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| Summer 2010 |
It’s difficult knowing just how to start this blog. As many of you already know, Tyler and I were temporarily pulled out our site this summer and spent a lot of time in the capital city of Ouagadougou. Good news, however – we were finally given the go-ahead to return! As difficult as it was to be away from site, I think the past few months definitely provided some excellent opportunities to travel and get to know other volunteers and PC staff.
A good friend of ours recently informed us that while he loved reading our blog, it could potentially turn into an “all day event” complete with popcorn and an intermission if we weren’t careful. Unfortunately, three months without blogging may make it impossible to be short, though I’ll try to be precise.
Ghana
After a week long “Training of Trainers” in Ouahigouya Tyler and I headed south to the country of Ghana with six other Volunteer friends for a short vacation. Three long days of travel by bus, taxi, and various tro-tro’s finally brought us to the beautiful beach of Busua.
It only took about a second to fall in love with the place. We stayed at “The Alaska,” a beach-front hotel complete with sleeping huts, monkeys, hammocks, and barbeque chicken (can you say yum?!) Only about 200 feet away from the tide, Tyler and I fell asleep to the sound of waves each night and woke up ready to boogie board each morning. Busua was full of good culinary opportunities - lobster, shark, fish, and some of the best crepe-like pancakes I’ve ever had. When we weren’t swimming or eating or kicking it back, we were swimming, eating, or kicking it back. The most productive thing we did that week was hike over to the next town of Butre where we visited an old Dutch fort. The fort was pretty cool, but what was even more spectacular was the view! (see pictures)
After a few days at Busua, we all headed to Cape Coast where we again visited the beach, ate fried rice (our favorite Ghana cuisine), and nervously enjoyed the view atop the world’s highest rainforest canopy walk which dangled us 300 ft above ground level. Sites in the rainforest also included a conveniently distant view of a black cobra, butterflies galore, and impressively large bamboo.
All in all, our vacation was pretty fantastic – but next time we’ll make sure to make it longer.
Training-in new Volunteers
A good portion of our summer this year was spent as trainers for the incoming Peace Corps Volunteers. Our role was to assist other training staff with session-planning, logistics, and general support for new-comers. Tyler and I both really enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of this year’s training which included all four sectors of Peace Corps Burkina (health, small enterprise, secondary education, and girl’s education). We feel that being Volunteer trainers really helped us better appreciate our role in Burkina and also gave us a leg up on meeting other volunteers.
ALC
When he wasn’t training in new Volunteers, Tyler was assisting at the American Language Center (ALC) in Ouaga. During the summer, ALC organizes two month-long, camp-like English courses for school-aged children and invites PC Volunteers to help. Tyler, along with two other PC Volunteers, assisted English teachers with their curriculum on American culture. He helped organize relay races and other American games, English song competitions, and poster contests. ALC was a great opportunity to work on Peace Corps’ second goal: “To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.”
Discovering Burkina and Building Friendships
This summer also allowed us the opportunity to invest in our friendships with other Volunteers and travel throughout Burkina. I spent a fabulous day with my friend Chris playing speed scrabble, walking around town and making chili. Tyler and I then headed out together to visit our neighbor Andrea, where we again played lots of scrabble, got to know her village, and also visited the library she had built with a Peace Corps Partnership grant. A few weeks later I visited my friend Mikey in one of the coolest villages I’ve been to yet near the Ivory Coast border. We spent a lot of time just hanging out on his porch, eating popcorn, drinking tea, and listening to music (it was one of the most peaceful days I’ve had in a long time). After my visit to Mikey, I met up with Tyler and a host of other Volunteers to attend an American-Burkinabè wedding in the beautiful southern city of Gaoua (which in my opinion could be considered Burkina’s very own Ireland – perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but it sure was hilly and green!) When we weren’t hanging out with Volunteers at their site, we were getting to know a number of other Volunteers and PC staff during our time in Ouaga. Needless to say, while Tyler and I were eager to return to our site, we also feel very fortunate for the time we were able to spend strengthening our friendships with other Volunteers.
Swear-In
The summer ended with the usual Swear-In ceremony of new Volunteers. This year’s ceremony, however, was anything but usual. Swear-In was held at the newly-built American embassy, included 76 new Volunteers taking the oath, and was attended by Burkina’s own First Lady Chantal Compaoré. Tyler and I were happy to see the Volunteers we helped train finally making their transition into service – we are very proud of them all!
Back to Site
As was indicated at the beginning of this blog, Tyler and I have returned to site. The Director of Peace Corps Burkina herself accompanied us back to our site to meet with our work partners and explain to them our absence over the summer. Neighbors and friends welcomed us back with smiles, food, and even dancing (that would be the two older ladies in our neighborhood who don’t speak French – so they just dance up and down while shaking our hands to get the point across). We have been back for about a week now and are happy to say that all is well and already getting busy. I have began meeting with work partners to plan this coming school year’s activities and Tyler has been working like a mad man in the courtyard weeding two-months worth of rainy-season growth.
Tyler and I are sad to report that our summer has a bittersweet end. While staying in Ouaga we lost our beloved Patience to the vastness that is the capital city. We made several attempts to find him, even going out at 4:30 in the morning with a can of tuna. Unfortunately, our potential search area was too big and we never did find him. We are confident that he is safe and know he is just out literally “chasing tail” (we never did get him neutered). But we are nonetheless disappointed and miss him greatly.
Of course life has a funny way of making you keep moving. Only four days after returning to site we received an early-morning knock at our door. It was our neighbor boy holding a rice sack with not only one, but two (don’t tell me, you’ve already guessed) adorable and of course need-to-be-loved kittens. It didn’t take but a glance to know we wanted to keep them. They have instantly taken to us (which may or may not have to do with the fact that we provide the chow) and we of course do nothing but spoil them and allow ourselves to be distracted by each of their ridiculously cute endeavors.
Well, that’s all for now. We are more than halfway done with our time commitment in Burkina which means it won’t be long until we get to see all of you again. We are excited and eager for this second year, but also always missing you all. Thanks again for all of your support.
