Dje Wene

Well, the marriage finally took place yesterday and tomorrow we are headed to Ghana.

After waiting the whole weekend to get the final paper signed, Souley and Lasso went Monday afternoon to get the paper only to discover that we had to meet the next day with the judge to explain why we did not want to wait the 30 days. So the next morning Souley and I had the interview and then left all the remaining paperwork with Lasso who ran around finalizing everything. Souley and I decided that we could not continue to stay in Koudougou with nothing to do until the following Saturday so we decided to head north to Dori which in a town in the Sahel to visit his nephew.

The nephew help Souley discover shea butter groups last summer when he was collecting samples and so it was good for me to get to talk to him and hear his reaction to the groups that he visited. All of the groups, including the one we visited in Reo, are very well organized and make "organic" shea butter.

Omar, the nephew, is one of the sweetest, most hostipable people that I have ever meet and we enjoyed the three days that we spent with him. He is a teacher in a small village near Dori. We went with hi one day to see his classes. There wasn't a whole lot of teaching going on but we had some good conversations about development and politics. Right before we were leaving to go back to dori a massive wind/dust storm hit. The Sahel looks a lot like Pecos and I naturally felt at home with the surroundings. However, nothing in my life has every prepared my for the dust storm. It lasted for probably an hour and a half and at the end of it I was covered with brown sand. I had to wear my sun glasses and cover my nose and mouth for the entire time. The wiond was so strong that it began lifting the tin roof off the building. It was actually really quite scared and now know what a tornado must be like. Aside from that we visited the biggest lake in the Sahel region and the sand dunes near Dori. The director of Omar's school was also extremely nice and feed us every meal and gave us fresh milk (straight from the cow) every day. He also but Souley and I a wedding present. We each got leather sandals that a really beautiful. The whole trip made me a little jealous of the volunteers who lived in the Sahel.

When we got back to Koudougou, everything was arranged. Our wedding was really small (we were 8 total). Unfortunately Julia had a conflict and couldn't make it. I was running late in the morning and so was more than a little frazzled. Our friend Lasso came to take me to the Hotel de ville where the state marriages take place. Unfortunately my skirt was so tight that I could not get on the back of the moto so I had to walk to the mayors office. It wasn't far but it was around noon and therefore the heat of the day. By the time I got there, my hair had curled again, all my make up was off, and I had huge sweat marks on the front of my dress. I picked some flowers from a bougavilla as a bouquet and Lasso helped my arrange them. We then sat at a table across from Lasso's brother, the mayor and the governor. The governor talked for about 45 minuted giving us his advice, etc (like he was a priest or something!). It was a very simple ceremony but sweet and the governor made a few jokes so it was pretty lighthearted. We then went to a nice European style restaurant and had a nice meal. The mayor even came (I assume because we were the last marriage of the day and probably having food from the nicest place).

Today we came to Ouaga to get ready for Ghana tomorrow. All and all things are going well and as scheduled, which is pretty rare here.

Oh, also two days ago we met with the Imam and the (oh gosh, I dont know the word in English) guy who makes the plows. He had them all done and the Imam took them back to the village. I have pictures and will try to remember to upload them next time.

Burkinabe Redtape - Quelle joie!

2009-05-22T06:06:00.000-07:00

So, things were moving along rather well, until Thursday. For some inexplicable reason, no one worked on Thursday. When asked, I was told that no one was working because it was a) Thursday and b) something to do with the day of baptisms (although no one seemed to be doing that either). So Yesterday was a bust which means that we were trying to get all of the finishing paperwork done todat, which is friday, and that is never a good sign. Our friend Lasso came by this morning to help us navigate our way through the courthouse and through the medical tests, which was all that was left. We got the medical paperwork done this morning and much to my relief the doctor waived the normal blood tests. I was a little wary of having a Burkinabe doctor search for a vein to take my blood. We then went to the courthouse to get the last remaining paper which is a request for a waiver of the normal three month waiting period. This isn't a big problem since Lasso has connections in the mayor's office but the judge who was supposed to sign the paperwork was (big surprise) not working today because it is Friday. So, we now have to wait until Monday to get the paper. As soon as we get the paper on Monday we will then take it to Lasso's brother in the mayor's office who says that he can then d the marriage whenever we want. I am hoping to get it done before the 30th so that we still have time to go to Ghana.

Tomorrow morning we will go to Reo to meet with the second woman's group that makes shea butter. More to come on that later.

I think that we have decided to wear traditional clothes for the wedding here. It seems more appropriate and I have never had a traditional dress made so I feel like this is a good a time as any. The only other wedding detail that we are still discussing is whether or not to hire a photographer. I have my camera and just assumed that someone could take the pictures for us but last night we were eating with Lasso and his family. They showed us the pictures or their wedding which were pretty well done so now we are thinking maybe we would want to have someone take the pictures as well.

On the health front, yesterday, I am sorry to say, I had a slight case of ghardia. I guss I spoke too soon in my last blog. Things are better today however.

Back to Burkina

2009-05-20T02:51:00.000-07:00

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.

Sound Equipment

2007-06-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

So, I must brag about my wonderful theater troupe. We just received word that their project for sound equipment is going to be funded. This is a major success as we have been working on the project proposal for the last six months. They plan to use the sound equipment to attract a larger audience and to host dances in the village in order to earn money for future props, costumes and other needs. The ultimate goal is to fund another bike a thon in two years.

I originally wrote a proposal to the Friends of Burkina Faso organization. They are a group of returned Burkina Peace Corps volunteers who fund well organized groups. The organization prefers to work very closely with host country nationals so we were asked to submit another proposal written in french by the association members. This is definately an undertaking that is more easily said than done; however, the group pulled together and finished the grant. They were then asked a series of detailed questions and had to come up with an action plan for the next two years. Because we had no way to transfer funds, two group members had to make two trips to Koudougou in order to open an account at the bank. We also had to find a trustworthy Burkinabe who can use the internet to act as a superviser after I leave. Finally, two members also made a trip to Ouagadougou in order to meet with a representative of the organization. So after much hard work, they truly deserve this sound equipment.

Although it was a lot of work for them, I really believe this has made them a sustainable and efficient group. The group was really well organized when I first got to Tiogo but they had always relied on a volunteer as a way to finance their activities and guide them. Because the project required detailed and measurable goals, they have now been forced to organize themselves and rely on one another. Their biggest obstacle has always been a lack of money, but they now hope to earn it themselves through the dances, a video club (really just a television and vcr where they show movies and charge people a small fee) and by renting out their equipement. In order to measure their effectiveness, we are currently working on baseline data collection. They are interviewing people in the village about malaria and AIDS (this is especially difficult now that it is the rainy season and they must work in the fields.

Thanks to all of you who have been sending positive thought vibes and prayers our way. This means that I will definately be back in July as it was one of my last big activities. I am more than ready for it and hope to see you all soon!

Hiding Out from the Heat

2007-05-13T06:41:00.000-07:00

Not much has been going on since dad and Gwen left. It has been too hot to think really and I have been spending a lot of time hanging out at the pool in Koudougou in order to avoid the heat. I realize that it may seem crazy to bike two hours there and another to hours back just to swim, but, believe me, it is more than worth it!

The theatre troupe recently finished a tournee of the local villages doing a Moringa play. This will officially conclude the district wide series of Moringa sensibilisations we started last summer. We passed through each of the 12 villages at least 4 times. Also, I recently synthesized the results on the baby weighing study, however, the study was too small to really see a significant change.

The group and I are also currently still working with a group of returned Peace Corp volunteers from Burkina to get our sound equipment. We are currently awaiting the final decision so everyone please think positive thoughts.

Currently I am working with a women's group on a variety of environmental projects. They are going to plant alley crops of Moringa trees in their peanut fields to see if there is a higher crop yield. They are also planting a hard wood nitrogen fixing tree as a living hedge around their gardens. This way they don't have to chop down trees to make their fences. Since they use wood to cook, they can use branches from the living hedge and therefore will not have to go into the forest to search for firewood. This will save their time and the forest. Finally, I have a contraption that makes fuel bricks to use in place of fire. The bricks are made of peanut shells, dried leaves and recycled paper. This will hopefully cut down on wood usage. The women have been making and using the bricks. They told me the other day that they really enjoy using them because they last a long time. Then, one women said, "We can use these during the rainy season when the wood is wet." I hadn't even thought of this but it is true that last year my family went without eating dinner more than a few nights because the wood was to wet to prepare food. The women are thinking about selling the bricks.

Well, that is a quick update on my activities. Not much else is going on.

2007-04-12T21:09:00.000-07:00

2007-02-12T04:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening I was happily folding clothes and listening to my new ipod (thanks dad) when I heard a rush of high pitched yells heading toward our family compound. At first I thought it must have been in celebration of a new marriage; however, I quickly noticed that each of my moms dropped what she was doing and began running to the commotion. I too ran to the front of our house, laundry in hand, because terror had come upon me as I realized something bad must have happened. When I got to the front, I noticed one of my favorite women being brought to her house. There was a man on each side of her holding her up and propelling her forward. At first I thought she must be hurt because her clothes were askew. The men gently forced her into her courtyard and one of them came out to greet me (yes, in the midst of all this commotion they stopped to say hi to the whitey). I asked what had happened and he responded that her oldest child was killed on the road to Tenado. I asked which child but I already knew the answer. "Do you know Clement?" How could I not know the child, we are in the same family? About this time his father came home, threw his bicycle as hard as he could and ran out of the courtyard. I can only assume that he was trying to go to the place where his son was left on the side of the road. The men forced him back into his courtyard where by now all the women were assembled, and then they went off to go collect the body.

As the women and children wailed and I shook with saddness, I noticed Obu. He was inconsolible with a bloody lip and dirt streaked across his face. Nebilbie and I took him to the health clinic to make sure he was okay. He and Clement were best friends, bothers, and apparently Obu was the only one with him when he died. It struck me as I was hovering over him how differently we and Burkinabes deal with grief. Immediately I began looking around for something I could do, some one I could console, some way in which I could be useful. I had to do something in order to cope. The Burkinabes, however, stopped everything for the entire evening and wailed. I cannot count the number of times I have been chastised for being the white person who is too ready to cry. Yet now all sense of restraint was abandonned as everyone was simply ovecome with grief. It is true that in our culture we hold on to our grief and it takes years to completely overcome a loss whereas for the Burkinabe its seems that when something happens, grief is unrestrained and when they can cry no more, they continue on with their lives. During the course of the evening I realized that when I cried, I did not ask questions about my own mortality or cry for sad events past in my life (I believe this often happens when we grieve). I cried only for Clement who was a wonderful kid with a bright future. I felt the Burkinabes were doing the same. It made me wonder if their way of dealing with death was more pure and better for the soul.

I would like to close by saying a little about Clement and why his death has made such an impression. He was a kid of about 10 years old in his final year at elementary school. I recentlly got to know him and the other kids in the courtyard that are in Bregetou's grade because we have been doing math homework together. Homework could not begin until Clement was there. He was the smartest out of all of them and the only one who thought critically enough to be able to answer word problems. I was teaching him how to help his neighbors with problems and not just give them the answers. He was always polite and never annoying. I often thought during our homework seesions that he would be one of the few kids in town to graduate, go on to college and get a good paying job with the government. He was going to be the one for that family who could help out in hard times. He was going to be the one who made the family proud and respectible. He will be greatly missed by us all.

So Much Going On

2007-01-21T11:18:00.000-08:00

In the month since Christmas there has been a lot going on and it has been hard to process everything.

The day I left to going into koudougou and await a final decision, I realized that the night before my little brother had stolen 20,000 CFA from me (about $40). That is a substantial sum for me and a ridiculous amount for a villagois kid. I call my friend Nebilbie who lives in my family compound and just got a new cell phone. I went through him because he is a respected member of the family. I was hoping he would keep it quiet as stealing here is a very serious situation and I was afraid that the entire family could not handle the shame of having a thief in the family. It sounds so bizarre I know to our western ears that a kid's actions can affect the entire family but in a communal setting it is very likely that everyone could suffer from humiliation. Unfortunately my friend was not discreet and by the time I got back the entire village knew. We recovered some but not all of the money. When I got back to the house I came across my father. There was so much sadness, shame and fear in his eyes that I almost began to cry as he tried to apologize in his broken French. I believe that conversation was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life. After several meetings with myself, Nebilbie and the elders of my family they finally decided the kid should be banished from the town for a week and is never allowed into my small fenced in yard. My dad also gave me a guinea fowl which we prepared and ate on Christmas.

Christmas was fun. I went to midnight mass, had friends over, made potato soup. I went to Ouaga for New Year's. There were a bunch of volunteers around and we had a party at the house which is really fun. The new volunteers at midnight said much the same thing that we said last year, "Can you believe that we are celebrating the New Year in Africa?" Those of us who have already spent a year here said, "At least we get to go home this year." Funny our different perspectives.

For some sad news, my closest Peace Corp neighbor who was only 10 km away and worked with me on a lot of projects got sent home. She got caught breaking the rules and decided it was time for her to leave. It was very sad to see her go and it doesn't feel the same since she is gone. She will be greatly missed. After her leaving I have had a series of nightmares about having to leave my village unexpectedly. I believe it is sort of like PTSD. It made me realize how much I will miss my villagers and home hard it will be to leave.

My caravan was a big success. Thanks to all of you who supported us. We started Monday the 8th. Sixteen members of the association came and performed a play and held small discussions on AIDS. It lasted for the entire week and we went to two villages a day. We biked about 170 km in all. I was quite tired! I was worried that I would have too much stress to handle but power was delegated so effectively I actually had nothing to do for the whole week. It was quite nice and makes me feel like the association will be able to continue when Peace Corp leaves Tiogo. The finally day the Prefet came to see our closing sketch and then we had a party and killed a mouton at my house. During the bike-a-thon two villages solicited our help for setting up theatre troupes with the young in their towns. We also we told by our mayor that he will try to start a funded project with them and an NGO in Koudougou. These are all huge motivating factors for the actors. I took some video footage and pictures of the event and will try to post it on the blog. If not my friend Amanda will post it on her website at www.tharshegoes.com.

After the final party I went to bed only to wake up in the middle of the night because of a sound near my food chest. Thinking it was mice again I got up and grabbed a skillet to kill it. Instead of a mouse I found a huge foot long bush rat! After much screaming, crying, shaking and talking to the rat, I finally chased it out of my house by spraying it with bug spray. Quite fun.

Well, I am leaving tonight and well see most of you soon.

Lowdown on Lockdown

2006-12-23T00:59:00.000-08:00

I guess most of you know by now that I missed my flight home and will no longer be coming home for the holidays. It is sad but I have a new flight scheduled and plan to be home from Jan 22 to Feb 5. I hope to see and talk to as many of you as I can.

I am not sure how much I am supposed to explain and I do not want to appear critical of the Burkina Faso government or Burkina itself. If I sound negitive it is purely out of my own disappointment.

The night before I was supposed to leave I got a text from a fellow volunteer telling me that our office put us all on alert because there were problems in Ouagadougou. I called early the next morning and was told we were not officially supposed to leave our sites as a precautionary measure. The office knew I had to fly out and told me to head to Koudougou and wait for the final decision. They were talking to their sources to try to get the lowdown.

As far as I know what happened was a skirmish between two different police forces, the city police and the gerndermes. There were gun shots and I think some buildings were burned the night of the 20th. I believe some people were killed but I am not sure. The next morning things were pretty quiet and since then everything has been quite calm but the office wanted to be extra sure that things were settled down. Let me be clear: it was not a coup, revolt by the people or any real serious ethnic conflict. I will be surprised if my villagers even know about it. I have yet to hear what the disagreement was about initially but I think it is over now. We have been advised to staying in our villages until the end of december. If we leave, the head office must know about it. I may have to go into Ouaga the 27th and I was told I should be okay. I am gonna try to not go in until the 31st but I need to change my ticket at Royal Air Maroc.

Please don't worry. I am a lot safer than it sounds and if things had gotten worse there are plans in place to get us consolidated or even evacuated but again that is a whole other level which we are not even close to. If you have questions call Peace Corps Washington. Our office is sending reports there.

Love ya'll and have a good Christmas and New Year's.

Fastin', Feastin', and Fete-in'

2006-10-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

After a month of fasting before Ramadan, the Muslim's in my village feted it up right. When the moon reappeared, we all ate, danced, and lounged around until I got physicall ill from overindulgence.

The day went like this:
My friend Sarah had come in the night before to visit my village. We got up that morning, dressed in our longest skirts and headed to the imam's house. I had talked to the imam a few days before to ask permission to pray and he suggested we arrive at his house in the morning to walk in a procession with his wives to the praying tree. On the way there my muslim family stopped us and let us borrow headscarves which we tied in the traditional muslim way.

After hanging out for thirty minutes we walked in a procession like we did for the fete of Tabaski. As well walked through the town to the designated tree, people joined in from all sides. Finally we got to the main road where the three processions from each direction of the village met together, sited a prayer, and began shooting off guns. Then we all got to the prayer tree. Sara and I sat in the back with the women but during the middle of prayer the imam pointed out to the two whities and welcomed us. He told everyone our muslim names (mine is Sofiata and Sara's is Sarata.

After prayer finished we had our pictures taken by the village photographer and then headed to my second family's house. This is the family of Bregetou. We ate and hung out for a while. My friend Abdul stopped by. Then Sara and I decided to head to the house. Bregetou and I had to prepare something to take to her family's that night for the big dinner and Sara and I drank the tea that they make here (sort of like Arab tea). After reposing for a few hours we went back to the imam's. We hung out there, ate again and drank more tea. Then we passed by my friend Souley's house, ate, drank tea and bissap (hibiscus tea) and listened to music. It was getting dark then so we headed back to my family's house. We ate again and the two mom's decided I needed to paint my feet. For holidays here the Muslims dye their hands and feet in a hena like fashion only they use hair dye instead of hena. My mom painted stripes on my feet and then the other mom paint my toenails purple (I would have fit in really well at an LSU tailgate). Then there was a village dance afterward.

It was a good experience. For weeks after prefect strangers would come up to me because of my feet and say "You are muslim. How was the fete?" I enjoyed celebrating it with another American as well.

Right after the fete there was a huge festival in Ouaga. It was called SIAO and it happens every other year here in Burkina. Traditional Artisans from all over Africa come for two weeks during the festival. It is a huge deal which brings in lots of tourists. I went to visit it twice and now have no money!

Fugitive from Justice

2006-10-03T01:30:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone got a chance to look at the pictures I sent. There are many stories behind everyone I can assure you.

I am back in Ouaga again for four days. It is the time for my midservice (can any one believe I am at the midservice point?) medical exam. It is now that I will get the flatworm test whose results are so eagerly awaited.

Two weeks ago I was in Ouaga for the preparation of the new training. I will go back to village saturday with five new trainees. They are coming to visit my site for a few days on order to see how volunteers live. Then I will accompany them up north and spend a week at the training site leading sessions. Needless to say all last week was spent informing my village and preparing for the invasion. Actually I think it will be pretty fun. My daughter is going to make them to. Whenever I have told other volunteers this they always make a face a say, "The trainees have only been in country for three weeks. Do you think they are ready for to?" My daughter's to is the best in the world though, I will actually miss it when I leave, so I figure it is a good introduction for them.

Speaking of my daughter, a surreal experience (for me) happened to us the other day. We were going home after the Saturday night theater troupe meeting when we stopped for bread at the corner "store." The owner was at prayer as it is the month of Ramadan so we were waiting out front for him to return. It was dark and there was a lightening storm so the atmosphere was a little spooky. All of the sudden a truck filled with people in the back pulled up right outside the store. I thought it was odd as people don't usually travel at night but was not alarmed. My daughters started getting nervous and hissed at me to nonchalantly leave the area. I was confused.
Other people around us also started making a mad dash. She grabbed my flashlight and turned it off. After we turned the corner she sprinted into the corn field and together we hid. I asked what was going on and she replied that it was the police coming to make an arrest. As she is thirteen, I know that she is not personally guilty of anything. While we were hiding, my two brothers passed us. She alerted them of the police and they too hid themselves are their bikes.

It seemed sort of like a movie, having to run and hide from the people who are protecting you in the middle of west africa. Of course, I know these set of cops and they would never do anything bad or unjust but I found it very interesting that Bregetou's and other's first response was so violently opposed to them. Talk about a difference in culture.

Bridge over the strange water

2006-09-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

The man who ferried our bikes across. Why didn't we just ask for a ride?

Here are the pictures of the "bridge" I had to cross.

New Pics

2006-09-23T02:29:00.000-07:00

Check out the guy with the glasses!

Just another day on the school bus.

P.S.Just added more photos to facebook too.

Strange Waters

2006-08-28T03:20:00.000-07:00

Well, the eventful two weeks in village continued after the dog sacrifice. A few days after the event, my friend, Elizabeth, and I decided to travel to an outlying village in order to set up some more savings and loans groups and give another talk on moringa trees. The village is extremely motivated and gives us free food every time we come, however, we are warned against getting too cozy with the place every time we attempt to go there.

The problem with the village is there in a large pond that is apparently impassable during the rainy season. As we are near the height of the season, all bets were that the meeting was going to have to be canceled. As we were leaving Elizabeth's house, her father warned us not to force it and if the water was too high to just turn back. After biking the 15 km we came across the pond. The pond could now officially be called a lake as it was at least 150 yards across. Clearly we could not take the normal route.

As we were about to turn around we ran into a friend of ours who told us that if we went down a little farther, we could wade waist high in the water and "mount some wood" to get across. He went to go get a pirogue (yes LA girls, Heth's pronunciation in the correct one) to ferry our stuff across. We followed his kid to the site of the wood which was actually a sort of homemade bridge. It made the bridge in Indiana Jones look good. The bridge did not go all the way to the bank so we waded waist high, got on the bridge and slowly made our way across. I am just glad I was always good on the balance beam. I am sending the pictures to mom to put up because there is no way really to describe it properly. I will say that half way across I realized the bridge was held together by rusty bike chains.

We made it with only one fall from Elizabeth but now we are both convinced we have flatworms. We will take the test to see in October and I will keep y'all posted. (I am joking here as I really think we probably don't have the worms but we are taking the test just in case. Please no one freak out because it isn't as bad as it sounds).

When I got back to village I told my friends who were impressed but scolded me for crossing the pond. One friend told me the water was "strange." Another told me it "steals" people. These comments alarmed me and I asked for a further explanation. The conversation went as follows:

K: What do you mean the water steals people
N: It kills people. Every year two or the people die.
K: Why?
N: It is strange water.
K: What do you mean it is strange water?
N: There is something in there that kills people.
K: WHAT?
N: Yes
K: What kind of something? An animal?
N: No, not a crocodile. It isn't an animal. It is something mysterious.
K: Is it the flatworms? Are you sure people just don't know how to swim.
N: No it isn't the guinea Worm (note. You cannot get g worm this way). It isn't swimming. It will kill you even in a little bit of water. (At this point he grabbed his ankles). I can't explain it.
K: Is it quick sand?

This conversation continued for about 15 minutes while I was growing increasingly alarmed of the mysterious killer until I realized it was the undertow. So, needless to say, Elizabeth and I have decided to not make another trip to the village until the water recedes.

In other news, I will be in Ouaga for training to help with the new volunteers when they come in. The training is the week of Sept 17-22 so I will be able to email. Also, I know some of you were worried about my procrastination but I am happy to report that I finished my personal statement so now I am just waiting for the letters of recommendation and the transcripts before I send it in.

A Little too Bien Integre

2006-08-15T06:56:00.000-07:00

Well, have been back in village now for five days and already felt the need to escape. Actually that isn't true. Village has been going well, but I had a meeting scheduled at the district with the doctor only to be told after biking thirty km in the mud, that the district office is closed today because of Ascention. Having nothing else to do, and procrastinating the whole law school application thing, I decided to update everyone on my very interesting meeting with the traditional healers, i.e. witch doctors.

Before I left for Spain I talked to an association of traditional healers about Moringa trees. They asked me to come back this past Sunday to reinforce some of the information I had given them in July. I arrived that morning and waited for a few hours only to have about ten people show up. Because it is the rainy season, attendance at all meetings is rather low. I was excited to hear that three of the people had been using the leaf podwer PROPERLY for their patients. I guess some of what I said sank in after all.

After my talk, I was told that there was some other business they needed to attend to. Thinking it was their code for, "It is time to drink gin now," I got up to leave. They stopped me before I managed to escape and led me through the brush to an altar surrounded by trees. Around the altar were half buried bottles arranged, apparently, in a particular fashion. On the altar made out of an old wheel spoke, they each placed their fetishes (which are black smooth stones on a chain) on the altar. My friend who was translating for me then explained the backstory as to what was happening.

One traditional healer had accidentally killed one of his patients by giving him the wrong potion. To correct this unfortunate event, all of the healers were participating in a sacrifice to get rid of the bad spirits that would otherwise plague the healer. Now, it was about this time that I realized where the dog who was hog tied and muzzeled at my feet was fitting into the picture. Yes, it was all coming together now and making perfect sense.

I was surprised as everyone tells me that outsiders are not allowed to see sacrifices or go to sacreed places, but I am a little to bien integrated now.

The president of the association, who now apparently considers me a member in my own right, tried to get me to sit next to him during the ceremony. The look of horror on my face, however, spared me and I was allowed to stay near the exit. I watched as the offending healer kneeled before the altar and the president. They conversed for a while and the poured a few rounds, taking care to spill a few drops on the altar for good measure. The president then proceeded to sacrfice a chicken. He cut the chicken on the neck. The chicken flew around in circles for a few seconds then landed. The flight of the bird and subsequent landing of it held some sort of message for the crowd that sort of escaped my knowledge. When the chicken had finally died, they placed the blood of it on the altar. There was another chicken which then met a similar fate.

They then came for the dog. They untied him and sacrificed him as well (I will spare you the details). The dog's blood was drained into a container and on the altar as well. Each of the fetishes was then bathed in the blood of the dog in the container. I didn't really understand how tense the situation was until after we finished. Everyone seemed a lot lighter spiritually (except me of course). I was scared to ask if they ate the meat but I am hoping they did as they placed the dog's body on a fire after the ceremony and my ethnicity is known around Burkina for eating dog meat.

I now have been invited to a fete next Sunday at the president's house. I will keep you posted but am praying for no carniage.

In other news, I got stampeded by a cow yesterday. I guess the proper word is actually charged but I am not splitting hairs here. I was walking near our new dam when I heard a thundering behind me. I hopped quickly onto the dam and much to everyone's surprise I took it in stride. Later I was in the same spot when the same cow charged three girls who did not handle the situation so well, there was a lot of screaming, but all managed to walk away unscathed.

Needless to say, it has been an eventful few days. My theater troupe is preparing a malaria play and are going to sell the mosquito nets we got before I left. Since I have been back it has rained twice, but I got news that it did not rain while I was on vacation. As this is the height of the rainy season, everyone is really worried and constantly working to keep the millet healthy. Please pray, it may be a tough year.

Visiting Kelly

2006-08-04T16:03:00.000-07:00

Kelly's mom posting photos of our trip to meet her in the Canary Islands, often thought to be part of the lost continent of Atlantis, and a truly beautiful place.
Our condo was white with a Spanish tile roof and nice balcony. There was a cool breeze off the Atlantic, and the temperature stays around 70-80 degrees all year. Our island, Tenerife, is called the Island of Eternal Spring.

The capital city, Santa Cruz, has a new opera house on the bay, resembling the one in Sydney, Australia.

Canary Island photos

2006-08-04T15:51:00.000-07:00

Kelly's mom attaching more photos of our Canary Island trip to visit her.
The volcano on the island is the highest point in Spain, and the Atlantic, as well, over 3700 meters.

Our town was Puerto de la Cruz, with beautiful blue ocean views and mountains in the clouds behind us.

Canary Islands Trip

2006-08-04T15:33:00.000-07:00

Kelly's mom posting for her after meeting in the Canary Islands for a week. She said it was one of the prettiest places she had ever been, and I would have to agree. Her friend, Julia Paul, who is a Peace Corps Volunteer from Baltimore came with her, and they were also visiting the south of Spain and Morrocco on their way to/from meeting us. We had a fun week on the island, Tenerife.

My boss from Washington is coming in 2 days? Oh my!

2006-05-26T02:34:00.000-07:00

Before I go any further, I have be told that I need to write a disclaimer that the views expressed on this blog an my own views and do not officially represent the Peace Corp. Ok, I hope that suffices.

Am recently getting over the panic of having the Director of Peace Corps Africa come and visit me at my site. It seems that she was visiting Burkina to check up on the office here and wanted to visit some volunteer's villages. Because I am relatively close to Ouaga and I have a business volunteers as a close neighbor, my site was chosen.

I say I was panicked because I only had about two days to prepare my town for the visit. My theater group was asked to preform a short skit and I had to notify all the nurses at our clinic. Now, you might think that two days is more than enough time to be prepared for a short, morning visit. Let me just remind you, however, that this is Africa and when my gas tank for cooking ran out it took a month and my trying to bike thirty km with the tank to get the tank filled. As a further complication, the president of our group, who is one of the few people who can understand me and has a leading role in the play that was chosen to be preformed, was out of town working. Amazingly, however, it all came together and the group worked really hard to make things happen.

The director of the health proggram came out with the visitor from Washington as well as the director of the business program. All three women enjoyed the play and were impressed by the humor and intelligence of the piece. After the play we went to my neighbor Elizabeth's village to eat and visit with a women's savings and loans group that she had started.

All for of my close neighbors and I had gone around doing sensibilisations on the savings and loans groups. Elizabeth did most of it but with her and Amanada's help I started three groups in my village and have helped with three others in a neighboring village. On the whole the entire project was very rewarding and sucessful so it was good that Elizabeth was able to talk about the project.

Because the savings and loans group worked so well, Elizabeth and I are planning a similar approach for these amazing trees called moringa trees. They are incredibly nutritious and can really help with malnutrition. It is good because it is a health related topic as the last event was more business oriented. So, in June wee will bike around to villages in our district and talk to people about the benefits of the trees. We are going to hand out sapplings to those who would like then. Then in August we will go around to the people's houses who took the trees and do follow ups with them. Likewise, because we want to be able to track the progress of malnurited kids who eat the moringa leaves we will work with the nutrition clinic in our villages and monitor the kid's weight. I am really excited about the whole thing.

Other than that I am awaiting Spain in a month and a half. In June I will spend a week in Ouaga with two members of my theater troup learning about malaria and TB. Also I am going up north for a week to do talks on the Guniea Worm. Yes, that disgusting worm that gets inside you then tries to break out of the pores in your skin and you roll in out cm by cm with a match stick. Fun stuff.

Oh yeah, and last night I went to this concert of a famous Reggae star from Cote d'Ivorie. His name was Alpha Blondie. It was great and the fans were all so enthusiastic. We had heard about the concert on May 11th (Bob Marley fete day which is apparently a big celebration here -- my neighboring town had a parade -- and pot is legal here for the day only). Accidently two friends and I happened to be in Ouaga and stumble onto this reggae festival with local bands. It was one of my best nights in Burkina and also it made me feel a little like I was in Austin. So I guess on the whole things are looking up now.

Women's Day

2006-04-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

photos of Kelly

2006-04-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

Kelly's mom here - asked for pictures of HER so here are some she brought home when she came for my mom's funeral.

A Rocky Month

2006-04-07T05:14:00.000-07:00

After a somewhat rocky month of March, I am happy to say that things are looking up here in Burkina. Some of you have, by now, heard about the fiasco of women's day and the fight I got into with the village elders. For those of you who didn't, let me briefly
explain.

The day of the women's festival we were running behind (although I have yet to ever see a burkinabe on time the village elders were shocked by this news). Although I had asked for their advice ahead of time and they had shirked their responsibilties, I was informed by them that the committee, which they had formed that morning, was canceling the family planning play so that we could move on the the soccer match. Being that the reason we received funding for the festival was the play and that everything was set up for it and that all the people were already gathered around, I put my foot down as said that we were doing the play. A thirty minute argument then ensued and the play was indeed canceled. Let me just add that the play was only 15 minutes long and that by arguing we effectively lost 15 minutes of daylight.

After the argument I decided I needed to take a break from Tiogo. Luckily the next week was our national bike-a-thon. Two of my village friends and I headed east to a town named Zorgo. About 20 other pcvs and their burkinabe friends were there and we spent the next week doing daily talks at small villages over AIDS.

When I got back to village my closest neighbors and I spent the next week biking around our region. We talking to women about starting savings and loans clubs. Currently I am helping five groups of women in Tiogo and more groups in a neighboring village will get started in the next few weeks. So far everything is going very well.

photos7

2006-03-08T07:37:00.000-08:00

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2006-03-08T07:35:00.000-08:00

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2006-03-08T07:34:00.000-08:00

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2006-03-08T07:31:00.000-08:00

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2006-03-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

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2006-03-07T08:51:00.000-08:00

photos

2006-03-07T07:58:00.000-08:00

Kelly's mom here - she sent me rolls of film to develop for her so am posting some here. She didn't send many of herself! Am not really sure what they are, just putting up some of my favorites! A few show the theatre troupe she works with in village.

2006-02-20T12:37:00.000-08:00

Guys,

Sorry didn't get post up. Will do soon. Did send mom some pics and she will be posting them. Also, my friend Amanda has a blog with pics. She is my neighbor so there are some with me. the site is www.tharshegoes.com. Or I just put up a new album on facebook.

Voodoo on the Mountaintop

2006-02-16T14:14:00.000-08:00

Have been in Ouaga the past week for the yearly pcv's meetings. We have been very busy and really haven't had much time for anything. The last day of the meetings we scheduled a big Mardi Gras masquerade. We made Ouagajitos (mojitos with bissap) and a concoctition with orange juice, bissap and vodka which is tentatively names Bottom - Up Burkina (we will accept suggestions). My neighbors and I dressed up in our special mardi gras costumes that we had made when we were in Koudougou. Last Friday my two nearest neighbors came to my village and we had a mask making party.

The most exciting news is that we FINALLY got to climb the mountain. After talking about it since we first visited villages, the stars finally aligned for us (l'heure africain and all).I had mentioned the expedition to one of my village friends, fully expecting him to laugh me out of village, but instead he asked to come with me. It was then turned into a huge event and three other friends decided to come along as well. I half-jokingly tell people that I have a posse who follows me around everywhere (these four guys from my theater troop).

We decided to leave really early in the morning. Even though we said 6 a.m. we wound up leaving at 7:30 and still not everyone had made it. Abdul, Nebilbie (my cousin who lives in my family's compound)and I headed out hoping the others would catch up. Amazingly Souley caught up with us (amazing because the Burkinabes peddle at an impossibly slow rate). He told us Hamidou was in the village over visiting his sister and wound met us on the road. We met up with him in Tenado. The bike ride to the village at the bottom of the mountain is 22 km from me. We were meeting my peace corp neighbor from Reo there who was bringing a local friend with her as well.

We met up in Kyon only to have the Burkinabes decide that they needed to eat breakfast before they climbed the mountain. After they ate we had to head to an uncle's house so they could get a jug and water. Then we had to go visit the chief of the village to gain his permission as he is the keeper of the animist tradition and the locals believe they descended from the mountain. The chef said we could climb the mountain but his son would go with us to act as a guide.

We biked about 5 km to the foothills of the mountain. The area looked a lot like going into Carsbad Caverns. We started heading up the mountain. There was a trail which was a lot more than Amanda and I were expecting but the trail was staight up all the way. At the top of the foothills there were two rocks on the side of the path. We had to stop while the locals explained that we had to jump through them. If we didn't, we would get bit by a scorpion.

Before we made the final ascent to the summit we were stopped a second time by a pile of rocks. Each of us had to pick a rock up from the ground and place it on the pile. Then we are had to dance in a circle around the pile of rocks three times. At first Amanda and I thought they were all just joking but no, we actually had to do it. There were huge rocks of the top of the mountain and you could see for miles. Amanda is a huge yoga buff and we commented on how fun it would be to do yoga on the rocks. I wound up taking a picture of her doing the tree pose. The Burkinabes were totally thrown and I explained it was yoga. One of the guys said, "Oh, I know about that. It is like magic. You can move things with your mind." Of all the random things to know about in Africa! They then made us take a picture of all of them doing the yoga pose. Amanda said, "Oh great. You know if the crops fail this year it is because the witchy nacarras (white people) were doing voodoo on the sacred mountain." It was a joke and we laughed, but then checked ourselves because, remembering the dancing around the rock pile, we figured it could possibly the true.

On the way down I fell, of course, and got harassed about it for quite a while. On the whole it was a lot of fun.

The Pilgrimage of the Goat

2006-02-03T12:29:00.000-08:00

It feels like so much has happened in village since the last time I have written but it has only been a month. I must admit that I am at quite a loss as to where to begin.

I got back for my week stint in Ouaga just in time to begin preparing for the last of the holidays, the muslim holiday of Tabaski. When I asked what Tabaski was exactly and what its relavence to Islam was, the answer I always received was, "It is the holiday of the goat." I would always then ask "Why?" And the responce was always, "Because that is when we slaughter a goat." Upon further questioning, I was never able to extract exactly what the goat meant to the holiday/religion. That is Burkina for you.

In the days before Tabaski I was scolded by my muslim friends in village for not yet visiting the mosque. Apparantly Sofiata is an Islamic name and since my name is muslim, I must surely be muslim and go to prayer. I was jokingly warned that I better get myself to prayer on Tabaski.

The night before we had the now-traditional all night dance party at my second family's house. The day of Tabaski came and I wore my long skirt and long sleeve shirt as well as the biggest scarf I have and headed for the mosque. On the way there my second family, who is muslim, stopped me. My scarf was apparently not large enough so I had to borrow one of theirs and they had to tie it a specific way. I was also sent toward a large tree in village in the opposite way of the mosque where prayers were going to be held.

I came upon a group of people who were preforming a pilgrimage on their way to the tree. The men were in front praying and shooting guns while the women followed behind. As we neared the tree three other groups came from other directions and we all arrived at the same time.

We sat out our mats and all prayed. I was in the back with the other women and my daughter. About half way through my second father, who is the butcher (hurray for free meat in village) left and later returned with a goat in tow. The imans then proceeded to slaughter the goat to "show the people the proper way to sacrifice it." I was just glad I was in the back!

After prayers finished my friend Abdul called me up to where the men were sitting and we all posed for a picture. It was a strange feeling being the only women allowed in the men's section especially since my scarf had fallen by that point. I waited around hoping for an invite somewhere.

Two of my theater guys asked me to their house to celebrate and we spent the whole day chatting, eating and drinking tea and zoomkoom (dont ask because you dont want to know what it is). I went home in the evening only to be told that I was expected at my second family's dinner. Needless to say I was quite well fed that day.

My theater troupe has kept me busy planning the bike-a-thon (you will all be hit up for money very soon so be prepared) and practicing their hour long play that they preformed during our biggest market day of the month. I am also planning a festival for women's day on march 8th. Is this my dream job or what I get to plan festivals (you know I secretly pretend it is going to be like bonnaroo or acl fest).

This is also the season of funerals. Almost everyday there is a funeral in one of the surrounding villages. I funeral is different from an enternment and is basically a two day party (held now because no one is working for these three months) to celebrate the persons life. Kinda like a Jazz funeral without the good music or bourbon. It is still strange to me to hear that this is the funeral season, however.

My family held a funeral for three women who died in our courtyard. My petite mom, the last of my dad's three wives, made me drink dolo and follow the drums around dancing (I got told that I was not a good Muslim for drinking the dolo by the way). The drummers and dancers went around to each courtyard carrying knives and a goat which they killed at the house of each father(Note: this is not apparently the best time to be a goat in Burkina). I made bissap (hibiscus tea) and gateau (beignets). I shared them with the women who later came into my courtyard singing another song they made up for me. It was their way of saying thank you. My friend Souley told me that one of the lines was, "The beautiful stranger who asked for a place in our house." So at least it was nice things they were singing.

I was invited last monday to go to a wedding. Actually I was invited to be in the groom's wedding party. It was actually kind of a let down because their was a lot of waiting involved. All of the grooms friends gathered at the grooms house and we went to the financee's parents house where the girl was hidden. The groom was sent to "find" the girl and then paid for her and was able to take her with him to his house. Of course an all night dance party ensued with the eating of cola nuts (but not by me). It was a bit strange because the couple already had a five year old daughter and the wife had been living with the husbands family. I asked people about this and they told me that now the couple were "officially" married and before the groom had just "stolen" the wife. It was my first animist celebration.

Next week we will finally climb the famed Mt Sanguie. I am looking forward to it and have invited five village friends to go with me. I will write about it when I go to Ouaga at the end of next week.

Bonne Annee

2006-01-02T10:18:00.000-08:00

Crazy that it is 2006!

Things are much better here as have finally gotten over my illness (after 9 days) and am feeling better.

Christmas was great fun. We prepared all day on Christmas Eve for a huge dance party that night at my courtyard. I felt the need to pay back my second family who invited me to their Ramadan celebration. The immediate family alone consits of 13 people! I couldn't, then, prepare food for them and not the family that I live with. Not to mention the fact that my counterparts and theater troop members also just had to be invited. In the end the guest list was well over 100 people. Meanwhile, the kids in my courtuard made paper stockings which the decorated and sewed shut with string. We hung the stocking on the wall of my house.

My daughter and I prepare rice with tomato sauce and beans and rice for everyone. We actually had enough for everyone to eat and some people even ate three times! I borrowed a stereo from my neighbor as well. Everyone danced, drank tea, and talked until 4:30 a.m. I spent most of my time dancing with me three moms. They got the biggest kick out of it.

The next morning I woke up to the sound of little voices whispering outside my door. I had saved some candy and small toys for them from a care package I had recieved from mom. They were so excited and really loved the bubble wands. We still had some food leftover from the night before so everyone came over for breakfast and hung out until about noon. Unfortunately I was sick and had to cancel the party at the midwives for Christmas day. I had my fare share of visitors that day as well though which kept me busy.

The day after Christmas was a marchee day. I was sitting in my courtyard reading when all the women in my courtyard came back from the market wasted. The were all singing and dancing in the traditional style. Eventually they made their way to my house and came in tapping a drum. They proceeded to dance (and forced me to dance) and sing a song which I realized they had made up about me. I don't know what the song means because it is in Leile but I definately heard my name in the lyrics. It was actually a really cool moment.

On the 29th I traveled into Koudougou to pick up a VCR for a sensibilization we were planning in villages. I had already asked a friend at an NGO their if it would be okay to borrow a VCR and he had consented. However, that day his kids was sick in the hospitol and I had to talk to his boss who was apparently pissed that I didn't follow protocol and that he didn't get asked. He made me wait around all that day and the next morning coming up with one bogus excuse after another. Finally it became clear to me that he was going to continue to flex his muscles and not give me the VCR. I was SO frustrated and angry. If he had told me from the beginning that he definately was not going to give it to me, I could have searched elsewhere. That's Africa for you.

Because I was so upset and my sickness had gotten worse I changed my plans completely and came to Ouaga for treatment. I spent a few days in the medical unit at the pc but made it out for a News Years BBQ feast at the pc hostel. It was a lot of fun but I do feel very guilty for missing the two sensibilizations in Tiogo.

I hope all of you had a good New Years too.

Joyeaux Noel

2005-12-22T00:39:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.

Things have been going well here although I currently feel as though I am on the verge of death as have been ill for the last few days. It is my own fault, though, for not drinking enough water.

I have been in Koudougou for a meeting and for gathering materials for the next performance my theater troop is putting on January 1st. The last performance went really well (the members were even on time, a first!). My nearest p.c. neighbors came to watch and spend the night. We had a Mexican feast of homemade tortillas, queso, guacamole and chili. It was wonderful.

We also just got finished doing the final rounds of polio vaccinations for this year. We go around to everyone's house and give the children the oral vaccine. It isn't exactly scientific but I guess it works. I am always on a team with the pharmacist who is always the last to show up. We are supposed to be giving the vaccine from 6 a.m. until 11 a.m. Our team usually heads out at 7:30 or 8 and at 9:30 the pharmacist starts asking me if I am tired, which means that he is ready to start heading back. Needless to say we are always the first team back. Everyday he seems shocked too that no one else is back yet. That's African time for you.

I am also trying to finish up my etude. I am going to all the satellite villages and meeting the important people there. I think I will work a lot in the satellite villages because Tiogo is pretty well developed. I met with am man in town who runs the Centre d'alphabetisation. That is a place where adults go to become literate in their native language. I was really impressed and think it is a wonderful, needed place here.

Sadly, in Tiogo we had many deaths this week. Two adults died which was a big deal. Also the baby in my second family here died. It was a hard week in village because of this. The way people deal with death here is very different than in America and sometimes I felt like I was making a bigger deal out of it than they were.

I will be in village for Christmas and New Years but will be in Ouaga on the 2nd for the big game. I will be cheering very loudly for Texas to beat USC and then will be rubbing it in to everyone I know from California (many volunteers here are from California). I plan on being very obnoxious

Jum Wylie (good day in fulfuldi)

2005-12-09T05:02:00.000-08:00

Have entered a new phase in my Peace Corp experience, I think. I just got into Koudougou and I have realized that I actually prefer my tiny village to the big city even despite the attractions of a pool and pasteries! Yes I am more than a little alarmed at this epiphany.

In the two weeks since Thanksgiving I have learned how to make tô, given a sensibilization at the school for world AIDS day, and traveled once again en brousse.

Tiogo has come to life recently because the farmers have all finished the fall recolt. I have asked them what they are up to now and they always reply, "Rein." So, it seems that the entire village has nothing to do for the next three months. That makes me feel a lot less lonely.

I am in koudougou today preparing for a sensibilization that the threater troop is doing this Sunday. It is the big monthly market this Sunday so the troop has decided to put on a play regarding condom negotiation and AIDS prevention. I am really excited about it.

Everyone is also preparing for Christmas. My village is mainly Catholic so it promises to be a big event. It is hard to think of it as Christmas, however, with such hot weather. Yesterday the two village midwives, in a drunken stupor, cornered me at our market and invited me to celebrate Christmas with them. I was actually pretty excited about it. Also, the theater troop is preparing a big New Years Party. I am glad there is stuff going on in my village and think both events are going to be really fun but sad at the same time because this means I will not be celebrating with the other Peace Corp volunteers. I do plan to go to Ouaga on the 2nd, however, in order to watch all the big college football games.

I guess that is about it for now. Enjoy your holiday preparations and drink some eggnog for me.

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-25T03:45:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone has a happy thanksgiving. Please eat some cranberry sauce for me.

I came into Ouaga for thanksgiving as did a lot of other volunteers. We had a pot luck supper with prime ribs, mashed potatoes, and cream gravy. I even convinced some one to make peach cobbler!

I am currently researching funding possibilities for the regional bike a thon that my theater troop is planning. A few weeks ago they came to me and told me that they were short some funds and asked if I would help with a grant. When I asked how short they were they said they needed everything but a couple boxes of condoms! Needless to say I am a little overwhelmed but am glad to be starting on a projet.

My greatest accomplishment has been making chicken fried steak, cream gravy and masked potatoes en village. Am a good texan or what? Also, I found a catholic mission in Koudougou that lets out rooms for cheap. It is so peaceful and clean. It is a real saving grace when I need a real shower! Never thought I would come to a point in my life where I thought staying in a monastery was living the life of luxery.

So here are some recent stats on my life here:

# of kms biked in one day - 78
# of bike falls - no longer counting but is decreasing
# of lbs lost - 23
Languages spoken on daily basis - english, french, leile, moore and fulfuldi
# of things living in house - 3 (2 bats and a parttime daughter)
# of scorpions seen - 1
favorite drink in village - scary clear moonshine and locally brewed beer (dolo)
African names - Edwouma Kanko (leile) and Sofiata (moore)

Still going strong (dje wene koko)

2005-11-14T04:23:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Mom and Emily for getting the pictures up. It is actually my first time seeing them. Strange to think of life in Gourcey as it feels so long ago.

I am settling into village life and finally feel as though I am actually doing something and not just wondering around aimlessly. This last week was especially good.

I have been interviewing various community leaders and getting to know my surroundings. This week the board of directors came over and built me a courtyard so now I have some privacy. It is nice but a little loney. I plan on planting bouganvillas in there and the board said that they are going to build me a porch out of wood and a thatched roof. That will make it really nice but will cut into my tree sitting time with my "dad." The kids of my family have been coming over to play cards about twice a week. They help me a lot with my leile and french. I am proud of myself for actually knowing all their names.

My best day this week was when I went en brushe (in the fields) with my family. They were so excited when I showed up that they all let out and Indian/Arab like yell. I helped the old men arrange the mil and helped the women cut the mil. Then they decided that I needed to just take the mil from the field to the donkey cart to be loaded for the trip home. They insisted that I carry the mil in a bowl on my head. I was actually pretty good at it and could even balance it without using my hands!

We also had Ramadan. The family of my daughter (who came back by the way and now is on her best behavior; she stays two night a week only now which works really well.) is Muslim so I got invited to their house two nights in a row for a celebration. Each night there was a dance party that lasted until 6 a.m. They were all pumped when the whitey got up to dance. I also ate lunch with all the teachers in the village. I was so full that I was sich. Just like our holidays back home. Never thought that I would be so full in Africa that I managed to make myself sick. I guess gluttony follows you around wherever you go.

I started my french lessons. It has helped my french as well as going around and just talking to people. I also started Leile lessons. My theater group met this week and there are big plans for a bike a thon on AIDS as well as a sensibilization on International AIDS day, December 1.

I guess that is all for now. Will write more when I am in Ouaga for Thanksgiving.

Good News

2005-11-04T09:12:00.000-08:00

To all of you who know our good family friend, Miss Ever, thanks for your prayers and her news was good this morning.
No other signs of cancer, and they will treat the lumpectomy site with radiation.
from Kelly's mom

African people

2005-11-02T12:03:00.000-08:00

African landscapes

2005-11-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

still more

2005-11-02T11:51:00.000-08:00

village - zaka life

even more photos

2005-11-02T08:23:00.000-08:00

Traditional dress and a baobab tree (as in Little Prince book)

more photos

2005-11-02T08:15:00.000-08:00

Kelly's hut in her training village is the one with people sitting in front. The other is a granary next door.

photos

2005-11-02T07:32:00.000-08:00

With Kelly's friend Emily's help - I am posting photos a few at a time.
Those of you on my group e-mail have already seen these.
Please send me your e-mail address if you would like to be added to that group - I give updates as I get them from her.
Kelly's mom

Very Important. . .

2005-10-28T02:47:00.000-07:00

Everyone,

Just found out yesterday that Miss Ever has cancer and is going into surgery next Tuesday. If it is inoperable she will have to do kemo. Please pray/meditate/send positive thought vibes for her!

En Village

2005-10-28T02:28:00.000-07:00

So I have successfully (sort of) completed my first week en village. It wasn't that bad except that the previous two days I had nothing to do because everyone in the country has been on strike. They even closed the clinic down! I got so bored I hand sewed curtains even though there is a tailor in town on market days.

The people have all been great and I am having a really good time getting to know my surroundings. The place is starting to look even more like Texas now that the dry season is starting.

I have come to the conclusion (as if I didn't know before) that I would make a horrible mother! When I got back to my house, my "daughter" was still staying with me. I was panicked the whole time because I didn't know what to feed her or talk to her about. One day I had to get up early to get her off to school. Man was I pissed that day! I sent her off with money to go buy bread. I mean of all the people for this problem to happen to it is me.

So I went to her parents house and finally we got the whole thing straightened out. They next two nights she would come over to help after school but would go home at night. Then the next night she said she was staying with me again. I wasn't in the mood to fight with her so I said okay. She then invited a bunch of kinds over to my house and asked me for candy in front of them so I had to give the candy dish to her (sorry mom for ever putting you on the spot like that). I told her, "one for each kid because its bad for your teeth." I know she understood me but after a little while she didn't return the dish. So I had to go over and ask for it back. When I did she took the dish and dumped out all the candy then handed it back to me. I said "oh no" and made her put the candy back. So then I guess she was upset because I scolded her in front of her friends and the next day she ran away from home. I haven't seen her since. So after one week of being a parent I have a runaway, disobedient 12 year old daughter. Nice job, huh?

Other than that things are going well. My dad and next door neighbor came over one night and gave me chicken and moonshine. And there is a kid in my courtyard named. . . I kid you not, Leah (as in Princess)! Will have fairly regular access to computer (every 2 weeks) so check in for updates. Mom is working on first round of pics to be updates.

Love ya'll and take care.

Off to Village

2005-10-22T03:22:00.000-07:00

I am officially a volunteer now. We swore in yesterday at the ambassadors house. Today I am off to my village and am on lock down for the next three months. Will post most stories when I can. Koudougou is only 35 km from me and is supposed to have good internet connection. We will see. Mom is trying to upload some pictures I sent her so stay tunes for that. I hope UT beats Tech!

Where the F--- am I?

2005-10-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

So today we were learning the local language for my village (there are sixty-five languages other than French in Burkina). We are learning to saluate people. Dje wene is the Leile term for "What's up" or "Ca Va. " It is both a question and a response. We asked what it translated to literally. "Wene" mean with you while "dje" means force. So the greeting in Leile is literally, "Is the force with you?" and the response is "The force is with me." I mean was George Lucas in Peace Corp Burkina before he wrote Star Wars or what? We commented yesterday that Leile resembled Ewok but we didn't know then how right we were.

Almost a volunteer!

2005-10-17T16:19:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

We are back in Ouaga, the capitol, again for the next week. Our training is officially over on Saturday when we swear in and have a big party at the embassey. We are all looking forward to it and everyone has gotten specially made traditional outfits.

Let me give you a quick update since the last time I emailed although some of you may have already heard this. I visited my site which was really great and I have been anxious to get back to ever since. The theater troop and Coges (board of directors for the clinic I will be working with) are very motivated and already have several projects they want me to start on. The theater troop wants me to organize a two week tour for them going around the area and teaching about AIDS. They want to start it in February of this year! It is a little ambitious but I am hopeful that we can pull it together. I am not thrilled by my boss who is the head nurse. He seems a little lazy and a bit of a downer (but he says he had malaria while I was there so we'll see). Everyone seems to have at least one thing they aren't thrilled with at their sites and I am thankful that this is mine because I can ignore him and it won't be too big a deal.He is outweighed a great deal by the enthusiasm of the Coges and theater group. There are also several girls in village who speak french so my secondary project will probably be a girls group.

My house is really big and the previous volunteer left me all her stuff so I am pretty much set. There was a bat living inside the house however. The previous vol also left me great notes which will make my job a lot easier. I have a porch and a place for a garden. There is a mango tree behind my house where I took a nap every afternoon with the chef of our housing group (zaka). He is this cute little old man who doesn't speak very good french but insisted on discussing crops with me. My neighbors are really nice and invited me to tea every evening. They also took me to see the Volta River.

There was a slight incident with a girl living with me but I think I took care of it. Apparently the previous volunteer lived alone and didn't like it. The girl who she paid to wash her clothes and fetch her water started to live with here (I mean sleep on the floor next to her). They assumed I would be the same way too. While I was there the girl stayed with me but on the last day I explained that I was an only child and needed my space. The girl is going to still get my water but she will be living with her parents. Everyone kept asking me how my "daughter" was while I was there though and she followed me wherever I went (to keep me safe). The town people also gave me an african name. It is Edwouma Kanko and it means little sister of the previous volunteer. Everyone kept asking me say say my africa name in leile and then they would get the biggest kick out of it.

After site visit we went back to Gourcey and finished our training. My family killed a cat infront of me, skinned it, and then tried to serve it to me. I wasn't too happy about that! We did a bunch of mini sensibilizations on various health topics that all went well. I even did a condom demo with a group of women which doesn't happen very easily. I passed my french test which means that I can officially swear in. However they had to relocated us because so many people were struggling with french so I got another host family in Gourcey. My mom was the town midwife and was very powerful. It was very strange to see a complete different way of living here. She also lived by herself which is not typical. I think it really helped me with my french. She took me to a traditional dance competionand sat me next to the judge while she sat at the mayor and chef's table. She was even on nationale TV and visited the president of Burkina while I was staying with her. She was very inspirational and I admire her a lot.

While in Kontigue we went to an all night rave. It was a dance party that lasted fron 8 until 4 the next morning! It finally had to end because everyone had to go home and start fasting due to it being Ramadan. On one of our last days in Kontigue we were walking to the head nurse's house for peanuts. My teacher pointed at my foot and said "Snake." I looked down and, yes, 5 inches from my feet was a small snake. I slowly backed up but one of the other girls startled it and it started striking. There was mass confusion as everyone was scrambling for rocks and screaming. Four villagers came over to kill it. I was pretty calm because it just looked like a grass snake. That is until after it was dead when my teacher told me it was a viper! It was pretty scary. I must admit.

Well, that is all from here. I will be in town for the rest of the week so email me if you have a free second. Also I started a blog but forgot the address so I may email it to you tomorrow.

Kelly

Hey Y'all!!!!!

2005-10-16T11:28:00.000-07:00