunday that ended in no sleeping Sunday night followed by really bad cramps, diarrhea and vomiting though its far less comfortable in Africa due to having to use a hole in the ground and its so hot….I didn’t have a fever though couldn’t shake the sickness. My host mom was so worried she thought she made me sick and with her speaking Moore it was hard for me to convey to her that she didn’t make me sick but us Americans made ourselves sick….but ill tell ya I was dreaming of a cold bathroom tile floor to lay on….Marrium my LCF came in the morning to see what was up since I didn’t show up to language and the second she came in I totally got upset though I think it was the energy depravation and just really wanting to be cooler because I was sweating so bad….but as of today I’m a lot better….my body feels great I still am not the best in the bathroom department but I am thankful to not have body aches……..

I passed my language verbal exam yesterday! This is exciting to me and gives me great encouragement that I will be able to fully live and work with people in the community…..it also is what I needed myself so I wouldn’t get totally frustrated I tell yeah sometimes we all need a little validation.

Also I realized when I was explaining to Jennifer (sister) yesterday the way I eat I failed to tell all ya guys…So in African you eat with your right hand and wipe with your left so they really don’t like to touch or do anything with the left hand its really weird to get used to at first….though its hard for me to wipe with my left so I find myself using my right hand for both and going through a lot of hand sanitizer….i think the African people would fait if they ever knew I did this….I ate with my family the other night and went to use my left hand and they freak out my host brother Adama gets so serious and says NO SAFIYETA no left hand…..so yeah

An African rain then an African sunset. This all happend in about an hour....the weather is incredable.....this pic is taken at the school that I leard french from in Bogoya Z a small village about 5min from Bogoya F which is where i live

Yeah 4th of July in Burkina.....it started out with cooking the Muton or sheep in english that we got from the king which brian and tomas put on the bbq...they really wanted to kill it themselves but peace corps made us take it to a butcher....then it was great food semi great beer and lots of good people....we danced and listend to the anthom and then had a african drumming session with a local band....couldnt of asked for a better 4th unless i had family and fireworks.....

Hello from the village in town today for the pool but wanted to give you some pics of what i did yesterday.....mom recimented the front of her house....i help well as much as they would let me...it was sooo much work you have no idea.....it was about 100 degrees and she started at 5 am and finished about 6 pm though was out there again this morning putting on the final touches...the burkinabe people are such hard workers...its the rainy season so many people work all day in the mill fields....the come back to work on the house....i myself have still be learning french most days....but help mom and got really dirty from noon till 2 hah...

what up g........so training today in the city biked in yesterday and learned about aids or sids in africa aparently there is some aids here ha......but yeh it was fun then played soccer with the girls team here it was african girls aginst the americans they so kicked out ass but i got 15 min of playing time not so bad for my second time ever playing it was awesome....then today its been learning about cooking and playing frizbee with the peace corps friends here.....excited to go back to village though i miss the fam and my belongings.....well wanted to send my love i find out my village on tuesday so ill keep u updated and anne you can come this december if you want i asked around it would be fine......working on the cell phone thing hopefully by next week ill have one......okay peace easy

PicsMes amies Brian, Jessica and ThomasA Bob Marley wall in the cityThe King and IBeautiful Plants outside my hostil when i first got to Africa

pics in order the view out my door, my new fav beer burkina beer it tastes like carona if u drem and keep eye closed it costs about 50 cents, my brother washing my clothes, my bed outside my house since it is a million degrees inside my hut, me and mes amies on our way to village, random people on the road i deff live in a 3rd world countryweek two:contentlife in village is well, quite except for the donkeys, chickens, rosters; goats, birds that like to sing their song at 4 am which is when the first light apears and and my family decides to wake upfor they have mosque at 4 30. i myself seep until 5 30 but when i wake up mom has a bucket of fresh water; or fresh african well water, ready for my bath. i bucket it up then eat my bread and nes cafe which is instant coffee and head off to school my brother walks meven though it is 3 min away to make sure i know my way. french classes are all day, i return at 5 where i take another bath then it is a night filled with me attempting to speak moore and french as the mim 10 people around me are laughing or they are just staring at me ha its been quite humbling experience ha needless to say.....i have had my share of babies crying because i scare them since i am white its pretty funny....i think i forgot to write last time that i got to meet the king of the regon....i even got a pic of us ill post next time....its funny now in burkina they have cell phones and it is quite new thing....so when i met the king o his throne where u cant even look at his face to talk to him he had a cell phone in his hand the whole time.....it was cool though he is a skinny guy i would think if he was king he would be a big man but nope.....when we left he gave us a sheep and now we are all going to eat the sheep on 4th of july.....the sheep now lives at the language center where we chip in to pay for food and a few voulnteers take care of him....life is deff different here....i am struggling with the language but it is comming along...i saw my first scorpion last week i was in my room and it was on my wall when i saw it i screamed and my family came in to see what was wrong when they saw it they started to laugh at me i went to go get my camera but the batteries were dead so i couldnt get a pic and my brother killed it with my shoe i now never walk wit hout shoes.....but yeah today im off to the pool in the city it is 1000 cfa to swim which is like 3 days of food but its worth it i just get to chill and maybe eat a hamburger its the closest we get to america in a world filled of africa for us....well love you all and will write againg. muah

hello friends......i tried to upload pics but i only had 4 min left on my laptop to download my pics but it didnt download in time and when u are in village about 7 k from electricity then well u go without.......okay I am so hot all the time i am finding little sncuary in when my mountian bike goes down hill on my bikerides......I love the camel pack it saves my life when u dont want to stop ha.......let me tell u about my life in africa okay so i live in a village called Bogoya F it is 7k from ouyagoua...I live with a family and have my own hut.....my mama provides for me a wonderful bucket bath daily now an african shower u must be wondering well it is a multicollard bucket with well water u cant drink or i will get sick but my shower is outside and it is sooo cool it feels amazing and i run straight to the bucket after french lessons all day in the blazing damn heat.....okay then i eat pain for breackfast or bread to us americans with nescafe then i will eat a mango for lunch rice if i am lucky and then something like rice or cooscoos for dinner.....the children of my village follow me around everywhere and they are always staring i wish my moore was better so i could talk back i try hard but they all just laugh which is fun ha.....then well that is about all to village life.....it is crazy to live with chickens goats and other animals they are walking everywhere all the time......i havent seen any cockroaches or scorpians but three are bats that fly near me at night......it is truly amazing here and i now appreceate many things in my life like the washing machine. my brother adama cleaned my clothes for me though it was a multi hr process that invovles buckets and slaping your clothes against a rock it works but yeah.....um i love the city its fun there is this thing called bsap whick is juice from a bsap flower it tastes like cran juice which is good....oh my time is running out and i think this blog is all over the road but oh gosh let me tell yu about riding my bike i think i will crash before i leave this country the drivers of motos are crazy and cars dont care for bikers heck bikers dont care about bikers its like everyone for themselves and ive been pushed off the road a few times ha....oh yeah a shout out to tim for the buff it works great....if anyone could send me some stuff for the kids like a deflated soccerball or vollyball that would b amazing....hard candy too......or a frizbee would be the best actually i dint bring anything to play with the kids with.....other then that just your love......untill next time love you

i am here, it is really hard to type on the keyboard. it is sooooo beautiful here, i saw a million geckos here! I am so excited to go to my village. I will be eating good food tonite. I had coos coos for lunch and we drink lots of cafe, 3 times a day for social. The sky is orange in the am! The poverty is huge and it is sad to see, driving is scary and people just go where they want on the road bikers and moto, I love my orgnizer her name is Zama and she likes to give hugs too! My friends here are great, i just wish my butt would stop sweating so that when i get up from a seat i would stop leaving my butt print everywhere! okay time is up ill post pics on sat when we get more time!