Tech week visits!

All of us SEDers (Small Enterprise Development volunteers) had the opportunity to visit various PCVs around Burkina and get another glimpse into what life in the Peace Corps is like. Similar to Demyst, we broke up into 5 groups of 3 and traveled with an LCF (language teacher). This time, though, our activities for the weekend were a bit more focused on technical skills and things we might do at site. Hence the name of our field trip, “Tech Week.”

Heading down south

PP, TK and I caught an early morning bus to the capital, and then another one down south, almost to Ghana. We were visiting KD, who swore in as a volunteer with the last group and just finished her etude period. The etude de milieu, or community study, takes place in your first 3 months at site. You don't really work officially yet, and mostly spend your days going around and getting to know people in the community. This way, you have some time to integrate and assess the needs of the community before you jump into your actual work.

Because KD had spent that period well, barely leaving her site for 3 months, she was able to greet women at the marche and many people we ran into during the weekend knew her name. One tip she had for getting to know people in the community was to write down people's names and actually study them. I'm definitely going to have to do that, considering how bad my memory is, and how bad I am at putting names to faces.

Camping trip!

There was another PCV at the same site, a secondary education volunteer. He was helping to plan an overnight trip by the Club UNESCO at his school, and invited us to tag along. We gathered up our tents and mats and prepared to go camping with 50 students! It was quite the adventure. I'm not exactly sure where we were, but I believe we stayed at a school in or near a park of some kind, about 15 km from KD's site.

After we all got to the park, the older female students, led by (I think) one mother/chaperone who came along, started to prepare dinner. I tried to help out a bit, but that mostly consisted of stirring the giant pot of tomato sauce a few times and then being bombarded by cell phone cameras. I'm sure it was quite a novelty to see a group of nasara trying to cook and everyone wanted pictures with and of us. We took a break from the paparazzi for a while and talked to a few students, getting an opportunity to practice French. Later that night, a local music group came by and performed with traditional tam-tams, or drums. The festivities carried on late into the night, as the group played and students danced. Everyone stood around in a circle, and students would take turns going to the middle of the circle and showing off their moves. Similar to what you might see at a dance in the US. It was fun to watch, and I'm hoping that by the end of 2 years in Burkina, I'll be able to learn some new dance moves.

Morning came a bit too quickly for my taste, and we were woken up at about 6:15 am by a combination of sunlight, cold and cooking. Somehow, the (female) students who had gone to bed later than us managed to get up earlier and start making breakfast. And they still had the energy to climb a mountain later! Yep, after a breakfast of porridge, we headed towards the Peak de Nahouri. At about 450 m, this was the second highest peak in the country. The climb wasn't too bad, a little bit steep at times, and a great view awaited us at the top. We could see Ghana to the south! Though the landscape looked similar for endless miles, so I'm not actually sure where Burkina ended and Ghana began. Also, the south is known for having elephant parks, but I was unsuccessful in trying to spot elephants from the Peak. Oh well, I'll just wait until I go to my site in the east to check out elephants!

When we came down from the Peak, we stopped by the village at the base. We had greeted the chief before the climb, and got his blessing. While we rested afterwards, one of the elders talked to the group about traditions of the village. This was all in the local language, so I couldn't understand any of it. But it seemed like the students were very intrigued and interested. Despite living right be one of the biggest tourist attractions in Burkina, most of the students had never visited it before, so they enjoyed their time there.

Dessert for dinner

As usual, I'll have to highlight some of the food of this trip. Our dinner on Sunday was pie. Literally, just pie. KD told us about a recipe she had made up with a few other PCVs—fried pie. It sounded like something you could find at the State Fair. 4 out of 5 of us agreed that we would be fine with that and key lime pie for dinner (our LCF wanted some actual food). So we gathered the ingredients and made our dinner of pie. It was surprisingly easy to make. Fried pie just consists of dough and jam, and the key lime pie was no-bake, with a cookie crumble crust and lime mixed with condensed milk for the filling. Sugar overload for dinner that night, but that was totally fine with me.

Other tech week activities

Because the camping trip took up most of the weekend, we didn't get to do all the things that were planned. However, we were able to visit KD's office and meet her counterpart and another member of her association. She works with an agroforestry group that sets up community gardens in surrounding small villages, among other activities. Her counterpart explained a bit about the various sensibilisations (workshops/informational meetings) that they hold. KD had also started a small garden in the courtyard of her office, with some seeds brought from the US. I know nothing about gardening, but I think I'm going to try to start a small one once I get to site! Luckily, one of our tech trainers is an expert on gardening and all things agriculture, so I can get some advice on what to plant and how to plant it.

Next up for our tech week visits was a shea butter association. Apparently, this particular group makes some of the purest shea butter possible, confirmed even by lab results. We stopped by and learned a bit of the process of making shea butter and soap, and I ended up buying a small container of it. I think I've mentioned this in an earlier post, but it seems that one of the biggest problems facing businesses in Burkina Faso is market linkages. I'm sure very pure, moisturizing shea butter lotion and soap would sell for quite a bit in the US or Europe, but the problem is being able to get products over there.

And the one sad thing that happened over the weekend is that I lost my water bottle! It was one of those free Dartmouth camelbaks. No idea where I left it. Somewhere between the Peak, truck, and KD's house. But now I have one less memory of Dartmouth! So, if anyone has one of those Dartmouth water bottles they don't want, let me know! Lol.