In September I spent a wonderful week in Pobé-Mengao! The village library ran its first ever summer reading camp for CM1 (4th grade) students. I saw this not only as the perfect opportunity to participate and help run the camp but to say proper goodbyes to my Pobé-Mengao friends. Since June 2010, the region was closed off due to terrorist kidnapping threats, but I was thrilled when Peace Corps, after much begging and pleading, allowed me to go back.

Reviewing the alphabet with a group of students

The week-long camp consisted of 25 4th graders (13 girls, 12 boys) randomly chosen from a class of 86. The camp’s goal was to help improve the students’ reading levels in a fun and welcoming environment. Sessions included reading activities, peer tutoring, storytelling, arts and crafts, song and dance, instruction, and discussions on health, HIV/AIDS, malaria and life skills. Overall, I was very happy with the camp. There were a couple decent readers but the rest were at an incredibly low-level. Five of the students could not read, write or recite the alphabet. We were shocked when one day we asked the students to write their names down on paper, and fifteen misspelled their own names. The camp was led by Dounko the FAVL animator, Hamidou the librarian, myself, an assistant and one of the primary school teachers. The teacher was awesome and really worked closely with the students. Each of his lessons reflected errors he witnessed the students making throughout the day. We conducted evaluations—individual reading tests before and after the camp—and during the last tests we could see much improvement in the students. It was hard not to get emotional when Daouda, with a huge smile on his face, proudly recited the entire alphabet without error for the first time. As happy as I was, it was frustrating. I only spent a total of about an hour or two with him individually, so that he understood the alphabet. It’s upsetting to think that at 12 years old, he’s been held back at has had such a disadvantage in school simply because no one took the one or two hours necessary to help him.

There's always time for dancing!

Throughout the week we had frequent visitors: older students, parents, functionaries, the Mayor and the Prefect. All came to witness the camp and offer words of encouragement. It was obvious that the community was really happy with the camp and is determined for it to become an annual event.



Arts and crafts: making masks; Dounko reading a story



While in Pobé, I ran into a student and good friend of mine named Ibrahim. Ibrahim is Twareg and back in 2009 he invited myself, my mother and several study-abroad students to visit his family. To our pleasure, this year he invited Dounko, Hamidou, Francois (FAVL driver) and myself to visit and learn about his family.

Home of Ibrahim and his family Ibrahim lives with his two parents and his ten brothers and sisters in an isolated area about 8 kilometers outside of Pobé. They are herders and own about 25 camels. Despite the fact that one camel can be sold at about 300,000 to 400,000 CFA, they live incredibly simply, in tents. They are nomadic and do not have many material possessions. Upon our arrival we were warmly welcomed and sat on small but comfortable goat-skin cushions inside their tent. They made us tea while we asked questions about their way of life. The family only speaks Tamasheq, so Ibrahim served as our French translator. Later they saddled up one of their camels, and Dounko and I were brave enough to go for a ride. We milked a camel and drank its deliciously warm and rich milk, in addition to receiving a huge bottle-full for us to take home. By the time we left we were nothing but smiles.

Dounko atop of a camel Drinking camel milk...mmmm!

This past month of August has been a busy one, though definitely a fun one! I went to Quebec for two weeks to visit family. My time was well spent eating delicious homemade meals, visiting college friends, picnicking at a lake, occasional runs with the mom and getting lots in the streets of Montreal. I was also able to attend the wedding of one of my very good friends Christine. We played college basketball together so in addition to her, I saw several old teammates, which of course meant we had a good time!

Back in Ouaga, I’ve been busy with FAVL work and preparations for my Peace Corps Close of Service, which is September 26th! Right now I’m a mix of emotions: sad, happy, anxious, excited, nervous….emotions which I’m sure will only increase as September comes along! I’ve already begun job searching which so far isn’t proving too successful. Hopefully in the coming weeks it’ll be more promising! Luckily, I have basketball to help me de-stress! For the past three months, I’ve been playing with a women’s basketball team here in Burkina. The team was put together last minute and no one really expected much from our team. Well, we made it all the way to the National Championship game! On the night of Aug.20th we played on live TV at the Palais des Sports in Ouaga 2000. The arena is like no other; even the Minister of Sports said (twice) that it felt like we were in another country. (Though the politics, the hour-long speeches by ministers and sponsor officials and the delay of game due to rain pouring onto the floor, quickly reminded me that we were indeed in Burkina Faso). Our team lost. Okay, we got our butts kicked by XX points. (Sorry but being embarrassed on national TV was enough for me…no need to put the final score up for all to see!). I was really pissed after the game but our wonderful coach quickly had us all laughing and enjoying the moment. Overall, the experience was great and definitely not something I was expecting when I decided to join Peace Corps! While it may have been my last time playing in Burkina, it has convinced me to find a women’s league to play in once I get back home.

Coco Beach, Togo

I recently returned from a 5-day trip down in Togo. It was a much-needed break where the only actions allowed were eating, drinking, swimming and reading. The words “email” and “work” were strictly prohibited. We stayed at a place called Coco Beach Chez Antoine, located in the small town of Avepozo, about 20K outside the capital of Lomé. For an incredibly cheap price, we had our own electrified bungalow right on the beach. There’s nothing quite like falling asleep and waking up to the sounds of waves crashing against the sands just a few feet away. Our days included lounging under a parasol on the beach, reading African biographies, swimming (more like getting tackled by the waves) and strolling around town. Everyday Emmanuel, one of the staff, would crack open fresh coconuts for us to sip from and chow down on.

While our camp ground was heavenly, the surrounding area was by no means touristic. We needed only to step out of Chez Antoine to be reminded that we were still in an impoverished country. While taking a lovely stroll along the sands, we’d cross paths with adults defecating on the beach in front of us. Old women cooked family meals outside of dilapidated homes. Barely 300 meters from where we stayed was an Ivoirian refugee camp.

We spent our last two days in Lomé. I think the biggest surprise for me was the lack of local businesses. The streets of Burkina are full of small boutiques and restaurants. In Lomé we’d walk 10 blocks trying to find a stand that sold coffee and bread. In Burkina I get easily annoyed with the young teens on the streets thrusting gum and phone credits in my face. In Togo I begged for someone to come sell me Kleenex tissues.



Bus rides always offer added excitement to any trip. Driving from Ouaga to Lomé takes about 20 hours but when a plane ticket costs $500 versus a $30 bus ticket…that 20 hour trip doesn’t seem so bad. Our ride to Lomé was fine but we weren’t so lucky on the return trip.

On the bus, it was almost impossible to sleep at night as the driver thought it fit to play loud African music the entire time. At around 2 a.m. Togo police pulled over our bus and started screaming at everyone in local language. It ends up that during the night a bus had hit and killed a pedestrian and didn’t stop. About 7 different buses were all lined up in front and behind us. We stood outside while the police screamed at whoever was around them and scrutinized each bus. Finally the culprit was caught (fortunately, not our bus) and we were free to go.

At the border we had to check out with the Togo police before continuing on into Burkina. West Africans are free to travel throughout other W. African countries without any sort of fee, as long as they have proper ID. But right away the police demanded 500CFA from everyone in order for them to continue on. When his name was called, Elisée made the grave mistake of politely asking the police what the 500CFA was for. We were immediately told to sit off to the side and then had to wait until the entire line of people had filed through. A large policeman with a puffed out chest then started berating Elisée, screaming in his face about knowing when to keep his mouth shut and “talking back” to police. He threatened to beat Elisée for his lack of respect. We had to listen to this BS for about 10 minutes before he finally let us go (we never did end up paying). Maybe I should have been worried or frightened but while his spit sprayed our faces, all I could think about was how pathetic this corrupt man was; belittling others so that he could feel powerful behind the safety of his policeman status. We climbed back on the bus for the trip’s remaining 7 hours, where we watched horrible French-dubbed Nigerian soap operas followed by a video of Hulk Hogan and other ridiculous looking pro-wrestlers beating up on each other on TNA. (I will never understand pro wrestling. I watched female wrestlers compete where the looser was forced to strip on stage in front of the audience. When she “refused” the announcer was quick to respond “You HAVE to strip and entertain the audience. It’s in your contract. If you refuse to strip, you WILL be fired!” Funny to think I’m in Burkina as a Girls Education and Empowerment volunteer. We could still use some GEE in the United States).

Like I said, bus rides always make for added adventure.

I played basketball during most of my school-aged years: middle school through college. I knew that my bball days would go on hiatus during my PC service. Before leaving for Burkina, I imagined creating a basketball court at my future site. After arriving in Pobe, however, I quickly realized how expensive and, frankly, useless that would be. Now in Ouaga, I play once a week at the local International School, scrimmaging for a couple hours with some of the school dads and working expats. Never did I imagine playing in Burkina’s national championship tournament on the senior women’s team…but that’s exactly what I’m doing!Long story short, my neighbor/landlord Mariam asked me if I’d play with her on a team coached by her husband. I had no idea what to expect or what I was getting myself into but I figured, what the hell, why not. We’ve played 3 games now and are just several weeks into the tournament (lasts till August) but it has already proven to be quite the experience. A quick recap:

Game 1: We play our first game without having had a single practice or knowing who’s on the team. We lose by 30. Asides from maybe 3 baskets, Mariam scored all our points. Despite my excitement in playing again, I couldn’t hide my 3 year hiatus. I scored zero points, had 3 fouls, and actually knocked a girl unconscious with my elbow (oops!).Game 2: A vast improvement after several practices and actually knowing the names of our teammates, we win by 25. Mariam continues to shine on the court and the rest of the girls follow through and score some nice baskets. I myself also played well, enough that I had coaches and players from the opposing teams telling me to switch to their team.

Only in this country is it appropriate to cheer for a player by screaming "NASSARA!," which basically means, GO WHITE GIRL! (sigh, I've given up trying to explain to Burkinabes that I'm biracial)

Since then we’ve been improving, winning our third game and playing more and more as a team. While the talent doesn’t really compare to female players in the States, I have to say I’ve been impressed with some of the players in this tournament. A few could have easily played for a Division I or II college team back in the U.S. In a poor, underdeveloped, somewhat masochistic, soccer-loving country, I can’t imagine where or how these girls trained to become so good. To give you an idea of what I’m talking about: the tournament takes place in the second best court in Ouagadougou; an open-aired, cracked and bumpy concrete court. On one basket the rim is bent. On the opposite end, a large crack bisects the entire backboard which is so crooked that when you’re shooting free throws, you have to stand at the corner of the key in order to shoot straight. Apparently there is a beautiful indoor court available in the rich part of the city but no team can afford the rent to practice or play so it remains empty and unused.The best player on the court by far is my 36-year old, mother-of-two, neighbor Mariam. Needless to say, I was not surprised to learn that back in her playing days she was named the national player of the year several years in a row. I’m definitely loving being able to play again. Everyone is telling me to “just have fun out there” which, I know is true; I should be enjoying my time on the court. But my competitive side is starting to come back….the trash talking is returning, the elbows are coming out…dammit…I want to win!

The beautiful couple Meighan and Olivier

In village I went to a lot of weddings but on June 11th I attended my first wedding in Ouaga. It was a particularly special one for me, as my good friend and fellow volunteer Meighan married her Burkinabe fiancée Olivier. The day began with a civil ceremony at the local Mayor’s office, followed by a church service and ending with a reception at the home of Oli’s family. It was absolutely beautiful and I caught myself trying to stifle tears on a couple occasions. Somewhat similar to the idea of having bridesmaids’ dresses, here in Burkina the wedding guests can buy the wedding “pagne” chosen by the bride and have outfits made to wear at the wedding. As most of you know, I’ve become addicted to having my local seamstress make me dresses (a tailor-made dress for less than $8 bucks?…What’s not to love!) I knew I would probably never wear the dress again…so I went all out, opting for a one-shoulder dress decorated with white frills. Complete with the new hairdo…I was feeling like a diva!

Elisee and I rockin the pagnes

Asides from having my host sister braid my hair once during my first three months of training back in 2008, I had yet to get my hair done in this country. There are a lot of reasons for this, the main one probably being the fact that it’ freakin 100 degrees 365 days of the year, I sweat 24/7 and I could give a rat’s butt what my hair looks like. But I decided to use Meighan and Oli’s wedding as reason to try a style called “flastuce” that I frequently see and like on Burkinabe women. Sitting in the styling chair, I was nervous. So many factors made this experience horrific:-The first words out of the stylist’s mouth are that she has never worked on a “white person” before and has no experience with my kind of hair. - I have hair that comes down well below my shoulders but because she had never worked with my kind of hair, she tells me she can’t do the hair style without using hair extensions. - Hair extensions wouldn’t have been that big a deal except for the fact that the only color she had was black. In fact, looking at my choices, the lightest color of hair she had was called “midnight black.” Not so great when you have light brown/dirty blond hair.- I quickly discovered the color of the hair extensions wouldn’t matter, however, because she began to use about 1 lb of dark brown hair gel often used on black, African-American hair to ensure that the twists remained glued to my head. For the next two days, anytime I touched my hair, thick, dark brown globs of gel came off onto my fingers, staining everything from my clothes to my bed sheets. Fortunately/Unfortunately, she used so much of the dark-colored gel that you couldn’t even tell I had black extensions in my hair.Add 3 black hair nets and about 30 bobby pins to the above, you can only expect the worst right? But ironically the end product looked really nice… even the hair stylist was surprised! I was worried about how long my hair would last with the heat + playing in the basketball games. But I only spent $7 and ends up, with the amount of gel she used….not even a nuclear bomb couldn’t destroy my hair do!

Since I’ve been in Burkina, I’ve loved writing about the hilarious/depressing/incredible/unexpected experiences that I’ve come across while living in this country. I just recently returned from a trip to different villages down south to help conduct a research study. I can genuinely say that what I experienced there was the most strange and downright ridiculous thing yet.

Upon arriving to the village of Bereba, which was our base during the study, we were warned that it was the “temps des masques.” Oh, I thought, a nice ceremony with dancing men and women donning beautiful handcrafted African masks? Ends up…not quite. I was explained that it’s a time when men from the village wear beautiful, handcrafted African masks, yes, but then they proceed to chase or sneak up on villagers, throwing stones and heavy branches at them and whipping whoever gets in their way.

At first I thought he was joking but then he pointed to a path about 200 meters from us. A man wearing a huge painted masked ran/danced along the path, throwing large rocks at nearby children who scampered away in fear. He pointed in the opposite direction where another masked man blocked the road, pelting innocent motorists. “Um….should we head back and stay at the regional town for the night?” I asked. No, I was told, if we stayed at the house, we’d have no problems. Ha ha..yeah right.

1st warning: When we arrived, Tenoko, the young woman in charge of caring for the house was there, grabbing hold of her left arm. She’s been whipped by a masked man on her walk over to the house. Well, I’m an outsider, so I assumed I’d be exempt from this weird and violent tradition. Nope. Children, the elderly and unfortunately for me even ignorant foreigners who don’t know any better aren’t spared. I proceeded to hear stories of children who couldn’t go to school because the men would block their path and beat them, an old man who was chased down, pushed to the ground and fractured his arm in the fall. Pity on whoever leaves any property outside their house as bikes, chairs or appliances will be destroyed. Apparently several years ago a Peace Corps volunteer living in a neighboring village was cut so bad he needed stitches. Uh, yeah, that last part definitely sparked my attention. That would be my second warning.

Example of a mask they would wear.

What...u wanted a real picture of a masked man? I'm not that crazy!

Apparently the masked men are not allowed to enter any walled compound. That first night it was stifling hot (I’m too damn used to fans now and that electricity thing that I love so much). I debated whether or not to sleep outside but Elisee and our driver said no one would bother us, as the house was a good ways away from the center of village. Despite having two strong men sleeping near me, I was still nervous and literally slept with one eye open. At 10:30 I jumped awake after seeing three masked men staring at us from over the wall. We all jumped up but the masked men just sort of sauntered away. Now jittery, I had trouble falling back asleep. At 2:30 a.m. it was Elisee’s turn to jump up, and again we saw the three masked men staring at us from over the wall. “Why didn’t they throw anything at us?” I asked Elisee. “They are just warning us”, was his answer. Warning number 3. Well, that was enough warnings for me. I gathered up my things and slept the rest of the night inside, suffocating in the heat, drenched in a pool of my own sweat, but I’d take that over getting rocks and branches thrown at me any day!

This custom lasted two days…such a strange (and ridiculous) tradition. They say it’s an annual tradition to call for rain but in all honesty, it really just seems like an excuse for people to hide behind a mask and beat/hit whoever they don’t like or are jealous of.

Oh Burkina, you never get boring!

Despite the whole mask situation we were able to do our research project. In short, we distributed solar-powered lanterns to 4th and 5th grade students in 9 different villages and plan to track their reading habits. During this particular trip down we explained the project to the students, randomly picked 80 participants per school, conducted a series of tests (written, oral, questionnaires) to evaluate their reading levels and habits, and then distributed out the lamps. More evaluations will be conducted over the coming months.

The study itself was really interesting. I participated in a similar study evaluating reading levels in Ghana and was pleasantly surprised by how much better the young readers were here in rural Burkina than in Ghana. But even though most could read, it was still sad to see how little the kids understood. For example, they could read a short paragraph just fine but ask them any questions about what they just read and they looked up at you with clueless expressions.

I’m also curious to see how the lamps are used. One would hope the students would use the lamps to read and study at night, but that’s just not realistic. Most likely the lamps will be used by entire families to help finish nightly chores.

On May 27th I celebrated by 26th birthday. It was a lot of fun! We went to this kind of high class African restaurant. I left the restaurant groaning, grabbing my bulging belly, complaining of how much I ate. That’s when you know I loved the food.

Happy Birthday to me :)

I wanted to hate France.

I was excited to travel and see family, but after witnessing the horrible and demeaning visa process for Elisée, I officially stated my hatred for all things France and vowed to never return.

But then I arrived in Paris.



I mean, how can anyone hate Paris? The beauty, the culture, the history, it was all so incredible! And despite the stereotypes of Parisians being stiff arrogant pricks, I was pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the locals.

La famille



Contemplating art inside the Louvre

A couple weeks ago was FESPACO, the biennial African film festival that takes place in Ouagadougou. During its last occurrence two years ago I stayed in village and didn’t attend any FESPACO events, so I made sure to participate this year. I saw several well-made and interesting films, though I really loved some of the short 20 minute films. My favorite was “Lezare (for today)” by the Ethopian Zelalem Woldemariam.

My mother complains that I don’t write enough on my blog about the work I do with FAVL. Like I mentioned in a previous posting, work mostly includes fundraising, publicity for FAVL, developing relationships with local governments and organizations, etc. I really enjoy the work but I don’t know; maybe it’s just me but I feel like even if I were the next Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky I still couldn’t make reading about grant writing very appealing to readers. I do, however, write quite a bit about our work activities on FAVL's blog if anyone asides my mom is curious. Have said that, this past weekend we did organize two fundraisers that were time consuming in terms of preparations but a lot of fun:

Race for Reading

Race for Reading runners in Parc Bangr Weogo; handing out the prize to 6km winner Ronald

I run a couple times a week at a nearby park with Elisee and one morning he mentioned that we should organize a race to help raise funds for the FAVL libraries. This idea turned into Race for Reading, a 3K and 6K walk/run which we held on Saturday morning, March 12th. Overall it went well, though we seemed to have quite a bit against us. Recently students have been organizing massive demonstrations in towns and cities all over Burkina over the controversial death of a student after being beaten by police. While the circumstances surrounding his death may or may not be true, it has become a catalyst for several massive demonstrations against the government. Despite the protests, we had enough participants to have a decent race. It was an amicable, family friendly race with all participants expressing their happiness with the race's organization and vows to participate in future events.

Jungle Party

On the evening of March 12th, FAVL was once again the recipient of the raffle during Jungle Party, an event organized by a local expat. It’s a night of music, dancing and drinks that like Race for Reading, took place in the Parc Bangr Weogo. FAVL went around selling raffle tickets throughout the night and at the end, received all the money from tickets sold. It’s a good event and honestly, a relatively easy way for FAVL to receive money (the entire event is organized by the expat, FAVL just needs to get certificates contributed by different stores and businesses for the raffle). I guess I enjoyed the Jungle Party but I don’t know, it’s just not really my type of scene. It’s awkward, reminding me of some 8th grade dance, with boys on one side and girls on the other, the dance floor empty in the middle. Except it’s even MORE awkward because everyone there is like 35 years old. Only around 1 a.m., once the drinks have gotten into people’s systems, does the dance floor start to fill up (Hopefully this last part doesn't resemble an 8th grade dance but with kids these days...you never know!).

On the 18th I’m heading to France for 10 days. There I’ll meet up with my mom, aunt and cousin (who I haven’t seen in 3 years!). I must admit, I very much dislike France right now, especially anything/anyone involved with the French embassy in Burkina, who I find treats people (especially those who happen to be Black) like diseased animals. Despite my feelings, I am incredibly excited to be able to see my family and I know we will have an amazing time together. I haven’t been to Europe since 5th grade and I’ve never been to Paris. I’m a little worried about the weather. FIFTY degrees? I was freezing by butt off during Burkina’s “cold” season when it was 75 degrees!

SANOU Dounko, FAVL’s activities coordinator, was recently in Pobe-Mengao for two weeks to train a new FAVL librarian. On his return I met up with him and got a wonderful update on the library complete with lots of pictures. Check out the Pobe-Mengao library blog to read more.

On my blog, I spent two years trying to describe and share my life in village. There is no denying that this year, living and working in Ouaga is completely different than my experience in Pobé. Yet I’ve realized that since I’ve been in Ouaga, I haven’t really written about a typical day here. What is it that Emilie is doing exactly in Ouaga? How does she spend her days? Where does she go? Who does she hang out with? Well my friends, you don’t have to torment yourselves with these burning questions any longer.

Welcome to “A Day in the Life : Emilie Crofton, special edition Ouagadougou”

I wake up in the morning in my comfy bed, wrapped up in my sheet like a sandwich roll because I’m ACTUALLY cold from the fan blowing on me all night (I love you electricity). I go to the boutique which is so perfectly located directly in front of the house. They know me so well that now their standard greeting to me is not "Ney y beogo" but "Fo data gela wana?" How many eggs do you want? Because I always buy an absurd amount of eggs.

After breakfast I bike to work. Despite the short 7 minute commute I pray to the traffic gods that I won’t get hit by speeding drivers who clearly don’t respect any sort of traffic laws.

At the office, the chair in front of the FAVL computer has become my throne, where I pass endless hours typing (I know I know, welcome to the real world Emilie). Work includes anything from grant writing, fundraising, organizing events, improving contacts with local officials in Burkina, etc…

After work I usually head to the gym for an hour of aerobics. When I think of the fact that I used to be an athlete who’d train up to 3 hrs a day, this class is a joke. Yet I always leave tired and sweaty and continue to struggle lifting the damn wooden rod with what I swear are invisible weights. My college bball coach would be ashamed.

After the gym I stop to buy veggies from the women merchants set up along the road. Even after months of being in Ouaga, I can never get over that I can buy eggplant, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, green onions, potatoes, avocados, zucchini etc… and rarely ever spend more than $3. I may vary my veggie ladies but I always buy my fruit at the same stand, where Aminata always has fair prices often gives me a "cadeau."

On my way home I'll sometimes stop to visit Madina, who’s become a very good friend here in Burkina. She’s incredibly friendly, generous and a great businesswoman. During the day she runs a stand in the nearby market selling colorful “pagnes” and in the evening she sells “achieke”, a delicious dish made from cassava, originating from the Ivory Coast.

Madina and her beautiful pagnes by day...

Madina by night

Because I can never resit buying some of Madina's wonderful pagnes, every now and then I stop by to visit Pauline, a tailor I go to to have clothes made and who has become another good friend. Then its back home to whip up some dinner, get washed up and its off to bed, ready to begin another day.

Last week I went down to village to visit the FAVL libraries. The visit was for a couple different reasons: 1) I acted as a sort of liaison/tour guide to a visiting professor from USF and 2) to assist Rodrigue, a student in Ouaga doing research for his thesis, in conducting an inspection/survey of the FAVL libraries. Even though it was for work, it was great to be able to get out of Ouaga for a while. It amazes me how much village calms me. I guess it’s the quietness, the simplicity of village life. I returned from village calm and stress free. It didn’t last long, returning to an abundance of emails and work, but it was wonderful while it lasted!They say pictures are worth a thousand words, so I feel like I can better express my time in village through pictures (taken by Charley and the professor) rather than my rambling words.

Conducting a survey of Bereba's library with Rodrigue

A happy reader



The library of Koumbia

Outside Bereba's library

It's cotton cultivating season down south

Woman making bricks with baby helping

I'll pass on taking this taxi brousse!

Hanging out in the village of Boni



Don't get any ideas (yet) mom!



Playing with paper planes in Dimikuy

This year my Christmas and New Year’s were definitely more ‘holiday-like’. Like previous holidays back home, I spent too much, drank too much and ate too much! To be honest I’ve been completely spoiled these past few weeks, indulging myself quite happily and guilt-free in the “good life.”

Still arrogant with the success of our first brunch, Charley and I held another party at our house, inviting our neighbors and friends. Now that my culinary skills are at their finest (or so I thought) I cooked up “riz gras” (rice cooked in a tomato-like sauce), beef kabobs and teriyaki chicken with brownies for dessert. Unfortunately, the kabobs and chicken were tough and overcooked. The rice was absolutely delicious but the truth is that a Burkinabe friend came to help and ended up cooking the entire dish herself…a blessing actually. Charley and I were pleasantly surprised with some beautiful locally made gifts by our very good friend and neighbor Madina.

As a Christmas present to ourselves, Charley and I now have a fridge in the house. It’s sad how ridiculously happy we are about this. I realized though, that I haven’t had a fridge in my house since June 2008, and considering I am the Queen of Food (or rather, Queen of EATING), that is saying something! I have reminisced about what having a fridge means to me: 1) I don’t have to buy veggies/ingredients the day I plan to use them 2) Cold drinks await me just outside my door 3) I can no longer use the excuse “I guess I HAVE to eat this entire cauldron of mac and cheese since it will go bad by tomorrow”

In addition to my new eating habits, some ex-pat friends left to travel over the holidays. I was asked to feed their cat while they were gone. Having this tiny crazy cat attack my feet and claw up my legs was totally worth it: not only is their house beautiful but I was able to swim and lounge by their wonderful pool!

So as you can see, my holidays were nice: everything from going out to nice restaurants, lounging by a pool, dancing the night away and watching an incredible (even for US standards) New Year’s fireworks display in downtown Ouagadougou.

However, I also realized that this has been the third holiday season that I have spent away from home, away from family and friends. On the phone my mom told me “I’ve been spending the past three holiday seasons with other people’s children…next year I want to spend it with you!” I concur wholeheartedly. And today, posted on the internet where anyone/everyone can see, I promise that next year I will be at home (or Quebec) surrounded by friends and family for the 2011 holidays.

Happy New Year everyone!

I have to admit that during the past two Christmases I spent in Burkina, my holiday spirit was definitely lacking. Call me Scrooge, but it’s hard to get in that Christmas spirit when your sweating profusely in 95 degree weather, sand flying up your nose, not a tree in sight, camels passing by your house….not to mention living in a predominately Muslim community!

But this December has already proved different, that holiday cheer slowly creeping up on me. Last week while biking, Charley and I passed this tiny dilapidated stand selling tacky Christmas knick knacks, gaudy lights, the most fake looking plastic Christmas trees and faux sparkly garlands.

First we gawked in disgust. Then we bought everything we could.

Riding home, we were so excited to decorate our little faux Christmas tree and put up our colorful lights. It took all of two minutes.

So now that our home was decorated, we wanted to have a get-together. At first we decided on a BBQ but quickly realized that neither Charley nor I could BBQ, let alone COOK, so we opted for a simpler option: A Holiday Brunch! Even the worst of cooks can whip up scrambled eggs! Never mind that neither of us ever hosted a brunch or had any idea of what we were doing. The holiday spirit would guide us into hosting a wonderful Sunday Brunch.We invited a few Ouaga friends, FAVL people, and PC volunteers in Ouaga. I have to admit the brunch went great.

We cooked up cheesy scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes and merguez sausages. Guests brought fruit salad, cookies and a special guest just arriving from the States brought bagels and lox! Thanks to several care packages we made our brunch classy with green olives, crackers and pate. Charley playing Mariah Carey’s Christmas album all day only added to the class.

So, I’ve learned a couple of things in the past two weeks:

1) If you want to raise your cooking self esteem, invite a bunch of food deprived PC volunteers who haven’t eaten a good meal in months 2) I’ve learned to embrace the holiday season no matter where I am. The Christmas spirit is here, even if it comes in a one-foot tall plastic tree.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Dakar

Back from Senegal and all I can say is, WOW! Everything about the trip was amazing.

The conference itself was very well organized and informative. It is mandatory for all Peace Corps Senegal volunteers and is an opportunity for them to get together and learn about what other PCVs are doing. It is a huge event and Peace Corps Senegal invites other volunteers from across West Africa to give presentations. In addition to Burkina Faso there were volunteers from Mali, Togo, Gambia, and Cape Verde.

The infamous statue

I gave presentations on enriched bouillie (to fight malnutrition in village) and promoting literacy (focus on FAVL). I met a volunteer from Mali who was presenting on adult literacy so we worked together to combine our presentations. Overall it went really well and we got a lot of positive feedback.

When I wasn’t presenting I was attending other presentations such as Best Practices for Working with Youth and Conducting NGO Workshops; all very interesting and informative.

It was really cool to meet other volunteers from West Africa and hear how different their experiences were from my own, especially those from Cape Verde! Sarah, a second year pcv in Cape Verde, says she and five other volunteers live on an island and almost never see other pcvs. If for whatever reason they need medical help or need to leave the island they have to fly! She also described one of the volunteers living inside the crater of an ACTIVE volcano! Apparently the soil there is incredibly rich and the villagers there have a vineyard and make their own wine!

Praying 5 times a day is not so bad when you have an ocean view!

Although I was only in Senegal for 5 days I was still able to do a bit of touring around. I went to Dakar's downtown and meandered through the streets and along the beaches. Dakar is so much different than Ouagadougou, so much more developed! The streets were all smoothly paved, the main road was beautiful because it went all along the coastline, kind of reminded me of a mini Highway 1 in California. High-rises were everywhere, vendors with beautiful and colorful art work lined the streets. The food, especially compared to Burkina, was delicious. Fresh fish, delicious rice dishes, vegetables galore...I was in heaven!

We stopped at the Monument de la Renaissance Africaine, an infamous and controversial statue. They say an estimated $25 million was spent on it...money that could have gone toward health and education. Also, the statue is of a Muslim man, woman and baby. The woman is wearing a skirt so short it nearly rides up her crotch and her nipple is visible through her shirt.

In a poor and Muslim country where appropriate attire means covered tops and skirts below the knee....one can easily see why the Senegalese people find the statue so inappropriate.

I also went to Ile de Gore, an island just off of Dakar. It is small but incredibly beautiful. A number of people still live on the island and survive by selling beautiful and diverse artwork to tourists. There are no roads and no cars on the island; to get there one must take a ferry. Walking around the island I could not help but feel completely at ease and at peace. Eating lunch and sipping drinks at a little cafe right on the beach, I couldn’t help but think "Damn, life is good!"

I could go to these type of conferences any day!

Isle de Gore

Like every other human being on this planet, there are days when I love and days when I hate my job. Tough days are when I wish I could be with people in village but instead spend hours in front of a computer screen, never stepping out of the office. Sometimes I wonder what I stayed in Burkina for; I could be doing the exact same thing, only in Americaland, and being PAID.

Luckily for me, the days when I think this are few. Overall, I'm thrilled with what I have been doing. My To Do list is never ending, but I like being busy: Grant writing, social networking, research studies, learning Adobe Illustrator and Photo Shop, event planning, organizing workshops, day-to-day management etc. All invaluable things that will help me no matter what career I choose in the future.

But with this particular job experience, there are certain perks that I know I am just damn lucky to have:

* In October my boss asked Charley and I if we could go help out two volunteer research assistants finish up some evaluations. We could help out and also visit the FAVL libraries. Where were these two volunteers and the FAVL libraries? Ghana! Yup, the boss makes us go, all expenses paid, to Ghana. The horror!



working hard in Ghana

*Part of Charley and my work here is to get FAVL more exposure in Burkina: make more social connections/networking, branching out to other ngos, local government and expat communities. This led to FAVL being chosen as benefactors to a fundraising event called the Jungle Party. Basically its a party thrown in a park/forest in Ouaga with music and dancing, with all the money sold from raffle tickets going toward FAVL. It started at 9pm and lasted until 6 in the morning.

So, let's get this straight: Going to a party complete with music, dancing and alcohol; scmoozing with partygooers; staying out until 3 a.m. ...

and this is all technically "work."

Well allright!

*Most recently Ive been asked by Peace Corps to attend a PC Volunteer Conference : Best Practices from the Field. I will be making two presentations on promoting literacy and food security. This conference happens to be in SENEGAL! So on December 1st I get to fly down to Senegal for 5 days, all expenses paid. Pretty exciting!

So next time I'm brewing in my anger and resentment while staring at a boring computer screen....Ill just tell myself one word: SENEGAL!

Since I am now Ouagalaise, as they say here, I've been living like a total city girl. I eat out several times a week, go to events like Waga Hip Hop and SIAO, regularly head out for drinks with friends, buy fabric material and have clothes made by my tailor, I even signed up at a local gym!

In other words.....Im broke!!

But how can I not be? This is Ouaga, the capital city! There are just too many fun things to see and do....whats a girl to do?

At SIAO, Burkina's biennual arts and crafts fair

What's strange is that in the past couple months Ive done and spent money on things that I dont even necessarily like! Since September I have gone bowling FOUR times...which is probably more times than Ive gone in my entire life.

Charley and I (in one of my tailor-made dresses)

I grab celebrity magazines as if they're rare priceless jewlels, looking through them to find different styles of dresses or skirts that my new tailor friend can make me. In the States, I would rather have eaten a plate of maggots then step foot in anything related to a shopping mall. I've never been a beer drinker but apparently I am now. Every time I go out with friends I grab a beer...or two. And recenty Ive gotten into this habit of (warning to beer lovers: the following will make you cringe) mixing my beer with tonic or sprite to turn it into this cheap champagne-like concoction.

Sigh...so while these past couple months of enjoying what Ouaga has to offer have been fun, I vowto put an end to my frivolous and expensive ways. Emilie Crofton is now herebyon a budget. New rules: I can only spend 1,500 CFA ($3) a day on food and I can only drink beer (or my champagne brew) once a week...okay twice a week.

Contemplating my last beer (or two) for the week

Why dont I just stop spending money on new outfits and other unnecessary items, you may ask?Baby steps people....baby steps

We will see how long I last

One month has passed since I’ve been working and living in Ouagadougou. It hasn’t been long, yet one phrase always seems to come to mind :

« Toto, I don’t think we’re in village anymore! »

In Pobé-Mengao, the way of life is so different. Its difficult for me to compare village to the U.S. because they are like living in two different worlds. In the capital city of Ouaga, it’s easier to compare. It’s strange because to me, Ouaga is in this weird time zone where they want to have all the technology and luxuries of developed nations, yet aspects of the city make me think of the United States…200 years behind:

You’ll see a state of the art cyber café complete with 25 computers, all hooked up with high speed internet, scanners and fax machines at your disposal. Right in front of the cyber, however, will be an old man sitting in front of his wooden table, struggling to make his living selling cola nuts for 20cents each. (Just the fact that I'm writing this blog post from home after buying a USB internet connection key yet still have to wash my clothes and dishes by hand...it's just wierd).

Or the one section of Ouaga where several major roads meet, so this huge, freeway-like concrete overpass was built…yet the vast majority of streets in Ouaga remain unpaved and unrepaired, with the dirt roads full of bumps and pot holes. The middle aged man in his 3-piece suit, waiting at a street light in his silver BMW, while next to him a young mom with a baby attached to her back sits on an old bike, using her feet to stop because there are no brakes. Or Ouaga’s ‘waste management’ system that includes having old women hunched over their backs all day with nothing but a handle-less broom, and the young man who goes from house to house collecting garbage…with his donkey cart. The huge three story mansions right next to the tiny mud brick houses with a family of 8 living inside. The juxtapositions go on forever.

It's not the extreme difference of the rich and poor that surprises me. It obviously exists in the U.S too. But in the States you have your rich neighborhoods and your ghettos and they are very much apart. Here, they live side by side.

While living in Ouaga is definitely a change and adjustment, I already enjoy it. Even as a volunteer I’m one of the lucky ones that can enjoy Ouaga’s luxuries. In village, spending hours under the hot sun with nothing to do were some of the worst parts of my PC experience. In Ouaga there are so many different things to do. Boredom doesn’t exist. Feel like eating out? How about French? Lebanese? Chinese food? I go running in a beautiful nearby park for the ridiculously cheap entry price of 20 cents. I can play pool at a bar where they play jazz music. I can go out dancing at a club, workout at a gym, play basketball, swim in a pool, I can even go bowling! So much to do...so little time

Where I live

Our living room/dining room

Now that Charley and I finally have some furniture, I can describe where we live. We live in a neighborhood called ‘Wemtenga’ and I’ve already come to love it. The people are friendly, the area is quiet, and so far I haven’t gotten too many ridiculous “Nasarra prices” when I purchase things. In front of our house is a small maquis where we can sit down for drinks. We’re right around the corner from a big road where we can find nearly everything we need: street food, local stores, tailors, furniture makers, hardware store, etc.

My room, Charley's is directly across the hall

Our house is luxurious compared to my previous home. Tiled floors, painted walls, furniture that includes a couch and dining room table. Charley and I bought painted masks to decorate the walls of the living room. Our bathroom is incredibly small but has a sink, mirror, toilet and shower. It may be tiny but the way I see it...in what bathroom in the States can you pee, shower and brush your teeth at the same time, without having to move? That's mutitasking at its finest!

Work has been busy and a bit chaotic but it's just a matter of me getting back into the work scene. A lot of interesting projects are comingup and if all goes well, Charley and I will be heading to Ghana next week to visit the FAVL libraries located in northern Ghana.

I’m back in Burkina and my 3rd year with Friends of African Village Libraries (FAVL) has already gotten to a busy and productive start.

I’ve been promoted from village girl and am now “livin it up” in the big ol' capital city of Ouagadougou. I live in a house (complete with electricity, running water and yes, a TOILET) that’s just a short bike ride from the FAVL office. I’m living with Charley who was located in a village up north but because of the Al Qaeda threat had to evacuate his site. Even though he’s still a 1st year volunteer, Peace Corps agreed to our living together and his working with me at FAVL.

Our house is nice but very empty. Every free time we’ve had has been spent running back and forth getting furniture made and buying much needed supplies. I’ll post pictures up and give more details on our living situation as soon as our house is furnished and set up.

For our first official week with FAVL, Charley and I went down to a village called Boni to help run one of FAVL’s summer reading camps in the village libraries. It felt so good to be back in the village setting, where things are calm, the people friendly, and 8 oclock bed time is the norm!

Overall the camp went well. No one can deny that Dounko, FAVL’s ‘animateur extraordinaire,’ is incredible with children. He’s energetic and loves to see kids having fun. (Unfortunately it’s not often in Burkina you see a grown man “lowering” himself to a child’s level, someone whose not afraid to look silly or poke fun of himself for the sake of children’s education.) With Dounko around, children always have a great time. He knows how to make learning fun.

Between the reading and art activities, games, songs and dance, the camp was an entertaining and busy week. Sadly, witnessing the children's reading levels was an eye opener to the realities of Burkina’s lousy education system.

The camp consisted of 26 boys and girls, all between 11 and 13. In the U.S. most children this age have a pretty good reading level, easily reading young adult novels.

But during this camp the vast majority had trouble reading simple children’s books. Some could slowly stumble through a sentence but when you asked them questions, you realized they had no concept or understanding of what they just read.

One experience struck me particularly hard. During an individual reading session I asked a young girl to read to me. She told me she couldn’t because her eyes hurt. After I sat down with her for a while she got more comfortable, and opened the book. It was soon clear, however, that it had nothing to do with her eyes, she simply couldn’t read. She couldn’t even write out the alphabet.

It was a reality check to the problems of schools in villages. When you have 100 ten year old students in one class it’s easy for them to be ignored and simply slip by.

When I shared my thoughts with Dounko, he said he thought the reading level of the students in Boni’s camp were higher than the other camps he'd run.

The experience was challenging but also gave Charley and I many ideas on ways to improve next year’s camps: Start at the basics; instead of focusing on reading, put more emphasis on teaching them HOW to read.

At the beach in Santa Cruz

Culture Shock

Two words I feared most about my return. Yeah, maybe the return was just a month-long visit but still, it seemed every PCV warned of this evil villain, Culture Shock, a villain who would make me loathe Americaland and all its capitalist and materialistic ideals. I would be disgusted by people who have three cars in their driveway, pay $50 for a shirt and complain because the waiter has taken more than 2 minutes to bring their drinks. I don’t know, maybe despite my two years in Burkina I’m still one of these capitalist and materialistic people because frankly, I absolutely loved my visit home! The month of August was wonderful. I spent a few days in a beautiful rental home right along the Russian River where I did nothing but swim, kayak, read and eat perfectly cooked steak.

Kayaking on the Russian River; Always representing Burkina, even from Cali!

I lunched with friends and laughed over margaritas, went to a jazz festival, shopped til I dropped, dressed up in heels and skirts (to feel like a woman again!). I went to the beach, I ran a 10k race. I went to the movies, I ate junk food….ahhh to be an American again!

I went to a spa in Calistoga with my mom and lounged in mineral pools. I had a one-hour massage and let me tell you, while this angel-from-heaven of a woman was tugging and rubbing, massaging and making me groan in ways only a man is supposed to…..not once did I think of Pobe.

Does that make me a bad person? What does that mean? Why was it so easy for me to return?

Of course there were some things….little things that immediately brought me back to the realities of America:

- On the way home from the airport all I could think of was sushi dinner….of course Friday night rush-hour traffic seemed to think I’d waited 2 years…what was another 2 hours.

- My first time back in a grocery store, I just walked slowly up and down the aisles, mouth half open in shock. My mom kept asking “Well what do you want!?” and all I could stumble out was “I….don’t….know!” A bit overwhelming.

- Or the time I started doing all the dinner dishes while my mom and Patrick were outside. Twenty minutes later I’m still sweating and scrubbing everything by hand when my mom walks in, sees me and says “Milie…why don’t you just use the dishwasher?” Oh yes, the dishwasher, a machine invented to wash dishes. Incredible!

While in Calistoga we stopped at a famous winery (the one from the movie Bottle Shock). It was very nice and probably the only time in my life I’ll ever taste $130 wine. But we were surrounded by nothing but yuppies and blond bimbos. You know the kind, the women with perfectly manicured fingernails and those huge perky, plastified bosoms, talking about their recent shopping trip in Paris. It was a Monday afternoon...don't these people work??

Obviously I thought frequently of Burkina and the people of Pobe. One weekend my family helped organize a party/fundraiser where we raised more than $500 for Pobe’s library!

I loved my visit home but to be honest I’m ready and excited to get back. I know that joining the Peace Corps is a once in a lifetime experience that not a lot of people have the courage to do, and I’m doing it. Before joining I was worried about 2 yrs being too long. But being here I’ve realized that nothing has really changed. Things are basically still the same. But I’M not the same. I’ve learned and experienced so much, more than I ever imagined. Recently I’ve heard the word “regret” from so many people, wishing they had done things differently, that they had not been afraid to try new or challenging things.

It made me realize, I have no regrets. My time in Pobe was challenging. At times I hated it, I thought of coming home, wondering why the hell I CHOSE to be there, my latrine became my little private crying room. But if I could go back and change things, change my decisions…. I wouldn’t.

I guess it’s a good thing I’m going back for a 3rd year!

swearing in as a PC volunteer 2 yrs ago

Well, my 27 months have come to an end. Tonight I’m flying home to California after 2 wonderful years as a Girls Education and Empowerment volunteer in Pobe-Mengao. I return to Burkina in September to begin my 3rd year as a volunteer with Friends of African Village Libraries. Overall, my experience in Pobe was amazing. I made some incredible relationships that I know will last for years and years. Through activities like girls’ clubs, girls’ camp, sensibilizations, AIDS formations, nutrition projects and the library project, I’m happy and satisfied of what my little-experienced-self was able to achieve. Unfortunately my stay in village did not end like I would have liked. An emergency security situation forced me to evacuate Pobe without saying goodbye to my friends. But while this situation is unfortunate, I’m happy that I am extending a 3rd year. Hopefully in several months I’ll be able to return to Pobe and say my proper goodbyes.

Pobe-Mengao's famous Mamyou fertility statue Tonight I return home for one month and the truth is that as excited as I am, I’m also partly petrified! I haven’t been home in over two years! I’ve been living in an African village in Burkina Faso, a country many Americans have never even heard of. Now I’m heading back to the fast-paced land of technology where time is money, where being in fashion doesn’t mean wearing bright multi-colored mismatched-patterned outfits; where my taking a 2 hour nap at noon time is not going to be acceptable.I know I’ll feel out of touch. Who are the Jonas Brothers? Why are people so obsessed with Twilight? What the hell is Twitter? Is it true we have a Black president? (just kidding). There are two things I am most excited about: 1) Seeing family and friends (obviously) and 2) Food! Everything from sushi to Mexican to my mom’s home cookin. I’ve already planned a major Costco run. I’m slobbering all over myself now just thinking about it. Volunteers who have visited home already gave me good tips and warnings. For example, beware of my first grocery store experience….I’ll be in shock! (And wear a jacket…passing by the freezer section is like being in Antarctica!) Overall though, I’m really excited. I am looking forward to relaxing, spending quality time and catching up with family and friends. For me, the fun begins right from the plane ride. Air France baby! Free champagne, free wine, free cheese. Is it sad that I’m actually looking forward to the meal served on the plane?

Claiming my prizes; Amy and I before the race

After 2 years of bike parts constantly breaking, changing flat tires on a weekly basis and biking 25K just to buy vegetables….it’s safe to say that I truly hate biking. Ironically, I feel like it’s biking that I will be most known for in Pobe. It started with last year’s Women’s Day bike race. (It wasn’t until I won the race that people started calling me Emilie instead of Nassarra). And this month, apparently, I have “saved the name of Pobe” with another biking feat.

I participated in a bike race in Djibo organized by a big mining company. There was a 25K men’s race from Pobe to Djibo and a 5K women’s race in Djibo. When I said I wanted to sign up for the men’s race (It’s the exact course I bike for veggies anyway so why not?) I was told no. I flipped. “That’s ridiculous! I can bike 25K! WOMEN can bike 25K! I vowed to bike in the race no matter what. I imagined flying past tired sweaty men with a sign attached to my back reading “Vous venez d’être dépassé pars une femme!!” (You’ve just been passed by a girl!) I’m a GEE volunteer. This was going to be GEE at its prime.

Then I was told the winners of both the men’s and women’s races got big prizes including new bikes and lots of cash money.

I registered for the women’s race. (Add prizes and cash money to anything and any PCV turns into a competitive, money-hungry beast….I can always empower girls another day.)

I convinced the Roses and Thomas to also compete in the race, so we all got together in Djibo the night before. The race itself went very well, I won first place! I won a sweet biking jersey, a new bike and nearly $300 worth of CFA!! All because of a FIVE k race! The mining company was literally throwing money around, creating a big hoop-la over nothing. Ever participant had to wear a t-shirt that had the face of the Minister of Mining plastered on the front. Coincidence that all this occurred just a couple months before elections? I think not. It was kind of ridiculous, but I still gladly accepted the prizes. All the money went to the library (more books!) so at least it was for a good cause.

A big secondary project that Amy and Aaron Rose did was create a computer room in their village of Titao. After getting it up and running they decided to conduct a week-long IT camp to introduce computers and how they work to students and functionaries. Three other volunteers including myself spent the week helping them, teaching everything from the parts of a computer to how to make a power point presentation.

Now, those that know me know that I am one of the most computer incompetent people, so the idea of me helping out, showing others what to do was a little scary. But the camp went well (minus constant power cuts) and I probably learned as much as the students!

Emilie Crofton, computer guru?

This month, my time in Pobe has been strange emotionally. In village I have been really bored, lazy, frustrated, anxious and even somewhat anti-social. I realized I am going through what I like to call Africanized Senioritis. I’m nearly done with my projects and work in Pobe, ready to move on to other things. Although, unlike the majority of PCVs, I won’t be moving on too far away.

I remember a phone conversation that I had with my mom several months ago. Mom: “I just read another volunteer’s blog about how they decided to extend their Peace Corps service for another year. Emilie, I want you to come home after 2 years. PROMISE me now you will not extend!”

Me: “Mom, believe me, I am coming home after my 2 years are up. There’s no way in hell I am extending, I PROMISE!”

Well, here I am announcing that I have officially extended my Peace Corps service (sorry mom).

A couple reasons why Ive decided to extend:

-I feel like it took me a full year before I was settled, felt integrated in the community, developed the trust of the people and did meaningful/sustainable activities that were actually needed. This second year has just flown by, there’s still a lot more that I can and want to do. - I am interested and curious about working in the NGO world. I could go back home and work some lame desk job with some NGO, or I could stay here with an NGO and work directly in the field, learning skills and experiences that will truly help me see if this is what I want to do or not.

For my extension I will not be in Pobe-Mengao. While I will still be a Peace Corps volunteer, I will be “working” with Friends of African Village Libraries (the NGO that helped me with the library in Pobe.) Having worked extensively with them, I really like and respect what they do and believe they make big impacts in village communities. I think it would be wonderful to be apart of that. I would be splitting my time between their bureau in Ouaga and their village libraries (most of them being in the south-west part of Burkina)

Here are some of the projects/activities the director sees me working on:- Speaking to Ministry, WB officials and other NGOs to get larger scale production of appropriate children’s materials- Leading a workshop for 100 Maires on “Establishing a community library”-Helping create a set of six workshops for improving library services - Networking with cellphone/software engineers and cellphone companies to pilot web-interface for FAVL librarians to do their monthly reporting-Helping create 25 illustrated children’s books for young readers-Working with a local printer to produce children’s books-Working on normal FAVL activities at the different libraries such as literacy camps, reading programs, etc. -Helping in running/facilitating the study abroad program

While Im really excited for next year, I am honestly looking forward to my upcoming home leave. (If you extend, Peace Corps flies you home for one month). I will be home the month of August and am looking forward to seeing family and friends, eating good food, and not sweating 24/7. Amina!

These past few weeks, it's been all about the new. New things, new people, new experiences...

New MaireI mentioned last month that the Maire of Pobe-Mengao passed away. The village elected a new Maire and to the great excitement of many, Konfe Inoussa was chosen. Inoussa is a good, hardworking and honest man who is much loved in the village and is also my good friend and neighbor. After he was elected it seemed all of Pobe was cheering and dancing, firing off rifles (blanks, thankfully) in celebration. People are saying with Inoussa as our new Maire, good things will come to Pobe.

Pobe's new Maire

Potato Fete in Titato

While I go to Titao to visit the Roses (married PCV couple) quite frequently, what was new for me was attending Titao’s annual “Fete de la Pomme de Terre.” Yes, the festival is almost as ridiculous as Gilroy’s garlic festival, only, its all about potatoes. After a morning of speeches and cultural/traditional dance and song, we shopped at the 100 plus stands of farmers selling, you guessed it, potatoes. Potatoes potatoes everywhere! We all had a lot of fun and of course, ate a lot of potatoes.

traditional dancing in Titao; selling patates

New Internet

Remember way back when, back when they were building a new cyber next to the post office in Djibo? Construction was already well underway, the guy telling me it’d be up and running in just 2 weeks? Well, more than one year later, it’s finally true! Yes, no longer do I have to travel 113K on ridiculous/horrible/unreliable/windowless/always late/always breaking down transport to use internet. Djibo’s first cyber is now open!! Which means that I will now be able to (cross my fingers) check email on a weekly basis. The bad news, is that some genius put some restrictive setting on the computers so that no one is able to use a USB key, meaning we cant save anything, work on any personal docs or upload any pictures. We can’t even open attachments in email. Which means, Ill still have to travel to Ouahigouya/Ouaga to work/send documents, open attachments and update the blog.

New method to treat scorpion bites?

So I’m eating the usual dinner of tô at my neighbor's house when one of her daughters (13yrs old) gets stung by a scorpion. Here scorpion stings are not dangerous, they just hurt like hell. The family quickly gathered around her as she sat on the mat crying out in pain. I obviously felt for the poor girl, she handled the bite a lot better than I probably would have, but I was completely struck by the “healing” methods the family used. The father sat next to the girl and had his young son go catch a frog. He then took his daughter’s foot (where she got stung) in his hands and proceeded to slap her foot back and forth with the live frog! He did this for about 5 minutes before I finally asked, what the hell are you doing??? He answered, “Ca c’est notre medicament Africain” (This is our African medicine). Strange? Yes, a little bit, but I decided to keep my mouth shut. I could only sit and stare in confusion/silence when he then proceeded to then press a small coin on the bite, since apparently rubbing money on the wound heals it? Then he rubbed what looked like a small piece of black charcoal on her foot, then made her eat it. Thank you God for westernized medicine!

New Library

The major news of course is the opening of Pobe’s library! La Bibliotheque Villageoise de Pobe Mengao is now officially open! It was a great day, wonderful to see it finally all come together. It’s been a lot of hard work, filled with hardships, frustrations and fear but it’s finally here. Hamidou is already doing a wonderful job as librarian. For more pics and information about the ceremony check out the library blog.

Last month, foreigners throwing money around everywhere in Pobe had me questioning my work as a Peace Corps volunteer and my impact in village. This month, incidents in Pobe reminded me that money is not always the answer. Without getting into specific details, a school official asked one group for help at the primary school. The World Food Program would cease delivering food for the school’s free lunch program next year. The poor, helpless, hungry students would have nothing to eat, could the group give money to help? Of course they could, and they did, handing more than 1,000,000cfa to the person. Unfortunately they gave the money with no witnesses or people around, placing the money directly into the man’s hands. Instead of investing in sacs of rice/supplies for the students food he secretly opened a private bank account where the money could be hidden and spent as wanted. Luckily someone found out and notified Pobe’s authority figures. They demanded he return the money and chastised him, though that was the extent of the punishment.

Literally a couple days after, another incident happened at the school. A teacher called in a young female student (in 5e) to his home in the evening, harassed her and demanded sexual favors. She refused. He threatened to fail her. She still refused. So, he hit her. Her father found out and reported the incident to the school authorities. I witnessed the school officials “chastise” the teacher, though again no real punishment was given.

There are 2 things that realy frustrated me about this. 1) In both situations, asides from a slap on the wrist, neither was punished. I can’t help but think that if this happened in the States both men would have probably been arrested. 2) That both situations weren’t exactly shocking, even to me. Sadly these are situations that happen pretty frequently here. Both incidents just caused several days of exciting village gossip.

Women's Day exposition in the marchee. Women's group selling their handmade purses; Peuhl women selling milk

March 8 was International Women’s Day though in Pobe, the death of our mayor delayed activities until the 20th. The day included a woman's bike race, sensibilizations on maternal health, and lots of other women related activities. My part of the day included organizing an exposition showcasing all the talents/artisinal items that women make in Pobe. All day we had women set up under the hangars of the marchee, with little signs that I had made showing what they are selling. Women came with handmade soaps, traditional pagnes, clay pots, purses, and plenty of food items to sell. It was a lot of fun and the women appreciated being able to showcase their talents in front of everyone. This past week I was in Ouaga for our Close of Service (COS) conference. Even though its early (service doesnt end until end of August) they hold it now to help wrap up our projects, and aid us in the transition back home (resume writing, job hunting, grad schools, career planning, reverse culture shock, etc). To be honest the conference really freaked me out, making me realize how close I am to the end. I am nearly 25, still no clue about what I want to do, or even where I want to do it!

Thomas and I "destressing"

Luckily, post conference there was the COS party, which was a great stress reliever. It was nice to see a lot of volunteers that I rarely see, talk with others, simply relax and enjoy the night.

Now back in village we're in preparation for the Library's big opening day on April 6th! We've been busy fixing up any last minute items and the library committee is in charge of organizing the ceremony. Should be a lot of fun!

One early morning I’m lounging at home when I hear this rhythmic drumming noise from outside. Curious, I peek my head out to see this herd of people marching down the roads, each with some kind of tool: straw brooms, shovels, rakes and even a wheelbarrow in hand. Ends up that a youth group in village decided that Pobé-Mengao was getting to dirty. They approached the Maire who provided them with tools and supplies for a voluntary community cleanup. For three days the group went around the entire village, even in people’s courtyards, sweeping trash together to burn.The drumming sound I was hearing was a man beating a stick on an old paint drum, keeping a steady beat and entertaining the workers. It was so wonderful to see this community outreach, driven by the YOUTH, who care about keeping their village clean. (I realize burning trash isn’t the most eco-friendly thing to do but still…here you don’t have much choice and you can’t ignore their great intentions)

This month in Pobé-Mengao, nassarras were everywhere. First, a French couple here for the entire month working with the health clinic and helping malnourished children followed by a large group of 9 men and women from Poland, here to help with the primary and secondary schools. Their visits made me think a lot about my work as a volunteer. Both groups came with a lot of money, giving gifts left and right to everyone. At first I was, in all honesty, annoyed and upset. Everyone was so thrilled to be receiving these free expensive gifts (supplies for the schools and health clinic, generators, toys, games, food, etc). I was jealous even. I’ve been here nearly 2 years now, trying my best with no money to do what I can to help, and in less than 2 weeks these people come here and are able to do so much more. Questions ran through my mind. Am I really helping anyone here? Isn’t giving the people free handouts all the time only enforcing their dependency on foreign aid? How is this sustainable?

After a while though, I realized that what Im doing here, while on a much smaller scale than them, is still important. The things I’ve been trying to help the peole of pobe with are not necessarily material things or gifts, but mostly education, information and a better knowledge of things. While the results of this might not be able to be evaluated easily and wont have a finishd prokect to show for it, its still important. As another volunteer sold me “They are giving the people want they want. You are helping give them what they need”

Elisee with Pobes famous Mamyou

Elisee, FAVL’s regional coordinator came from Ouaga to visit Pobe and the library. He was impressed and says we’re off to a good start. We still plan to have the opening in April and have been working hard for this to happen, setting up the room and organizing the books, which has been long but at times entertaining. For example, we got a wonderful donation of 130 books from FAVLs library in Bereba, but I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw a biography on (you Quebec folks should like this) Diane Dufresne. But you never know. Seeing a book by Jimmy Carter I wondered how many people would ever want to read it. But literally 5 minutes later I hear Hamidou say “Im trying to find this book I really got into when I was training in Bereba. This book by that old American President guy…”

March is off to an amazing start. We received news that Friends of Burkian Faso approved our grant proposal of $2,000! With this approval we have not only reached our $10,000 goal but surpassed it. As of today we are officially a FAVL-managed library!!!! The month of march will be busy in preparation of our opening ceremony in early April. Right now, things are getting really busy and exciting!

I know it's a little late but Happy New Year! On New Years' eve John (volunteer who came to Djibo in December from Guinea) and I decided to start 2010 with a good ol' campout in the middle of the desert. (When I told my mom this, she responded "WHY? Isn't that what you've been doing for the past 1 1/2 years?")

We packed a small bag, hiked for about one hour outside of Djibo, found a spot that was relatively rock-free and pitched our tent for the night. As the sun set, I realized how absolutely beautiful the dessert can be. Who knew! We made a fire and ate the feast we had prepared earlier. I had managed to find those little sparkler sticks which we wanted to line up on the ground and light up to celebrate. Well, the ground was rock solid and theres not a lot of usable items out in the middle of the desert. But we found our solution (I wont go into details but lets just say I discovered yet another use for dried cow patties) and had our selves a mini fireworks session. Our plan was to stay up to welcome the new year but when dark falls at 6pm and you're out in the middle of nowhere, well, things dont really work out that way. We were both fast asleep by 9pm. (Always embaressing when your parents call to wish you a Happy New Year. "Sorry, did I wake you? I though you'd be out partying!" -Nope Ive been asleep for the past 3 hrs)

Also, Pobe had a secial visitor, Nikki Smith. She was a Peace Corps volunteer (teacher) in Pobe from 02-04! She stayed several days in village with her fiancee Dave. It was so great meeting them and having them in village. I was really impressed with Nikki's amazing skills in Moore. Even after 6 years she was still fluent. I had to admit I was embaressed (and jealous) when I had to ask for Nikki's help to translate and understand. It was really interesting to hear about her life experiences in Pobe: her work, friends and daily routine, and see how truly different volunteers' experiences are from one another...even when in the same village. Despite the differences it was obvious to see that we both had a genuine love for Pobe and its people. Saphoura, who couldn't get enough of the enriched bouille John, a Small Enterprise and Development volunteer, is working on a project at Djibo's Maison de La Femme selling enriched bouille (porrigde). He came to Pobe on a market day to test out the product and see if there would be any interest in village. I don't think he was expecting much, more curious than anything else. But Bouille Enrichie turned out to be HUGE in Pobe. First we went to a couple boutiques to see if they would be interested in stocking the product. They all said yes and bought several packakges on the spot. Then we went to the crowded market to tackle individuals. I found a spot next to a group of women vendors, laid out the packages of bouille on a small clean tarp, had my tating samples out and ready, and started yelling out : (imagine a newspaper boy yelling in a "COME AND GET IT " style)"Wandaya wandaya!! Mam tara beere! Mam tara beere ne vitamin! A taara benga, nanguri, sucre ne yamsen! Yaa noogo. Yaa sooma wusgo" (Come and buy, come and buy! I have porridge! I have porridge with vitamins! it has beans, peanuts, sugar and salt! Its delicious!) Now obviously the locals were all laughing and loved to see this crazy nassara making a fool of herself while attempting to yell out in local language...but hey, I drew a crowd. Not only did I draw a crowd but we were able sell every package of bouille. And once we sold out of packages we told the others to go buy them from the boutiques, which they did....until those sold out too. Not only did Pobe completely sell out but one boutiquier went all the way to Djibo that evening to buy more...only to sell out again! So it was a great day and John was thrilled. If the people continue to buy the bouillie, which is good for everyone to eat but is especially great for malnurished children, this is a very good thing and everyone benefits from it.

My second attempt of getting henna was much more successful than the first. Ramata literally spent hours painting my hands and feet, and I loved the outcome. Congrats to Hamidou, our new librarian! Despite the grant money dissapointment, things are really coming along. Hamidou just completed an intensive 2 week training down in Bereba (village of FAVL's 1st library). As of today we've raised over $9,400 so we're extremeley close to our goal! A large number of books have been bought and we fully expect to have our opening ceremony by April. Dave, Nikki's fiancee made an amazing video which is posted on the library blog.

My dad and Keiko's visit to Burkina overall went very well. We did a lot of traveling and visiting in the days they were here but the few minor problems we came across mostly occured during the beginning of their trip. They didn't even have to step out of the airport for that....the airline lost their suitcase (Welcome to Burkina!) After that issue was settled (they found and retrieved their bag the next day), my father's first words outside the airport had me worried about what they'd think of the rest of their trip.

Dad: "Is there a fire? Look at all that smoke in the air!"

Me: "No dad. That's....just...dust"

Luckily I have a family of troopers. This was Keiko's first time to Africa and my father's second (he was in Africa 40 years ago) so its fair to say that while both didn't know exactly what to expect, they were ready to rough it out and were up for anything. Right from the start I was impressed with their easy going attitudes and willingness to go along with whatever I planned. The first couple days we stayed in Ouaga and had my friend tour them around. For their first lunch meal in Burkina my friend took them to a restaurant that served nice local food. To my surprise both Dad and Keiko ordered 'futu', which is basically a variation of "to" served with sauce.

"Now this," my friend says "is a local dish that you eat with your hands." This is where I held my breathe and waited for the disgusted look on my dad and Keiko's faces.

As my friend dug his thick hands into the soupy sauce Dad and Keiko didn't even hesitate...they dug right in and began chomping down, sauce running down their arms. Looking around the restaurant I couldn't help but notice that not a single Burkinabe was eating with their hands, they were all using forks and spoons.

After touring around we headed up to visit Pobe-Mengao. The visit itself was great. They met my friends and coworkers and really got a sense of the place I now call home. What wasn't so fun was the ride UP to Pobe. Since the morning of our departure my dad was feeling a bit sick to his stomach. Although it can't be proven, I beleive it was the BUSH RAT he chose to eat for lunch the day before. After a long and uncomfortable ride (we were crammed into the back seat of a car with two HUGE women. Cramped space + 2 fat Burkinabe women + pot-holes in the dirt roat + 7 hours is NOT a fun combination.) Then about 7k outside of Pobe the car's gas line snaps, leaking gas all over the place. Then we get a flat tire. Then, while the car is pulled over, Dad steps out and...yes, throws up (what I STILL say is bush rat) outside the door. When we finally arrived Dad was so sick he collapsed on the bed and remained there for the rest of the day. Luckily, he had cipro with him.

I have to say, Cipro is a hell of a drug. He took it and felt much better the very next day. We were able to spend that day touring around meeting and talking to people, seeing the sights Pobe has to offer. It was a wondrful experience for all of us. I think they both were able to really see the kindness and appreciation of the people. Everyone seemed to come by to welcome them, women came to dance for them. With them came praise, thanks and gifts. I think the best part of it all is how great it is for me to have my parents know this part of my life here. I know im lucky that all three of them came and not only witnessed but became part of my life experience in Pobe.

The great mosque in Bobo; Sindou peaks near Banfora

After Pobe, it was then off to visit Bobo, which was interesting; and Banfora, which was incredible. I couldn't beleive the difference between this area and Pobe. So green and lush. So many different sights to see. With the help of a friendly guide named Gabriel we were able to see beautiful sights like the Sindou peaks, Hippo lake, the sacred Baobab and the famous waterfalls. The waterfalls were by far my favorite part and after a long hot day of traveling everywhere it was a great way to end the day.

Keiko at the 'falls; Gabriel the guide cooling off

Ghana

I complain all the time about traveling in Burkina but I have to say, I never experienced such awful traveling as I did going to and from Accra. The bus itself was relatively nice but it is soooo long. Going to Accraa it took 21 hours, gong back 25. But it was oh so worth it!

Cape Coast; Kokrobite

In Ghana we were based in Kokrobite which is about 30k from Accra. We stayed at this place called Big Milly's Backyard, which was very nice and right on the beach. It was a pretty but rather interesting place. A lot of young European hippie women trying to hook up with wannabe rastafarian men, all of whom look like they'd been smokin waaaayyy to much of that ganja! But it was still fun and again, right on the beach so I of course loved it.

We did a couple day trips into Accra and another day into Cape Coast and El Mina to visit the slave castles. Accra was ridiculously busy. I had never seen traffic so horrible in all my life (Let's just say L.A traffic has NOTHING on Accra). What was entertaining while we were stuck in gridlock traffic though were all the vendors walking by with their merchandise to sell. They were all selling the most random things: fruit, bread, clothes, rabbit ears for t.v., toilet scrubber, soccer balls, coat hangers, brooms, etc. "This is better than wallmart!," my Dad exclaimed.

Slave castle in El Mina

The slave castles were really interesting and a very somber and humbling experience. Its hard not to feel anything when you're going into the dungeons where men were branded like cattle and the women raped, the slaves all crowded for months like sardines into the dark and dank room before being shipped off to work a life of hard labor. I couldn't help touching the walls, trying to imagine what they went through though I know there's no way I can even begin to imagine that hell.

I was surprised by the level of development in Ghana compared to other W. African countries. There were tall apartment buildings, fancy stores and the roads were in pretty good condition, there were even sidewalks! Though it was obvious to see the vast poverty. Big Milly's was beautiful but completely surrounded by old dilapillated and cramped houses, children still dressed in grungy rags. I was surprised by the amount of Christians in Accra. Every storefront seemed to have some religious title, and wierd ones at that: Lord's Victory Beauty Salon, With God's Blessing Linnens, Jesus Loves Me Shopping and Christ's Chicken were just a few I remember.

The rest of our time in Ghana was nothing except total relaxation: eating great food, lounging around the beach, drinking beers and eating some more great food. Funny lil story that happened on my way to the bus station to return to Burkina. Im in the taxi alone with the same driver (Felix) that drove us around previously on our trip.Felix: "So I see your parents left already. How did your mom like the trip? That was your mom right?

Me: "Well actually she's my stepmom"Felix: "Ooooohhh! I THOUGHT so. I knew she couldn't be your mom. I knew it because you are so tall, and she's much shorter"Me: "Oh yes...you're right" but what I'm thinking is "Uh...yeah. I'm taller. THAT'S the main difference people see between me and Keiko. Not the fact that she's Japanese."

Ghana was all so relaxing. But the 25 hr return bus ride quickly got me used to life in Burkina. Stepping off the bus, the incredible heat blasting into my face. The dust instantly gushing up into my nose and turning my clothes a rusty red. Taxi drivers hounding me, "Nassarra!" ringing in my ears.

Home Sweet Home

Winter is here!

Shivering students--huddled close together--pass by my house every morning while walking to school. The ski coats and huge puffy jackets, along with mittens, snow hats and even earmuffs have all come out. Women cover themselves with layers of pagnes while selling their fried cakes in the morning. Grown men sit around with each other complaining about the cold.

It was 88 degrees yesterday.

It sounds ridiculous and to my California-sunshine roots, it is. Though I will admit that while this “cold” weather is perfect to me during the day (sweating profusely 24/7 is not my definition of nice weather), it IS chilly at night. If Im outside in the evening Ill bring a sweatshirt. I sleep indoors and use a sheet and blanket to keep me warm at night.

Turkey in a box; waiting for transport to Djibo

Like last year I remained in the North to celebrate Thanksgiving. This year’s feast was in Djibo. Overall the weekend was fun, catching up on the Peace Corps gossip always guarantees some laughs. I even organized a guy to come with a camel so the others could go for a ride.

A man in Pobe actually raises turkeys, so I bought one, never imagining that I would ever eat turkey in Burkina. (Side note: You would think that boarding a bus carrying a live turkey in a box originally intended to hold pastice would be unusual. Of course, not in Burkina. I boarded transport, sat directly in front of a man carrying four live chickens and, if I counted right, I believe there were eight sheep riding under the bus in the cargo area.)

Not exactly like Spencer's BBQ turkey back in Cali, but it works.

We ran into a few problems during our thanksgiving feast. We celebrated on the same day as Tabaski (Muslim holiday)and at the hotel they were blasting Burkinabe music in order to attract clients from all over town. The music was so loud that we couldn’t talk to eachother; couldn't even hear the person sitting next to you. Yes, it was Tabaski and we expected loud music and partying, but not at FIVE p.m.! The guy controlling the music refused to turn it down, saying they’d loose clients. Clients? Who the hell comes out to party at the bar at FIVE p.m.?? Even worse, we were the only ones there! Finally we ended up moving to another area so the rest of the evening was ok.

So, asides from that unfortunate incident, the weekend was great.

Would you like a side of condoms with that?

December 1st was World Aids Day. Nothing was organized in Pobe to I thought Id take advantage and do a little sensibilization. Since it was a Tuesday I waited until 6pm so that all the secondary school students (my prime target) and adults could attend. Nearly all HIV/AIDS sensibilizations revolve around explaining what HIV/AIDS is and how its transmitted.

While maybe not everyone knew every detail about HIV/AIDS, I knew that most had the basic facts and knew the best way to protect themselves. What frustrates me in Pobe is that everyone will say that wearing a condom is important yet so few actually buy them (they are dirt cheap and sold at nearly every little boutique in town), let alone use one.

Comdoms are still such a taboo subject. If a young man buys them, others laugh and tease him about his going to be with a girl that night. If a young woman buys them, shes a whore; if a married man buys them, he’s being unfaithful to his wife. All these assumptions make people embarrassed and ashamed to buy condoms, even though all they’re doing is being safe and taking precautions.

So, I decided the night’s theme would be: “Protegeons-nous. Il n’y a pas de honte dans ca! »

During the evening Hamidou (who was the Moore translator) and myself talked about the importance of removing the tabou of HIV/AIDS in the community and the need to eliminate this shame and embarrassment in buying condoms. A Q&A session followed and then the winners of the AIDS-themed poster/essay contests I had organized were awarded in front of the community. We ended by showing a 30-minute movie on HIV/AIDS while I passed out free condoms to the audience.

World Aids Day (night) in village

A lot more people turned out than I expected. Lesson learned: if you want people to show up to something, show a movie! I borrowed a VCR player and videos from an NGO in Djibo and the TV, speakers and generator from a friend in village. Any meeting or gathering here will start 2 hours late, people taking their sweet time showing up. But the minute they saw us setting up a TV, people immediately started fighting for a good spot. A good number of the crowd were children 10 and under--not exactly the crowd I was hoping to reach. Yet the vast majority were students from the secondary school-my prime target- and adults so I considered the evening a success.

Cheri and "sa blanche"

Last week I went to my very first birthday party in Burkina. Birthdays are NOT celebrated here (no big surprise when you have 7 kids and no steady income). IF celebrated, it would be by a rich functionaire from Ouaga or Bobo. But just recently a new accoucheuse (midwife) was affectated to Pobe. She's a hilarious and outgoing woman who Im really looking forward to getting to know. She decided to throw her daughter a party for her 13th birthday.

We were told to arrive at 4pm. I arrived at 5pm, finally conforming to the Burkinabe system of never showing up on time...and I was still the first person to arrive. The tables were drapped with linen, deliciously prepared food was served on "silver" trays. Cokes and Fantas were served in wine glasses. This was a high-class affair.

There were quite a few difference from a typical American birthday party. All the party guests were the mother's coworkers and friends, not the birthday girls'. The entire time the birthday girl was doing all the work, serving people food, getting drinks, cleaning up after everyone. The girl cant even get a break on her birthday! I think my favorite part though, was the birthday cake. And when I say cake I mean a tall, cylinder-shaped pedestal made out of blue plastic with a big bouquet of fake flowers in the middle. 13 candles were lined around it...and that was the cake. You work with what you got.

the birthday "cake"

One of my favorite new little people in Pobe is "cheri", the youngest daughter of the new accoucheuse. She has absoluely no fear around me and since day 1 has declared me as "ma blanche" (my white lady). Any kid that doesn't scream in utter terror when they see me and burst into tears is a kid that I like. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

December is going to be wonderful. My dad and Keiko arrive TONIGHT! After visiting Pobe with them Im taking some vacation to tour around the south of Burkina (Bobo and Banfora) and then its off to Ghana for Christmas! Im a little apprehensive abotu the visit. My mom's visit went off without any major problems (she didn't even get sick!)...hoping this visit will be the same.

Since my return from Morocco, life in village has been busy. Yes, BUSY! When I think of November 09 compared to that of 08, well, they just don’t compare. The reason for this, I’ve happily realized, is the difference then and now in terms of my integration. When I got back to village, it felt like home, back to coworkers, friends and family and I automatically went out and jumped right into things. Last November I sat at home, waiting for the action to come to me, versus the other way around. I realized that now I not only have the trust of the people but the confidence to try to do new and different things. So for this month of November, I have become: a teachers aid, nurse and secretary. Even though I know they need the help, I have refused to teach this year because I really want to focus on the different projects I have going on. Though like last year, Im continuing to help my counterpart in her CP1 classroom. CP1 is the first level where students enter the school system, so they don’t speak any French. Its hard to personally work with the students at this level so I mostly help her organize activities and assignments in the classroom. Even on day one, I noticed all the teachers had their little ‘whips’ in hand, hitting any kids who misbehaved or made mistakes. I’m ashamed to say that after a year of witnessing this so much, I’ve become somewhat immune. I no longer stare wide-eyed with my mouth hanging open as the teacher wacks the kid around a couple times while yelling out “Imbecile!” Though, the sound of that little rubber whip on fresh skin still makes me flinch everytime.

a happy camper getting weighed

An activity I wanted to get into my second year was helping out more at the CSPS, the local health clinic. Now I head over to the maternity clinic every Tuesday where it seems a hundred moms and babies wait for hours while we weigh and measure their children. The majority of them are all there because their babies are malnourished and qualify for the World Food Programs' free bouille (like porridge). I help the nurse and her aid take measurements and record info. There are three of us yet the work is exhausting, the hoards of never-ending women waiting in the next room never seem to diminish. Babies don’t really like to be poked and prodded, surprise surprise, so the room is filled with nonstop high-pitched screaming, writhing and peeing. I like to bring a bottle of Advil when I go. I enjoy the work, but have to admit that there have been really tough days; days when I see a baby so thin, skin literally sagging over their bodies, they don’t even have the strength to cry. There is being malnourished, which is awful, but there’s also seeing a kid literally starving to death, which is just heartbreaking. The worst cases are the babies of those who live in secluded huts made out of what looks like straw and rags that are spattered around the outskirts of Pobe. One difficult case that I saw (yet sadly not the worst), the kind that made me have to get up and leave the room after to get some air, was when Mamadou entered in the arms of his mother. Mamadou had these big beautiful light brown eyes but that was the only thing beautiful about him. What little hair he had was in patches, his head hung low because he couldn’t hold it up, he looked like a 90-year old man in a babies body, his skin so wrinkled it sagged over his bones. Mamadou is 17months old (1½yrs old) and weighs 12.4 lbs. When I looked over at the mom, tall and rail thin, I couldn’t help notice her bulging belly. Seing this made me want to get up, grab and shake her while yelling “Your kid is DYING. You can’t afford to take care of a child yet you continue to have more! WHY!" But I already knew the answer: Ignorance. Lack of knowledge. Its difficult, but working here once a week made me see what a great place it would be to have family planning sensibilizations.

working on my typewriting skills Azera making photo copies on "the copier"

Since my return to Pobe after Morocco, life in village has been One of the most fun and entertaining jobs I’ve done this month, which I shouldn’t admit since it really has nothing to do with girls education and empowerment or any other Peace Corps sector, is being a secretary at the CEG. As secretary I greet and help out the students/parents with any administrative problems they have, serve as an aid to all the teachers and help the main secretary by typing up any documents, official papers and/or tests. Typing? In village? It is possible, since by typing I mean typing on a typewriter that I’m pretty sure was made the 1960s. I type fast and well on a computer so I thought it be easy. Well, not so much. You know how it can be hard to teach an elderly person how to use a computer, because its something so new to their generation? If you do some role-reversal flip around, that’s exactly how I felt. Azera, the secretary, has been great and very patient while teaching me how to use it.

Here is a typical one-sided conversation I would go through that first week: “Hey Azera where the hell’s the delete button? What do you mean there’s no delete button. No no, it’s nothing. I’m just typing up this class list of 118 students and realized I skipped the 78th student. I know I know, my bad, so what do I do? Can I just add her name at the end? What do you mean I can’t fix it. What do you mean it HAS to be in alphabetical order! What do you mean START over! I just spent one freakin hour POUNDING at the keys, developing tendonitis and arthritis, causing stress in my wrists, fingers, neck and shoulders and you are telling me to START over?! Are you KIDDING me? Okay fine, pass me the damn carbon paper.” Damn Burkina for always having to have every document, even a stupid class list, be so perfect and official.

It took about 2 1/2 weeks of this before I finally got the hang of it. I’m slowly learning the little tricks and secrets of how to hide an error without starting the whole thing over again, though I still go through stacks of carbon paper. But Azera has been great. She’s one of the few women here that I’ve been able to develop a close friendship with (the fact that she speaks French and we actually understand one another makes all the difference) As I’m busy pounding away, developing tendonitis, Azera is sweating over "the copier" (I don’t even now how to explain how this works but lets just say it involves the typed up carbon paper, a tube of black goo and a hand-powered turn-knob). Who would have thought that being a secretary could be such a physically demanding job. But between Azera and I always laughing and gossiping, the work is a lot of fun.

I'm currently prepping for a Thanksgiving fiesta in Djibo with several other volunteers in the area. Also I’m organizing a little sensibilization session outside the CSPS on Dec 1st, World Aids Day. My dad and Keiko arrive on Burkina’s Independence Day, December 11!

Pobe's Library is UNDERWAY! Much progress has been made this month.

Check out pobemengaolibrary.blogspot.com for more info!

The rough start to our Morocco trip (arrived at airport only to find our 2:30 a.m. flight to Casablanca was canceled, had to wait 24 hours till the next flight out) by no means reflected the rest of our trip. Morocco did not disappoint! The colors, the architecture, the crafts, the beach! It was all so amazing.

Marrakech

The first thing that immediately stood out to me arriving in Marrakech, was the architecture. The buildings are all relatively the same, reminding me of identical houses all lined up in American suburbs, but here the shapes and earth-tone colors are so beautiful. In both places where we stayed the 3-4 story riads were square shaped, the center area completely open without a roof and a garden area on the bottom floor. Both were located right in the Medinas.

In Burkina people wear bright colors. In Morocco, they sell them, the different hues reflected in the vendors’ stalls. Piles of red, yellow and green spices lined up on old barrels, multicolored lamps shining brightly, beautiful silk and stripped cotton scarves hanging down from the ceiling, and jewelry of all the colors you could imagine hung along the doors. Imagine all this showcased in long, narrow, alley-like streets, inundating you with all the colors of the rainbow. Quite a sight to see.

A stall in the souks; The Majorelle Gardens

In Marrakech mom and I visited many touristic sites including Ben Youssef Madrassa, the Majorelle Gardens and Djemaa El-Fna. It was fun but there were way too many nassarras for me! Because the city is so touristy, everything revolves around money. Compared to Burkina I found the locals unfriendly, rude, and not very accommodating. There were so many beautiful things/people I wanted to take pictures of but if anyone was in it, they would seem annoyed and would always demand money for it. The people and vendors were like vultures, grabbing your arms to bring you to their shops, literally standing in front of you and blocking your path so you wouldn’t leave. At a couple places the vendors were so rude, not even saying ‘thank you’ or ‘have a good day’ after we made a purchase. It reminded me how nice it is to be surrounded by friendly people in Burkina.

hiking to the waterfalls....or not!

One day we went into the mountains to see the waterfalls. I stubbornly refused a guide and ended up going the wrong day, hiking straight uphill for 1 1/2hrs before admitting I didn’t think we were headed in the right direction. The view from our little detour however was so beautiful that mom and I actually were happy to get lost.

Our days in Marrakech consisted of going out in the medina for some browsing and touring, always coming back to lounge around on our favorite roof top terrace sipping tea before going out to eat dinner. Could life get any better? Apparently, it could…

Doors in Morocco are so beautiful, whether it's a school, mosque or home!

Essaouira

Essaouira was, to put it simply, AMAZING. It is a much smaller fishing town right along the Atlantic Ocean. The OCEAN! I didn’t realize how much I have missed it until I saw it again. The first few days we were in Essaouira it was very foggy along the beach, yet the weather was still nice and warm. My mom and I kept saying how much it reminded us of Santa Cruz.

Essaouira was so much more relaxing and peaceful because it is not nearly as touristy as Marrakech. The people are friendlier and less aggressive with their hassling. The prices are cheaper too. Our days consisted of browsing, shopping, reading on the beach and eating out: such tough days!

Food in Morocco was honestly a bit disappointing. It wasn’t bad, but I thought it’d be better, more flavorful. I loved the meat with dried fruit tajine dishes and hope my non-culinary self will try it out when I get back home in the states. Every meal or drink we were served came with olives, which I happily gorged myself on the entire trip, at least 3 times a day. I hate olives, so that shows you how delicious they were in Morocco!

camel and horse along the foggy beach; Mom enjoying the water On our last full day the owner of the riad where we stayed took us out on his boat! We took a short 1 hour ride around the coast and it was absolutely beautiful. It was wonderful to see Essaouira from a different view.

Now it’s back to Burkina but even after the luxurious of Morocco, Im happy to get back to village. I missed it, and I have a lot of work and activities to plan. Mom has left to return to Cali and once again I have to say how amazing she is and how wonderful it was to have her here. I am very lucky and grateful. Especially grateful, because I will be seeing more family shortly: my dad and step mom! They announced they have bought their tickets and will be arriving in December. This year, I’ll be celebrating Christmas with family!

P.S My mom is going to kill me for announcing this embarrassing (for her) news but it must be said: I beat my mom at scrabble for the first time ever…in French! A memorable milestone for me, but a shameful night for my mother that she'd love to forget!

(mom drinking her 3 cups of tea with Hamidou in Pobe)

With my mom here in Burkina, the entire month of September has been amazing. We've toured village libraries in the south of Burkina, bought lots of great art souvenirs, eaten at nice restaurants, visited parks and met a lot of interesting people. For most of this month my mom has been working hard with the students of the SCU study abroad program in Ouaga, but for 3 weekends in a row she came to Pobe, the first time by herself and the following 2 with students. Each time, the weekend was a blast. The people of Pobe accepted my mom like she was their own. EVERYONE stopped by my home to meet and greet her, calling her "maman." They were so genuinely excited to have her in Pobe. Everyday it seemed someone new arrived with a gift for her, everything from beautiful art crafts, woven scarves, eggs, corn, watermelon and even a big bag full of charcoal (a gift from my 10-year old friend). One evening a group of women came and officially welcomed her by singing and dancing for her. My mom told me she’s never felt so welcome anywhere in her life! It made me love Pobe and its people more than ever. I also think my mom enjoyed Pobe so much simply because it offered total peace and relaxation compared to the craziness of Ouaga life (traffic, being hassled downtown, working so much with little downtime)

The students who came to Pobe enjoyed themselves a lot too, as Sita and I ensured their weekend was packed with different activities and outings, like visiting Adama’s museum, holding the Mamyou, weaving cloth pagnes, and riding bareback on horses.

(pictures SCU student Brian took while visiting Ibrahim's family)By far the most fun outing was a visit with my mom and students to the family of my Tuareg friend Ibrahim, 8K outside of Pobe. The Tuareg are a Berber nomadic people who originate from North Africa. Think of those world magazine photos of Arab men completely wrapped up with loose, solid colored cloth and turban headdress, riding camels in the middle of the dessert. Ibrahim and his family live under sparse, thatched-roof "houses" covered with plastic to prevent the rain from entering. The Tuareg typically raise animals, and Ibrahim’s family raises camels! We knew which dwelling was theirs because of the 20 camels sitting around it! Even though only Ibrahim spoke French, his family was so accommodating, sitting us down on mats with cushions, making us tea and answering any questions we had about their life and culture. We also got to milk and ride the camels! Milking was interesting; harder and more awkward than I expected. I think I got more milk on myself than in the bowl. When we left they gave us a large bottle of the fresh camel milk. It is very rich, which made for a delicious hot cocoa when we returned.

My mom has been here for a month now, but the craziness of Ouaga didnt take long to show itself. She has had to share and cram into a 20-year old taxi cab with 7 strangers, been yelled at by a taxi man, and has had to walk 20 minutes to the main road to find a taxi at 4:30 a.m. She has also taken a 7 hr transport bus BY HERSELF, getting splashed by mud water the whole trip because the windows were busted out AND the bus broke down while en brousse out in the middle of nowhere. She has encountered what we thought was a 'dead' man sprawled out on a secluded dirt road, only to find the guy was just passed out, high outta his mind. She's had to wait while a transport car is repaired because the entire muffler had fallen off, and by repairing I mean the muffler was retied to the car with old rope. She’s been caught in a record breaking rain storm that caused massive flooding and left 150,000 homeless. And all this happened just during her first FIVE days in Burkina. Unfortunately, I have realized that many of these "experiences" she’s had have been partly my fault. Because I am a Peace Corps volunteer and make $8 a day, I have become, well...extremely cheap! For example, I’ve made my mom wait anxiously on the side of a very busy road after turning down countless taxis because I was being told to pay the "nassarra price." Later I realized that the difference I was arguing for was equivalent to less than $1. Though I can be damn sure she has not embraced my being cheap here, I do think it is very fair to say that my mom is just amazing, having yet to complain about anything.

Example:

Imagine you are on a bus that’s about 25 years old. Parts are missing, holes in the floor, seats are nearly gone, and the suspension non existent. Speeding over the pot holes on the 115K long dirt road, flying out of your seat ever 2 minutes, getting splashed by mud water thats most likely contaminated with God knows what. Despite this my mom, sitting in the window seat, her face and clothes splattered with mud, her hair wild and flying all over the place because the bus's windows are missing, manages to joke: "Well a least it has air conditioning!"

My mom is definitely a trooper for coming out to Burkina and I have been amazed at how well she is doing here, how open she is to trying new things even if their are gross/unsafe/unsanitary. It has simply been amazing to have her here with me in Burkina and to have her love Burkina (especially Pobe) just as much as I do. Between our visits to village libraries, her visits to Pobe and our time in Ouaga, time has been flying by. In just over a week the two of us are heading to Morrocco! I can't wait for the beautiful scenery, the delicious food and, so i hear, the beautiful men!

(mom, never without a smile, in a millet field in Pobe)

Summer continues and it is going great! Even after Pobe's Girls Camp, things have been very busy and fun. I helped with our final Girls Camp of the summer in Djibo. Well, helped is not exactly the best word. More like, I went to Djibo but just laid around taking advantage of Sara's electricity, computer and fan. Why, you might ask? Well, after biking into Djibo I went straight to the post office to pick up mail and fainted. Yes, fainted.....again! I seem to always choose public and embaressing places to do this. If you read this blog you'll remember that I fainted a few months ago while teaching in front of my 110+ students (who, thinking I was possessed by some genie, screamed, stampeded and trampled eachother out of the room, leaving me sprawled on the floor!)

Well this time it happened in the Djibo post office when it was, of course, packed with people. I remember feeling a little dizzy. Next I knew random men were surrounding me, one throwing water on my face to revive me. After they saw that I was awake, the men promptly returned to work or to their seats, leaving me dazed, confused and embarrassed on the floor. Needless to say I wasn't much help for the Djibo camp. (No worries. During my Mid Service Conference, which included a dentist appointment and physical exam, all tests turned out fine. The only thing bruised was my ego.)

With the rain we've been getting recently Pobe has transformed into a sea of green! Even my garden is coming along, corn, tomatoes and eggplants growing, flowers blooming! The end of August has meant the beginning of Ramadan, where Muslims fast for an entire month, only eating at night and before the sun rises in the morning. Thank goodness I'm not Muslim because in all honesty, there is no way in hell I could do this. In fact, I wouldnt even be able to go longer than 1 hour 38 minutes. I know this because, it has been proven.

A couple friends in village decided to tattoo my feet (its like henna, temporary) before I left for Ouaga to meet my mom. This is a long process that should be started at night before going to bed because your feet are wrapped in plastic sachets and you can't walk at all. In the morning the last of the dye is put on. Well, because the decision to do this was so impromptu we did it during the day for just a few hours. After the first part was done I was left to sit outside for 5 hours, with strict orders NOT TO WALK. I thought I'd be fine but this proved impossible. After just 7 minutes I started thinking about food, after 46 minutes I began seriously considering getting up to cook something and after 1 hour 38 minutes I actually did (During this time I also constantly stared at my watch). So this proves that not only am I incapable of staying still but the idea of me ever attempting to fast during Ramadan is ridiculous. (note: the end result of the tattoo is actually supposed to be dark black but because I didn't leave it on long enough it ended up being light brown)

Family reunion: Harouna (host family brother), Charlie and I; Representing the Hard Corps North: Thomas, me, Sara and CharlieThe swear in ceremony of the new GEE and SE volunteers occurred Aug. 25 at the ambassador's house. Great excuse for me to dress up for once and actually feel like a woman again. Also a great excuse for free drinks and food! Can't believe the stagaires are now volunteers! Out of the 32 new PCVs only one is located near the Djibo area. Charlie is replacing Christina (who is doing a 3rd year in Togo) in the village of Belehede. Welcome Charlie!

My most exciting news? My MOM is here!! Yep, after months of anxiously waiting my mother has finally arrived in Burkina. Her visit is going to be so exciting because she'll be here for over a month! She is working with Friends of African Village Libraries (FAVL), whose director teaches at Santa Clara University, where my mom also works as a librarian. Michael (the director) is bringing several students to Burkina for a study abroad program. Knowing that my mom both speaks and has taught French, and knowing I'm in Burkina, Michael asked her to come and work with the Burkinabes that will be teaching French to the American students. While she will be busy in Ouaga during the week, on weekends she'll come visit me in Pobe, each time bringing a few students to experience "village life." After being gone 15 months, Im so thrilled to finally see her and be able to show and share my life here with her. After her work with FAVL is over we will be heading to Morocco for vacation before she heads back home!!

Pobe's ¨Camp des Filles Modeles¨ is officially over and it went....GREAT! The camp was amazing, the girls were amazing and so far I truly believe it's been the most fulfilling activity I have done so far in village.

I don’t think anyone, villagers or girls, were expecting much from the camp or had any idea how it would go. But everyone, including myself, were impressed and had so much fun. Even other volunteers that came to help me out, those who had been doing camps for a second year, were impressed. The girls were fun, respectful, easy-going, active and participated in all sessions.Like the previous camps I helped out with, mornings were reserved for educational sessions with a half hour break and snacks (peanuts or crackers) at 10. At noon they would go home to eat and rest before returning after the repos at 3 for a more fun, leisurely session.The schedule for the week looked something like this:Day 1: opening ceremony in the evening. Register and welcome girls, go over schedule and rules of campDay 2: Sessions on Self confidence/self esteem; Your Goals and steps to achieving them; Art in the evening (Origami and colored ‘stained glass’ designs to decorate)Day 3: Sessions on Gender Roles; The history and preservation of Korumba culture (led by my expert friend in village Adama); Music (learned about notes, sang and learned a song in English)Day 4: Revenue Generating Activity (how to be good/successful merchants); Intro to theatre; Soccer (led by Sita)Day 5: HIV/AIDS (led by nurse from Pobe's health clinic), theatre; kickboxingDay 6: HIV/AIDS prevention including condom demonstration; theatre; kickboxing (the girls begged for another session!)Day 7: practice theatre skits and kickboxing routine in the a.m., closing ceremony in front of parents and Pobe’s civil authorities in afternoon

Christina leading the popular kickboxing sessions

Of all the leisurely afternoon sessions, kickboxing was the biggest hit, so much so that we did a second session the following evening AND the girls created a routine to perform during the closing ceremony! (I even got it on video but unfortunately my camera doesn’t record sound!)The girls loved theatre and created 4 incredible skits showing how to overcome peer pressure situations (like drinking or sex , for example) which they also performed during the closing.Playing the Glove Game during the HIV/AIDS prevention session

I was alittle worried about the more educational sessions and whether or not the girls would understand, pay attention or participate; issues we dealt with at the two previous camps. But not only were the girls respectful but they actively participated, took notes and even asked questions. Even during the condom demonstration, led by yours truly. There were obviously some nervous giggles and laughter (even from me) but during an evaluation at the end the girls said they were grateful to actually be able to SEE how a condom was put on.Another hit was the session on Korumba culture. While a vast majority of the girls are Korumba, few actually knew anything about their language and culture. After the session Adama even took them to his home, where he keeps hundreds of old and incredible artefacts found in the surrounding areas that his family has been collecting for hundreds of years.

While the camp itself was great and I knew the girls were having a blast, it was the closing ceremony that really sealed the deal. It started with stress, of course. The ceremony was supposed to start at 3 p.m and by 4 not a single person (besides the girls) had shown up. The first person didnt arrive until nearly 4:20! Lateness....its the Burkinabe way! After that people started trickling in. While not as many guests as I would have hoped for showed up, it was still a good crowd, a nice mix of functionaries, village authorities and parents. We went over what the girls did and learned at the camp and then they performed their skits and cardio kickboxing routine. It was obvious everyone was impressed. The Prefect stood up and made a speech about how great the camp was. Villagers asked if the camp could happen next year, if they could help run/organize it (sustainability!!!) and even recommended other educational sessions to add for next year. The closing ended with a feast of zoom koom and riz gras. The girls also received certificates of participation, which, honestly if we were back in the States no one would really care about. But here the girls were so excited and proud to receive this certificate, since most had never received anything like it.Again, I am beyond pleased with how the camp went. In such a short time span I was able to see the girls' positive development. They were able to learn new things and ask questions in a comfortable and safe environment. I literally saw shy, quiet girls become confident and outgoing. For example, one girl was very young and small and barely said a word at first. But once the theatre started she went on stage and totally transformed, literally becoming her character with the most powerful booming voice! It was incredible. Another girl was shy and too scared to participate in the skits during the closing. I told her Id like her to participate in the skit but wouldn’t force her. But at the end she found the courage and, despite her nerves, performed in the skit. I love my girls!!!!

Chistina, myself and the girls during closing ceremony

As wonderful as I am feeling about the Girls Camp, it's bittersweet. I recently found out my grandfather passed away from cancer. Because the death was so sudden making travel plans to attend the funeral in Montreal dont make sense. Its hard to go through, being so far away from my family. I just wish so much to be with them now. But on a positive note my mother visit is just days away. Shell be arriving in Bukina at the end of August and I just cant wait to see her, I've missed her so much!

Papa Gilles, tu me manques. Je t'aime pour toujours. Je pense a toi XOX

Pobe's crocodiles

For a lot of volunteers, summers can be long and tough. Most of the teachers have left for their homes in the city. Nearly all the villagers--husbands, wives, children--head out to their fields (which sometimes can be up to 5K away) to cultivate. In other words, villages become ghost towns.

For fear of boredom creeping up on me I made sure that my summer was busy. I'm helping out as a Peace Corps Volunteer Facilitator for the new group of trainees that arrived in Burkina in June. Basically I come to Ouahigouya for a couple weeks to help run training sessions, answer any questions they have and help them adjust to life in BF. It's been fun yet strange at the same time. I'm "experienced" now. I'm able to answer the trainees' questions on language/culture/life in Burkina and share my experiences. I see the curious, shocked and confused looks on their faces and it feels like just yesterday that that was me! It has truly made me realize how much I've learned and how much I've adjusted to life here.

Another summer activity I'm involved in is Girls' Camps. Three other volunteers and myself are running girls camps in each of our villages. So far we've run two camps in both Christina and David's villages which are within 40K of Djibo. Helping run the camps were a lot of fun. Basically about 25 to 30 female students are invited to participate for the week-long camp. Mornings are for educational sessions on issues like self esteem, hygiene, HIV/AIDS, etc. Afternoons involve theater or other fun activities like soccer, music and art. Being apart of both David's and Christina's camps has given me a lot of tips and ideas for my own upcoming girls' camp that starts July 24th. Im really excited about it and will write all about how the camp goes on my next posting!

When you see this......RUN! ....or you'll be eating sand for lunch.

The rainy season has finally arrived up North, which is obviously a great thing. The villagers are completely dependent on the rain, otherwise crops don't grow and there is nothing to eat! The people of Pobe are woried, however, because it seems like every year there is less and less rain. Every year more crops dry up because of lack of water. On days when it finally does rain, the children shriek with excitement and jump about in puddles. The men sit calmly on a bench outside, but you can see the relief and happiness in their faces too.

Storms here are something else; I've never experienced anything like it. It starts with huge dark clouds of dust and rain that you can see coming at you. When you see this you drop whatever you got, run your butt inside and close all the shutters. I learned this the hard way...twice. The first time I had just spent an entire morning cleaning and scrubbing everything in my house. Then the storm came and literally left about 2 inches of sand and dust everywhere! I couldn't even see or breath in my own house it was so bad. The second time I went to get water at the pump. There were several other women there and after a while we all saw that large dark cloud coming at us from the ground. Most of the women quickly grabbed their bidons and ran for home. Me, thinking I was tough and it was just a rain cloud, stupidly stayed, determined to fill up my water bidon. Within minutes wind and sand were blowing everywhere. I couldn't even see my own hand in front of me. By the time I finally made it home I was covered head to toe in sand and dirt. The poor white t-shirt I was wearing will never be the same.

The rainy season is obviously a wonderful thing, except for one area: transport. Rain storms and dirt roads are not a fun combination. Transportation has become a nightmare! A couple weeks ago I was heading back to Pobe from Ouahigouya, usually a 2 1/2 hr bus ride. It took 20 hours! After a long rain storm, part of the road had literally turned into a river. After hours of waiting they realized there really would be no way for the bus to cross. I ended up having to stay the night at the closest village and wait until the next morning. Luckily I was with another volunteer so it wasn't too bad. But this was at the START of the rainy season, I cant even imagine what it will be like during the next couple months.

A car crossing the "river" (It made it across but obviously the car wouldnt start after)

School is over and summer vacation is here, woo hoo! I survived the school year. One question: teachers, how do you do it??!! The experience of teaching was fun, exciting and fulfulling but also so challenging and tough! Many times I would leave the classroom angry and frustrated. But while there were some students I wanted to strangle at times, others continued to amaze me. I had a student, 13-year old Awa, who frequently comes over to hang out at my house. On a Saturday she found out her mother, who went to the local health clinic with a sore throat, had died. Her death, although completely unexpected, seemed so casual and normal to people.No one understood or questioned why she died but it was just accepted, "her destiny" they said. There was an English test that Monday and I told Awa not to come to class and not to worry about the test. Awa not only came to school that Monday but took my test. I was shocked. But here, death is truly just a fact of everyday life.

the (numerous) students of my 6eme 1 class

Frustrated with my utter lack of ability to speak Moore, I've started taking Moore lessons from one of my friends in village. Slowly but surely I'm improving. Moore is fine grammatically, verbs and tenses are fairly easy to comprehend. My problem is vocab. For one, in English and French to make a noun plural you typically just add "s" but in Moore it will be a completely different word. Also, one word can have multiple meanings, all depending on HOW you say it and where you put the stress. For example, the word "saaga" can mean either rain or diarrea. No matter how many times it's repeated to me I just cant hear the difference, let alone speak it. So when I greet people and talk about how nice it is to finally have some rain...I just hope Im saying it right!

On May 27th I celebrated by 24th birthday! The day of my actual birthday was pretty calm, I hung out with my village friends, listened to music and I even baked a cake which, despite my non existant cooking skills, actually turned out pretty good! My b day surprises occured on the eve and day AFTER my birthday. On the evening of the 26th I was prepping for bed when Sita calls for me to come out, he has an early birthday surprise for me. When I come out I see him holding up...a dead goat (what else!) Aparently he and his friend were walking back from playing soccer when they witnessed a crocodile attack and kill the adult goat. They both quickly grabbed it before the crocodile had a chance to eat it. That night I watched them skin, gut and cut away the dead goat right outside my house. It amazed yet repulsed me at the same time. Watching them work reminded me of dissecting frogs in high school Biology....except this was obviously 100 times bigger and better!

The day after my birthday I was heading to the marche when Sita approaches me...riding on the back of a camel with a Twareg man. Sita had run into the owner at the marchee and asked to come to my house. The man was so nice and let me climb and ride the camel and take plenty of photos, it was soooo fun! So I had wonderful birthday surprises in village :)

I also finally got to see the famous Mamyo in Pobe. Mamyo is a fertility statue thats been an important part of the anamist culture in vilalge. In the late 1990s the status was stolen and sold to a German collector. After relizing this, the statue was finally returned years later. A German NGO helped create a museum for the village to keep the Mamyo safe, as well as other artifacts of the Korumfe culture. However, the villagers dont trust that the statue will be safe so it is kept hidden within the village compounds.

In June I will have been in Burkina for one year!! Time is flying by, I cant beleive how fast. I now truly feel comfortable and happy in Pobe. Nearly everyone knows me in village. Instead of hearing 'Nassarra' yelled out they actually use my real name (and some even use my village name). During the summer months I will be busy cultivating in a small field given to me, running several girls camps with the help of other volunteers and also working as a facilitator for the new group of volunteers arriving in June.

Lastly, I am working on a project to get a library in Pobe! Its a great project that the villagers are so excited about and are helping me with. Please look at the link for more information how how to help and donate!

http://pobemengaolibrary.blogspot.com/

Marche day in Pobe

Updates from Pobe: its hot hot HOT!

During the day, especially during the repos, everyone just sits or lays outside in the shade to talk or sleep. The inside of my home, which I still find cooler in the midday than outside, transforms into a sauna. Just sitting in my chair, sweat pours off me. Teaching in the hot crowded classrooms is a nightmare. Much more sweating occurs. In mid-April Pobe received its first rain all year….wonderful, cool, hard rain. I was so ecstatic. “So this means the rainy season has come early?” I ask. The response: laughter. “No no. The rainy season wont start for another two months. This is just a small rain to tease us. It only means the hot season is just beginning.” Damn!

A highlight of the month and definitely a first for me was…a luch date with missionaries! Steve and his wife Charlie are absolutely wonderful, kind and generous people, both from England. Steve has been living in Djibo for about 9 years and speaks fluent Fulfulde! The lunch was delicious: green beans, a meat Shepard’s pie, and a mango tart/pastry for dessert. I have to say that in my ignorance, I was quite surprised. I imagined all missionaries to be an old, conservative, non-humorous bunch who speak only of loving God 24-7. This was not the case. Asides from a short prayer before eating, there was no mention of God. In fact I was the one asking them all the God questions, wanting to know more about the life of a missionary and what their day to day life is like here. The whole afternoon was fun and interesting.

At times I complain about the slow pace of life here and that boredom often creeps up on me. While this remains true, there is always some occurrence that will end the dullness of the day. Example? It was evening and I had just returned from school to find Sita, Hamidou and a neighbor grilling something over charcoal. They had two small little grills going. On one grill: a chicken. Normal. On the second: the testicles of a sheep. Not so normal. As well as the entire head of the sheep. Just plain gross. Of course, I arrived “right on time for dinner” and was invited to feast on these West African delicacies. While, luckily, the sheep’s head wasn’t quite ready, I can now add sheep testicles to my food repertoire. I won’t go so far as to say it was bad, but it definitely wasn’t good, although just the fact that I KNEW I was eating testicles ruined the taste quite a bit.

Another new discovery I made in Pobe: a cine club! Using solar panels, a few functionaries, like my homologue, have old televisions in their house. Ive been over while the family watches some popular Spanish soap opera dubbed in French. The image on the black and white TV is so bad that its impossible to see anything and with the awful sound system, even harder to hear. I heard months ago there was a cine club in Pobe but never though it was worth it. How wrong I was. A man has set up a small cinema style seating area in his courtyard. Using a gas powered motor he connects his decent sized color tv up, and pops a film into a DVD player! The image and sound is like any normal tv! The only problem is that the only dvds are all horrible, Chinese action Kung fu movies dating from the 70s. Not exactly my style of movie.

Amy and I at the Hard Corps party In mid April the Hard Corps Party was also held in Djibo. The party was run by volunteers in the north who invite volunteers from other areas to come visit and see the hot, dry, desert north. Although, its really just an excuse for a party. The night was full of good food, drink and music with about 30 volunteers from around the area.

Finally, I leave you with yet another funny cross cultural exchange experience involving myself and of course the much beloved Hamidou. Hamidou and I frequently play dominos in the courtyard and on this particular day we had just settled down to begin playing. Immediately I noticed something particular that made me freeze in shock. Before I say what it is, let me briefly describe Hamidou. Hes a man in his early 40s. Hes slim but extremely fit and muscular, with muscles most men in their early 20s spend hours at the gym for. Hamidou is also an extremely honest and hardworking man. His large hands are rough like sandpaper and calloused after years and years of working and cultivating in the fields. So you can understand my surprise when I see the nail on his pinky finger painted with bright red nail polish. When I say bright red I mean like the kind of red you would see a hooker wear walking down the street. It was so red that if he were in a city, cars would have screeched to a stop after he lifted his finger to scratch his head. Not the kind of thing I could ignore.

“Hamidou, pourquoi tu as ca?” (Why do you have that ?)

“Bon. J ai vu ca et j ai trouve que ca sentais bon donc j'ai decide de le metre!” (I saw it and I thought it smelled good so I put it on) Fair enough, but I tried so hard not to laugh. And playing dominos with this fit, muscular man, head resting on hand, his forhead wrinkled as he contemplated his next move, his hooker-red fingernail staring me straight in the eye, it was just too hard to take him seriously.

Laundry day (the little doll is part of a Flat Stanley project from an elementary school in Oakland where students are learning geography)

I'm midway through the week-long school break, before the start of the 3rd trimester. I was planning on a nice, quiet, relaxing vacation but it has been anything but. Its been full of fun, discovery and excitement! But before I get into that I wanted to start with:

The Women's Day celebration in Pobe-Mengao.

Hamidou and I sporting our womens day pagnes!

Overall, I was really impressed with the celebration's organization. They had an area all set up for seating, speeches, and displays from a couple womens associations. There was a woman's footrace, bike race and soccer game planned out. Where I was dissapointed was in the participation...of the women! 6 am was the start time of the foot race. I arrived, set to compete, but there were no other participants! After 45 minutes there was myself, one other functionaire woman and all the rest were male students or teachers and functionaires who came to watch. In the end, since no women showed up, the race was canceled and everyone ended up just jogging it slowly together. (Later on the women complained to me that the start time was too early!) The bike race was later, and a bit more fun. By this time many villagers had come out, if not to participate, at least to watch. About 12 girls ended up competing in the bike race, including myself. The race was just 2K but every single girl shot out full sprint from the very beginning, so I pedaled hard right away just to keep up. In the end (maybe biking to Djibo is finally paying off) I ended up winning the bike race! It was hilarious because it was ALL people in Pobe could talk about. Everyone was shocked and impressed that I, a "Nassara" could beat a Burkinabe. "Wow, you can beat a Burkinabe on a bicycle, you are so well integrated!" they would tell me. "You are so strong!" Actually, I say the only reason I won is because I ride a 3-gear 7 speed bike while the girls' were old and rusted, with neither gears nor brakes. But if the villagers think more of me because of it, all the better!

Celebrating women, quite fashionably

The latest big news in Pobe: Sita's (my friend and neighbor) marriage! It was very interesting to see and take part in the ceremony. All the women were singing/dancing and eating at Sita's family's compound while all the men sat outside Sita's house in the courtard talking and listening to music. The celebration began at night, around 7p.m. and I spent most of the time with the women. I lay down on a mat, my neighbors infant baby in my arms and Dounia cuddled up next to me on my other side. Outside, under the stars, with the sounds of the women singing and dancing next to me, it was so wonderful. I just had this really amazing moment like I truly felt apart of Pobe and accepted by its people. Later that night I went back home and talked with the men outside. Around midnight, the new wife arrived at Sita's house to take her place on his bed.Culturally, marriages here are just so different than what Im used to. Sita's marriage was arranged. He had never met or seen his new wife until that very night! Didnt even know her name. I remember, a few days later, asking him how he liked his new wife. "I dont know yet," he said. So wierd to hear a husband say that but obviously, things are done very differently here. man taking the "ferry" in Kourpelle So now, it being break, I went on an impromtu trip with Sita to visit his aunt and part of his family that lives in a village called Kourpelle. Its 15K from the town of Kongoussi and about 55K from Pobe. There is a water source, a large river/lake that runs for about 40K, including right behind this village. Because of this, Kourpelle is absolutely beautiful! So green and full of trees. Miles of gardens growing all sorts of vegetables. I still have yet to visit the South of Burkina, but lets just say I was very impressed with the greeness and beauty of Kourpelle! Its still in the North, but with a water source they can do so much! Water. Something I take so much for granted back home but how here I realize what a difference in makes in the peoples lifestyles! (Everyone here has work, they look healthy, eat good food and have a bit more money to spend) Life is green green GREEN in Kourpelle! Sita's aunt epitomized Burkinabe hospitality. I was shocked and overwhelmed by her kindness and generosity. Sita hadnt told her Id be coming along so she was surprised but excited to have a "Nassara" as a guest in her home. In the morning she walked us down to her garden plot and then Sita took me down to the water. Here we found small wooden boats where a man would ferry people and their belongings to the other side. He took me for a ride on the boat which was a lot of fun. Kourpelle is also directly behind a gold mine, which we visited as well. It was incredible. We hiked up to the top of the hills and saw the men and the deeeeeeep holes (more than 100,000meters!!!) where they would dig for gold. The view from atop was incredible. Yet more incredible was to find, at the top, not just the men but many women with their infants attached to their backs and young children nearby. Apparently after the women work in their gardens they come to the mines and dig into the night, searching for gold. The people just work so damn hard here. Women making the trek down from the gold mines In the evening the aunt had cooked me fish soup, straight from the water, and fresh green beans. Then, if her kindness wasnt enough, she brings me this big fat, white rooster which I am to take back to Pobe and eat!There was only one negative side to the trip, which I blame entirely on myself. I had forgotten to buy sachets of (treated) water and by the afternoon had finished my supply. It being hot, I was thirsty and ended up drinking pump water the rest of the day. I had done this before in Pobe and had spent the rest of that night in my latrine. But hey, its been 9 months now here in BF. Im well integrated right? Not so much, apparently. By late evening I knew Id have some troubles so I asked the women, where's the latrine here? Their answer? There is none! They just go outside somewhere! So I spent all night (at least it was dark) running back and forth outside trying to find a faraway spot (near a tree? Or maybe that cow?) where no one would see or hear me. Not too fun!Overall though, the trip was wonderful. Tomorrow a fellow volunteer is coming to visit Pobe and then Friday we are off to Djibo to meet up with other volunteers. A while back I met a husband and wife, missionaries, who live in Djibo and they invited me over for lunch. So Saturday I will be lunching with missionaries! (Never thought Id actually ever say that)Next week school starts, and itll be back to work but right now, Im definitely just enjoying the week

(How do they DO this??) Hello, Bonjour, Ney y beogo!

The second school trimester is nearly over. The next two weeks will be busy, writing up/correcting 300+ tests, calculating/processing/and ranking/recopying each students' grade by hand....fun stuff. But then its a week long break which I'm looking forward to! (Leti, a student at the primary school in my homologue's classroom. The beautiful drawing done by yours truly )

An HIV/Aids sensibilization, run by Peace Corps, was held in Djibo in mid February. 11 volunteers, myself included, each brought four villagers to participate in the 3-day long teaching. The goal was to teach the villagers, each well respected in their villages, all about HIV/Aids so that when they return to village they can in turn discuss/teach what they learned with others. I chose three women and one man from Pobe. At the end, Azera, one of the women I brought, was excited to talk to me about an idea of preforming an Aids-themed theater performance with my girls club to do in front of the village...so I think the goal of the event worked out!

A particular thing happened that I think is one of my favorite funny stories in Burkina (so far). The one man I brought was Hamidou, my friend and president of the Association Parent Eleves. We arrived in Djibo at night, the next morning the sensibilization was to start. It was late, dark and the volunteers just wanted to get all the villagers settled into their hotel rooms. Unfortunately, because we arrived too late, Hamidou's room was given to another guest. It being late and the other hotels full, Kevin (another volunteer) asked his Burkinabe counterpart if he'd mind sharing a room with Hamidou, just for that night. It was one room, one small bed. You could see the awkward/uncomfortable looks on both men's faces. Not too happy. (But who would be if you a grown man and asked to share a bed with a complete stranger.)Now, if this were the United States this is exactly what would have happened:Both men would remain in their awkward/uncomfortable state. They would have refused to share a bed and one man would have probably ended up sleeping on the floor. The next morning they would avoid/igonore eachother, never talking or even making eye contact for the rest of their time in Djibo.

But of course, this is Burkina. Here's what really happened:

(men hanging out at Pobe's marchee) The next morning I found Hamidou and imediately appoligized again, ensuring him that he would have his own room for the rest of his stay. He pulls me aside, smiling with a huge grin on his face and says that in fact, he got along fine with the other man, and Hamidou doesnt want his own room, he'd like to stay in the room with his new friend for the rest of the week. Since he was smiling I tought he was joking and laughed along with him. "Wait, you're serious?" I ask him. Yes, he tells me. He and the other man were now friends and in truth he's not used to sleeping alone, he usualy always has his children in the same room with him. "Could I check with the other man to see if he'd mind?" he asked me. A little shocked, I went to Kevin and told him what Hamidou had said. Kevin burst out laughing. Apparently, his Burkinabe counterpart has asked him the same thing, he didnt want to sleep alone and wanted to see if my counterpart would stay with him for the duration of the event. Now, these are adult men, both married with children. There's abslutely nothing sexual about this. They are just two grown men not used to sleeping alone and enjoyed one another's company and became friends. Recounting this story makes me smile everytime because with all the liberalness of America, this situation would never have happened in the States!

International Women's Day is coming up. I am told in Pobe there's events including an all women's bike race. Also men are supposed to do the work of their wives, including the shopping and cooking dinner. Not sure exactly how the day will pan out but I bought my colorful Women's Day pagne to wear and will be celebrating with the rest of them!

In other news, a Doggie Epidemic swept through Pobe. Many dogs throughout the village got incredibly sick, a few died. Unfortunately Dounia caught the epidemic. I returned from the Aids sensibilization to find him emaciated. For 5 days he didnt eat, he was throwing up and would only drink a little water. Near the end he was so weak he couldn't even walk. One night my mom called and I told her that I didn't think Dounia would make it. I went to bed. The next morning I was on my way back from getting water at the pump when I see Dounia bounding up to me, tail wagging and toungue drooling. A doggie miracle! After just a few days he seemed at 100% and today he's back, chubby again and up to his dirty tricks of chasing after my neighbors chickens, scaring little kids and creating mayhem throughout Pobe. It's good to have him back :)

I just finished reading a book, "The Village of Waiting," by George Packer that my father had sent to me in a care package. Briefly, it's the story of Packers' experience as a PC volunteer in Togo. I found the book both facinating yet upsetting at the same time. Reading it, I felt like Packer was writing about MY experience in POBE. It was eerie how many similarities there were, from the characteristics of the village women, the (inappropriate) behavior of the teachers, to his roller coaster feelings of lonliness/happiness/isolation. If any of you are curious to know more about my personal experience, read his book. What is a bit depressing though is that he was a volunteer in 1982-83...more than 25 years ago! I find it depressing to think that even after so much time has passed, village life throughout W. Africa remains nearly exactly the same. I found his critique of Africa to be a bit pessimistic and harsh. He didn't seem to have much of anything positive to say about the country (He didn't complete his 2 years). While on some issues I may agree with him, I find that despite all the poverty and corruption, there's still so much joy and beauty.

Lastly, internet MAY be coming to Djibo! Construction is underway at the Djibo post for an internet cyber. I have no idea when it will actually open or if the connection will be any good, but Im definitely excited at the prospect of having internet only 25K away instead of the 100+!

(Changing times? A mud brick/straw house with sattelite!Cell phone tower in the background)

Bonjour!

My New Year’s resolution was to get busy, get crackin and I think I’m off to a good start. My clubs are going wonderfully. A brief run down:So far the sports club is really just a soccer club, which the girls love. My limited knowledge of soccer worried me but Sita has come to my rescue, putting them through drills and excercises, teaching the girls (and me) all about soccer. As of now the club is very informal and just for fun, I always laugh watching the girls scrimmage eachother. Instead of playing their positions and spacing out, every single girl runs after the ball, so its looks like one big glob of girls attacking the ball.Art club is going great! They absolutely love drawing and decorating with stickers but I really get the impression they just enjoy being able to actually relax for once, laughing with eachother, and not having to work around the house getting water or preparing dinner.The theater club has been the biggest success so far. Ive seen shy, quiet girls transform into divas, creating incredible improvisation scenes. The girls' passion and talent truly amazes me. For example, one day I told them to start thinking/planning/outlining a skit on a theme of their choice, expecting it to take weeks or even months. After one hour they had not only discussed and outlined the theme of forced marriage but created a completely improvised play! In addition, Ive met with the director of the new radio station in Djibo about creating a program about issues on girls education/health/forced marriage etc. She loved the idea and in fact had been looking to do such programs. It's still in the preliminary stages but Im thinking of having the girls perform skits on air, hosting debates where listeners call in and having contests with prizes. Other volunteers in the area are interested in collaborating so I have a feeling its going to be a lot of fun! A MUST for me though, will be in between the educational info to play some real American music. Ive been shocked and horrified at the amount of country music played here. I never thought Id ever have to hear the words “She's in love with a rodeo man” in Burkina!!Lastly my coed education club is also off to a great start. I focus on English, helping them out on grammer and vocab and other areas they have problems with. But just last week I held an informal HIV/AIDS session with them and it went great, especially considering Ive never done it before, let alone in French! But I talked about the basics, what it is, how one can become infected, prevention methods, etc.. A lot of questions were asked and answered and I could tell they learned a lot. Yet at the end I could see one or two young men were still unconvinced of the efficiency of the condoms, so theres still work to be done. In fact, more and more I'm seeing the necessity of having informal sex ed sessions/discussions with them as well. My clubs are great but they arent just clubs, they also serve as day care centers where the girls bring, not their siblings, but their own infants.

This is really cheesy, but some of the girls have become my closest friends. Even outside of the clubs several will show up at my house to say hi and talk. They love asking questions about the U.S and they love looking through my magazines. Of course, I have to be careful. Remember, Pobe is a mostly Muslim village. Seeing breasts is common but covering up your legs is a must. So you can imagine the awkwardness in the air while the girls were looking through my Women's Health magazine, full of women in spandex shorts and sports bras demonstrating butt tightening excercises! “Arent they embaressed?” one girl asked me. I tried to explain the more liberal attitude of Americans but I made sure to quickly skip over the article titled “More Sex Less Stress.”

My cousin Camille, a teacher in Quebec and I have been collaborating together. One evening she called me while I was surrouded by students and they got to talk to her students, exchanging questions and answers about life in Burkina and Canada. Later on I had about 30 students write letters which I sent to Camille, so the students will have new Canadian penpals. They were all so excited about it and anxious to receive letters back.

Ive been dealing with Quebec a lot lately. A couple weeks ago 3 members of a foreign NGO that had donated money for a garden and cantine program to the primary school came to observe their work. Where were they from? Montreal! Small world. They were only there for a few hours but in all honesty, I was never so happy to hear the words “ouin” “zzc'est la…” and even a beloved “esti” J

Students greeting the Canadian NGO members

As for other news in Pobe, life is good! My house recently went through a makeover. Sita painted my door and windor trim green. He topped it off by painting the initiatials K.M (Konfe Mariam, the local name given to me) above my door.Lesson learned this month: beware of “faux types.” Whenever I travel outside of village I always meet some interesting characters, some good some bad, some nice, some just after something. I thought I had mastered my faux type radar, but apparently not. On a bus ride to Djibo a young man sitting next to me started talking to me. He was a teacher in a nearby village, and we spoke for maybe 5 minutes. A very informal, casual conversation that I forgot about quickly. So of course I was shocked when 2 ½ weeks later I come home from school to find him sitting outside my door! He came to visit and asked people around town to find out where I lived. In Burkina showing up randomy at the home of people you barely know isn’t such a huge deal, but I definitely wasn’t too comfortable with this! Luckily Sita was there and noticing my discomfort, stayed with us the whole time. Sita was polite, he made tea and we all ate lunch, but later on kindly told him that “you just don’t do that with foreigners” and that it would be smart if he never came back.This weekend I stayed in Komsilga for a weekend host family reunion! It was great to see my host family again. We laughed and talked and had a great time. The Tal family are truly kind and generous people who I hope to continue to visit often during my time here.

I know it's a bit late, but a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

This past month has simply flown by. A lot has happened. Actually, a lot of firsts have happened to me. I'll summarize each quickly, since there's a lot for me to talk about this month.

Em's firsts:-I celebrated Tabaski, a Muslim celebration. I went to mosque in the morning and sat with the women while they prayed. The afternoon was all about feasting! Countless sheep were slaughtered. I went from house to house, and each time I was handed a huge pile of delicious food. It reminded be very much of Thanksgiving. All about giving thanks, celebrating with friends and family and of course, stuffing yourself till you feel like you'll explode.

-I went to a baptism in Pobe. It was such a fun event, honoring and congratulating the new mother with kind words and gifts. The newborn, which I got to hold, was adorable. With baptisms there are no invitations; eveyone and anyone is invited. So I got to meet a lot of new people, including women who speak French! So it was definitely a fun integrating experience.

-I started Moore lessons! My Moore teacher, a very nice and intelligent woman in village named Safiata, speaks French very well. In Pobe she started a literacy center for women in addition to a woman's group that helps women to start up "elevage" or herding and small businesses.

-I attended the little Protestant church in Pobe. Im not a very religious person but I was curious and ended up really enjoying it. Nearly the entire service was all songs. They dont have much, their hands, their voices and one old drum but it sounded beautiful. One woman was determined to translate every line, every word said in Moore to me, which honestly was a bit frustrating and made it less enjoyable (The song is about loving Jesus...I get it I get it!)

-For the first time in my life, I fainted...in class...while lecturing to my 120 students. I think it was just the heat or dehydration, nothing serious. But you'd think the kids would come to my aid right? Not exactly. When I came to, the students were screaming, the class nearly empty, the kids pushing, shoving, TRAMPLING each other trying to get out of the room with the scary possessed foreigner. Thanks for the help guys.

-I received a visit from the U.S. ambassador! She was on vacation, traveling up north with her husband and stopped to visit me in Pobe. The visit was short but very nice. It was great to chat with her plus she generously left a present of homeade banana bread and brownies. Her contract is soon over and she will be headed to...Iraq! After being in Burkina that's gotta be tough. I wish her well.

-Lastly, I killed my first chicken! I bought the chicken, sliced its throat, prepared it, cooked it, and ate it...the whole nine yards. It was easier than I thought, but definitely not something I particularly enjoyed. There will be no "Lord of the Flies" reaction to follow.

Mali trip:

Over the holidays I went to Dog0n Country in Mali. AMAZING! By far one of the best trips I ever took. The area includes this huge canyon-like cliff that has these ancient 7th century cave-like dwellings dug into the cliffs, way up high. The locals beleive those that lived there could fly, since the dwellings are so high and impossible to get to. But aparently in the 7th century there used to be strong vines up and down the cliff wall where they made their homes to hide from enemies and wild animals.

We basically did a 5 day hiking trip through the villages in the cliff. Parts of the hike, like the uphill climbs, were tough but overall it was truly relaxing. It definitely wasnt the 'sleep outside in a tent eating canned beans' experience I thought it would be.We'd hike in the morning, stop and rest in a village to eat a huge lunch, hike to another village where we'd eat more food, drink, and sleep. Our guide Omar, a native of Dogan, was great and made the whole experience that much better.

New Years

My friend and fellow volunteer Leah came to visit. She lives in Oradara, a large town in the south of Burkina with green trees, lots of fruits and vegetables, running water, electricity and internet. So she was pretty shocked to see what life was like in Pobe, but she also enjoyed it, especially the peacefullness of it all. New Years eve though was surprisingly loud and busy in Pobe, it seemed like the whole village came out to celebrate. Sita, who I think had a few too many beers, and his friends began lighting small firecrackers. There was one larger firework which Sita lit and through up in the air...where it landed on a neighbor's roof. Of course the roof, made of sticks and hay, caught fire and within seconds became a huge inferno. Villagers came to help but with their small pails of water, all we could do was sit back and watch it burn. Great way to start the new year right?

A lot of change has already come with the New Year. My resolution was to get started, get BUSY. After talking with students and finding out their interests, I have already started 4 different clubs (3 girls clubs and 1 coed).

Sports Club: includes football but also any outdoor games or physical activity like frisbee, possibly volleyball, etc.

Art Club: girls use materials like markers, crayons, stickers, pics from old magazines to create art. But their art projects will go toward helping the school/comunity, like decorating the very bare classoom walls. I also plan on doing the World Map Project (painting a mural of the world on a wall) in the near future with them.

Theater/Radio club: Girls do theater activities and will perform in front of the school, their families and community. But the performances will be on GEE themes, like promoting girls education, ending forced marriage and female circumsicion, etc. Also I spoke with the new radio station in Djibo about doing a program with the theater club. They would record a sketch they created about a GEE theme and it would be part of our radio show, playing American songs in between to attract as many listeners as possible.

Initially these were my only clubs but I actually had male students come up to me and ask, not to have a sports or art clubs but an EDUCATION club! A club where they could practice English, have study halls, debates, cultural exchanges. How could I say no to that!? Again, the clubs are just getting started but already its been a wonderful experience.

Any materials but also IDEAS on possible activities/projects to do with my clubs are very much appreciated!

This past month has definitely been exciting and interesting. I am now living in my new home in Pobe-Mengao and am settling in quite nicely. I arrived to find the local school-parent association had planted a few eggplant, bean and a tomato plants in my courtyard as a gift, which was a pleasant surprise. As far as my home goes, it’s a main room with kitchen area and then the bedroom. I haven’t really been able to add anything to the house yet so it basically looks just like it did when the other volunteer I replaced was living there. I have yet to sleep in the bedroom (too hot!) and have no real furniture in there besides a bed so right now it’s my storage room. I have plenty of time to make it more homey. My only complaint about the house is that when I arrived I found it completely infested with both termites and cockroaches. While I’ve been able to slowly eradicate the cockroaches, the termites are still in full force. Let me just say that keeping house is no easy task ! I have to sweep daily to keep the dust (and scorpions) at bay, cook, wash dishes and wash clothes by hand. Add the fact that I have to fetch my water with a big jug from a pump everyday, it makes things interesting.

The market that happens every 3 days in my village is terrible in terms of food… there is none. (I’m lucky if I can find onions. I can find pasta and bread however at one of the little boutique stores). So I’ve been biking the 25K to Djibo every Wednesday for veggies and such. With the rainy season the dirt roads are awful but the scenery is beautiful. Sometimes Ill find myself daydreaming and forget where I am. Then 6 camels will trot past me and Ill remember, oh yea, Im in Africa! So far I am really enjoying the biking…we’ll see how long that lasts.

Truthfully I NEED to enjoy biking, since I plan to depend on bus transportation as LITTLE as possible. I’ve already had a couple transportation incidents that haven’t been too enjoyable. To make a very long story short, during one bus ride (that was supposed to take 1 hour) the bus broke down for about five hours. The sun set, it was dark and I started panicking a little after a man said no other bus would come to our aid and if we couldn’t fix the problem we’d be spending the night where we were…in the middle of the African bush ! To solve the problem a man went to chop down a thick tree branch, made a log from it, from which the driver used as a make-shift part for the bus. The bus shaked rattled and rolled (with a few nuts and bolts flying off as we headed over pot holes and ditches) but we finally arrived at our destination. I am not a very religious person but I have never prayed so hard to God, Allah, the bus spirits….anyone listening to help survive the trip !!

In terms of integration, I have to say I am truly happy that I speak French (thanks mom!). Because of it, I have been able to quickly befriend two village locals who went to school and speak French. However because I do not yet speak Moore, Fulfulde or Karumfe I have yet to really integrate or get to know the majority of the villagers, especially women. I can’t imagine being a volunteer alone in a new site and not speaking French, let alone the local language.

So I quickly befriended Amidou and Sita, two brothers whose father owns the compound that I live in (there are four other homes in the same compound). I spend most of the day relaxing with them, talking, drinking tea and eating maize (corn, which is now in season, that they cook over coals and you eat right off the grill…delicious ! I can eat 4 at a time.)

Sita has not only become a friend but my personal tour guide. He’s been taking me all around not only Pobe-Mengao but the surrounding areas. The village truly has a rich and ancient Karumfe culture which is fascinating. So far I have seen gorgeous views from cliff tops, ancient drawings sketched onto rocks, old statuettes and artifacts, and elephant foot prints imprinted permanently onto rocks from back in the day when elephants used to roam the north of Burkina.

I have been trying to keep my days busy but despite all this sometimes the days seem to pass by so slowly. People literally sit around outside their home all day, talking, sleeping and drinking tea. Now apparently it’s the busy season because most people are out cultivating in the fields. I can’t imagine what its like for villagers once their work in the fields is done. There are no jobs for them, there is literally nothing to do. I’m not supposed to start any major projects until November (we re supposed to spend time integrating, developing people’s trust and getting to know the real needs of the community first) I plan to help out in the schools as a teachers aid starting in October. Not only will I be able to help teachers in the classroom, (student teacher ratio is about 120 to 1 but it will help me get to know the students and children better as well.

Overall I am definitely enjoying myself, my health is good and so far Im adjusting surprisingly well, although Ill be the first to admit there are good days and bad days. A bientot!

First post as a Peace Corps Volunteer! Took (and signed) an oath so guess it's now official...Im here for good!

Ouaga, the capital, was fun and entertaining. It’s got the large city feel but you definitely still know you are in Africa.

We stayed at a hotel which after living in a mud hut for 3 months, was amazing! Beds, real toilets, showers with HOT water…amazing. We also ate delicious food at restaurants including pizza, ice ceam, crepes and even Chinese food. During training we would always hear about how when we get to Ouaga, we need to shop at the Marina Market, how its an incredible place. I wasn’t sure what to expect and didn’t exactly get my hopes up about it. Well, let me tell you, walking into there I was like a kid in a candy store. Its like an actual grocery store just like in the U.S, like a Safeway! It was amazing and I couldn’t stop smiling or saying “Oh my GOD” everytime I saw something. The store has everything from shampoo, chocolate, cereal, a meat and pastry counter…everything! Wonderful.

While I enjoyed Ouaga, I have to admit Im glad I will be living in a village and not a city. Its fun but very expensive. Also, if you walk outside you are constantly hassled by people trying to sell you stuff because any "white foreigner" must be a rich tourist. It gets annoying after a while. And while Im slowly getting used to unwanted harrassment and attention, having random strangers grab at you to get your attention is not really my cup of tea. You also have to remember that Ouaga is a capital city and has its crazies and violence. During the time we were there one volunteer had two guys on motos try (unsuccessfully) to grab her purse. On a separate occasion two other volunteers were walking together in broad dailight when a “fou”, or crazy guy, jumped on the male volunteer's back and tried to kiss him! When the female volunteer tried to get the guy off him, the “fou” slapped her! Some gendarmes (police) were luckily nearby to grab the guy off and apparently beat him up pretty good before taking him away.

But between good food, going out with friends to listen to live music, seeing the beautiful art available, I really did enjoy my time there.

The Peace Corps swearing in ceremony was nice. It was at the U.S ambassadors house (HUGE!!). Everyone had on beautiful and very colourful outfits! The ceremony was fairly short, several speeches and then ourselves standing up to take the oath. My host brother was able to attend the ceremony, which really made my night because I didn’t think the family would have the money for him to come. But ends up--proving how hospitable Burkinabes are--one of the teachers who taught during training heard about it and not only drove my brother from Komsilga to Ouaga but let him stay the night at his home! It was definitely nice to see him one last time before heading out.

Another fun thing was that there was media, both a television and radio station, at the ceremony. I was interviewed for both of them, which was fun but I didn’t think much of it. I am now currently back in Ouahigouya (about a 2 1/2 hour bus ride from Ouaga), and THREE times today Ive been stopped by Burkinabes who say they recognized me from TV as the Peace Corps volunteer heading out to Pobe! Didn’t realize Id actually make it on tv, let alone on a station playing across Burkina…kinda funny but also pretty cool. Too bad I was hot and sweating balls during the interview!

So as I said I am currently back in Ouahigouya. Tuesday morning a driver from the Peace Corps will come to help myself and another volunteer move into our new homes! Very excited and definitely MORE than ready to get there. The past few days Ive been shopping for things for my home, mostly food (cant wait to cook for myself!) and furniture.

Obviously from this point on my internet access will be much more limited. However I have made a deal with myself that I will travel to the city for internet and email at LEAST once a month. So I will do my best to keep my blog updated.

The next three months will be tough, challenging, lonely and I will have PLENTY of time on my hands. However Im ready to immerse in the culture, get to know and develop friendships with the locals and hopefully get ideas on how best I can help.

This will be my last posting as a Peace Corps trainee. Next week we are off to Ouagadougou, the capital, to finish our last week of training. We will stay there for the week and then have our swearing-in-ceremony to officially become Peace Corps Volunteers! Everyone is excited, it's a pretty big deal (held at the US ambassador's house, 300 people invited). Another plus is that we all get to dress up, most of us had outfits made here in Burkina so it should be very colorful! Just a couple days after we will all be dropped off at our future homes! It's fair to say nearly everyone (both trainees and staff) is getting a bit antsy and ready to end training...we're all going through a bit of senioritis and finding it hard to listen or pay attention in the training sessions.

As excited as I am, I will definitely miss my host family. They have been so generous, kind and were a great deal of help in my integration/adaptation here during the last 3 months. On Saturday there will be a party in Komsilga to celebrate and honor the families that hosted Kait, Brian and myself. There will be music, food and fun so I'm definitely excited!

I will be sure to post photos of the party, as well as photos from Ouaga and the swearing in ceremony before I head out to Pobe Mengao.

With training and my home-stay experience ending, I can't help but look back on the last 3 months and think of how much I've gone through and learned. Here's a look at a few of those things:

Things that I've learned/have experienced/have gone through during my training:

-time = W.A.I.T (West African International Time). People here have no sense of time. Arriving to a meeting one hour late is considered arriving early. I've definitely had to learn patience and flexibility while here.

-navigating through the city streets of Ouahigouya is a risk to anyone life!! People here do not believe in following traffic rules/laws (a red light has no meaning to many). I've learned to bike very cautiously and am always constantly aware...dont let your guard down and trust no driver! Example, just recently one trainee was biking down the street when a man on a moto, driving with one hand, and carrying a large metal door on his shoulders with the other... cut off this trainee who was trying to turn left and sliced a piece of the trainee's ear off!!! It was literally dangling by a piece of skin!

-having said that.... while I was riding my bike I did hit a little boy trying to cross the street...but it wasnt my fault!! (and the little boy was fine!)

-since the rainy season started in July, I have never had less than 30, yes 30, mosquito bites on my feet and ankles

- You are going to be called "Nassarra" (white foreigner) at least 20 times a day by all Burkinabes, men, women and children. Get used to it and dont take it personally.

-street food sold by vendors is the BEST and CHEAPEST food!! Anything from corn and peanuts to meals like benga (beans and rice, etc...soooo good and easy on the wallet)

-the fashion here is definitely.... interesting. The crazier the patterns and colors you wear, the more fashionable you are!

-I love bucket baths!!

-I know I've somewhat adjusted when I can go to the bathroom at 2 am and the sight of 10 cockroaches crawling around and flies buzzing all over me doesnt faze me in the least.

-the best way to integrate and adjust to life in Burkina.... learn to laugh at yourself.

-I can greet a Burkinabe in FOUR different languages (Moore, Fulfulde, Koromfe and French)

-trying to go to the marche and buy stuff in local language is hard! Their money system is difficult and confusing. Not only is it difficult to mentally translate whatever number they are saying, which can be anywhere from 25 to the thousands, but whatever number they give you you have to multiply it by 5...and that is the real amount that you pay....so confusing.

-People in my village work so hard. I went to work with the men one day cultivating the field. Such freakin hard work !! I spent 2 hours weeding with the hoe so the « mil » can grow. After 2 hours I already had blisters all over my hands and my back hurt, so the men told me to stop and rest. But these men do this all day for months at a time !! (see picture above)-lastly, as much as I love being here and can say Im here trying to do good, there is no denying that I am a privileged person. I have complained about the food on my blog, eating nothing but carbs like pasta, rice etc. My family has never complained to me or asked me for anything. But during a conversation with my sisters they talked about how difficult their lives were, how hard they had to work and how having enough food is their #1 concern. All they have to eat is "to" a bland mushy dish made of a type of grain which they grow, and sauce. Exact quotes they told me(translated):

"I hate 'to' because we eat it 3 times a day, everyday, but its all we have to eat."

"I force myself to eat to because Megan is still breastfeeding and I need to eat to be able to produce enough milk for her."

"I hate being so skinny. I hate that my bones stick out."

Not exactly things that make you feel great after just chowing down on half a pound of pasta. I guess hearing things like that from my family, who ALWAYS have a smile on their face and are so generous to me, really hit home. I am in Africa, I am in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world. Even though I am here as a volunteer and just paid a stipend to live on, I am still receiving more than most villagers. Just something I know I have to keep in mind during my entire 2 years here.

See my new address (I will be there at the end of the month for the next two years) and my wish list on the right hand side.

The past couple weeks of training seemed to have gone by so slowly. I know training is important but there are things about it I really dont like, for example at times I feel like Im just in a 3-month long summer camp. Im anxious to get to site and start feeling productive. There's only 3 more weeks of training which is pretty exciting!

Interesting events that have happened within the last 2 weeks:

I played basketball for the first time since my arrival here! A few of the trainees and I went to play at an outside court and ended up playing against some of the local guys here.

Lucky for us the national sport in Burkina is soccer, not b ball, so we short, pale, nerdy trainees didnt get our butts killed lol. Had a lot of fun playing and it felt good!

The GEE volunteers wen to AIMEE, a local NGO that specializes in health but also specifically on HIV and Aids. We learned a lot about what the NGO does, not just physically taking care of the sick but going out to small villages to educate and increase awareness. But the most interesting part for me was separating into small groups and informally talking with several patients and Burkinabes living with HIV/Aids. It was my first time ever talking one-on-one with someone living with AIDS, let alone living with AIDS in Africa so it was an incredible experience for me. I talked to 3 different people, one of whom was this motivated, pro active woman who told us everything from how/when she found out she was HIV + to the barriers she faced along the way including the perceptions/stereotypes of those ignorant about the disease, especially in villages. When I am at site I have already planned to do a lot of sex education for young girls but I think HIV/Aids is also near the top of my list. Even though the percentage is low in Burkina compared to other countries in Africa, its still high and more education/awareness about the disease and prevention is always needed.

Those whove talked with me know that FOOD has been an issue for me (the fact that I am unable to cook for myself or get any variety.) So obviously our tech session on nutrition where the trainees in each village were able to cook their own meal was amazing!!! All the cooking tools were brought to Komsilga where Brian, Kait and myself cooked up a delicious brunch.

On the menu: homemade banana bread with M&Ms!!! (Amen to care packages!!!), scrambled eggs with onions, green peppers and tomatoes, french toast and fruit salad! It was soooo good. Obviously, we had some minor setbacks. One being when the PC arrived with our cooking supplies from the city they forgot one critical thing: the stove... so they had to go back to get it and it took more than one hour. We started very late and ended up delaying everyone elses cooking time as well. As for the banana bread, the recipe asked for baking powder but all we had was baking soda so the banana bread didnt rise and turned out more like banana mush/cake....however it was still delicious!

Ever since training started I have been learning the local language of Fulfulde. Yet at my site visit i quickly leaned that unfortunately, Fulfulde is not really spoken in my village. The main languages spoken there are Moore and Karunfe. SOOOO...Ive had to start language over again, this time learning Moore. The fun thing about it though is that because of my situation where unlike the other trainees I dont have to take French, I have my own one on one tutoring with a man called Patrice. Patrice is a young, energetic, "cool" guy but an intense teacher. Moore is tough! And being the only student in the class, I have no chance to daydream and not focus. Hes always quizzing me, asking me to read/repeat stuff...I feel like Im back in school again!! But over the past couple of days with him I have learned 2 very interesting things. One, hes not just Patrice the teacher but Patrice the music star. He came out with a CD a couple years ago and is currently working on a new albulm set to come out around November. PLUS, 2 years ago Patrice also had a music video that played on the tv stations here! He showed it to be on his cell phone. Music-wise, it was actually really good stuff. Id say a mix of traditional/modern African music. But the video is hilarious! In several scenes he's decked out in a gray pin striped-suit singing while sitting on the diving board of a pool of some huge house in Burkina. And its not big chested women dancing in the background but stick-thin men in matching outfits, swaying their hips and snapping their fingers. Its Big Pimpin Africa style. I loved it. Im defintiely buying his new CD when it comes out...I guess you never know who your teachers are outside the classroom.

Something new I learned on Burkinabe culture: Thursday morning Patrice is lost in thought, not really concentrating so I ask him whats up. He tells me Wendsday night his wife gave birth to their first son!!! Im like "Patrice, what the hell are you doing HERE go see your wife and new born son!!" Ends up he cant just leave work like that, he has to wait until Saturday before he can go back home in Ouaga. This is where I am confused. You see, here in Burkina, the grandma of your wife's friend's sister's neighbor dies and its EXPECTED that you NOT come into work because you have to go to the funeral and pay respects to the family. But your wife gives birth to your newborn son and you cant leave work to go see them? Patrice explains to me that here, culterally, sad events are treated a lot differently than happy events. You can leave work for sad events, but aparently its a lot more difficult when the event is joyful. I learn something new everyday.

So last week was by FAR my favorite week since Ive arrived here. The first 3 days consisted of a counterpart workshop where I met with the person who I'll work closest with once at site and help me in the integration proccess.

My counterpart is a woman who teaches at the local primary school in the village and lives there with her children. I'm lucky because quite a few other volunteers werent thrilled with their counterparts or had a hard time connecting because of the language barrier. I totally clicked with mine. She's such a great woman with a lot of great ideas and opinions. We already talked about major problems in the village, things we could do, things I can help with, etc. For example sex is a very tabboo subject here. She says girls never learn about maturation/sex education/prevention methods from their parents or others. She had nine girls in her class this year drop out because they got pregnant. So just awareness and education for girls would be huge. Anyways in summary the workshop was great, we totally clicked and I cant wait to get to site and get started!

Thursday through Sunday I went to Pobe-Mengao to visit my site and future home! I stayed with Joel, who is the volunteer that I will be replacing. The weekend was amazing. Pobe is much larger than I expected, a town of about 5-6,000 people. Transportation to and from Pobe is great, it's right off the main road so I have easy access to big cities like Djibo and Ouahigouya. Only problems are the roads are dirt so during the rainy season they get flooded and transportation is either extrememey delayed or comes to a halt.

Pobe has a primary school and a brand new CEG school (kinda like high school) which will open up once I get there. Theres also a health and maternity clinic, a small marchee every 3 days that sells seasonal foods and some very small boutiques to buy things like soap, etc. Ill still have to bike or bus to Djibo weekly to get foods like canned goods, oatmeal, fresh fruits and vegies, etc.

As far as my house goes, I am sooo excited to start living there. Compared to the mud, thatched-roof hut I am currently living in....I am MOVIN ON UP! My future home is concrete, rectangular shaped, with a tin roof. Its got 2 rooms, the main room and a small bedroom. What is great about replacing another volunteer is that Joel is leaving me nearly everything including a small table, stove, cot to sleep outside, and a cool kitchen furniture piece with counter and shelves. Hes got plenty of cooking spices too which is so key here!! Another big plus is he's leaving me some books! Everyone says volunteers have a lot of extra time and spend a LOT of time reading, so having these books is definitely amazing. There are some things I still need to buy but I am so excited about decorating my home! Like I plan on painting the inside walls and buying a couple other furniture pieces like a bookshelf. There are 4 other homes in the compound but I have my own little courtyard complete with hangar (like a patio area) to sleep under during the hot nights. Despite my total lack of a green thumb I am sooo planning on starting a small garden, so in the future Ill be adding seeds to my care package wish list!

During the weekend I got to ask Joel the hundreds of questions that have been on my mind, learned what he has done in the village, met some key/important people, toured around (cool fact: in the village there are a couple of small lakes made from the rain and there are Caimans, which are crocodiles living in them!). Just taking a break from training to relax and see my future home was wonderful. Overall great weekend.

What happened just a few hours after my arrival on Thursday, however, was by far the most unique part of my visit:

Upon arrival Joel tells me the village chief has died, the funeral is that day, would I be interested in going...of course I am! SO we go. Need I remind you I am in an African village in Burkina Faso...this is no ordinary funeral.

So we go to the chief's courtyard where the funeral takes place. Here I learn that the chief was like 105 and died a few days ago. After he died they sat ( and tied) his body to make him sit up, and barricaded the body in his home for 3 days. Then on the 4th day, the day I arrived there to witness this, they tore down the wall and removed his (very smelly) body and wraped it up in layers and layers of cloth. Then several villagers picked up the body and carried it three times around the courtyard and then proceed to carry the body 10K away to the burial site.

Some interesting characters at the funeral: the old women wailing "ayiii ayiiii", some old guy who could barely carry his own weight carrying this HUGE rifle and shooting it every now and then, 5 feet away from us. Oh and this other old guy carrying this bloody hatchet which I swaear looked like it had strips of meaty flesh hanging from it leading the people carrying the dead chief.

So I got to witness everything (except the 10K walk) which was so INSANE considering I had just arrived a couple hours earlier. If things could get any more crazy, there were a lot of people from other villages and cities who came to pay their respects. Now I know cell phones are HUGE in Burkina and even villagers and the poorest of the poor somehow have a cell phone (there is a cell phone tower directly behind my future home). But I just found this whole funeral ceremony thing so ironic. Why? During this very traditional, African ceremony that is happening to honor an old village chief, complete with bloody hatchets and wierd traditions/superstitions with the body, there are literally five men chasing after the people carrying the body, snapping photos of the ceremony with their camera phones.

And that was my welcome to Pobe-Mengao.

Thought Id try to add a little humor to my blog. The following is a true story:

NOTE: 1) everyone is given a black medical kit filled with everything we need from insect repellent, sunscreen and cough drops to malaria pills and oral rehydration tablets. 2) An LCF is a local well-ecucated Burkinabe hired by the Peace Corps to teach French, local language and cultural adaptation/integration to the trainees.

For my story the LCF will remain anonymous and go by the name of "Burkinabe Bob"

So all the GEE volunteers are going through a particular tech training course. We re all sitting on "nats" (mats) under a grove of mango trees. During the class I am half-mindedly cleaning out my swiss army knife that has collected quite a bit of sand and dirt.

Notice I said half-mindedly. I cut my finger. The cut itself is not too big, just about the width of my finger but the cut is pretty deep. Blood immediately begins to pour out and starts to drip on the ground. I head around to the back and ask "Burkinabe Bob" to bring the med kit.

"I need some cleansing stuff and some bandaids!" I say

Now Burkinabe Bob is a very fatherly type of person who constantly worries. He sees the blood and I notice the mild panic in his eyes. He doesnt speak any English, so he is unable to read any of the medication in the med kit. While grabbing my hand I am trying to help him find cleanser and bandaids. At this point my finger is bleeding pretty heavily so I turn my attentinon toward my hand to try to find out exactly where the cut it.

"I have it! I found it! Here you go!" yells out Burkinabe Bob

I look at what he is handing me. I stare for a good 5 seconds. I then look him in the eyes to see if he is being serious. He is dead serious. I cant help but laugh.

"Burkinabe Bob those are condoms! I dont need condoms I need bandaids!"

Luckily Steven, a fellow trainne is witnessing this small mayhem that is happening and quickly rushes over to find the necessary materials.

Now my finger is clean, disinfected and nicely bandadged...and not wrapped in a latex condom.

:)

So, Ive got some good news and bad news!

The bad news is that, as delicious as the food was at our 4th of July party, it made many of the volunteers sick....including me. Many were sick with high fever/vomiting/diarrea. Ive had a high fever and non stop diarrea. Feeling very weak and tired today but definitely feeling a bit better. I had a very rough night, but hopefully the worst is over!

The good news is that I know where I will be living for the next two years! This afternoon all the Girls Education and Empowerment and Secondary Education volunteers were told where we would be located. I will be living in small village called Pobe-Mengao located up in the north, about 25K from the city of Djibo. I do not know much about my site yet. All I know is that i will be replacing a volunteer, and that I will live in my very own private home complete with a large enclosure/courtyard. It seems there are about 3 or 4 different local languages spoken in my village, from Morre to Fulfulde to the main one, Kurunfe (spelling?). So I have a feeling I will be depending more on my French than anything else, which is fine with me.

Next week we will be going on site visits! We will visit our sites, meet the volunteer we are replacing, and meet our counterpart. Our counterpart can be a teacher or someone else in the village who speaks French and the local language(s) that will be helping us and that we will work closely with during our 2 years at site.

My site seems very exciting so far! What is great is that i am not too far from other volunteers so times when i need some american companions they will be just a short bus ride ( or maybe even just a long bike ride?) away. The only negative i have seen so far is that the city I am closest too is Djibo and aparently there is no internet there...so not too sure how often i will be able to check email or update the blog. Could be only every 3 to 4 months or so...ill find out more.

I will be living with my host family and going through training here near Ouahigouya until the end of August. Our swearing in, going from trainees to official volunteers occurs in Ouagadougou August 29 and after that we are off to our sites!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July !

Over here the volunteers and staff had a nice party in the city with lots of great food…which included mango pies and goat kebobs! (We slaughtered the goat given to us by the big chief on our arrival here…delicious!) We ate, drank and danced it was wonderful!

Training is going by slowly but surely. It is definitely starting to get more detailed and specific which is good. Were also learning a lot of cultural integration things including a recent class on nutrition, what foods we can buy and the seasonal foods available. We even received a cookbook made by past volunteers which has some pretty cool and interesting recipes that I am anxious to try. Next week we all find out our site location (our home for the next 2 years!!!) And the week after that we actually go out on site visits to see our future home.

As much as I love being out in village, I do enjoy being able to come out to the city once a week to see the SE volunteers, run errands, have electricity and enjoy city life! A few days ago when we spent a couple days in the city for training, myself and some other volunteers played in a soccer games vs a local girls team. We lost big time… 4 to 1 but it felt great to be out there and play, get some exercise a little bit! This girls are tough!

The rainy season is definitely here. It will be nice and sunny when all of a sudden the sky goes gray, and the wind starts to really pick up….thats when you know to duck inside as quickly as possible because when it rains, it rains hard. Sleeping outside is great but being woken up at 2am to quickly disemble my tent and rush inside...not so fun. But its great because after the rain the weather is much nicer and cooler. I would say lately its been raining about once or twice a week.

My family life is still going great. As time goes on my family is giving me more and more independence. Im learning how to wash my own cothes and I’m getting cooking lessons on meals I can make when I’m at site! Things like potatoes and sauce with onions and, and this really good meal of beans and rice called Benga. Ive also showed the family how to play "Yum"... this dice game i used to always play as a kid. They had never seen dice before and they LOVE the game. They ask to play every night...everyone from the kids to the fathers. Its a fun game plus it involves some math so I think its good :)

Ive gotten quite a few questions from people about what its like to live in a Muslim family. To be honest, its not what I expected at all in terms of religion and conservativeness. Yes, my family is very religious and prays five times a day. There are specific gender roles with the women’s role being to cook and clean from early morning to late at night. But in terms of dress, they are really not that conservative. The only time I have seen women veiled is when they pray (and the women have to pray behind the men.) But other than than, it’s pretty lax. They wear tank tops and jewelry. I’ve joked that I’ve seen more breasts in the past couple of weeks than I have in my lifetime! Breats are definitely no big deal. My family, including men women and children have been really busy during the day planting and cultivating.

However I will say that adjusting to gender roles in Africa as a whole has been interesting. Yesterday we learned that an elderly woman in our village died, so we went to pay our respects to the family. We were a few volunteers (white) and our two male and female language teachers (black). The family gave us to mats to sit on and we told to sit separated, not by color but by gender. So while they say female volunteers are typically treated as a 3rd gender...we are STILL women, and treated differently for it.

Lastly, I got my first letter by mail here! (Thanks mom!) And let me tell you it was absolutely wonderful to get mail. It totally made my day so please please send me letters (or packages) I have been feeling homesick, not to the point that I wish I were back home but I definitely miss my friends and family and think of you often. Even being in such a large family, its amazing how alone I can feel out here. When everyone around you speaks this completely foreign language and are completely different from you, it’s hard to relate and its very isolating at times. So, the connection to home is greatly appreciated. Also, thanks so much for those that send me emails! I love reading them and i applogize for my late replies. But here internet is slow and I usually only pay for 1 hour. Im still adjusting to the strange keyboard here and i never get a chance to respond to all. But please keep writing!

Things on my wish list right now: dried fruit, nuts, peanut M&Ms, hard candy or any type of non perishable american food snack, little packets of tissue (great for toilet paper!), hard candy or anything I can share with the kids! Thanks to all

-Jariatu (my African name given to me by my village...my famlily calls me Jari for short)

It has only been about 2 weeks since I have been here but I feel that so much has changed! After arriving in Burkina Faso the volunteers spent some time in Ouaga (the capital) and Ouahigouya. But now and for the next 3 months I am living with my new adopted family. While the secondary education volunteers enjoy the "luxury" of living in the city with electricity, all the GEE volunteers are located in small, rural villages.

I and 3 other GEE volunteers are living in a small, remote village about 8 to 10K from Ouahigouya. I absolutely love my family. My family is a very large Muslim family (and by large I mean 34 members living in the family compound!!). The family includes my father, his 3 wives, their children, the sons'families, gandchildren etc...Most do not speak French. However one teenage daughter Kedija speaks French very well which is great for me. Several of the others speak a little french as well.

Despite the language barrier my family is sooo nice, friendly and welcoming. I already feel like i am apart of the family. They are excited to teach me how to cook, wash clothes and dance! Every night after I return from training I take my bucket bath (which may not sound like much but in this crazy hot weather my 2 bucket baths morning and night are the highlights of my day!), eat and all the kids and family crowd around me outside my hut to talk, laugh, and teach me Fufulde, the local language that I am currently learning! One of the earliest coping methods you have to have here is how to laugh at yourself. People here love to laugh, with you and AT you, especially when you try to speak their language. I love that sense of humor is so important here.

The only hard adjustment right now I would say is the food...carbs carbs everywhere! One of the sons is responsible for my breakfast and dinner. Meals cooked for me, include one pound of spaghetti with oily sauce or 1 lb of rice with oily sauce and I'm often served an entire loaf of baguette. A reality check for me was realizing children do not all have big bellies because of lack of food here. They have enough food it is just WHAT they eat. They are very much limiited by what they can eat....very little fruits, veggies, protein and other important nutrients. Luckily during training we are a bike ride away from Ouahugoya where I can buy fruits, nuts and even some "American-like" things.

My home is a small but very nice mud hut located in the middle of the family compounnd. It is nice but extremeley hot at night, so one of my favorite times is at night. I sleep under the moon and stars (and my bug tent!). About four of the girls sleep on a mat by my side to "protect" me and keep me company. Such an amazing experience and great way to escape the heat! Like i said my family is Muslim, so every morning around 4:30 to 5 am I am awakened by the call to prayer, and their mosque or prayer area is literally 20 feet from my hut!

I may not have been here long but i absolutely love it here. i feel like i have learned so much in such a short time....taking pleasure in all the little things and realizing how much i take for granted. Whether it is learning Fufulde during my language lessons, biking into Ouahugoya to purchase a mango from a street vendor, or spending time laughing with my family, i am loving every minute of every day here.

Till next time :)

P.S. I am having problems uploading photos so next time i will try to upload them to another website and see if that works... hopefully i can get them up soon!

I arrived in Phili Saturday evening. I've been shocked with the weather. It's extremeley HOT and HUMID. At 8:30 p.m. it was still over 94 degrees. I guess it's good prep for Africa!

Our pre-service training has been interesting...and a bit long. There are 31 of us off to Burkina Faso, split just about evenly but maybe a few more girls than guys. Everyone's young, in their mid or late twenties.

Basically we've spent the entire past two days in one of the hotel conference rooms going over pre-service training, things such as the Peace Corps mission, our aspirations, fears and other basic things. A lot of it was writing down things on a notebook and drawing pictures, at times I felt like I was back in 2nd grade lol. We had no time to sight see in Philadelphia. However a few of us arrived Saturday on early flights. So on Sunday Leah, Elsa and I (all from Cali...way to represent!) went on a long walk around Phili, got to see Penn University (such a gorgeous campus!) and wadded in the fountain at Logan Circle. Tomorrow we start the morning with some shots!! Then we head to the airport and are off to Ouagadougou!!!! (with a stop in Paris). I am soooo excited and so READY to get there. Still not nervous, just ready. Let's get this started!

I will be working as a Community Education and Development Outreach Agent in the Girls Education and Empowerment Program in Burkina Faso. In short, I will be working as a liaison between schools and communities and creating programs encouraging girls to go to, stay and succeed in school. I'll work with organizations, professionals and families on projects large and small. As most of you would expect, one goal I'm hoping to be able to accomplish is to start a girls' sports team, basketball, if possible.

Schedule

June 7: Fly to Philadelphia for Pre-Service Training

June 10: Leave for Ouagadougou for Training

Sometime in September: Sent to project site

Facts on Burkina Faso

-landlocked country in West Africa

-language: French and local African languages like Moore, Fulfulde, Gourmantchema etc.

-population: 14 million

-rainy season June to October (90+ degrees), dry season November to May (100+ degrees)

-it's one of the ten poorest countries in the world

-86% of population lives on less than $2 a day

-average life expectancy: 47.5 years

-literacy rate: 32%

-50% Islam, 20% Christian, 30% indigenous beliefs