Hello friends and family, First of all, happy new year! I hope 2012 has been treating all of you well. My new year has been going well so far. As all of you probably know, I was in America for the month of December. It was great seeing all of my friends and family. Thank you all for the wonderful visit! We will have to do it again soon. I arrived back in Burkina two days before the New Year and celebrated with several PCVs who came up to Kaya for the event. We made Mexican at my house and then headed to a dance club (if you can call if that) to dance until midnight. Overall, I’d say it was a success. The following week I started work again at Save the Children. Before I left for vacation in America, I stopped working full time at the Save office or on the mobile team. I am now at two CSPSs (health clinics) in Kaya working with the malnourished children at those health clinics. And I am enjoying it so much more! When I was on the mobile team, I was supervising health clinic staff instead of actually working with the children myself. So since November I have been getting hands-on experience, which I find much more interesting (and good for fulfilling grad school pre-reqs). And on the days where not many women come to the clinics, I get to help out with vaccinations and pre-natal consultations. Woot woot! In addition to working at the CSPSs I am working on Camp G2LOW here in Kaya. We have partnered with the local Ministry of Youth office and are working closely together during the planning process. So far, things are moving along smoothly. And as always, we are looking for donations, so please go here to learn more about Camp G2LOW and to place a donation. Trent (my Kaya sitemate) and I recently got funds from PC to do a World AIDS Day project. We know we are a little late- World AIDS Day was December 1, but better late than never! We are planning to do a mural at Trent’s school he teaches at and are currently looking for another place in town for a second mural. Last weekend I went up to Tougouri for my first visit since I left last summer. I planned on going for just Saturday, but ended up spending the night because there were just too many people to visit! Everyone was so happy to see me. Some were a little confused, because they thought I had gone back to America last summer, but here I was, riding around on my bike like I had never left. I also had the pleasure of sitting in on the Youth Club at the high school I taught at during my time in Tougouri. The Youth Club was started by Zangre, a counterpart who helped out with Camp G2LOW last year, and students who were camp participants last year. It was great to see something that I had helped start actually being continued after I left! So that’s about all for the moment. Hope everything is going well with everyone stateside and I hope to hear from you all soon! Now here are a few pictures of my new house in Kaya. I’m still decorating, or stopped decorating I guess, so if you have any great ideas, please let me know! There are a lot of blank walls…

Raise your hand if you have ever been to summer camp. I bet that the majority of my blog readers have at some point in their life attended some sort of summer camp. The camp experience is a unique one that can change a child’s life. I have been on both sides of the camp experience as a counselor and camper and there is something truly magical about the camp experience. Being away from home (maybe for the first time), meeting new people, learning new things, and having fun all aid in a child’s development. Unfortunately many children in Africa never get to experience a camp. Camps are costly and many students spend their summers tending their fields that provide food for their families. Camp G2LOW (Girls and Guys Leading Our World) is an already well-established national camp happening annually in 22 Peace Corps countries around the world. Burkina Faso became the 23rd country to host Camp G2LOW in August 2011, starting the first edition of Camp G2LOW at the regional level in the cities of Kaya and Boromo. Our goal is to add two more regions each year until it reaches the national level with a two week long camp: one week of boys and one week of girls. Next year, in 2012, we hope to expand Camp G2LOW to include not only Kaya and Boromo, but also Léo and Fada as well. That way the camp will touch four different regions of the country. I will be working the Kaya Camp this summer. The camp trains 6eme and 5eme (6th and 7th grade) boys and girls and focuses on three main themes: healthy living practices, leadership development, and the promotion of gender equality. Some of our sessions during 2011 included: § Men as partners/developing equality § Leadership § Hygiene and sanitation § Effects of alcohol and cigarette consumption § Healthy relationships § Effective communication skills § Self-esteem § Reproductive and sexual education § HIV/AIDS § Family planning § Making the right decisions § Planning for the future § What is violence? § Career panel with Burkinabe businessmen and women In 2011, the Peace Corps Burkina Faso team of volunteers and staff put forth a lot of effort to reassure the community participation and sustainability of the camp. Villages were requested to choose 4 girls and 4 boys to attend the camp based on their school performance and character. They also helped to choose a host country national (HCN) to work with each Peace Corps volunteer (PCV) and to help be a counselor during the camp after completion of a comprehensive training. Communities also helped pay for student transport, housing, and materials. In order for Camp G2LOW to take place again in 2012, in addition to the 25% community contribution by the villages involved, Burkina Faso PCVs as well as Burkina Faso HCNs must raise $44,000. This is where your generosity can help! With your help and donations, we will be able to achieve our goal. Any donations, big or small, are greatly appreciated. We are hoping to raise $24,000 through the help of our family and friends through the Peace Corps Partnership Program. If you are interested in making a 100% tax-deductible donation and would like more information on how to donate, please go to http://pcburkina.org/camp-glow. Two weeks in four different cities. 60 middle school aged students a week. Giving students a week to just be kids. Giving students a week to learn more about their bodies and how to make good decisions. Developing tomorrow’s leaders. Camps change lives. Please donate to Camp G2LOW. Give a Burkinabe child the gift of a summer they will never forget! Thanks!

Stephanie and I in MarylandThe view of Kaya from the Governor's houseAnother angle of KayaTrent and Grace, my sitematesRichard and I, sweaty as usualEmily, Carolyn, and I

Check out this video from the first day of Burkina's 50th Anniversary fair:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl2vFj3mvZw&feature=related

Ca fait deux jours (it’s been two days)…as they say here in Burkina Faso, whether it’s been two days or a month or a year since you last saw someone. And yes, it has been two days, at least, since I’ve updated my blog. Désolé. So what has been going on in my life recently? A lot I must say. Let me start back in the middle of July… I left on the 18th of July with Marita, Julie, and Rachel (fellow PCVs who has just become RPCV- returned Peace Corps Volunteers- aka they had just finished their service) for Tanzania. We arrived without much hassle in the middle of the night and promptly slept the next day away in our hotel rooms. Rachel and I were in the honeymoon suite, and it sure was sweet. The following day we left on a three-day safari to see animals in the wild, like I’d never seen before. The half of the safari was at Tarangire National Park where five minutes in we saw a herd of wildebeest and started to franticly take pictures. Little did we know that wildebeests are like goats in Burkina, you see them all the time. Some of the animals we saw, but were not limited to: Impala, Plain Zebra, Masai Ostrich, Masai Lion, African Elephant, Secretary bird, Masai giraffe, Savanna Baboon, Cape Buffalo, Fischer’s lovebird (made me think of you Mom), Vervet monkey, and warthog (which the guide kept calling Pumba). We really couldn’t believe how many animals we saw in such a short amount of time. The next day we left for Ngorongoro Park, the home of a huge crater or caldera, at least a mile down and 16 miles across. There, we stayed on the edge of the caldera for the night before venturing down the next day. After taking the steep route into the mouth of the caldera, it felt like we were in a different world. The cloud cover was even below the rim of the caldera. In Ngorongoro we saw many of the same animals as in Tarangire, but we also saw hippos, jackals, gazelles, the sacred ibis, hyenas, and even a cheetah! Before going on the safari, I had a ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ attitude, but after being on one, it was completely worth it. When again am I going to be able to see animals like that in their natural state? After finishing the safari, and arriving back in Arusha, Tanzania, we rested up that night before beginning the climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro….I can’t really seem to explain in words what a good time I had. Yes, it was cold (really really cold after being in Burkina) and I got altitude sickness, but I was with wonderful people, which made the whole trip worth it. We did the Lemosho route and finished in eight days. People generally finish in six to eight days, but we choose to do a longer ascent for better acclimatization after being at basically sea level in Burkina for two years. And the food was amazing! I don’t know if I thought that because I had come from Burkina as not from America, but boy, did it rock. I would do Kili again just for the food…just kidding. But it was good! (Can you tell that I’m still a PCV because of how much I talk about food?) I really could go on and on about Kilimanjaro, but I won’t take your time up with that, because I still have so much to share! So after descending the biggest mountain on the continent of Africa, I flew back to Burkina while Marita, Julie, and Rachel continued onto America and home sweet home. And fortunately, we all got our bags (eventually) in their respective locations! Once I arrived in Burkina (without my bag, which got delayed and Ghana and would find me later), I went straight to the PC bureau to work on Camp Glow stuff. I stayed in Ouaga a few days to get everything figured out, and then it was back to Kaya to get things finalized before the camp. So I arrived back August 4th in Burkina and the training of trainers for Camp Glow started August 11th. Not much time. And guess what happened in between: the mayor decided to change the location on us, so we had to find a new place, inform the officials and inform all the schools. Additionally, PLAN Burkina, an NGO we were working with, said that we didn’t submit the proper paperwork to get their help. Thanks for telling us at the last minute. All the last minute stuff also had to be taken care of as well, such as bringing supplies to the new location, setting up mosquito nets, printing a ton of materials, etc, etc, etc. Needless to say, it was a process, one I do not want to do again alone. One of the lessons learned. Then came the beginning of Camp Glow. We had a three-day training of trainers, getting the facilitators ready to facilitate. Then the boys arrived! And then the girls came! Throughout the two week-long camp, there were activities to encourage self-esteem, goal-setting, and leadership, as well as create awareness for personal health, HIV/AIDS prevention, and the importance of education. We, as facilitators, ran into problems, but that’s the case with any new thing that takes place. And of course there were many lessons learned and we’re already thinking about next year’s camp (AHHHH!!!!). The important thing is that the students had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed themselves, while also gaining important information and knowledge that they will hopefully guard for the rest of their lives. I have faith in them. Towards the end of Camp Glow I started getting sick and by the end of the second week I was down for the count. The PC country director took me to Ouaga, where I stayed in the med unit for almost two weeks. It was a good, air-conditioned, recovery period. I came back to Kaya last week, still a little rundown and tired, but was very glad to be back. I spent a few days’ just relaxing, beginning to think about all the paperwork that comes after the camp, and decorating my house. I started work again yesterday at Save the Children, and it feels really good to be back. And I am back. Ok, well that’s about all for today, if you have any comments or questions, please feel free to post comments or email me at emma.prasher@gmail.com. Now some housekeeping stuff: 1. I don’t know if I wrote about my change of address already, but here it is again: Emma Prasher, PCV s/c Corps de la Paix B.P. 157 Kaya, Burkina Faso West Africa 2. PC Burkina has a website! It is www.pcburkina.org. Please feel free to browse to your heart’s content. 3. Burkina’s Camp Glow has a page on the website. At the moment it’s a little hard to find. Two ways to find it are: a. Click on the “Youth Development” tab on the website. It is under that. b. Google search “Burkina Camp Glow.” It should be the first or second link that pops up. 4. As usual, it’s taking wayyyy to long to load pictures on my blog, so check out facebook for picture updates! 5. I just got a blackberry (I know, giving into the smartphone trend) so I now have internet all the time, or at least when the connection is good. So I will be more available to chat whenever! Also, if you also have a blackberry, let me know and we can become blackberry messenger friends and text for free! 6. I will be taking my month long home leave from the end of November to the end of December. I am planning to spend the majority in it in Alabama with my family, but will be up in the DC/St. Mary’s area for a few days. So hopefully I can see everyone! I hope this finds you all well and surviving the crazy weather. It’s currently the beginning of mini-hot season here (90F at 9pm), so I’ll send some warm breezes your way!!! Take care!

Now for a little more information about the organization I am now working for. Save the Children Canada (SCC) is an international humanitarian NGO who works to protect children’s rights throughout the world. SCC has been present in West Africa for more than 20 years, now with a regional office in Ouaga. In Burkina, alongside the Ministry to Health, SCC works to teach about HIV/AIDS and against malnutrition. After an evaluation, the Centre-Nord region of Burkina Faso was chosen as SCC’s site to fight malnutrition. The regional capital of the Centre-Nord is Kaya. The Health District of Kaya covers 7 communes and 334 villages. Within these villages, there are 52 CSPSs (Medical Clinics), one CREN (Centre for Malnutrition), and the regional hospital. SSC works in all of these locations to help eliminate malnutrition in the district of Kaya. The goal is to have a durable and permanent reduction of malnutrition.

Now, malnutrition is what exactly? According to unicef, malnutrition “is a broad term commonly used as an alternative to undernutrition but technically it also refers to overnutrition. People are malnourished if their diet does not provide adequate calories and protein for growth and maintenance or they are unable to fully utilize the food they eat due to illness (undernutrition). They are also malnourished if they consume too many calories (overnutrition).” In this situation we are talking about undernutrition. I would love to see fat babies everywhere.

It is estimated that 20 million children suffer from severe acute malnutrition and directly contributes to 1 million deaths per year. Since 2005, health workers have been using the community care method to treat acute malnutrition. This method has been recognized by the World Health Organization as the best approach to treat malnutrition. This approach has 3 essential components: community mobilization, outpatient care, for children without complications, and hospitalization for children with complications. Generally children 6-59 months are admitted into this program.

So what does this mean for me exactly? This means that every morning a team of Save the Children workers (generally 2-3 people) goes out to one of the 52 villages in the Kaya district. When we arrive at the village, we head to the CSPS to find a long line of women waiting for us (if word has gotten out that we’re coming that day). Then we set to work determining if each child is malnourished. We look at the age, sex, weight, height, and MUAC. Based on the child’s measurements, we decide if the child is malnourished. And if so, is he/she moderately or severely malnourished? If the child is malnourished, we give them vitamin A, amoxicillin, folic acid, along with plumpy nut (a nutritional supplement given out by UNICEF). We enter them in our program and monitor them over several months, with the hope that everyone gets better!

SCC has recently started a new initiative where all the children 0 to 5 years in the Kaya district, along with pregnant or nursing mothers, are given free medical treatment. Programs like these can take place due to community participation alongside the regional health office. I’m looking forward to seeing this be put into action.

In other news, I leave for Mt. Kilimanjaro in a few days. I’m still doing my Close of Service trip that I’d planned on doing for almost a year with three of my good friends here in country. So we will be climbing Kili and doing a three day safari. Then I return to Burkina where ten days later, Camp G2LOW starts. It’s going to be a whirlwind until September, but I am looking forward to everything (although of course I am also looking forward to relaxing and only having work to think about in Sept). Yay!

Dear Friends and Family,

I am officially doing a third year here in Burkina Faso. I am working with the NGO Save the Children Canada. Everything happened in a whirlwind a few weeks ago, with me finishing school, then getting this job with Save the Children, then starting my new job, then moving all of my belongings to my new house. Needless to say, I haven't had much time to update/be on the internet. But I'm here now!

I am now working at Save the Children. I am still a Peace Corps Volunteer, so I still get all the perks of PC (the best healthcare, a whole bureau to support us, a way out if the country blows up, etc) but I am working for an NGO. Save the Children here in Burkina has three main offices: Ouaga, Banfora, and Kaya. I am at the Kaya office working in the mobile team to help end childhood malnutrition in the centre-nord region of Burkina. Being in the mobile team, every morning we go to a different village to diagnosis and treat children who are malnourished. It is fantastic work, everyday is different, and I actually feel like I'm making a difference.

Living in Kaya will be very different than living in Tougouri. First of all, my house is amazing. I have a salon, two bedrooms, one of which I have turned into a kitchen, and an inside bathroom, yes with running water and even a toilet! Although I have to admit, I still use the latrine more often than not. A toilet just uses too much water. But the shower is wonderful!! Annnddddd I have electricity! This is a big change for me. Electricty means that I now have fans! So I sleep in my bed, with real sheets on it (I've been missing that for two years) under a large ceiling fan. Being able to charge my cellphone and computer is definitely nice too.

Another difference about living in Kaya is that there are two other PC volunteers. I really like this, but I don't want it to turn into me only hanging out with them. I enjoy (and now miss) my village friends. But good news, Kaya is only 70km from Tougouri, so I am sure to see my Tougouri friends all the time. In fact, one of them has already come down to visit me for a night!

Oh another difference: I have a new puppy! His name is Denzel and he is black with a white stomach and white front paws and loves to chew on toes!

Well, I've got to run, but hope everyone is well and it's not as hot there as it is here!!

Sorry it has been a year and a day since I've last updated. Okay, it's actually only been three months. But three months is a long time and a lot has happened!

To recap:

On February 22nd, students in Koudougou, a town 100km northwest of Ouaga, started protesting after the death of a jailed student. During the protests four people were killed and more were injured (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/world/africa/25briefs-Burkina.html). As a result of this, students burned down government buildings in Koudougou and called for nationwide strikes. On February 28th the Burkina government closed school indefinitely and the police chief and governor of Koudougou were relived of their duties (http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=13019318). In early March, students all over the country began protesting and burning police stations and government property (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-09/burkina-faso-students-protest-deaths-police-rights-group-says.html).

Mid March brought around the first military protests, as soldiers in Ouaga left their barracks and began shooting into the air in protest of a recent arrest of their colleague (http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/burkina-govt-calls-for-calm-after-overnight-gunfire). Everything calmed down for a few days until unrest began in Fada, a town about 250km East of Ouagadougou. Soldiers were again protesting over the arrest of a colleague and blocked the entrance to Fada (http://af.reuters.com/article/idAFJOE72R0LR20110328). Subsequently, soldiers from Fada left the town and went to neighboring towns to commandeer vehicles and rally support and arms. After a few tense days, the protests in Fada seemed to calm down.

Around the middle of March, the presidential guard in Ouaga mutinied over a pay dispute (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-04-15/burkina-s-faso-s-presidential-guard-mutinies-in-capital.html). The military protests then spread to other towns in Burkina Faso (http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/04/18/world-burkina-faso-mutiny.html). The President gave the presidential guard more pay and then dissolved the government and the problems seemed to be solved for the time being http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/16/world/africa/16burkina.html).

At the end of May, right at the end of the school year, teachers began striking, wanting more pay. Students then began striking as well, to help the teacher's cause (http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/04/18/world-burkina-faso-mutiny.html). Then, last Monday, military protests began again around the country over a pay dispute. Tuesday, the military in Bobo, the second biggest city in Burkina, left the second largest base in country, started shooting in the air and looting shops. On Wednesday, shopkeepers, fed up with the looting and rioting, tried to get onto military base, but to no avail. They burned mayor's office and were then dispersed. Thursday all was calm in morning until around 2pm, when the military left their barracks again and started rioting in centre-ville, comandeering cars, and shooting in air. Over Thursday night, the Presidental Guard made its way to Bobo and Friday morning attacked the military base where 57 were arrested, 7 killed, 20 injured (http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE75403V20110605). Things have been calm since Friday.

I hope none of this scares you back home. I have seen no disturbances in my village and would not know any of this was going on except for Peace Corps messages and Burkinabe gossip while listening to the radio. So please do not worry. I feel completely safe. :)

Now, in terms of my life, school is finished!...well almost. I have calculated all of my students' grades and filled out their report cards. All that is left is the final teachers meeting. So I am basically done with my primary assignment for Peace Corps! Camp GLOW has been moved to August, due to the extension of the school year and everything that has been going on countrywide. So this means that I will be in Burkina at least until September. However, I am thinking about doing a third year (gasp). I'm in the process of finding a job in the health sector in Kaya, my regional capital. I really want electricity and fan(s) if I'm going to be staying in Burkina. So my life in up in the air at the moment. But since school is done, I now have time to go to Kaya during the work week to job search. yay!

However, things that are for sure:1. My sister, Rebecca, is here visiting, but is leaving tonight :(2. I'm climbing Kilimanjaro in July as my COS (close of service) trip, despite the fact that I am not COSing in July.3. It is hot season and it it hot.4. I am still accepting packages, but to there has been a change in the addressNew address: Emma Prasher, PCVs/c Corps de la PaixB.P. 157Kaya, Burkina Faso5. I miss everyone at home and hope you're all enjoying the beginning of summer!

Camp GLOW is up online! Please click here to donate: Peace Corps Partnership Camp GLOW.

Thank you so much!

As most of you know, I have been working on Camp GLOW (guys and girls leading our world). Lorena (another volunteer) and I have been spearheading this project to bring this camp to Burkina. We will be asking for donations from friends and family in a few weeks, so I wanted to give you all a heads up. I've copied our project proposal for everyone to read, so please enjoy!Project Description: Excited by its success in other countries, Peace Corps Burkina Faso has decided to host its first Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World). In hopes to become the 23rd Peace Corps country to house a Camp GLOW, we also want to make Camp GLOW even more unique by giving it a small twist to transform it to Camp G2LOW (Girls and Guys Leading Our World). There is no denying that, in Burkina Faso’s patriarchal system, there is a need to empower women, but it is our belief that the only true way to empower women is to educate young men, and teach them the importance of working with woman as equals. Camp G2LOW is a week-long leadership training camp geared toward school-age male and female students across the world. Camp G2LOW -as it pertains to Burkina Faso- will focus on three subfields: 1) healthy lifestyles, 2) development of leadership skills, and 3) promotion of gender equality. In order to address the subfield of healthy lifestyles, camp counselors, which will include Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) and host country nationals (HCNs), will lead educational sessions focused on proper hygiene and safe sex practices, as to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and lower the rate of unwanted pregnancy. To develop their leadership skills, Camp G2LOW participants will take part in activities to teach critical thinking and decision-making skills. Lastly, camp counselors will aid in the promotion of gender equality by leading sessions that focus on ending domestic violence, as well as working with members of the opposite sex as partners on the same playing field. The regional capitals of Kaya and Boromo have been selected to serve as the locations for the inaugural year of Camp G2LOW in Burkina Faso. Camp G2LOW will be held in Kaya June 19th to July 3rd and in Boromo July 15th to July 30th. During two weeks of camp, 60 girls and 60 boys from surrounding villages will participate in Camp G2LOW in each location. Purpose of project: With a United Nations' Human Development Index (HDI) ranking of 161 out of 169, Burkina Faso remains one of the poorest countries in the world (United Nations Development Program). Seeing as more than 50% of the country is under the age of 15, it stands to reason that Peace Corps Burkina Faso has identified middle school students (generally around the age of 11 to 16) as their target group. As Secondary Education Peace Corps Volunteers, we work with this particular group of the population on a regular basis. Often we encounter our young girl students getting pregnant before they reach the 8th grade; passive to the passes that are made to them by older men, and naïve to the process of getting pregnant and STDs. We work with male teachers who more than often take advantage of their position to get these same girls to sleep with them for a guarantee of a good grade and a false hope of a future with a civil servant. Sadly, these situations generally end in undesired pregnancies, an education and a promising future left behind, and occasionally a newborn abandoned in the middle of the bush. The youth, and more specifically, the young women of Burkina Faso, are generally passive when it comes to decision-making. Part of the reason the youth are so passive is because Burkina Faso is an extremely patriarchal society. As a result of the extreme patriarchal structure, men tend to make all decisions, and the women's voice goes unheard. Additionally, we see boy students who idolize and wish to imitate their male teachers by sleeping with numerous girls at a young age or hoping to one day be a teacher so they can too take advantage of their female students. All the while, these young impressionable men are unconscious of the consequences and oblivious to the corruptness of the actions they wish to replicate. As teachers, we also have the misfortune of knowing numerous students who die of malaria and other various diseases every year due to misinformation and poor education. Camp G2LOW will aid development by working with this critical group of students and by educating them and instilling in them a sense of commitment and dedication to bettering their communities and country as a whole and by building the capacity of HCNs on interactive and participatory teaching methods. By addressing healthy living practices, the development of leadership skills, and the promotion of gender equality, Camp G2LOW 2011 intends to teach young men and women to work together as partners, and to take charge of their futures by confidently asserting themselves and by making responsible decisions. Justification for the grant: Burkina Faso is a country of constant metamorphosis. Plagued by political overturn, after political overturn, Burkina Faso did not become “politically stable” until the early 1990s, 30 years after gaining independence from France. It was with this stability that Burkina Faso was able to move toward more market-orientated economic policies and re-engagement with the international community. Re-engagement with the international economic community was good for Burkina Faso, but the benefits of this change were not always distributed evenly. Burkinabè youth, and more specifically the female youth, are still suffering from high levels of unemployment and few educational opportunities. The overall unemployment rate in Burkina Faso is 77% (The World Factbook). In terms of education, only 21.8% of Burkinabè over the age of 15 are literate. When one considers that 29.4% of Burkinabè men are literate, it is shocking to discover that only 15.2% of Burkinabè women are literate (The World Factbook). For example, in the town of Tougouri, with a population of 7 thousand and a middle school that caters to 42 surrounding villaged, only 30% of the 900 students are female. In the 2009-2010 school year, only 37% of those 300 female students made the average to go on to the next grade level. Because these numbers are so discouraging, Camp G2LOW can be a great asset to Burkina Faso. Unfortunately, the youth of Burkina Faso often feel that they are victims of the system, and do not even try to break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy. The youth of Burkina Faso need to be motivated and introduced to tools to tackle these obstacles that past generations of Burkinabè were never forced to encounter. Burkina Faso is not developing rapidly due to its few large metropolitan areas, lack of ports for shipping and importing, and limited variety of products that build up the economic sector. For instance, 90% of the population are cultivators and agricultural workers; this would not be a problem if it were not for the fact that only 17.66% of the land is suitable for that type of work (The World Factbook). As a result of the lack of resources, opportunities are limited for youth. Camp G2LOW will offer economically challenged, rural youth the opportunity to leave their villages, quite possibly for the first time, and attend a program that will equip them with the skills required to start the process of bettering the state of their communities and themselves by teaching them to make good decisions. Camp G2LOW 2011 will offer its participants a realistic setting in which to explore the various aspects of gender equality. In Burkina Faso, gender equality is almost nonexistent despite efforts by the government to enact legislation focused on improving women’s rights. In the typical Burkinabè family, the rights of the women (and in some cases the girls) are poorly protected. An alarming 2004 United Nations report actually estimated that 35 percent of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 were already married, divorced, or widowed in Burkina Faso. In addition to the early marriage problems, there is also little equality in most Burkinabè marriages. Though the Burkina Faso family codes state that spouses are equal, and that both parents should share parental authority, the men are still considered to be the head of the family. All decisions men make are expected to be obeyed by their wives. The problems start to occur when the men are not able to make enough money to support their families, creating a situation where their wives are then forced to work and contribute to the household finances. Most men in this country have a hard time seeing women as their equals, so the fact that they are the same economically also tends to lead to problems. It is for these reasons, and many more that Camp G2LOW wishes to work with gender equality alongside both girls and boys. One can use the practice of female genital mutilation as a case study for the power of educating a country. The OECD estimated in 2009 that 72% of Burkinabè women have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM). FGM was criminalized in 1996 and it is estimated that FGM for women ages 15 to 19 has dropped to 65% --more positive changes are anticipated for the future. Part of the reason there was a drop in the number of girls who underwent FGM was because of extensive education campaigns against the practice, as well as campaigns to spread the new laws regarding the practices (United Nations Development Program). During Camp G2LOW campers will discuss gender equality, women’s and men's rights and responsibilities, safeguards against sexual harassment and domestic violence, and health care for both men and women. Lastly, Camp G2LOW will include several types of physical empowerment activities. In a high stress environment, the ability to relax and depend upon inner strength to face obstacles is of utmost importance. For this reason, the campers will be taught relaxation and stress relief techniques. A healthy mind, body, and attitude, coupled with individuality, independence, and self-reliance are significant attributes to Burkina’s youth today. Through these various activities, Camp G2LOW will empower participants to make changes in their lives by: raising awareness of existing opportunities in the community, providing resources to campers, and instilling new-found confidence in the students. Recruitment and Expansion Recruitment of campers will take place in the spring of 2011. The administrations of 30 middle schools surrounding the regional capitals of Kaya and Boromo will be asked to nominate eight high-performing, middle school students for consideration as participants in G2LOW 2011. These young men and women should demonstrate characteristics of leadership, enthusiasm for learning, and teamwork. HCNs will play a vital role in Camp G2LOW 2011. Each PCV counselor will invite a HCN from their community to work alongside the PCVs. The HCNs will be in charge of the traditional training portion of the camp and will set the expectations for work and interaction, facilitate sessions in their specialty areas or work field, and will lead discussions specifically related to culturally sensitive subjects such as sexual harassment and women’s rights. In addition to leading sessions, HCNs will serve as valuable interpreters and translators of the Volunteers and will hopefully make lasting personal connections with the camp participants. Prior to the start of the camp, a training of trainers (TOT) will be held with all of the invited facilitators for each camp. The TOT will be a valuable exchange of ideas and will provide an opportunity to discuss the camp as a whole, individual sessions, activity ideas, and teaching techniques. Since HCNs will be involved before, during, and after the camp, they will be trained in the organization, implementation, and facilitation of Camp G2LOW, thus preparing them to replicate the camp in the future. As stated earlier, Camp G2LOW 2011 will take place in the regional cities of Kaya and Boromo during its first year. Having learned from Camp G2LOW 2011, Camp G2LOW 2012 will be a larger event with sites in four regional capitals to aid the youth in two more additional regions of Burkina Faso. In addition to the increase of participating campers, Camp G2LOW 2012 will be planned with the help and support from the people and government of Burkina Faso. The facilitation of Camp G2LOW 2012 will also include more Burkinabè involvement; the idea is that two or three model participants from Camp G2LOW 2011 will be invited to participate in the Camp G2LOW 2012 to serve as junior counselors and role-models to the new campers. These junior counselors will be assistants to the PCVs and HCNs and can be used to lead sessions, plan and be responsible for various activities, and be building leaders. This opportunity will allow past participants of Camp G2LOW to use and share what they learned at the camp, what work they carried out in their villages based on what they learned at camp, and to develop their leadership skills. The use of peer-to-peer teaching will reinforce everything Camp G2LOW 2011 campers learned in 2011 while at the same time making the message resonate more with 2012 campers; students, after all are more likely to follow the lead and example of their other fellow students. Additionally, the utilization of past participants as junior counselors will help facilitate the transference of Camp G2LOW from being reliant on PCVs to HCNs. Camp G2LOW will add two more sites in 2013 and 2014. By 2015, Camp G2LOW, with the help and support of the government of Burkina Faso, will be a national camp hosted in Burkina Faso's capitol city of Ouagadougou with students coming together from all 13 of the national regions to work for the encouragement of healthy lifestyles, the development of leadership skills, and the promotion of gender equality. Citations United Nations Development Program. “Human Development Index (HDI) - 2010 Rankings.” United Nations, 2010. Web. 29 November 2010 . The World Factbook. “Burkina Faso.” Central Intelligence Agency, 2010. Web. 29 November 2010. < https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uv.html>.

Although not off to the start I wanted, my mom made it safely to Burkina Faso! We started the trip off with a day in Ouaga, to let her recuperate from the flight and me to rest from the long voyage back from Ghana. The next day we travelled down to the South of Burkina, to the town Banfora, one of the main touristy places in the country. Once down in Banfora, we arranged for a guide to pick us up the next morning to go site-seeing. After spending the night in one of Burkina’s loveliest hotels, we were well rested for the day ahead of us. But we were not quite prepared. The guide arrived in a beat-up sedan that was supposed to take us 80km on a bad dirt road to Niansogoni, a trogolyte village perched on a cliff top. But we made it, despite the bone jarring ride! We hiked up the cliff to see the cave dwellings that have not been inhabited since 1980. After Niansogoni, we made our way back towards Banfora and stopped along the way to see Sindou peaks. These monumental structures were made by the movement of oceans and wind and hardly any noises disturb the silence. In fact it was a little spooky, but a needed rest from the cars jostling. The next day found us with the same guide, but we stayed closer to Banfora, so we did not have as long in that dreaded car. We went to the waterfalls of Takeledougou, hidden behind fields and fields of sugarcane. Being at the waterfalls was like being in a different country, or back in the rainforest in Ghana. The trees were humungous and the temperature was downright cold (to me, after being in Burkina 19 months). We hiked up to the waterfalls and enjoyed the view, and the water, which is a rarity here. Then it was up to Tougouri! I needed to get back to begin teaching again; I was already a week late for the start of the second trimester. Once back at site, we settled into a routine, I’d get up, run, and go to school, Mom would show up a little later, then we’d cook lunch, then go visit people in village, then it’d already be time for dinner! I think Mom enjoyed being in village much more than doing touristy things, but I’m glad she got to see different parts of Burkina. Everyone was very excited to meet my mother and state what a good thing it was for her to come here. Still today, two weeks later, I get asked everyday how my mother is doing back in the U.S. The final night of her stay in village, we had a big fete (party) to honor her visit. 17 chickens were killed and cooked with a basketful of vegetables. All of the teachers at my school showed up, along with some village friends. The school gave my mother a traditional outfit which she wore and even danced in (once the generator got going, unfortunately). I wasn’t thinking when I said yes, the teachers could bring a generator. This meant there was a loud generator running with music blasting over it in my relatively small courtyard. Oh well, my village friends had a great time. Then it was time for my Mom to leave. I have to admit it, but I was glad to see her go. It was a GREAT trip and I am thrilled she now knows how I’ve been living for the past two years, but after living alone for this long and all of a sudden having someone around 24/7, I was tired. But I cannot begin to say how thankful I am that she came to visit. I love you Mom. Now, it’s back to the grind of things. School is in full swing and I’ve taken on a few extra hours teaching sex education classes, which I actually love teaching! It’s a lot of fun to get into topics that the students actually care about and talk about things that are pertinent to their immediate lives. Don’t get me wrong, someday my students may have to know the acidic properties of granite or the lifecycle of algae, but not now. In addition to sex ed, we will be talking about gender issues and inequality, goal settings, and decision-making skills. In addition, I also started a World Map Project at my school, which involved myself and some of my students first drawing, then painting, the world on a concrete slab on the outside wall of the library at my school. Even though I’m still in the beginning stages, it has generated a lot of interest. If I’m ever working on it when the students are not in class, I usually have a crowd of at least 30 students around me watching me. It’s going to be really exciting when it starts to actually become a map of the world. Hot season is also upon us, on the cusp of breaking. The past few days have been in the low 100s and I’m not excited of sweating for the next 6 months. This past cold season definitely spoiled me. However, it rained (ok, sprinkled) this afternoon. That never happens up North where I am. There are “mango rains” in February, but generally only in the lush, green South of Burkina. So I am a little confused. But not complaining in the least, because rain means cloudy skies which mean a lower temperature. Yay! I will be sleeping well tonight! That’s all from here at the moment. Again, I apologize for the lack of photos. Please look on facebook for recent pictures. Miss you all!

I know I’m about a month late, but here’s my first of two updates of my current life. For Christmas, I travelled down to the South of Burkina (about an eight hour bus ride) to meet up with some other volunteers in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. Bobo is Burkina’s second largest city and is often preferred over Ouaga by PCVs. There may be more faux-types (guides/annoying Burkinabe waiting to prey on hapless tourists), but it has a slower pace of life and is much greener than Ouaga. The 10 other volunteers and I rented two apartments and ensconced ourselves in American-ness for two full days. Several PCVs had received Christmas decorations from home, so we decorated the apartments to the nines. The decorations made it seem almost Christmasy and were completed with the two-foot high fake tree sent to Julie. Christmas Eve we had a candle-light ceremony complete with hymns accompanied by Colette on the flute. The next morning we awoke to cinnamon buns and exchanged secret Santa stockings. We spent the day cooking an inordinate amount of food and then stuffed ourselves silly. Overall I have to say it was a good Christmas, if one has to spend the holiday away from home. After Bobo I travelled with Sabrina to Ghana (!!!) for New Years. I was under the impression that all of West Africa is the same, just like Burkina. Boy was I wrong. Now I know why volunteers call Ghana “Americaland.” Even small villages have paved roads, sidewalks, and believe it or not, streetlights! Hard-boiled eggs with sweet Ghana bread, along with fried rice with chicken, can be found on every street corner. It was a dream come true. Sabrina and I travelled the 24+ hours from Ouaga to make it to the beach to spend four days in utter relaxation. Those days consisted of swim, eat, sleep, swim, eat, sleep. I was not complaining. On New Year’s Eve, a local dance troupe came to perform and we roasted a pig. I stuffed myself silly, again, but again, not complaining. After the calming days at the beach, Sabrina and I went to Cape Coast to visit the slave castle and then onto Kakum Monkey Preserve to do the canopy walk. After that we moved up to Koumasi, Ghana’s second biggest city. The big tourist attraction in Koumasi is the market, so of course Sabrina and I made our way there. I thought I knew markets, but I have never seen Africans move so fast. Everybody was go go go, with something to do! Although Sabrina and I were a little perplexed at first by all of the moment, we prevailed and found beautiful Ghana fabric to bring back home to Burkina. Sabrina and I were scheduled to take the 5pm bus back to Ouagadougou and were informed at 530pm that the bus would be 7 hours late. Usually, this would not be a problem, as we’ve become habituated to things being late and not running on time, but this time this was a slight problem. My mom was flying into Ouagadougou the next afternoon and I wanted to meet her at the airport! I went up and asked what time the bus (16 hour ride) would be getting into Ouaga and was told it would arrive at 12noon the next day. This did not make any sense to me. And of course, we did not get in until 5pm the following day, with the bus having broken down twice on the way, after the seven-hour delay. Boy was I glad to finally get off the bus and thankfully, some friends of mine went and picked up my mother at the airport. So everything worked out, as it always does!I want to apologize for the lack of pictures; the internet connection is to slow to upload anything at the moment. Please look on facebook for photos.

I think I'm in love...with the weather these days. It's officially "cold" season, where it doesn't get above 100F during the day and drops to the low 80s at night. You don't realize how much the heat takes it out of you until the heat is gone and you can actually be productive between the hours of 12 and 15 without just wanting to lie there, fanning yourself, while dripping with sweat. I still sleep outside (the Burkinabe think I'm crazy), but only in order to use a comforter when it drops below 85F. So every night I sweep my porch, bring a mat outside, drag my mattress out, then my bug hut and finally my blankets. Then I heat water for a shower, take a shower that gives me goosebumps, and crawl into bed under the starlight. I do not have much to complain about at the moment. School is going well and it's almost already the end of the first trimester. I have only two tests left to give. Technically the trimester does not end until December 23, but the last day to give tests is December 5. After the 5th, teachers spend the majority of the trimester doing grades. Also December is a funky month, in that lots of strikes generally take place. December 6th is predicted to be ferie due to students striking about a student death at the hands of a solider that occurred a few years ago. The 11th is the 50th anniversary of Burkina's independence from France, while December 13th commemorates the death of a journalist and more striking is predicted to occur. So in actuality I will most likely be done teaching next week. In addition to teaching, lesson planning, and grading tests, I have been busy with a girl's soccer club, teaching English to my nuns, working at Tougouri's malnutrition center, and beginning the process of doing a World Map Project. All in all the time has been flying, although of course some afternoons still drag by. I just finished reading book number 100. My goal is 200, although I am not sure that I'm going to make it with all my current work. November 16 was Tabaski, a Muslim fete, which was celebrated with a lot of gust in Tougouri. It started at 6am when all the women started cooking food. I bought 3 chickens to be added to the food already being made in my courtyard: meat, riz gras, popcorn, crudite. We finished making the food around 13 and then ate a little bit and proceeded to give away the rest of our food to the neighbors. Then kids started arriving with food to give us from our neighbors. It seemed that we gave away all of our food just to receive the same exact food from our neighbors. People flowed through all afternoon and we gave everyone who came by a plate of food. I also went and visited people, eating a lot of food. Children also came by asking for candy or some coins, while giving us raw meat from the animals that their families had slaughtered for the occasion. All in all, Tabaski was like a mix between Halloween (although no fun costumes) and Thanksgiving with a lot of work for the women while the men just sat around drinking beers and talking all day. Typical. Burkina elections were held last weekend, with the incumbent President winning again. The elections went off without a hitch and no violence occurred. Cote d'Ivoire's elections are supposed to be today, and we'll see what's going to happen. Three weeks ago a 6eme student in my village got hit by a gendarme driving too fast through Tougouri. The student was very badly injured, having been thrown at least 6 feet in the air. Fortunately, he is making a good recovery. And of course, no consequences are going to befall the gendarme who hit him. Last week I was working at the CREN (center for malnutrition) and saw a baby die. I’ve never actually seen someone die and it was disconcerting to say the least. It made me feel helpless and almost ineffectual. This child was sick in the first place due to malnutrition and poor sanitation and was brought to the center too late to really do anything. I wish I could do something about this, but I know it’s very common here and I’m doing the best I can by educating and sharing my knowledge. I'm in Ouaga for the weekend. I came in early to celebrate Thanksgiving with other PCVs and bureau staff. I ate wayyy too much food, including 2 slices of apple pie (my first in over a year!). My stomach was so unused to the rich food that I got sick Thanksgiving night, but don't worry, it did not spoil the day for me. The rest of the weekend will be spent preparing the budget and project writeup for Camp GLOW (girls leading our world). Camp GLOW is a well-known girls camp in 22 other PC countries but is not yet in Burkina. Another volunteer, Lorena, and I are working to bring Camp GLOW to Burkina. It's going to be a lot of work, but definitely worth it! I hope that everyone back home had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend and enjoyed being with friends and family! Miss you!

Gorgeous vegetables!They never lied about the size of insects in Africa- they're big.

Mariam, Salmad, and meMy little boy, Said, all dressed up for Tabaski

Hello there! Long time no see. So I've been very busy during the past few months. I'm just going to recap a little bit. During the month of August I taught English in Ouagadougou at the American Language Center. My class consisted of 15 bright Ouagalais students. Teaching in Ouaga was a very different experience than teaching in village. First of all, the class size was much smaller- 15 students as compared to 100 students. We also had supplies, like tv, paper, markers, and glue! In addition to teaching English, we did a lot of American camp-like activities. It was fun, especially to see another aspect of life here in Burkina, however it didn't really feel real, as if I was almost living in a dream world, because it wasn't the Burkina I know.

Me and my class at the American Language Center

On September 5th, I left Ouaga for Po, a city in the south of Burkina, to kick off the bike tour. From the 6th to the 23rd, I, along with other volunteers, pedaled around Burkina on my bike to raise awareness about Peace Corps (and its 50th anniversary) and to raise money for gender and development projects. I had a fantastic time seeing much of Burkina, learning about this country I'm serving in, and becoming closer friends with my fellow volunteers.

After the bike tour, I went back to site, after being away for a long time. It felt so good to be back and everyone was so welcoming. The first night back in Tougs I stayed up until midnight talking with my neighbors, which is very late, considering I'm usually in bed by 8pm in village. School started October 1st, but still some teachers have not arrived yet from vacation. I've already been teaching for a week and it's so much better than last year- in all aspects! I already know what I'm doing this year, have the French down (for the most part...), understand the school system, etc. I have already started planning secondary activities, so this year is looking good!

I hope you're all doing well at home, loving the cooler fall weather!

Enjoy the photos!Ready to start!Driving across a flooded barrageBroken down in the dark, in the middle of nowhereWho knew there were hills in Burkina?Cutting a watermelon, of course with a macheteSoccer game in a volunteer's villageGetting the car un-stuckWelcome to Takeledougou!Marita riding off into the sunrise

one, two, three....BIKE TOUR. HUZZAH!

I'm currently participating in a bike tour around Burkina Faso to raise money for gender and development activities in addition to raising awareness of Peace Corps around Burkina and to celebrate Peace Corps' 50th anniversary. Check out the blog at:

http://www.burkinabiketour.blogspot.com/

Take care!!

Usually when you think of summer, you think of hot, sweltering heat, right? Well summer here in Burkina is a little different. Yes, it is hot and sweltering (as usual), but there is the relief of rain. Clouds are constantly on the horizon, bringing the hope of relief of the heat. Hot season is over and now it’s rainy season. Before coming to Burkina, I thought that “rainy season” meant monsoons, with rain every day, or at least every other day. Instead, it rains about once a week in my village, and more often in the south. Despite the fact that there are no monsoon-like rains, the rain is still very welcome and cools down the earth to a more manageable temperature. So, thank god for the rains. Since getting back from the U.S., I have been busy. I stayed in Ouaga for a few days after I arrived to get some things done, such as dentist, etc. Then I went to Tougouri for a few days. It was a little odd being back in village because the village seemed dead! The villagers were all out in the fields cultivating and the functionaries had all gone back to Ouaga or their home villages. So my courtyard was empty, which was a little disconcerting being alone after being with people for so long. The one time I want people in my courtyard, they’re all gone! The next week I came back to Ouaga to participate in Coaching for Hope, a program to teach coaches how to coach and how to teach about HIV/AIDS through soccer. Overall, I think the formation went well and the Burkinabe counterparts, which each volunteer brought from their village, learned a lot. However, there were some difficulties due to cultural differences, such as the Burkinabe love to argue and talk on and on and on and Americans do not. When we’re done with a session and we’ve covered all of the topics, just let us go, instead of talking about something not related for an extra hour. Or, we don’t like pushing in line when the food comes. And, saying “give me food now” is not nice! But, the goals of the formation were covered (for the most part) and we all left feeling better for having done it. Although I must admit that I was very happy when it was over. Last week I went down to Gaoua, a town in Southern Burkina Faso, for a wedding between a volunteer, Jillian, and a Burkinabe, Ibe. It was amazing to see the mix of American and Burkinabe cultures that were incorporated at the wedding. Jillian did a GREAT job of putting it all together and I’m sure that Gaoua had never seen anything like it before. Jillian and Ibe had already technically gotten married at a Muslim wedding a few weeks before, but this was the civil wedding that made the marriage “official” in the eyes of the government. This civil wedding was at the Marie (mayor’s office) and Jillian had to fight to have the wedding outdoors, but she succeeded! The Burkinabe did not want the wedding to be outside because they did not Americans to see pictures from the wedding and think that Burkina cannot afford a building for the mayor- shows what they know about American weddings! The ceremony was beautiful, as Jillian had designed a pretty tent to be under. The mayor fought that as well, stating that he needed to sit at his big desk and his big desk would not fit under the small tent. I asked why he had to sit at this particular desk and why not bring a smaller desk outside. I was told that the mayor does not sit at small desks. Anyway, everything went smoothly and the wedding went off without a hitch. Except during the ceremony, the mayor went over the rules of marriage in Burkina and started saying things such as “All decisions must be made together, but if there is a disagreement the man decides” or “If you move to the U.S., you must do it together, but if both parties do not want to move, the man decides where you will live.” At one point during this Jillian leans over to Ibe and says “Ce n’est pas vrai” (It’s not true). Go Jillian! After the civil ceremony, everyone moved to a restaurant for the reception. I got there early to check on decorations and make sure that everything was in order. Then the guests started showing up. I believe that over 400 people came into that small restaurant, of which 30 were fellow volunteers. The restaurant sure got crowded! After drinks, food, and the giving of the gifts, the dancing started and continued on into the night. I had a great time and hope Jillian and Ibe did too! Best of luck to them! After the wedding I came back to Ouaga and have been working at the American Language Center, planning for English classes that will begin next week.

Coaching for Hope

My counterpart, Konate, and IObviously professional soccer playersMarita, Kim, and I excited about soccerJillian and IbeCivil Wedding CeremonyAll of the "nasaras" at Jillian and Ibe's weddingI've found my new husband! (Doesn't he dress nice?)

America: it’s like a theme park. In late June I took a trip home to the United States! On the way, I spent a week in France with my friend Cate. We met up in Paris, saw all the sights, and basically just enjoyed once again being together after a year apart. Then we spent a few days in St. Malo, a port city located in Brittany. St. Malo was gorgeous and I realized how much I missed seeing water every day. Cate and I also had a wonderful dinner out at a fancy seafood restaurant (thanks Mary!) where we stuffed ourselves silly. Then it was time to fly home. I flew into Washington, DC and was met by my high school friend Stephanie. I spent a few days visiting my grandmother and hanging out with friends. From there I went on to Alabama to see the family. At home I relaxed, enjoyed being with family, ate A LOT of wonderful food, and slept a lot in my very comfortable bed. When it was time to leave, of course I was sad and knew that I still had another year away. However, this past year has gone relatively fast and I know next year will go even faster. It was great to get home and reconnect with those stateside, and of course, get some Papa hugs. Miss you all!Cate and I at Mont Saint-Michel

Me with Mama and Papa (notice their African clothes)Karl and I. I still cannot believe that he is now taller than me!

I am officially done with my first year of teaching! However the past few weeks have been a little bit crazy. Since the beginning of May I have filled out report cards (bulletins), helped the Professor Principals (counselor teacher for each class) fill out the Livret Scholaires (student grade books), attended 6 soccer games, went to two fetes, and attended the final 6 hour long teacher’s meeting which was followed by chicken and beer, thankfully. Last week I took two girls from my village, Alima and Jacqueline, to a girl’s conference in the regional capital of Kongossi. Ten volunteers attended the conference, each bringing two girls. During the conference, two men from L’Action Sociale, a government ministry, spoke about family planning, sexuality, and women’s rights. Having Burkinabe speak was good, but I did not particularly like their method. Every morning was lectures, which got a little boring. We tried to intersperse the lectures with motivating activities. At one point the Burkinabe wanted to correct the girls’ French, which I thought was not appropriate as this was not school. And if anything, my French should be corrected, not the girls’! I did learn some interesting things, though, such as the Burkinabe consider polygamy as a method of family planning and to be Burkina’s president, you need to be 35 years old and have 20 million CFA (about $40,000). In the afternoons we volunteers did fun activities with the girls, such as games, condom demonstrations, etc. One afternoon a panel of motivated women, such as nurses, teachers, came and spoke to the girls. It was really neat to see the girls’ transformation throughout the formation. At the beginning, they were scared and timid but by the end the girls were all talking and had lots of fun at our dance party on the last night. This past weekend I have been in Ouaga for a Youth Development Committee meeting. It sounds like we’re beginning to figure out our goals. We are hoping to put on a youth leadership/citizenship conference this fall/winter for local youth. The first goal is to find funding, which is the plan for today. Also, Saturday I watched two volunteers participate in the Ouaga marathon. They both finished with good times, but were a little sore afterwards. The marathon is basically a straight shot out of Ouaga along a road with no shade whatsoever and the runners were running next to cars, motos, bikes, and donkey carts. But, it did start at 6am, instead of 8:30 like last year, and there was enough water, though warm. It was also amazing to see many of the runners running in sandals or dress shoes. I don’t know how they did it! That’s about it in my life right now. I am looking forward to my trip to Paris and home in less than 3 weeks!They love Obama here!The girls at the end of the conferenceSome of us volunteersGirls in the waterAlima, Jacqueline, and meThe girls completing the "bridge model" to demonstrate overcoming obstacles in their livesAlima readingCondom demonstrationCamel riding in Bani (see last blog)

Monday May 17, 2010 I have been in Burkina Faso for over 11 months. In some ways it feels much longer but in other I feel that I just got here. The days and weeks seem to fly by, but the minutes and house drag. I am also almost done with my first year to teaching! I’ve taught my last classes and filled out report cards. All that is left is the final teacher’s meeting and then I am done! It feels very good to have a year to teaching done with. To celebrate, I went to Bani, a neighboring volunteer’s site, last weekend where I met up with several other volunteers and we went camel riding and explored the mosques to Bani. In Bani, against Islamic traditions, there are several mosques on the hills surrounding Bani that instead of facing towards Mecca, they face toward Bani’s grand mosque. As the myth goes, the local iman, El Hadj Hama, left Bani in the 1950s and wandered in the desert for many years, while walked to Mecca at least two times. According to his followers, El Hadj is God’s last prophet on Earth. In the 1980s El Hadj returned to Bani and started a breakaway sect of Islam, which I believe only exists in Bani. The mosques were quite a sight to see, not quite worth all the hype they get in guide books, but a good hour’s hike. It’s also hard to believe that the mosques are only 30 years old; they look much older, especially because they’re built with mud bricks that weather prematurely. Saturday afternoon six of us ventured out on camels to a local gold mine where we camped for the night. Camel riding is quite an experience, but not a comfortable one I’d say. Compared to horseback riding, camel riding feels downright precarious. The saddles are placed directly on the camel’s hump and while riding, you place your legs in front of you on the camel’s neck. I thought I was going to fall off on every step, but luckily I did not. Because there were not enough camels for the number of riders (four camels, six riders), we had to double up, which meant that four people were riding in saddles and two were behind riding without saddles. Surprisingly, I enjoyed riding behind without a saddle much better that riding in a saddle, as I was allowed to place my legs on either side of the camel rather than out in front. And today I am nice and sore!

Gwen and me in front of a barrageOld men beginning the dancesHot season is upon us. Temperatures generally get up to 120 (at least) each day. My brother, at home in the U.S. checked the temperature in Ouagadougou at 4am my time- it was 99. Yes family, I wasn't kidding when I said it was hot. The heat is bearable except on humid days with no breeze. On those days, all you can do is lie down between 12 and 3om, fanning yourself, thinking cold thoughts to keep away the heat rash. However...drumroll...we had our first rain April 13th! When it started raining, I went out and danced in it. All of my neighbors thought I was crazy- not that unusual. Before the 13th, I hadn't seen rain since October 31st- nearly 6 moths with no precipitation! We haven't seen rain since the 13th though, although I hear that those lucky folks in the south are getting regular showers. I am hoping for rain everyday!

Last weekend I went down to Diebougou to visit another volunteer, Gwen. Diebougou is very different from Tougouri, with lots of trees and hills. Friday we went to a traditional fete at a neighboring village, where we watched high jump, long jump, and archery contests. Archery is popular down near Diebougou and as boys come of age, they are given their own personal bow. Later that day we watched traditional dancing of the Dagera and Gan people, which is also very different from the dancing up here. It involved mostly line dancing with everyone doing the same movements in unison. I enjoyed it when the dancers jumped way up in the air. Saturday was windy and we all just stayed at Gwen's house watching movies all day (oh lucky ones with electricity). It was just the break I needed. Sunday I rode the 8 hours back to site, a trip that seems like nothing now!

This past week has gone by relatively fast, thankfully. I am getting tired of school, students, and the constant noise. Because I live with 13 other people, there is always noise and I am never ever alone. It, in addition to the heat, is beginning to drive me crazy! After visiting other volunteers, such as Gwen, I realize how much I miss having my own space. Because it is so hot, I spend 95% of my time outside and outside space is everyone's space. It's hard sharing my bedroom with 13 other people. Also, a new man in the courtyard told me that I shouldn't wear shorts- which are long and I only wear them to sleep in. I know women wearing shorts are not culturally appropriate, but it's very hot and it's my courtyard too! And he walks around in only a towel 50% of the time, so what's the big deal? Also, I live with 9 chickens that really like to poop on my porch. But, the rooster is dying today and I am going to eat him! No more crowing at 2am right next to my head!

I would also like to apologize for the lack of pictures. Internet is very slow here, but I will try to put up more when I am visiting home in less than two months!!! Can't wait to get some hugs from the family... :)

Time for the giant spiders...

Where to start...

March kicked off with a hot spell, making everyone believe that hot season had come early, and in full force. Luckily though, it cooled back off after a week of oppressing heat mainly due to the "cloud" cover because of all of the dust and dirt in the air. I do believe that the Sahara is blowing in on us, with the Harmattan working its magic.

The 8th of March is International Women's Day, widely celebrated here in Burkina. The festivities started with a "course" in which the villagers biked and walked from one end of town to the other. I wasn't exactly planning to join in, but I happened to be riding my bike through town to pick up my phone from being charged at a boutique when the course was beginning. So I joined in by default. Later in the day came the women versus men soccer game, which was hilarious as the players were all older people and were not the best at soccer. Many people were trying to get me to play, but I refused as I did not want my soccer debut to be in front of the whole town. But, best of all, the women won 2-1!

women and men

he is enjoying himselfso much so that he can take a breaktwo of my favorite girls in their 8 mars

The following week was busy as I was giving and grading my final tests for the trimester, while trying to calculate all of my grades. I am lucky to have only three classes to grade, while some other teachers have more than six. However, another new teacher just got affectated to Tougouri so my closest friend, Madame Diallo, now has fewer hours and more time to spend at home with her baby and to talk to me :)

March 11th was Culture Day at LDT so many of the students dressed up in traditional dress and performed a skit during the break time. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera so I cannot show pictures of my students dressed up as elders, complete with face paint. That night was Cultural Night where the students put on skits and dances for the villagers. It was actually a lot of fun and I even got to present the award for the best student in reading English. I have never spoken in front of that many people, let alone in French. So, needless to say I was a little nervous but it went well. I later became the photographer before retiring early as it went on for more than 4 hours. That weekend there was a fair at LDT followed by a soccer game between our team and a team from another middle school. The whole town turned out to watch, complete with music and refreshments. And Tougouri won! That night was the student ball, but I left early, at midnight, before the dancing even started. When Burkinabe go out, they stay out late!

Students dressed as gendarmesDance time

During the last week of school before spring break we had our first girls soccer game, premier cycle versus second cycle aka middle schoolers versus high schoolers. The whole school came out to watch, and despite the fact that many of the girls were not very good at soccer, everyone seemed to have a good time. But we will be working on getting better at soccer! The trimester ended with a typical Burkinabe meeting that lasted 5 hours. The next day I escaped to another volunteer's site and went from there south to visit another volunteer. Since then I have been in Ouaga, enjoying electricity and internet, and of course had a good time at the COS party for the stage that is leaving in a few months.

My life this past week has been lots of fun. Mike, one of my closest neighbors, came to visit. We ending up going to a Tougouri traditional fete (party) where we got ushered into the inner circle and sat with the village elders. In the circle, we were very close to Tougs' masks. I asked a few people if I could take pictures and of course everyone said yes, but I was still worried how culturally appropriate that would be. After talking to a few different people, I ended up talking to the chef of the masks and he let me take pictures. woot! After sitting with the masks for awhile, and getting royally sunburned, Mike and I were about to leave when one of the masks came up and hit me in the face with a stick! It didn't really hurt, but I was very surprised, as I thought I was exempt from that- you know, the village white person no one wants to hurt. An old man next to me got up and started yelling at the mask, so I felt avenged. Later that night Mike and I went to the lycee's annual "happy new year" fete, where we ate, drank, and danced all night long. The next day I went to visit another volunteer near me, Kait, in Bani where we spent the afternoon in a mango grove with a meal of chicken, salad, and french fries with ranch. All in all, I'd have to say it was a very good weekend. This past week was spent teaching, as usual. I am currently in Ouaga for the first meeting of the new PC "Youth Development Committee. We're currently trying to define what exactly "youth development" is and what the committee can become to help other volunteers. So if you have any ideas or insights, please let me know!

And as wanted....pictures!

Said's walking nowBirthday boy!Ready to eatL.D.T. profsbandit but cuteMariame and Salmadthe masks of Tougouridrunk manI got her to smile!dance dance

14 February 2010 Happy Valentine’s Day! While most of you back home are freezing after all the snow that hit much of the U.S., things over here in Burkina are getting close to boiling. It’s 98oF in my house, and that’s in the shade at 5pm. I can’t help but ask myself why I chose to come to Africa where it’s 100 degrees in February during a year that 49 out of the 50 states got snow (I’ll let you guess which one didn’t get snow). I know that I probably shouldn’t be talking about the heat yet, because I know it’s going to get hotter (“Just wait til April” say the Burkinabe). But for now my sweat glands are having to work again and I find myself drinking more water. My Papa told me today during our weekly phone call that I should try and think about the 2 feet of snow that is covering the East Coast, but that just makes me jealous. I don’t think I’ve seen that much snow at one time since 9th grade and of course Mother Nature waits until I leave for Africa to dump a bunch of snow on my old stomping grounds. It’s even snowing in Alabama! Speaking of Alabama, my family told me today of the several shootings that have occurred recently in Huntsville. It’s very sad and scary to hear about children shooting their classmates and colleagues shooting their peers. However, hearing about the shootings makes me think about how unlikely something like that is to happen here in Tougouri. Yes, I am in Africa, which can be a dangerous place, don’t get me wrong, and yes the police do carry machine guns, and bandits do stop cars with gunshots, but as a whole, I feel very safe here in my village in Burkina. I know things can change very fast and I do my best to be safe, but since I am the token “nasara” in town, everyone seems to protect me. A story relating to that: last week I ripped off hald my big toenail while biking (don’t ask how, only I seem to be able to do something like that). It happened right before I stopped to buy porridge for breakfast the next morning. Everyone there of course asked if I was ok, needed to wash, etc. I said I was fine and would clean up at home. Before I went home, though, I decided to go buy salad for dinner, about a kilometer away. By the time I arrived at my salad man, word had already gotten there that I had injured myself. My salad man, Madi, already had water for me to wash with, which was helpful as a lot of my foot was covered with blood by that point. So moral of the story, people here do watch out for me and try to keep me safe…and I’m also not sure I could even have a secret here! The highlight of my past week was probably making (and eating) my mom’s bruschetta made with fresh tomatoes and basil yummm. The highlight of my student’s week was probably me doing the “Hokey Pokey” for them. Every so often my students will ask me to sing an American song for them. A few weeks ago I taught them “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes.” A few days after that I saw one of my students doing it outside class with a crowd of students around him- that put a smile on my face. Wednesday my 4eme class asked for a song and since we’d finished the lesson early, I oblided, but the only song I could think of was the “Hokey Pokey.” So being the fearless (and maybe crazy) teacher I am, I did it and got a standing ovation when I “put my whole body in and shook it all about.” I could still hear the cheers as I walked away from school. Something I was very surprised to learn came out while I was tutoring one of my 6eme (equivalent of 7th grade) students. We are currently learning the skeleton, so first I had her name the different parts of the body. By the time we got to the bottom half of the body, it was clear that she did not know the names of the parts of her own body! I wonder how many of my students don’t know the names of their own body parts in French. It’s just astounding to me that kids can get to 7th grade and not know the names for the parts of the body. But this is where I come in and get to teach them…with fun games like the “Hokey Pokey!”

It's strawberry season, just in time for the beginning of hot season! Despite the fact that hot season is not supposed to start until March, the heat has already begun creeping in. So I'll be sleeping outside again soon. The past few weeks have been pretty good; Tougouri is beginning to feel like my home away from home. The second week in January was a little rough, coming back to village after spending more than 3 weeks with Americans, speaking English. So being alone in village was a little hard, especially because I had an ear infection, which meant that I couldn't hear out of one year. A lot of people asked me if something had happened to my French, but no, I just couldn't hear anything! But since then, life in village has gotten much better and I'm feeling readjusted already. I started my second trimester January 10th and feel as if it's almost over already. I've given 3 tests and have 3 more to give before the end of the trimester in March. I've been playing football with some kids in my village almost every afternoon since school started up again. I am pretty darn awful, but everyone wants to pass "Madam" the ball whether I'm on their team or not. I'm starting a girl's club next week, during which we'll talk about all sorts of things from HIV/AIDS to self-respect to decision making to the importance of staying in school. We'll see how it goes. That's about it for now...more to come soon!

My first trimester has successfully finished, after a 7-hour final meeting. Shortly afterwards I left for Ouaga for a wonderful Christmas dinner with 13 other volunteers. Then I spent a some time backpacking in Mali. We spent the first few days hiking along the plains next to the cliffs. Then we hiked up the cliffs and spent a few days hiking from village to village along the top of the plateau. My New Year's was spent looking out at the plains of Mali under a full moon, a most memorable New Years. Last week I was in Ouaga for in-service training and now I'm ready to go back to site and get back to teaching!

our adventure continues

and we're off

typical Mali house with a ladder to sleep on the roof

baobab trees

houses up in the cliffs

sitting on the edge of the plateau

just walking

watching the sun set on 2009

riding a camel

we made it to the dunes!

Sunday December 6, 2009

On my run this evening, I ran into (literally) a large crowd of people on the outskirts of Tougouri that turned out to be a funeral party for an elder of Tougouri. Because the man who died was an elder, the fete was complete with masques, drums, and lots of music and dancing. With some asking around, I found that the masques can represent animals, ancestors, and spirits. When one puts on a mask, he (always a male) is no longer responsible for his actions and takes on the character of the masque. The masques I saw today resembled a cross between Chewbacca of Star Wars and Klu Klux Klan outfits; the masques wore a brown shaggy bodysuit that stretched high above the wearers’ heads in the shape of a cone. Their faces were covered with masks that appeared to be made of wood or bone and one had shiny disks covering his face. Each masque carried a stick and would every so often break from dancing and run after an unlucky victim to hit them with the stick, which subsequently sent the crowd scattering in all directions every few minutes. I must admit I myself was a little scared of the masques, which my students who were present found very amusing. Nevertheless I stayed at the edge of the crowd, not wanting to get really close to the masques. I wish I could have taken a picture, because my description does not do the scene true justice, however, I was on a run and did not have a camera on me and also don’t think it would have been culturally appropriate to take pictures. However, I can safely say that I would never ever have encountered masques and drums while on a run in the U.S.

Four days later…after having several nightmarish dreams about masques while listening to the drums beat through the night, I am ready for the fete to be over and the masques to be put away until the spring, where they will be brought out to give thanks and ask for rains for the new planting season.

L.D.T.

Sign for the new library we just got, thanks to the Canadians.

Soccer field

The trimester is almost over (already!) so I’ve decided to have another blog entry with more information about my school. I teach at a lycee, the equivalent of a high school in the U.S., but have grades 6e to Terminal (equivalent of 6th to 12th grade). In Burkina, secondary education volunteers teach either at a lycee, like me, or at a CEG (College d’Ensignement General). A CEG is equivalent to a U.S. middle school with 6e to 3e (6th to 9th grade). One reason Tougouri has a lycee rather than just a CEG is because it is a departmental head and services 42 smaller villages. (Side note: Burkina is divided into 13 regions, 45 provinces, 350 departments, and 8000 villages. Tougouri is the head of one of the 350 departments). Despite servicing so many villages, there are only about 300 students in 6e and the numbers decrease as students age, with only 20 students in terminal. Despite the fact that school is mandatory to the age of 16, according to the government, the percentage of people who actually attend secondary school until 16 is very small, about 10%. Because so many people do not attend school, Burkina’s literacy rate is only about 13%, favoring men at 18% and women at only 8%. Only about 1/3 of Burkina’s 7 year olds (average age to start school) actually attend primary school. The government wants 60% completion rates by 2010, but I doubt that is going to happen. Schooling, for the most part, is not free, although some new pilot schools have been established that are free. Parents do not want to spend money on schooling and some even see schooling as a threat to traditional values. For example, it costs around 25/30,000 CFA to attend L.D.T. for one year for one child, which is a lot of money given that the majority of the population lives off of less than 1000 CFA/day (equivalent of less than $2US). Another problem is finding spots for all the students. L.D.T. only has 315 places for students in 6e coming from 42 villages. Also, since many of these villages are rather far away, students have to either walk/bike several kilometers each way or find a place to live in Tougouri, which of course costs money. Some students find other families to live with during the school year, and a few lucky ones live at an NGO sponsored house in Tougouri. Burkina has several national exams: after primary school, after 3e, and a third (the BAC) after terminal. Students need to pass these exams in order to continue on to the next grade leve. Also, students need to pass their individual classes. Grades are based out of 20 and students need to get an average of a 10 to continue and a 7 to redouble. Often students who do not pass will redouble the grade, but they can only redouble once per grade at any one school. Students who really want to try again, and have the money, can redouble again at a different school if they cannot pass twice. The majority of jobs here do not require a high school diploma (or passing the BAC). As more than 80% of the population lives in rural areas, many people are farmers. A small percentage of the population are functionaries (civil servants: policemen, doctors, teachers, etc.). However, even to get a job as a functionaire one does not need to have finished secondary school, all one needs is to have passed the national exam after 3e (equivalent of 9th grade). To teach at the secondary school level, one does need to have passed the BAC, but 4 years of university is not necessary. There are different levels of seconardary education teachers (with different pay scales of course) that require different amounts of schooling at university or training for teachers. After finishing school, functionaries are required to serve one year for “free”; they get paid about 30,000CFA/month ($60US) when normally they would be making 100,000+/month ($200US). Comparatively, this a lot of money to what most of the population lives off of, but 30,000CFA is not a lot to a functionaire who is more educated that most so usually wants to buy better food, medicine, etc., which means spending more money. Additionally it is hard to get teachers to work in small villages because they’ve all been to the city and like life with electricity and running water (as do I). So teachers end up spending a few years at most in village before requesting to be moved to a city, even though village is where they are needed most, which is why I am here! Now, about my December. Winter break starts the 23rd with the conseil de classe (final trimester meeting to discuss progess of students). However, I cannot give a test after the 9th because I need to calculate averages and give ranks. Fortunately, I have my computer (with a good battery!!!) to do this. At the beginning of the trimester, when assigning dates for tests, I did not know exactly when the semester ended, so I’ve had to do some rearranging recently with test dates so they all fall before the 9th. But it all got figured out, as I’ve found all things do, just sometimes takes some time. Some teachers talk as if they are going to stop teaching after the 9th, but I am definitely continuing on, because what else would I do?

Siad: my favorite little boy ever!

I think he's going to be walking soon!

My 4e class

girls at Thanksgiving

Cooking stuffing

Chicken being grilled

Ryan holding the chickens before they were killed...and eaten

On a taxi brousse eating brochettes, what could be better?

chicken on my pepper plants

"Sahel apples" I've recently found at site

It's so hot even the candles are melting...and it's not even hot season!

Tuesday November 10, 2009

Why, when writing guide books, do the authors only mention the rare animals one might encounter only at a reserve or park when visiting a country? There is no mention of the animals one sees on a daily basis. And here, in Burkina, one sees (and hears) many animals everyday. Not only are there cats running around (as mentioned in an earlier blog) but there are dogs, donkeys, goats, chickens, and a variety of other farm-type animals. Now the donkeys here do not do much running around, as they are either pulling a cart or shackled so they cannot get away. I really don’t like seeing people throw rocks at shackled donkeys to go faster, because obviously they can’t- they are shackled! Also, someone lied about the braying noise donkeys make or maybe donkeys just make different noises in Africa. When they bray, they sound (and look) as if someone is yanking out their vocal cords. It is a very unpleasant noise, but other than that donkeys here are very mild mannered. Chickens, on the other hand, I do not like. I particularly detest the chickens in my courtyard. At first there was only one, who had its nest in my shower area and pooped on my porch. I must admit that I stole some of its eggs and ate them, but wasn’t fast enough in taking all of them, so now there are chicks running around. The chicks are so cute for about a day and then they also started pooping on my porch. I guess I should be glad that they do eat insects, but recently they have decided to site right where I planted some new pepper plants. And because I am not always at home to shoo them away, I now have no more pepper plants. I’m just glad I don’t also have goats or cows in my courtyard to eat what plants the chickens decide to not sit on. Also, the roosters are constantly crowing, whether it’s 10am or 10pm. I think their internal clocks are messed up, especially when they start going off at 2am, when it’s definitely not dawn yet and I still want to get a few hours of sleep!

Wednesday November 4, 2009 Normally when one says “African cats” they are referring to large predator animals such as the lion, cheetah, or lynx. These animals do live in Burkina, though not as many as in the savanna of eastern or southern Africa. However, when I say “African cats” I am not referring to the lion, but to the house cat, which is much more common here. And I seem to have bad luck with these African cats. First off, Eloise (my cat) had kittens in September, one of which I gave to another volunteer, Kait, and the other I gave to a student here in Tougouri. However, this second kitten did not want to leave its home, my house. Even after giving it to the student, it kept returning to my house, somehow knowing where it came from, and would meow all night long, waking up the whole courtyard. During one of these times in the middle of the night, I spent 30 minutes chasing it around the courtyard by moonlight trying to catch it. Once I caught it, I put it inside my house thinking that it was hungry and would be quite once inside. But no, it just continued to meow and almost seemed to get louder if that was at all possible. So the next day I had a student bring it out in the bush far away so it wouldn’t come back and disrupt sleeping in the middle of the night. I might be uncaring to just have it sent away like that, but at least I didn’t give it to someone to eat. And it turns out that that student just brought it to his village 12km away. So one problem solved! Now I’m having another problem with another cat. I think Eloise is in heat and her “boyfriend” knows it, because this strange other cat has been showing up at all hours this week, trying to approach Eloise. I woke up last night to a loud hissing near my head, which turned out to be this other cat hissing at Eloise. So I wake up and hiss back at this cat and it leaves me alone, at least for the time being. Then later this morning I got home from teaching and the strange cat is in my house! It had figured out how to use the window flaps Eloise uses to get in and out of the house. This will not do. As I come it, this other cat gets scared, as it should, and goes to leave my house by the flaps, in the process breaking a ceramic mug I had just bought. I’m just hoping this cat will not show up again tonight or more might get broken than just a mug!

My new "roads" in Tougouri looking towards school from my house

and towards center of "town"

Thursday October 29, 2009 I can’t say I’ve had many adverse side effects from taking mefloquine (preventative anti-malarial medicine) on a daily basis. However I become a slight insomniac the day and the day after I take Mefloquine and have had a few vivid dreams. My first Mefloquine dream worth noting is one I had at my host families’ house during stage about a month in. At this time, I was sleeping inside (because not allowed to sleep outside where it was cooler..long story), so sleeping inside I would wear as few of clothes as possible and sleep with the door shut. So this night I’m only wearing shorts and a sports bra (not culturally appropriate to be out of my room). I wake up in the middle of the night, scared for my life, thinking that there are tons of spiders coming out of my pillow. I jump out of bed and run outside, where my host mom finds me jumping around, almost hyperventilating. She calms me down, not before bringing me a pagne to wrap around myself, enough for me to tell her that there are spiders all over my room. She goes to my room, discovers no spiders whatsoever and comes back outside. By that time, I’m more calm and have realized that the spiders were probably a dream. So I try to explain this to her, while not knowing the word for « dream » at the time and end up telling her that malaria medicine did this to me. I’m sure my dream just made her think that Americans are just crazy. I haven’t had any other really scary Mefloquine dreams, though a few others have involved spiders as well. In another dream I was headmaster of a private school where everyone wore these very elaborate green uniforms. Unfortunatly it wasn’t Hogwarts… Last night I dreamed that I was back in the U.S. on vacation and forgot (don’t know how) to go to the grocery store. This was horrifying at the time so my family stopped at a store on the way to the airport to come back to Burkina. Rushing through the grocery store I couldn’t find the things I wanted and had to hurry to make the plane. I woke up crying. Even though I woke up crying, I’ll take grocery store mishaps over spiders erupting from my pillow any day (or night). I wonder what my next dream will be about… Things that make me laugh : Being told that by widening and flattening the paths into “roads,” Tougouri will be “a big town like Ouaga”When sitting cross-legged, being asked if I’m doing “Tai Chi.” How people here know about Tai Chi, I don’t know.Titling a section a section on a test “What Am I” followed by various descriptions of plant parts that students are supposed to identify by name and I get many responses of “I am a young boy/girl named…” before they read what comes next.Having to explain multiple times that I am not cooking with dirt when I was seen putting dirt into a pot to make a dutch ovenHearing “bye-bye” from little kids all the time, even when I’m just arriving some place, because that’s what you say to the white person

Sunday October 18, 2009

There is a custom here of when eating and someone walks by, you say “Vous-etes invitee” (You are invited), basically inviting them to share with you. The polite response is to decline by saying “Merci, Bon Appetit” and I have never seen anyone actually take someone up on the offer. However, the other day I saw someone in my courtyard actually take someone else up on the offer and come back a few minutes later with a bowl and serve themselves. Now I’m a little nervous to say “Vous-etes invitee” because I don’t want them to actually take my food, but I also don’t want to be rude by not saying it. What to do, what to do… So I share a courtyard with 6 other houses, 5 of which are currently inhabited. In the one closest to me (they are all actually very close) lives Mr. Sodre (goes by Sodre) who teaches English at the lycee. Sodre shares a latrine and shower area with me, which I am still a little skeptical about, but seeing how it goes for awhile before trying to get that changed. Sodre lives in the house Becca, the volunteer before me lived I for a year, before my current house was built. I am very glad I have this newer house, because the old one is made of mud with low ceilings and a crazy mural on the wall-not sure who put it there…In the mud house directly across from me lives Valerie. She just arrived this week and I think she’s another teacher at the school but I’ve only ever seen her sitting outside the Surveillant’s office, so I’m not exactly sure what she does. Then comes Madame Diallo’s house. Madame Diallo teaches French and is a very nice woman who I already like a lot. Her son, Sied (I’m spelling that wrong) was born last December and is really wonderful, despite having peed on me twice already. He already smiles when he sees me (ok and maybe everyone else too), so how can I not like him? And he hardly ever cries, which I see as another definite plus. Then comes Mariame. Mariame is the school secretary and is very African in that everyone is part of grande famille and therefore your stuff is her stuff. One day I told her she could use some of my vinegar because she was saying that she was out. So later that night, I’m in bed on my porch asleep, Mariame comes up and wakes me up to ask me if she can use my vinegar, I sleepily respond and then she just walks right in my house and starts looking for it. Granted, I should have locked my door, but someone would have to wake me up and literally step on my mattress to get inside, so the door was unlocked. But still, you don’t just walk into someone’s house, even here you don’t do that. Mariame is very nice, but doesn’t seem to understand that I’m different and gets a little frustrated when I don’t understand what she is trying to say. She has a son Salmad, who is 2 or 3 I think and is a crier (not that much fun). Needless to say, even if I wanted to sleep in late, my courtyward would wake me up. Last is David’s house, which shares a common wall with mine. So I guess you could say that I live in a duplex. David is the Censeur at the lycee and seems nice, but I don’t know him all that well yet. He has been in Tougouri for at least 4 years already (that’s a long time when teachers get affectated generally every 2 years) and is very hard working. Although I don’t know him that well, I think I could go to him with any questions. So that’s my courtyard and the people I will be surrounded with for the next two years (unless they get affectated). I hardly have any privacy, but can escape into my hot house if I really need to. And I think living with people will be good for my French because I will be forced to talk to people outside of school on a daily basis.

teaching woot woot!

yay for good old fashioned chalkboards

Madame Rachelle came to visit with Doug

Thursday October 15, 2009 School has officially started! The first day for the administration (Proviseur=Principal, Censeur= Vice Principal, Intendant=School bursar, and Surveillant General (goes by ‘le general’=discipline) was September 15th. The Provisuer showed up in Tougouri on the 14th and I was basically sitting on his doorstep waiting for him, as I was desperate to get my teaching schedule to begin lesson planning. So I met Mr. Proviseur September 14th and we had an initial meeting about classes- I requesting 20 hours of less/week and Fridays off so I can travel easily/save students from my end of the week wrath. He didn’t sound all that happy about my requests, but said he would let me know. I then asked about the rentree d’administration (initial school meeting) and Mr. Provi said it was following day at 8am, which I took to mean that I should come. So, still being used to American timing, I was at the school before 8am and nobody was there. The Provi strolls in at almost 10 (although he lives on the premises) and tells me that I don’t need to be there and can go home. Ok…at least I got some sitting done. But I did find out that the conseil d’rentree (school staff meeting) was the 28th, at which I would get my teaching schedule. So much for lesson planning during September! So I basically killed time until September 28th, went to Ouaga, visited people, read A LOT. My homologue arrived the week of the 28th so I had someone else to talk to! The 28th rolled around and I was at school again before 8am, only to find that the meeting had been moved to the next day to give teachers more time to arrive in Tougouri. Thanks for letting me know…not that I really had anywhere to be/anything to do, but still it would have been nice, especially because I live right next door to the Censeur and he could have said a quick word to me. However, this is Burkina and I have to get used to this sort of thing. I again show up at 8am on the 29th for the conseil, as I was told it starts at 8, however not everyone shows up until 10 and even then many teachers are not there, despite the conseil de rentree being a compulsory meeting for all teachers. The teachers here take their vacations to the very last second. However, I was very very fortunate because my conseil only lasted about an hour, while other volunteers’ conseils spanned 2-6.5 hours! During the meeting, the head teachers, or Professor Principals, who are responsible for a given class, calculates ranks and averages, and supervises students’ progess, were chosen. I am not one of them, which I am glad of, because it is a lot of work and I frankly do not know enough yet to be one. Also, we were given out schedules and I was only given 9hours/week! I was a little shocked and worried about it being so few- I didn’t want to spend a whole year in boredom! At the meeting, everyone also discussed school rules, of which 20 minutes was spent talking about students having cell phones are a problem, but never really coming to a decision about disciplinary action to be taken if a cell phone goes off. So I guess it’s to my discretion… So I was finally able to begin lesson planning, but was then told that there was already a change in the schedule and to come by the school the following Saturday for my new schedule. Saturday comes and I show up at 8:30, but the Censeur is in a meeting. Two other teachers show up and I asked why they were there too, and it turns out that there is a meeting for us. Good thing I came/waited around! This meeting was the conseil d’enseignment (teacher meeting, organized by subject) where we went over by class books teachers are using. I also find out that I’m still only teaching 9 hours (with Fridays off-yay!), but I’m teaching 3 levels of SVT: 6eme (flowering plants and vertebrates), 5eme (non-flowering plants and invertebrates), and 4eme (geology-rocks and formations). So that means that although I only have three classes, I still have to lesson plan for three different classes. It really wouldn’t be much more work to take on a few more classes of the same levels, or even less work to teach only two levels, but have more classes of each level. However I guess the schedule did not work out that way. I also learned at this meeting that since I have only one of several of the classes for each level, I have to do the same progression (program) and give the same tests as the other teachers. This is good and bad at the same time, good because I get to collaborate with other teachers and get help writing tests, but bad because I feel as if my classes are not mine anymore because I have to stick to someone else’s plan. I’m sure it will turn out fine though. The first official day of school was Thursday October 1st. I arrive early for my one class that day, introduce myself and give rules, taking all of 20 minutes as I was told to not begin teaching yet and not even all the teachers were even in Tougouri yet. Not teaching worked out well though, because due to a schedule change, I am not even teaching that class anymore. That weekend Kait, David, Mike, and Evan, my closest volunteer neighbors visited me and we went to the marche and ate really good chicken and beer for dinner. Who knew Tougouri could make such good chicken- nothing like in the U.S.-too gamey to even be sold there, but really good for here). After my visitors left I almost felt lonelier than before they came, but now I have school the next week to look forward to/plan for! School schedules are very interesting here, as students have each class for different numbers of hours per week. For example, 6eme and 5eme students have 3hrs SVT, 5hrs math, 3hrs English, 2hrs EPS (PE- Tougouri is fortunate to have an actual gym teacher, although no gymnasium or other resources so students go running in the dirt around the soccer field), 5hrs French, and 3hrs hist/geography. In 4eme, students have an additional 4hrs of physics/chemistry. Since these hours are so odd and teachers are teaching multiple levels and subjects, scheduling is a nightmare! However, since it’s not my job, I’m not worried and just refer to my own schedule. So I have 2hour and 1hour blocks of teaching at different times on different days. I wonder if they could set up a system of rotating days (A,B,C,etc) similar to what I had in middle school, but maybe that’s just as difficult to set up. I don’t know. I’ve been teaching for 2 full weeks and am already ahead of the program I set up with other teachers. Maybe I am just going way too fast, but students have been able to correctly answer my revision questions and if I go any slower, I would just be stalling and killing time. I’m going to observe a Burkinabe teacher tomorrow, so hopefully I will gain some insight. Despite only teaching 9hrs/week, I have been very busy with lesson planning- it takes A LOT of time! It gets frustrating translating to English, then not being happy with the translation, so changing what I actually give to students, and then translating back to French. Also, since I know students don’t always understand my accent, I have to plan out what exactly I am going to write on the blackboard-sometimes I feel as if I am writing a textbook-which I kind of am as students do not have them (or at least don’t have them yet). I was under the impression that students do get books, so I’m guessing that they have not been distributed yet. However, the students’ textbooks are not good; they are very wordy and almost 20 years old, and are even worse than the documents I use to teach out of. I do have a copy of the textbook, which I have brought to class to show pictures. The document that I teach out of (having never studied the material I’m teaching in depth) is satisfactory for the most part, but sometimes baffling in its explanations (eg. “the nucleus of a cell is a brightly colored sphere swimming in the cytoplasm”- no mention whatsoever of the nucleus being the control center for the cell). So, needless to say, I often supplement with my own examples and definitions if I can think of something. Also, the textbook and my teaching document were written in Burkina by Burkinabe teachers for Burkinabe students yet they both contain many examples and demonstrations that would never be feasible in a classroom with 100+ students and definitely no laboratory. Yet these demonstrations and experiments are part of the ‘official program’! I just don’t understand why they were ever included if they would very very rarely (except in private schools in Ouaga) be performed. It doesn’t make any sense to me and almost makes me a little angry because they are good ideas, but cannot be done here. Are the writers and publishers of these books so clueless to the conditions in the majority of Burkina schools that they didn’t think not to include these things? Burkina just makes me wonder sometimes… I’ve also been having problems, or I wouldn’t even say problems, maybe difficulties, with being a ‘mean’ teacher. Ok, ‘mean’ is not quite the right word to use, maybe I should say ‘strict.’ Anyway, classroom management here is very different than in the U.S (then again hardly any middle school classroom in the U.S. has over 100 students crammed in a tiny room). There is absolutely no talking while the teacher is tealking and teachers mainly lecture while students take notes. I try to engage my students in class by asking questions and generally have to prod them to get a response. Also, students are not taught to think critically, so it’s a struggle to get students to think ‘outside the box’ or even in the box really. When I ask “what do you think” questions, I am met with blank stares. It’s definitely something to work on. Also, I am comfortable with more chatter than the Burkinabe teachers and I caught one teacher starring at my class through a window when the students were talking and he did not look happy, but I heard nothing about it, so I’m not worried!

I have not really been doing all that much, other than relaxing, reading, napping, and getting to know people and Tougouri. Although there are no English speakers here, I believe that my French has deteriorated a little bit in the past few weeks. Because almost none of the functionaries are here yet and most of the village people only speak local languages, I have not been able to use my French all that much. However, my Moore has definitely improved! So, I have begun doing exercises out of a French workbook to continue learning French. Also, JZ, the Burkina PC language coordinator visited me yesterday and he said I was on the right track with French, I just have to go out and talk to people.

September 15th was the first school administrative meeting of the year. So my Proviseur (principal), Censeur (Vice Principal), Interdit (Bursar), and Surveillant (in charge of discipline) all arrived in Tougouri on the 14th. Not quite understanding that the meeting was only for the administration and not the teachers, I showed up at 8am on the 15th ready for a meeting, only to find out more than an hour later (after waiting for the Proviseur to arrive) that I could go home. However, I did talk to the Proviseur about my teaching schedule and it sounds like I will be teaching SVT (biology/geology) and possibly mathematics. However, nothing can be finalized until the other teachers arrive, which may not be until very close to October 1st, which is the first day of school. So I cannot lesson plan yet, which I had planned on doing during September, but I guess I should be valuing my time off. Because I know that once school starts, I will be very busy lesson planning and working on my French. However, I am ready for school to start, or at least have a planned schedule. I am glad that I am an education volunteer with a regular schedule, because it would be very hard for me to construct my own schedule, such as volunteers in other sectors in Burkina do. I say this now, before school actually starts though, I might have a change of heart…But at the moment, I am ready for a schedule again, perhaps not the grueling schedule of stage, but something more moderate to fill my days. Thanks to my parents, I recently received a shortwave radio in the mail for my birthday. So now I am no longer disconnected from the rest of the world. Being in village feels a little bit like my short stint at sea, when I sailed from Massachusetts to Trinidad in 6 weeks, with no form of direct communication to the outside world. (We still did hear that the Red Sox won the world series). Many things could happen and I would not know about it. Of course now that everyone has cell phones, word does spread a lot faster than it did only 5 years ago, and the Peace Corps does keep its volunteers well informed of any sort of security issue (such as flooding a few weeks ago). So I am not completely cut off. But sometimes it does feel like it. And that is when I text a friend. Oh the joys of cell phones…Now all I need is electricity and running water and I could be in America!

And now a few pictures

My "toilet"

Bedroom, with newly painted yellow walls. What you cannot see is that only 2 of the walls got painted, because I ran out of paint. Also there is a nice white strip at the top of the walls because I could not reach the top.

Cooking corner

Living/dining room

My humble abode

My courtyard, with my house on the right

Eloise and her kittens

Because I have been getting questions about my mailing address here in Burkina and whether it is going to change now that I am a volunteer, I wanted to let you know that it is the same, but with "PCV" after my name instead of "PCT."

So it is:

Emma Prasher, PCV

s/c Corps de la Paix

01 B.P. 6031

Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso

West Africa

So I will be looking forward to a bunch of letters at my new/old address! hahaha.

I have been at site exactly one week from today. It has been different that I expected but it definitely started off well because I did not run after the PC vehicle to come get me right after it dropped me off. Affectation was pretty low-key and I was very ready to be on my own. I spent the first few days completely cleaning my house, which involved moving everything inside outside, sweeping, and mopping the house, before replacing everything to get rid of bugs and dirt. I have also bug bombed my house two times already, as I do not like insects, especially large crawling ones, inside my house. And I have already killed my fair share of cockroackes (be proud Papa, I didn’t even scream when one crawled across my foot). After getting myself situated in my house, I went out and greeted my neighbors and some of the important people in town. It was pretty awkward, as I didn’t know what to say other than hello, my name, and what I am doing here. As I am the 3rd SE volunteer in Tougouri, most people understand what I am doing here and have been expecting me, which is actually very comforting.

Now, about my house; I live in a courtyard with 6 other houses, called a celebratarium. My house, only a year old, is made of concrete (better than mud- fewer bugs) with a tin roof (I wear ear plugs when it rains because it is so loud) with 2 rooms: a bedroom and a kitchen/dining room, with an outdoor latrine and shower area. My house is small, but it is all mine (which I share with my cat Eloise-more on her later) and I really do not need much space at all. Already, I have found that I spend the majority of my time outside on the porch anyway. Currently, there is only one other inhabited house in the courtyard- a new family moved in the day after I did, but they are in Ouaga at the moment. The people who live in the other houses will move in closer to October, as it is still vacation and Tougouri is not their home village.

So I must admit that it is a bit lonely at the moment. However, I have been making an effort to leave my courtyard at least once a day to go to the marche, buy bread, or go greet people. Yesterday I had lunch with the nuns in Tougs and I like them already. Still, I am awkward at chatting with people, one because of language barriers, and two because I am not good at small talk, even in English. So after saying hello to people, I usually sit there I silence, because I do not have anything to say. I am sure (or I hope) that in time I will feel more comfortable, but it takes just that, time. And time is what I seem to have a lot of at the moment. My school’s director is not here yet, so I have not set up my teaching schedule and therefore cannot lesson plan yet. Instead, I have been reading a lot and taking lots of naps. Also, because the sun sets before 7pm and I have no electricity and nothing really urgent to do, I have been going to bed around 7/730pm every night. This means that I have been waking up around 5am with the roosters and donkeys. Nevertheless, I am definitely getting my beauty sleep. It has been raining a lot, thankfully keeping the temperature down, so I have been sleeping inside more nights than not. I’m sure that will change when the rains stop and the temperature heats up again, but I am enjoying it while it lasts! However, the storms 3 days ago caused a lot of flooding in the area, and all over Burkina, washing out many roads and leaving thousands homeless. It is hard to remember that when I am enjoying my cool night’s sleep, others are watching their homes get washed away. I am definitely thankful for what I have!

Speaking of having things, I also now have 2 kittens! The pregnant cat, Eloise, who I inherited from Becca, the volunteer I replaced, is no longer pregnant and is instead the proud mother of two. The kittens are too young to play with at moment, but I am hoping they will emerge from under my bed soon (Eloise’s ‘den’). Right now I just hear lots of little “mewing” noises.

So that is about it for my first week at site. Admittedly, I did not think I would be going to the internet already, but another volunteer, Mike, suggested that we meet up in Kaya (our regional capital) for the day. So here I am! And I am glad I took him up on the suggestion, as I am going a little stir crazy in my empty courtyard. So until next time, take care!

September 4, 2009

I have been at site exactly one week from today. It has been different that I expected but it definitely started off well because I did not run after the PC vehicle to come get me right after it dropped me off. Affectation was pretty low-key and I was very ready to be on my own. I spent the first few days completely cleaning my house, which involved moving everything inside outside, sweeping, and mopping the house, before replacing everything to get rid of bugs and dirt. I have also bug bombed my house two times already, as I do not like insects, especially large crawling ones, inside my house. And I have already killed my fair share of cockroackes (be proud Papa, I didn’t even scream when one crawled across my foot). After getting myself situated in my house, I went out and greeted my neighbors and some of the important people in town. It was pretty awkward, as I didn’t know what to say other than hello, my name, and what I am doing here. As I am the 3rd SE volunteer in Tougouri, most people understand what I am doing here and have been expecting me, which is actually very comforting.

Now, about my house; I live in a courtyard with 6 other houses, called a celebratarium. My house, only a year old, is made of concrete (better than mud- fewer bugs) with a tin roof (I wear ear plugs when it rains because it is so loud) with 2 rooms: a bedroom and a kitchen/dining room, with an outdoor latrine and shower area. My house is small, but it is all mine (which I share with my cat Eloise-more on her later) and I really do not need much space at all. Already, I have found that I spend the majority of my time outside on the porch anyway. Currently, there is only one other inhabited house in the courtyard- a new family moved in the day after I did, but they are in Ouaga at the moment. The people who live in the other houses will move in closer to October, as it is still vacation and Tougouri is not their home village.

So I must admit that it is a bit lonely at the moment. However, I have been making an effort to leave my courtyard at least once a day to go to the marche, buy bread, or go greet people. Yesterday I had lunch with the nuns in Tougs and I like them already. Still, I am awkward at chatting with people, one because of language barriers, and two because I am not good at small talk, even in English. So after saying hello to people, I usually sit there I silence, because I do not have anything to say. I am sure (or I hope) that in time I will feel more comfortable, but it takes just that, time. And time is what I seem to have a lot of at the moment. My school’s director is not here yet, so I have not set up my teaching schedule and therefore cannot lesson plan yet. Instead, I have been reading a lot and taking lots of naps. Also, because the sun sets before 7pm and I have no electricity and nothing really urgent to do, I have been going to bed around 7/730pm every night. This means that I have been waking up around 5am with the roosters and donkeys. Nevertheless, I am definitely getting my beauty sleep. It has been raining a lot, thankfully keeping the temperature down, so I have been sleeping inside more nights than not. I’m sure that will change when the rains stop and the temperature heats up again, but I am enjoying it while it lasts! However, the storms 3 days ago caused a lot of flooding in the area, and all over Burkina, washing out many roads and leaving thousands homeless. It is hard to remember that when I am enjoying my cool night’s sleep, others are watching their homes get washed away. I am definitely thankful for what I have!

Speaking of having things, I also now have 2 kittens! The pregnant cat, Eloise, who I inherited from Becca, the volunteer I replaced, is no longer pregnant and is instead the proud mother of two. The kittens are too young to play with at moment, but I am hoping they will emerge from under my bed soon (Eloise’s ‘den’). Right now I just hear lots of little “mewing” noises.

So that is about it for my first week at site. Admittedly, I did not think I would be going to the internet already, but another volunteer, Mike, suggested that we meet up in Kaya (our regional capital) for the day. So here I am! And I am glad I took him up on the suggestion, as I am going a little stir crazy in my empty courtyard. So until next time, take care!

I am now an official Peace Corps Volunteer, as of last night, August 25, 2009. I am also a year older, as of August 24, 2009 (thanks for all the birthday wishes!). The swear-in ceremony was last night at the ambassador’s residence, at which 32 of the initial 32 people who started training in June got sworn-in as official PCVs. So all of us have made it through training! The past few days in Ouaga have been glorious, mostly due to the feasting of wonderful food that has been occurring. I chose a great time to be born, because in Ouaga I have been able to eat pizza, ice cream, and hamburgers. Other than eating a lot, I have been spending my time shopping for site. Because I am a replacement site, I get life pretty easy because I will inherit many things from previous volunteers at my site, such as a stove, bed, furniture, and mattress. Because I am inheriting a basically furnished house, I do not have to buy many items for moving to site, unlike volunteers who are at new sites, who have to furnish their houses from scratch. Therefore, I have spent a majority of my move-in allowance on food for site, such as olive oil and oatmeal, purchased at one of the two grocery stores in Burkina. I also bought a thin mattress for a cot, which apparently a lot of volunteers prefer over a bed for sleeping, due to the heat. Right now, I am very glad that I am a replacement site, because things are very easy for me this week, while other volunteers have been stressing out about getting everything for site. However, once at site, I might wish I was at a new site, because I very easily might be compared to the previous volunteers for months. So we will see…. The swear-in ceremony was last night and many people got affectated to their sites this morning. It was very sad to leave the people who have become my best friends in the last few months. It is especially difficult because these people have become my family and due to living in completely different parts of the country, I may not see some of them for months. Although most people left for site this morning, I am staying in Ouaga with several other volunteers until Friday, when Peace Corps transport will take me to my site. I must admit that now that swear-in is over, I am getting more nervous about getting to site and being all alone. I contacted my counterpart (my advisor at site who is a teacher at my school) this morning and found out that she will not be at site when I arrive on Friday. So I am a little anxious about getting to site and not knowing anybody and having to go around and greet all of the people in town by myself. However, many people (functionaries) will not be in village until at least half-way through September because it is still vacances, during which functionaries travel to their home villages or to Ouaga. So I am hoping that my counterpart arrives in Tougouri before too long. I also hope that my school director comes to site soon, because I would like to get my teaching schedule straight and begin lesson planning, which I know is going to take some time. However, I have been told not to expect my director before September 15th which means no lesson planning for at least two weeks, therefore I am going to have TONS of free time. To keep myself busy and not go crazy while not speaking to any Americans for a whole month, I plan on giving my house a thorough cleaning and of course bug bombing my house, painting my bedroom yellow (I bought paint and paintbrushes today), reading a bunch of books (I borrowed 10 books from the transit house library today), getting back onto a running schedule, and of course getting to know my village and community I will be living in for the next two years. So I know it seems as if I will be busy for the next month, I have a feeling that there will be a lot of down time and I will be taking many naps, which I am not complaining about. Also, because I am leaving for site, I will not have internet access at site, so I am not sure when I will be updating next. In order to use the internet, I have to come into a larger city, either my regional capital or Ouaga. I do not see myself wanting to go that long without internet and contact with the rest of the world, but volunteers are discouraged from leaving site for the first three months, because those months are very important for integration. However, that being said, I do not plan on leaving site all that often, but I have a feeling I will be going stir-crazy before too long. So we will see how long it is before I need to get away. Therefore, do not be alarmed if I do not update until next month, I am fine, but am just busy integrating!

The whole group

Those of us in the Northeast of Burkina

I have only one week until swear-in! Yay! I have been doing pretty much the same thing this past week: model school in the mornings and language and cross-cultural classes in the afternoons. Today I gave my second test, which was a little silly after only having a week of classes. However, we need to learn how to calculate grades, which is difficult to do with only one test. So everyone had to administer another test this week. For the rest of the week I have a pretty light workload, as tomorrow is test corrections and Friday is a party for the last day of model school. Then we leave for Ouaga this weekend to become real volunteers!

The highlight of last week was the cooking session, where we learned about cooking Burkina style. Each person was given 1000 CFA (the equivalent of 2 US dollars) and we had to prepare a full meal. My group decided to make banana bread, creamy garlic mashed potatoes, salad, and crepes for dessert. I was full and actually satisfied after that meal for the first time in weeks!

Bovard is very happy with our creations

Trying the banana bread batter that we put in our crepes with honey

Gwen and I finally meet!

Our very large and delicious salad!

The Salle de Profs at model school, as you can see everyone is working hard aka playing cards

I am ready for stage to be done, but as the days to swear-in get closer, I get a little more scared day by day to be all alone at site, but I think I can do it! I am ready!

This week we found out where we’re going to live for the next two years! I have been placed in Tougouri, a medium sized village in the north of Burkina Faso. Tougouri is directly on a paved road (yay!) about midway between Kaya and Dori, two larger cities. Kaya is my regional capital, but Dori to the north, is apparently famous for its traditional blankets that are required for the week-long cold season. Being on a paved road will make transport very easy; instead of biking for kilometers or taxing a very bumpy bush taxi ride, I can just hop on a bus for an easy ride to the cities. Tougouri is almost in Sahel, which is the beginning of the Sahara desert and therefore, will be very hot hot hot. I have a feeling that Tougouri will be very different from the green and lush south, but I asked to be placed where the PC needs me, so I am very happy. However, life will be at the mercy of the rain, which I am already coming to cherish here. Droughts often affect the food availability, and the nice local Tougouri marche has onions all year round and tomatoes most of the year. So I will be eating very well indeed. I will be teaching at the Lycee de Tougouri, which has about 900 students and the local language spoken is Moore, so the little Moore I know will be helpful when I visit my site next week with my counterpart.

My Host Family

Here’s a little bit more information about my host family here in Burkina. My parents are named Mamadou and Ami Maiga. My father went to the University of Ouagadougou and currently teaches economics at a local high school and is going to be getting his MBA next year. My mother doesn’t work and stays home during the day. I live about a 10 minute bike ride from where we have class everyday. My 3 room house consists of a main room that serves as a living room with a gas cooktop in the corner, my parents bedroom, my bedroom, and the shower room. Each room has one light in it, which I greatly appreciate while I have electricity. My family shares a courtyard with two other houses, where my family spends most of their time. Cooking, eating, and socializing are all done outside, as part of the culture, but also because it is so hot inside. The latrine is behind the houses, next to where my family keeps two bulls (which demonstrate how well-off my family is because they can afford to feed 2 large extra animals).

Put the poop in the latrine at our 4th of July party

Appo pinning hair on Chris instead of on the paper

my bedroom

the shower room

Food

I never thought that food would be one of the hardest things to get used to here, but it is. It’s not as if I’m hungry or have a lack of food, but rather it’s the lack of variety that is difficult to get used to. First of all,there are no microwaves, refrigerators, or ovens (very rare). There are no can openers, measuring cups/spoons/graduated containers. All measuring is done via the eye unless you are smart and brought these things with you from the US. I have already found out that I did not bring enough cooking supplies, or for that matter food.

If I would be packing to come to Burkina Faso again I would forget clothes and toiletries and bring more food items.

You can find some items at a local store, the Alimentation (in regional cities) or at larger markets, such as some spices, unrefrigerated butter (I know gross), CHER canned fish and meat (Spam like products and normally housed in oil), some expensive canned vegetables, powdered chocolate, couscous, spagetti, flour, jam, black tea, mayonnaise, mustard, nescafe, powdered and condensed milk, oil (nice and unhealthy..no good canola or olive oil here), rice, salt, sugar, tomato paste, Laughing cow cheese, vinegar, yeast.

That is all the things grocery stores in Burkina Faso have to offer. Therefore the selection of cuisine is highly limited to carbohydrates and sauces. Almost all of my meals are mostly starch: bread, couscous, rice, pasta, to (similar to solid cream-of-wheat). The starchy food is eaten with a variety of sauces, some of which are similar to watered-down American sauces, while some of the other sauces are completely different. One meal I do enjoy is benga: which is basically rice and beans. Forget about storing leftovers because they will spoil with the heat. At the end I will list some great care package ideas/things to bring when you come visit me in Burkina Faso!

I really miss salads, as nobody really eats salads here, and if they do, the few vegetables are covered in mayonnaise. Needless to say, I am craving a large chicken Caesar salad. Also it is hard to eat enough protein here, as few dishes have good quantities of meat, and the meat that is served is often very gamey. So do not worry, I am getting enough food to eat, but after only 4 weeks I am already tired of the and am looking forward to being able to cook for myself. Last night I had a dream about a supermarket ahhhhh. Hahaha.

Products from the United States that are highly utilized in the kitchens of Peace Corps Volunteers. PCVs do eat better on weeks that they receive care packages!!! Sooo some good ideas:

-Peanut butter

-honey

-nutella

-canned tuna and chicken

-condiment packets (ketchup, McDonald's BBQ, Sweet n Sour, Honey Mustard, etc.)

-spice packages (ex. taco seasoning, ranch dressing, etc.)

-sauce mix packages (ie. Mac and cheese, etc)

-cheese: velvetta and parmesan and nacho

-trail mix

-dried fruit mixes

-mixed nuts

-applesauce

-oreos

-peanut butter m&ms

-dark chocolate

-twizzlers

-power bars/granola bars

-cake, cookie, and brownie instant mixes (ohhh and icings)

-maple syrup

When you send packages make sure to tape the box up really well so that the Burkinabe post does not open the package up. Also be nondescript on the customs form as to what is in the box. If you write anything, put that it is stationary and catalogs, haha.

Since I’ll be working at a school, I figured it would be good to give a little bit of information about the school system here in Burkina. Schooling begins at ages 3-4 for some people, in Enseignment pre-scolaire (equivalent to our kindergarten). However kindergarten here is very expensive, so few students can afford to go to school. Manditory schooling begins at ages 6-8 in Enseignment Primaire (Primary School), which goes CP1 (cours preparatoire), CP2, CE1 (cours elementairs), CE2, CM1 (cours moyen), and CM2. After CM2 students are required to take the Certificat d’etudes primaries (CEP exam). If a student does not pass the exam, they cannot continue onto middle school. Students are allowed to repeat classes two times, but if fail after the second time, the student needs to go a different school, because they cannot continue at the original school. Once a student passes the CEP exam, they continue onto Enseignment Secondaire (Secondary School). Middle School (Premier Cycle) is 6e, 5e, 4e, and 3e (they count in the opposite direction as in the U.S.). After 3e, students take the Brevet d’Etudes du Premier Cycle (BEPC exam). After passing the BEPC, students enter lycee, or high school, which is 2ere, 1ere, and Terminale grades. After Terminale (similar to senior in U.S. high school), students have to take the BAC exam in order to continue onto the university. However, generally only 20-30% of students pass the BAC and are able to continue their education

Dancing on our first night at training

The school where I have language class everyday

A typical street scene, sans all the little children running around. Notice the unpaved streets.

Me and my host family, sans my father who was away on a business trip

With my host mom, Ami

The dust storm before a thunderstorm

Krystal and me happy about the coming rain

Colette`s feet: the girls in her village wanted to make them "pretty"

First of all, I would like to apologize for the lack of pictures on this blog. I have taken a few, but the internet here is very slow and I haven't found the patience/time yet to sit to wait for pictures to load. However, I will make an effort to do so soon.

I have been in Burkina for two whole weeks, although it seems like I have been here several months at least. The past two weeks have been spent going to class, learning about the Burkina school system in preparation of teaching, learning French, and of course sweating A LOT. It's been in the low 100s the past few days, without any rain, despite the fact that it is the "cool and rainy season." However, the few times that it has rained, the temperature drops and it is lovely! (And the Burkinabe put on their winter coats). So I've been pretty busy, with class from 8-5 every weekday and 8-12 every Saturday.

Last weekend was my first weekend with my host family, in which I went to the marche with my host mother. Instead of having grocery stores and shopping malls, most of the buying (and selling) is done at the local marche. Because I'm in Ouahi, the second largest city in Burkina, there is a large marche everyday where almost every needed item can be found. So we went to the marche on Sunday to buy ingredients for dinner that night, a local dish called to (similar to solid cream of wheat that is eaten with a variety of sauces). The marche is a very very busy place with many people all negotiating and bargaining. Prices here are not fixed like they are in the U.S. Instead, it is expected to haggle for the price of a good. Because I am a foreigner, the price is jacked way up, so I have to know what the correct price should be or else I will be taken for a ride.

In addition to going to the marche, my mother showed me how to do my laundry without the use of a washing machine. Basically, you soak your clothes in soap and lye water, then scrub them until the dirt comes out, then rinse them. When doing my laundry for the first time, every item of clothing that I scrubbed, my host mom would resrub because I apparently am not good at scrubbing. Also, everything I hung on the line to dry, my host mom took down and rehung. They definitely have their ways here.

Last weekend there was also a football game between Burkina and Cote d'Ivoire, which was a BIG game. Although Burkina lost the game, when the first Burkina goal was scored, the city literally erupted in cheers; it sounded like St. Mary's after Obama won the election, except no one was running around banging pots and pans. The Burkinabe people are a very loud people on the whole-they talk loudly, they laugh loudly, and they play music really loudly. Last night I was trying to fall asleep when a local restaurant started playing music and it sounded as if there was a radio baring music next to my head. I wonder if the villages are this loud, but I doubt it as there is less electricity (or none at all), which means fewer radios and tvs that can be blared. Also, there are a TON of motos here. These motos are not quite motorcycles, but rather mopeds that one pedams to get started. Very few people own cars, but many people own motos (at least in the city). It's funny because on tv, all of the U.S. car commercials are replaced by moto commercials.

The people here are also very friendly. I've learned that greetings are very important so I should say "bonjour" or "bonsoir" to everyone I meet and even people I see when riding my bike. This is very different from the U.S., where you mostly keep to yourself when walking down the street, and you might even be called crazy if you said hello to everyone you saw. Also, another big difference between the U.S. and Burkina is all the waiting (West African International Time:WAIT). People move at a much slower rate here and time is not money. There is none of the rush rush rush attitude that is seen and felt in the U.S. ( expect that one time when I thought I was going to get run over by a moto, I had to rush rush rush to get out of the way). This might be one of the things that I will have to work hardest to get used to, because I can be a pretty impatient person. When I'm ready to do something, I want to do it right that minute.

The children here are either very friendly, yelling "nasara" (white person or foreigner) and wanting to shake my hand, or they look scared when they look at me. Which in turn makes me smile, but I'm not sure that helps or just makes them more scared of the grinning white person who dresses funny. Speaking of dressing funny, almost all of the women here wear pagnes, which are brightly colored cotton cloth that are worn in a variety of styles. My mother bought me a pagne and took me to the tailor to get a dress made, but I was pretty sick at the time (the one day I've been sick here) so I didn't really pay attention to what kind of dress was going to be made for me...I guess I will see. However soon though, I want to buy some pagnes and get some cool clothes made!

So far, my experience here has been great. I know I've been pretty spoiled, living with a functionaire (civil servant) family (my father is an economics professor at a local high school) in a house that has both electricity and running water. I also live in the city so food is not hard to come by, as the marche is very close (so I'm eating great... for the moment at least). The Burkinabe people are also a very clean people, or at least cleanliness is a sign of rank, so my family males sure that everything is clean and I shower two times a day. I know, I would never do that in the U.S., with water conservation and everything, but I'm not going to lie, it feels great to get wet often in this heat. I actually look forward to coming home and showering after being covered in sweat and dust all day. So don't worry, I may be in Africa, but I am clean!

We arrived in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, last Saturday and were greeted by a bunch of the PC staff. It was nice to be taken care of again, after being in travel since Tuesday afternoon. We spent the night at a hotel/hostel called SIL in Ouaga. That night we went to Doug, the Country Director’s house for dinner, where we had pizza (yes there is pizza in BK), spaghetti, and wonderful fruit salad. The next day we filled out paperwork and had the intro language test and then we travelled to Ouahigouya, where our training will take place. Ouahigouya is a city about 2 hours north (driving) of Ouaga. At Ouahi, we were greeted by a bunch of people singing and dancing. After finding our rooms, we had dinner and a dancing troup entertainined us- I even got to dance with them (and you know how well I dance). We also brought the rain that night and we all ended up dancing in the rain. The rain felt very good after the long past few days of travelling and the heat, of which I’m still getting used to (I think it will take quite awhile to acclimate). After dancing in the rain, I even felt cold- I think it will be that last time I’ll be cold in a long time. Right now, it’s the beginning of rainy season here in Burkina, so it’s cooler that it will be in the February-May. So we’re really lucky to have gotten here when it’s not so hot, however to me, it feels very hot and I’m sweating a ton while I’m just sitting here.

The past few days have been spent taking classes and learning more about Burkina. Last night we got adopted in our host families. Mine consists of only a mom and dad- some other trainees have up to 30 people living in one courtyard (area of houses). My host parents are very nice and made sure everything was okay with me, however there is a bit of a language barrier, as I am not that good at French and speak very little Moore- one of the local languages. So last night was pretty funny, eating dinner with my host mom and dad and trying to communicate through French, Moore, and a little bit of English. Last night a bunch of people came over to meet me and talk to my host parents. It was interesting (and apparently very funny to them) to try to speak to all the visitors. Everyone thinks it’s hilarious when I talk (or try to talk). I got pretty lucky with my host placement, as my host family’s house is very close (about a 10 minute bike ride from training), and I even have running water and electricity! So that means that I have a shower- which is a rarity here in Burkina, but I still have to use the latrine that is outside the house. A latrine is really just a hole in the ground and is a pleasure to use, haha, especially with the bugs that scatter when I go to the toilet in middle of the night with my headlamp.

But overall, I’m having a great time here. I know it’s only been a week since staging in the US, but it feels like several months at least- I guess because so much has happened and I’m ready for even more to happen!

The adventure has started! It started in Philadelphia in staging, we I met all of the wonderful people who are joining me in this adventure. During staging, we learned more about the Peace Corps, met my fellow volunteers, and filled out a lot of forms. The next day we got the beginning of our vaccines and began malaria medicine (and no I haven't had any crazy dreams yet from the medicine). Then we left for the airport. We waited at the airport for several hours and made it onto the plane. We arrived in Paris the morning on the 11th (very early morning East Coast time). Then we boarded the plane for another 7 hour hop down to Ouagadougou...or so we thought.

We landed in Niger for to refuel and to some people off the plane and then were to fly to Ouaga. After waiting on the tarmac for about an hour, we were informed that something was wrong with the plane and they were going to try to fix it. We waited in the plane for about another hour and then were handed out customs forms, which meant we were to spend the night in Niger- very unexpected. Fortunately, we had met up with another Burkina volunteer who was on her way back to country after a vacation home. So Johanna contacted the Peace Corps office in Niger to inform them of our situation. The airport was like no airport I've ever experienced- very African I'm assuming. But we weren't allowed to take pictures, so you'll just have to imagine it. Air France located a hotel for us to stay in, so we took a local bus into the city and spent the night in Niger.

I'm currently in the hotel, waiting for a shuttle to take us back to the airport this afternoon, where we will hopfully make it to Burkina. The four star hotel we're staying in is very nice- and even has a pool which was nice for a morning swim...I wonder when I'll get to swim in another pool. I also took a VERY nice shower this morning- I also wonder when I'll be able to take another shower with running water...the things we take for granted...

Well I'm off to lunch and hopefully will write again soon!

I leave for Africa tonight whether I'm ready or not...I think I'm ready.

It's been a little under 2 weeks since I've graduated college and I leave in 2 weeks for the next adventure of my life: working as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa! Here's a little bit more about my assignment:

Country: Burkina Faso

Program: Secondary Education

Job Title: Science Teacher

Training in Ouagadougou: June 10, 2009-August 28, 2009

Dates of Service: August 28, 2009-August 27, 2011

Burkina Faso is a small landlocked country, about the size of Colorado, located in West Africa. Check out these sites to learn more about Burkina Faso:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkina_Faso

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uv.html

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/burkina-faso/

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2834.htm

What I'll be doing:

The objective of my program is to support the efforts of the Government of Burkina Faso in revitalizing its education system and bringing in a new learning and teaching perspective to students and teachers. I'll be working to help Burkina Faso meet its need for secondary school teachers (of which there is a severe shortage), collaborate to improve the quality of teaching, work with counterparts on the development and revision of teaching materials, work to reduce regional and gender discrepancies, and promote girls education.

When I leave:

Exactly TWO weeks from today: June 10, 2009. I'm excited, nervous, and anxious all at the same time. I've known for almost a year that I would be doing the Peace Corps upon graduation, but it's almost actually here and still doesn't seem quite real to me- I'm sure it won't until I'm actually in-country. However, I do know that I'm going to be desperate for correspondance while in Burkina, so please feel free to email me and send me letters and packages via snail mail (hint hint). Also, please send me your mailing addresses if you wish to get letters from me while in Africa.

My address during training (until the end of August):

Emma Prasher, PCT

s/c Corps de la Paix

01 B.P. 6031

Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso

My skype username: emma.prasher. I'm not sure what the internet connection will be like in Burkina, but if you have skype, please add me as a contact!

My future is here and I am trying not to be scared. I think I'm ready, and as Peace Corps says, "Life is calling. How far will you (I) go?"