Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Back to Burkina

I know that I haven't blogged for the last two years, but since I am back in Burkina, I feel the need to start up again.

First the news of the wedding: Souley and I have been trying to get all of the paperwork together and are almost finished with everything we need. We got the papers from the embassey the day after I got here. Then last weekend, our friend, Lasso, set up a meeting with his brother. His brother is in charge of the paperwork for marriages at the mayor's office in Koudougou. We are very lucky to have his help and both he and Lasso have done so much to help see use through the process which would otherwise be vexing. It turns out that my lack of an original birth certificate is no problem at all. All of that worrying was for nothing which proves Souley's point to me that it is best not to worry too much about the future.

There is only one paper that we need to get now and we need our blood tests and then we should be able to fix a date. I am hoping it will all be finished by next week but things always take longer than expected in Burkina.

Things here have not changed much in th two years that I have been gone and it feels very much as though I never left. And, luckily, I have no sicknesses to report as of now.

Souley aand I spent the last few days in village. We figured that we couldn't get our paperwork finished on the weekend so we might as well visit Tiogo. It also happened to be a Sunday followed by a market day which meant that no one was working in the field and I could see more people. I swear that I got more done in the two days in village that I did in two months when I lived here before. I had a total of maybe 1 hour by myself the entire time because there was a constant stream if visitors or people I needed to visit. My family was very happy with their resents and I bought them a sack of rice that they really appreciated. I did not get to see my favorite mother because she had gone to a neighboring village to visit relatives.

Souley and I went to the neighboring town one day to meet with the women who prepared some of the shea butter that Souley had sent as a sample. They showed us how the press worked and we talked a little about how they operate. Unfortunately they do not seem to be as organized as I would like for them to be but they seem very enthusiastic.

I meet several times with the mayor of our village about the ploughs. He said that the paper I had requested detailing how they were going to rent out the ploughs was finished but I never actually saw the paper as, true to form, the faux type in charge of writing was unavailable when I was in village. The mayor and I then decided, as Gwen had suggested, to give one to the protestant church, one to the catholic church and one to the mosque. The mayor also suggested that we give one to the head witchdoctor. The ploughs are going to cost less that originally planned so we have enough money to purchase 4. They were very happy and gave me two roasters which Souley is bringing from village today 5he stayed in village an extra day while I had to make a quick trip to Ouaga to get my passport from the Ghanian embassey.

So far the one sad point is my "daughter" who I learned in January got married (actually, it is to Souley's older brother - how weird is that?).It was her choice and was not a forced marriage (I made sure to ask that several times). She is 16 not 15 as I thought but even Souley agrees that it is young to be married. She finished this year of school and said that she will try to go next year but I had my doubts when she told me. THe next day, the village midwife and I were talking in the market and she told me that Bregetou was already 3 months pregnant (which B herself forgot to mention to me) so now I seriously doubt that she will finish her schooling.

I will keep you informed when I know more details.

1 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Oh my gosh! So I was randomly browsing burkina blogs wasting time that should be spent working and stumbled across yours =) It sounds like things are going so well for you and I really wish I could be there for the whole mariage thing (do you have a date set yet??) What are you planning on doing with the Shea choses? Have you seen Colleen or any of the other fifty thousand RPCVs who are back in the faso??? Well, I miss you tons and love that I can read your blog now to keep in touch with what you are up to. Live it up in the faso! Kim Ouimette

8:42 AM  

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