Happy Mother's Day

I’m back from a long hiatus from posting. If any of you happen to follow the news on Burkina (which I didn't until I lived here), the political situation has been a little tense these days. The basics are this (and I’m going to try and keep this as politically correct as possible): In February a student died while in police custody and students rioted (school strikes, burning buildings etc.) in response to what they believed to be corruption and unnecessary police brutality. School was basically cancelled nationwide off and on for the next month to prevent further incidents. Then unrelated events concerning military officers opposing the sanctioning of fellow officers (on at least two separate occasions) led to military unrest. In addition; an annual scheduled protest of the high cost of living went a little further that usual. Stores were looted throughout the capital. On top of all of this, other military protesting involved officers firing their weapons in the air led to a few casualties by fallen bullets: All of this you can find online at various news sources if you look hard enough.

The president reacted to all of this by completely dissolving his cabinet; re-electing a new prime minister and meeting with the heads of military, police, etc to discuss reforms. He appointed new members to his cabinet, eliminating some superfluous positions along the way. After all of this further protests by worker unions prompted to promise lowering the income tax among other things. I have never enjoyed politics, nor was I really one to follow the news at home, I know I’m leaving out events, but this has basically been the situation as I’ve seen it. Through each of these events we’ve been updated via texts and phone calls. As of now however, everything has calmed down and we’re all back to business as usual…

The most frustrating thing about this situation has not been safety. There has never been a moment when I’ve felt unsafe – maybe unsettled but never unsafe. I live in a village of about 2,000 people – few of whom have ever been further than the 15 K away that it takes to get into the nearest town. Clearly these aren’t revolutionaries making demands of the president – they hardly know why school was cancelled for so long (and I mean that, not to insult their intelligence in any way, but merely to state the facts).

What is difficult about the situation is the mindset that it has put some of the volunteers in. Of course no one is to blame but the nature of the situation is that it changes daily. Unfortunately this has meant interruptions to any work that people might be doing. It has been difficulty to start projects when we don’t know if we are going to get to see them through. Various conferences and meeting were cancelled or rescheduled multiple times – making it difficult to try and plan for the upcoming months and weeks. It is unfortunate that our training group’s service has been so exceptional starting in July with our unexpected move, but I think we all knew coming in that it wouldn’t be the easiest two years of our lives. Luckily; everything has calmed down for the most part for a little over a week now and everyone is starting to get back into somewhat of a normal routine.

On the work front I recently started making liquid soap with several women to sell in our village market. The first group was the AME (PTA for moms) at my primary school. They were eager to do it again, and I have since had success with three other groups who have sold the soap for about 50 cents a bottle in our market. I’m excited that this has been such a success because not only does it encourage good hygiene habits among my villagers, but the women are able to take in a profit upwards of 4,000 CFA (roughly 8 dollars) with each 16 litre batch they produce. That might not sound like a lot, but for a woman with no previous income, it surely makes a difference. This group has been a good resource for me as a link into the community. They have expressed interest in learning how to do other income generating activities that I can teach as well as an eagerness to hold formations in family planning among other things. I’m hoping that the next school year will bring lots of success with them.

Another thing that we’ve finally gotten off the ground is our girl’s soccer team. Hayley is the real expert on the sport, but I’ve been able to run a few drills in the instances that she has had to travel on practice days. Although we’re running out of time before the end of the school year, it has been rewarding to see how excited the girls are to be playing. They seem to have a blast running round; and are surprisingly tough – playing barefoot and frequently taking spills onto the hard dirt field. I think we will have a pretty legitimate team next year.

Since I last posted I also found out that I’m going to be training the new group of trainees that comes in June. It’s hard to believe that in two months I will be at the one year in country mark. That being said it’s about time for a vacation. A trip to Ghana is in the works and I’ll be sure to let you all know if that becomes a reality.

Oh, and I got a puppy! He still needs a name but the white one with the collar is Hayley's and her name is peanut.

8 Mars

Although it was started in the US, International Women's day was something I hardly knew existed, let alone celebrated until I arrived here. On March 8th, there was a regional celebration for the holiday in a neighboring village of Tiankora. My neighbor Hayley and I met another volunteer who did her service there (and is now doing a thrid year in another town) at her old host family's house. We eventually made our way to where the parade was being held and because Jen Used to live there (and sadly because we're white) we got front row seats for the whole event. After a series of admittedly boring speeches (by mostly men) in both French and the village's local languange of LObiri, there was traditional lobi dancing and a prade featuring a collection of women's groups from the surrounding area, and one seemingly random group of men. Afterward there was a reception and whil we had been invited (via Hayley's host family) to eat lunch at the mayor's house, we ended up going back to Jen's family's to eat with them. The daay was rounded off by a soccer game between Tiankora and a friend's village. The teams were both all male, and we didn't stick around to see who won. At the end of the day, I came to the conclusion that this was just another holiday for men during which the women do all he cooking and the men have all the fun (so much so that Hayley dubbed it 8 Mens). Of course I may be a little biased being both a female and a girls empowerment volunteer, but my suspicions were confirmed several weeks later, when sporting my women's day fabric, a male teacher asked what I did for "les hommes" that day to celebrate the holiday. Confusing and completely backwards I know. In talking with some female teachers from my primary school, we deciede we are going to plan a celebration next year that truly honors the women of my village, and not just by 'letting' them cook huge feast for their husbands.

On another completely unrelated not, some of you may have seen Burkina in the news lately (ok only if you're looking really hard). While I'm not really supposed to discuss the politics of the situation. I wanted to let everyone know that my little corner of the country has remained fairly calm. I feel 100% safe and the peace corps has been fairly up front with us concerning the current 'unrest' around the country. As of the posting of this entry, things are calm countrywide. And that's all I have to say about that.

Sophomore Status

I can’t believe three weeks have already passed since IST. Although I haven’t gotten into a steady “work routine,” short meetings and day trips to Diebougou have made the time go by. What have I been up to: Trips to the C.E.G. (middle school), starting an English club/tutoring sessions, discussing a girls soccer team, baby vaccinations with Hayley at the CSPS staff, a meeting with the AME (PTA for moms), working on a compost pit in my courtyard (for an eventual garden), continuing Dagara lessons, rearranging my kitchen (it’s the little things), and teaching some kids the art of Frisbee throwing (courtesy of Dad). Of course I came back from IST raring to start a bunch of projects, but a combination of miscommunications, holidays (happy belated Muhammad), and time constraints, of course everything hasn’t exactly panned out as imagined. But at least I have some directions of where I’m headed.

This week I’m in Bobo for a few days. Partly because every four months we are required to submit a detailed report of everything we do, including number of participants, their ages etc. and how it relates to the overall goals of the Peace Corps as well as the specific goals of our sectors. Another reason is because the president of the Friends of Burkina Faso is in country, making his way around to meet as many current volunteers as are interested. FBF is an organization of returned Peace Corps volunteers (RPCVS – we love acronyms) who contribute to and produce a newsletter about the goings on of the Peace Corps in Burkina. Additionally, they serve as a funding organization for current volunteer projects etc. The current president was a well digger during his service in the seventies. It has been interesting to hear how much things have changed since his time here.

Over the past three weeks I’ve learned a few things about my village that I wasn’t previously aware of. First that there are actually closer to 2,000 people here instead of the 6,000 my homologue mentioned/ Second, that the ‘road’ I run on a few mornings a week actually passes through 2 different villages that the whole time I actually thought were Navielgane (after all it’s not like there is a “welcome to Danko Tanzu” sign in the middle of the bush). Third, the majority of my village is on the other side of the highway (no wonder I was so confused about where these thousands of people life). Fourth, apparently I’m only 60K from the border of Ghana (…). And last, a bit of cultural information: if you are at a party and get in a fist fight with someone and they get hurt you have to give a goat to the Chef du Terre to sacrifice. (This last bit of info I found out because apparently 2 women were at a ‘traditional’ party where people are basically inducted to be able to perform certain rituals, and they got into a boxing match, one of them injuring the other, therefore is now required to give up a goat – all of this I heard 3rd hand).

Speaking of parties, international women’s day is coming up – March 8. As a Girls Empowerment Volunteer, I feel the need to make a shout out. I’ll be spending it in a village about 7k from me where the regional celebration for this year is going to be. I’m told it will involve a parade, speeches, dancing, and of course, matching pagne outfits. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures to document the fashion I’m sporting these days.

That’s about all the news for now. It’s getting hot here and while apparently March and April are the worst, we’ve already had several days over 100. If someone could invent a solar powered air conditioner and send it to me, that would be great! Until next time…