octobre

I came back from vacation ready to start the new school year off and really get a lot done in my last year here. I've definitely made progress but have encountered a few bumps in the road along the way.

One of the projects that I've started in Navielgane is a concept that one of our staff members brought from her service as a volunteer in Benin called a 'Care Group.' The concept is that the volunteer (me) gets a group of ten or so members of the community meeting to participate in monthly meetings. During each meeting the group discusses some topic, (malaria, education, nutrition etc.) and then the group goes out to their neighborhoods to share the same information with no less than ten families in the community. The idea is that by holding one meeting a month, the volunteer has the ability empower the group members to touch one hundred families with information relevant to their lives and well being.

In August, before I headed off to vacation, I worked with my counterpart to start this concept in my village. Luckily my community selected counterpart is a member of our village council, so once I wrote a letter explaining the idea, he was able to present it to the rest of the council and they found ten people who were willing to participate. Although the first meeting was a littler rough (not everyone showed up and it didn't seem like everyone completely understood), the second two were more successful. I gave the group a list of questions and the assignment to find the 10 families that they would be responsible. At the next meeting, I was able to look through their notebooks and see that they all found families and asked the appropriate questions, things like “what illnesses does your family catch?” “what do you do if your family members are sick?” and “how many mosquito nets does your household have?” I was able to tell them all of the services that the clinic/ CSPS (Centre de Sante et Promotion Sociale) has to offer. Luckily Hayley works there, and I help out once a week so I know the nurses and all the staff.

Of course I jinxed myself by telling people how easily this was all coming together. The last meeting I had was a talk on malaria. Fortunately, I've given this talk several times, so I knew the information wouldn't be difficult to get across. Unfortunately, only three people decided to make an appearance and what turned out to be the last rainstorm of the season decided to roll through. I ended up having to give the talk (or sensibilization as we call them) three different times. All volunteers know that not everything works out the first time. In fact, no project works out quite the way we intend. Now I am faced with a few questions about the members of my group, including my original counterpart. This group has the potential to be a really great way to spread relevant information to my community Hopefully I'll be able to get some more support from my counterpart and make it all work.

On a happier more productive note, my girls team is up an running again. Hayley and I have had a few practices in the past couple of weeks and its starting to look like we might have a pretty legitimate team this year. We're in talks with some people in the area to organize a region-wide soccer tournament this year for international women's day, and I really hope it all pans out. I've had to bee away from village more than I'd like lately, but luckily Hayley is the real expert so I can trust her with the team in my absence. More on that and my trip to Senegal next time!

So today I took a bus into Ouaga for a two-day meeting. Normally this is a fairly smooth trip- about 5 hours on a paved highway. I can get on the bus by standing on the road in the middle of my village and get off in the same neighborhood as our Peace Corps house in Ouaga. Today, about an hour or so into the ride, the bus stopped to let on a gendarme (beefed up police officer who wears a beret). I was sitting in the row behind the side door through which he entered, and noticed there was someone with him. The man started to sit down in the row across from me next to a woman with a baby when the gendarme directed him to the seat behind me. As he passed I noticed the man was wearing handcuffs and was apparently being escorted to another town with the police officer. There are motorcycles and cars for the gendarmerie here, but I guess sometimes convicts get to ride public transportation too.

There and back again...

I’ve just gotten back to site after a month away and one thing is certain – I will never leave for that long again. At the end of August all of the education volunteers headed to our mid-service conference (MSC) which meant we were officially through with one ear of our Peace Corps service. The conference was more of a check up than a training – we discussed our projects at site and went through a series of medical exams.
The last day of our conference I had a flight home for a two and a half week vacation. It was the perfect amount of time to see family, go to a cousin’s wedding, visit friends, and eat all the food I’ve been missing over the last 14 months.
Getting back to Burkina felt the same as landing in the U.S. – like no time had passed at all. I was thrown right back to work setting up for a big fair to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps. Along with the searing of 47 new volunteers, September 22nd kicked off a 3 day long fair in downtown Ouaga. Volunteers showcased their work at site with various partner organizations, theater troupes and women’s groups The first day also signified the end of 1800 kilometers of the 2nd annual bike tour. The fair was an exhausting few days of early mornings, but looking back we pulled off a pretty incredible event. We were lucky enough to have the Prime Minister and the first lady at our opening and closing ceremonies., as well as a personalized song written by one of Burkina’s top singers. Here are the links to some videos put together by some members of our fair committee, the volunteer action committee, and our IT committee.
The good thing about the fair was that it gave me something to keep busy doing immediately after getting back. The downside was that I didn’t get back to my village until after a full week of being back in country. I returned exhausted, but luckily Navielgane is one of the best places to re-cooperate after the busy summer of traveling that I’ve had. Since getting back, I’ve had a couple of meetings with a group that I started and am in talks with another organization about bringing electricity (read: car batteries hooked to a solar panel) to a building in my village.
In some ways the time away was what I needed to re-motivate myself to get going on projects in my community that I’ve thought about since arriving. As all of the new volunteers headed off to their villages this week, I almost felt as if I was one of them – going back to village with new eyes so to speak. On the other hand, (no offense to them) I’m so glad I’m not in that position. Heading into meetings and going to the market by myself this week, I realized how far I’ve come in a year. With my confidence in my language skills alone, I never would have been able to do some of things a year ago that are daily interactions now. Hopefully this little burst of motivation carries through as the new school year starts next week and throughout the next 10 months or so that I have left here!
As always, thanks to everyone who is still keeping up with my blog!