It's almost one year!

May in Burkina

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We will be passing by that 1 year milestone incredibly soon here (though ironically we will be spending it in another country). It’s been a year since we said good bye to real pizza, Pepsi brand products, refrigerated milk, Netflix, Mexican food, paved roads, driving, high speed internet, and of course, all of you back home. Without any question the last one is the most difficult to be without, though with respect to the rest of the list it is surprising how well we have adapted. Here’s a little update on the past month or so.

Teaching
The end of the school year felt like a forced walk from third base to home for me. To be honest I was worn out and entirely ready for the school year to be over, while I am excited for next year. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve learned a TON about teaching in Burkina this year, and it will really make my approach to next year different. However, by the time I learned all of this stuff it was too late to implement in this year.

The student population really dropped off the last few weeks of classes as field work began to call. Among the students that remained there was a huge drop off in attention and effort, which isn’t really much different from back home. We are one of the few schools that didn’t do finals at the end of the year, so it was even easier for the students to get out of it. It was a relief to get the last test corrected and report cards finished. I have become skilled at filling in report cards and correcting errors without white-out (did you know that it is possible to turn a 6 into a 7?). All that rests is to help out with the supervision of the high school exit exams at the end of June, which shouldn’t be difficult for me (very difficult for the kids taking them. Burkina is in no way, shape, or form a country that supports automatic grade promotion or graduation).

Girls Clubs
The past month has been too busy for Jessi. Since the end of the school year was approaching, Jessi and her supervisor decided to do a formal closing ceremony for the girls clubs and invite all of the important people from our city (mayor, superintendent, school principals, etc). This sort of event entails small speeches from all of the important people, recaps of the club’s activities, certificates of participation, prizes, and of course food. This may seem extravagant compared to back home, but these types of ceremonies are very common here, and add legitimacy to an organization and its activities.

At the same time she was working overtime to complete all of the lessons and activities she had planned for her clubs before the students started disappearing for the summer. She put a massive amount of work in her push to the end of the year, and spent a lot of weekends, long days and nights doing it. Despite some ‘complications’ the ceremony went well, as did the wrap-up for most of the year’s activities. The Peace Corps director for Burkina and Jessi’s PC supervisor made it up for the event and seemed impressed with both the event and the year’s activities. I know she’s looking forward to a little R & R over the next couple weeks to recover from it.

Development Ramble – Déja Vu?
One of the big challenges with a ceremony like that is raising the money to cover renting the venue and food. Door-to-door fundraisers aren’t uncommon here, but when people see that the clubs are being run by an American they don’t go running for their pocketbooks to help. From their perspective Westerners are the wealthiest people in the world, and an individual can easily provide the financial support for almost anything. While true, it presents a challenge to development because it associates wealth, change, and progress with outsiders, and suppresses local community initiative and creativity. Why work for change when someone else is going to bring it for you? This is a common challenge for volunteers, as Peace Corps isn’t a development agency that provides money, and volunteers are discouraged from doing projects that pour money into the community. Making people in developing countries dependent on aid isn’t a good thing. There are far too many stories of projects that come to a complete standstill once the outside motivation has left. I guess our job is to try to find ways for people to start those projects with the resources that are already there so they can keep going after we leave.

Foreign aid is not a long term solution, but let me be clear: it is a good thing. It does a lot of good in ways that PC volunteers and the such can’t: building infrastructure to increase commerce, providing basic immunizations and health care for kids, food when the crops fail, disaster relief, etc. We intend to continue supporting programs like those, but also organizations like Kiva (www.kiva.org). Kiva connects creative, motivated entrepreneurs in the developing world with people who are willing to lend a little money (starting at $20, and yes I said lend, not give). It’s a cool approach to development that holds the beneficiaries accountable while giving them the opportunity to be the force for change and progress in their own communities.

Exchange of Culture, Exchange of Recipes
Peace Corps has three goals as an organization. The second goal is to share American culture with our host countries, which can mean just about anything from clearing up stereotypes to swapping music and showing photos. Jessi and I have also enjoyed sharing American-style food with our friends here, including burritos, Mexican fried rice, corn bread, pancakes, pastas, and chili. After a local holiday in November we made chili for the Yaro family and they enjoyed it enough to ask for the recipe. This past month, Madame Yaro entered into a cooking contest where everyone was supposed to prepare a dish based on beans, and she chose to try the chili recipe we used. She said the judges and other contestants thought it was amazing (as there really is nothing else quite like chili here), and she took 2nd prize for it (though she argues that more people liked her chili than the 1st prize winner’s dish). I should note two things perhaps: 1. Madame Yaro has won cooking contests before with her own recipes, and we can both attest to her cooking abilities. Maybe she did a better job with our chili recipe than we did. 2. The cultural and recipe exchange sort of stops there. Despite numerous requests, Madame Yaro is closely guarding the chili recipe from the rest of the town. I find that hilarious. Maybe if the judges come to their senses next year she’ll be willing to share it with her friends at least.

Oh the places we go, and How We Get There
Today we took the bus for the 50 mile ride from our site to Ouahigouya for the PC's training of trainers (for the incoming group of volunteers). The trip usually takes two hours with some stops along the way in little villages to pick up people. Today the trip took five hours to make (I seriously could've done it faster on bike!) Our bus route is one of the few that leaves on time consistently, so we have that to be greatful for. The instant we leave the city limits the gravel/dirt road becomes an intense washboard for the rest of the journey. I mean one of those washboards you would hesitate to drive over 30mph on. However, our driver today was convinced he could beat the land speed record in a 20 year old, top-heavy, overloaded bus. About 5 miles and two too-deep potholes later we ran into problems when the drive shaft fell off. This has actually happened to me twice on buses here. It took about 2 ½ hours to get the u-joints taken to town and back to get soldered up. 2 ½ hours isnt that bad: I once waited seven hours with a broken down bus.

Then we were off again, bouncing 4 inches off our seat and barreling down the road at over twice the advisable speed. We blew past a couple of villages that depend on the bus as their sole transportation option, and from the sounds of their yelling they were none too pleased. The replacement sliding glass in our window wasn't properly sized, so with all of the bumps in the road it ended falling inside of the car. Everyone argued about what to do with the pane of glass for a minute before one of the bus 'attendants' tossed it out of the open window (we never slowed down or stopped during any of this, so the glass did shatter a bit when it landed). The good news: First, we arrived alive. Second: the cutest little girl in Burkina Faso sat next to me the whole trip and giggled at me (much preferred over the screaming and look of terror we commonly experience). Oh transport. It is usually an experience, but thankfully not always this bad.

Oh the Weather Outside is…
Unbearable somedays, but we’re surviving. We’ve had a couple of rains, which have allowed everyone to start prepping the fields a little. Hopefully I’ll be able to prep the ground in our courtyard for a little garden. Can’t wait to plant the sweet corn seeds that mom & dad sent! I’m currently in the process of trying to get a cartload of cow manure to throw in the yard, which will no doubt be a real joy at the beginning. After a pathetic attempt at it last November, I’ll also be soliciting the help of some friends here to plan out the garden (because the rain falls so hard I can’t do rows and little mounds like back home).

Speaking of rain, here’s a cat story
Our cat can’t stand being inside the house during rainstorms. The deafening rain on our metal roof scares the crap out of him, so he would panic and cry until we let him outside to hide. Twice now, after a two hour rainstorm we’ve gone outside and found him hiding in a pile of mud bricks, covered from head to tail in mud. The poor guy is shivering and embarrassed to be so dirty. SO embarrassed that he has let us dump him in a bucket of water and wash him off. He hasn’t resisted AT ALL, despite his hatred towards water in all other circumstances. Then he lets us dry him off and hold him like a baby (he’s so vulnerable, and we take full advantage of it!) Yes, perhaps we are a bit pathetic.

Burkina’s Suprises
So we’ve been here for nearly a year now, and it is easy to say that Burkina is not exactly what we thought it would be like. I was reflecting the other day about things here that have surprised me. Here’s a little list:

- There are plants here! And some of them are downright beautiful.
- Mangoes come during the hottest and driest part of the year, but they’re so juicy! Plus, who would’ve thought the mangoes here are better than 1) the mangoes in Hawaii and 2) any imported mango in the USA
- I can find toothpaste, toothbrushes, toilet paper and soap in even small villages. Cities have shampoo (even Herbal Essences)
- 110° can be tolerable during the day, but 95° is intolerable at night
- Warm water isn’t even slightly refreshing when its really hot out (I don't care if it's “better” for you)
- Packages sent from the USA can arrive in a medium sized town in Burkina Faso in 3 weeks, intact if well packed
- Cold pop and even beer can be found in most towns and villages here (even the ones without electricity sometimes have gas-powered refrigerators)
- Most of my friends here have a nicer cell phone than I had back home
- People cook by fire while watching satellite TV (not everyone of course, though I have also started to see people watching pirated movies on those little netbook laptops)
- Millet flour mixed with water and sugar has the consistency of Malox (no real surprise) but produces a tasty drink (zoom-koom)
- Nous pouvons parler le Français, and sometimes we can't speak English without French terms
- We have become better at cooking while here (have even learned to prepare some dishes we want to prepare back home), particularly in the case of Italian dishes and just knowing our spices.
- Trash services exist in Burkina Faso (don’t know what happens to the trash though)
- The dust can rain so thick that you don’t see the sun all day long.
- We could sweep our floors twice daily and still find dust
- We buy our bread freshly baked from the source, for 25-50 cents a baguette (French loaf)
- I can easily find sweetened yogurt here, but no fresh milk
- I prefer using a hole-in-the-ground latrine over a toilet here (the toilets can be scary)
- People use donkeys, horses, cattle and even CAMELS for plowing fields
- Termites burrow through concrete walls and sneak attack my trees (not appreciated)
- People and systems here are incredibly formal and rigid
- Despite a life expectancy of about 48 years, some people live to nearly a hundred years old here. The number of young deaths here can be very disheartening.
- You can carry up to 16 chickens and roosters on the handlebars of a motorcycle.
- All of our furniture is ‘custom made’ by our carpenter, and most of our clothes here are sewn right here.
- Quite a few people from Burkina get to visit Europe and the US through travel programs
- Even with our previous 'service' experiences as a reference, working in a developing country feels nothing like I thought it would.