My busiest 10 days in Burkina

 From July 29^th until August 4^th, 2012, Camp G²LOW (Girls and Guys Leading Our World) took place in the regional capital of Fada N'Gourma. Seventeen Peace Corps Volunteers and 21 Burkinabe took part in a Training of Trainers for 3 days before the camp began and worked together to plan and facilitate camp sessions. About 100 students at the tops of their 8^th grade classes attended the camp. Boys and girls were split into 6 different teams each, though worked with one another in certain sessions and hung out at meal times.

Camp G²LOW focused on 3 themes: leadership development, healthy living, and gender equality. Students learned about being assertive, active listening, decision making, and more. For the session on peer pressure, groups also worked together to plan skits showing how they would respond in various situations. Health professionals helped out with lessons on health issues. Malaria, hygiene, family planning and STIs were discussed in a safe environment, and students were able to ask any questions they had. A few sessions also involved more interactive activities, like blowing up condom balloons, and Coaching for Hope, which combines HIV/AIDS education with soccer, similar to Grassroots Soccer. To promote gender equality, boys and girls switched roles in a relay race, to understand more what jobs the other gender is generally in charge of. Peace Corps office employees arrived in Fada to help out with a few of the last sessions of the camp, including one about violence and a professional panel.

Of course, there were also fun activities during the camp. We introduced the American concept of a campfire to Burkinabe. The kids and adults alike had fun watching skits, listening to stories, and singing songs while sitting around the fire. As a parallel to the London Olympics, we held our own Fada Olympics, because there's nothing like a little competition to get kids excited. The events at our Olympics were a bit different from the official ones: Sack race, tug-of-war, spelling bee, eating contest, long jump, and more. Points from the winning team were added into the weekly count, which also included points awarded for session participation. As motivation to be active participants in camp activities, the team with the most cumulative points at the end of the week would win a prize. One of the last events of the camp was a talent show and despite pouring, pounding rain, the show was able to go on. We PCVs showcased American culture by performing the electric slide to Michael Jackson's “Thriller.”

Overall, Camp G²LOW went smoothly. There were some minor issues that occurred, as can be expected when over 130 people convene for an extended period of time, but we were able to solve or fix things together. The students enjoyed their week of activities and made new friends from other towns and schools. And most importantly, they all learned valuable new information. As Yaskinatou, the representative for the girls said in her closing ceremony speech, “I request that all those who participated at Camp G²LOW, when back at home, share what they learned, and I hope they won’t keep this knowledge only to themselves.” Our hope is that the participants of the camp will apply their new skills to become leaders in their communities, thus affecting positive change in Burkina Faso.

And a special thank you to those who donated months ago to help fund Camp G²LOW! Without your aid and support, this project would never have happened. If you would like more information on the camp, or the camp newsletter (which will be sent out to donors who allowed their information to be released), feel free to email me at cindyguo10@gmail.com. A PCV also put together a short video of the camp; you can find it here: A short video of the camp is also posted on youtube: http://youtu.be/vX5VMN_OW-k

Work hard, play hard



Demonstrating the usage of a mosquito net.



Teaching over 120 kids crammed into one classroom about Malaria prevention.

July 4th cupcakes with red, white and blue frosting.

Dancing to celebrate America's independence day.

A tale of two chiefs

 Traditionally in Burkina, each village or town has a chief. Back in the olden days, the chief had quite a bit of power, but nowadays with mayors, governors, and other government officials present, the chief holds mostly ceremonial duties (though in smaller villages, the chief is probably still the village VIP). Villagers might go to the chief to settle disputes among neighbors, or ask him to bless someone or something. The chiefdom is passed down through specific royal families in each town, though the manner of choosing the next chief varies from town to town.

In Diapaga, the Coulidiaty family holds the rights to chiefdom. However, there are many Coulidiatys here, which led to two groups entering in the election. The elderly men, we'll shorten their names to Al and Am, began their struggle for power.

According to one version of the story, an old chief, Al's father, was very sick. His children refused to help him get better, so his last decree before his death was that the chiefdom would pass from his family to the other Coulidiatys. And so it happened, and there was peace for years. However, then this chief passed away about 2 years ago. After an appropriate morning period, elections were planned and Al and Am both entered the race. (Side note: In voting for elections, people literally stand behind their choice. At the designated time, those eligible to vote show up and form a line. The candidate who has the most people behind him wins.)

In the election of May 2011, Al had the most votes. But then Am accused him of fraud, saying that Al had bussed in people from other towns to vote for him. The election was deemed invalid and no one was elected. Apparently there had been an election about a year before that, which had also ended in a stalemate.

Then in April 2012, Al decided to take matters into his own hands. He went to the Gourmatche king (yep, each ethnic group has a king) in Fada, the regional capital, and got himself declared chief of Diapaga. To retaliate, Am went to the chief of a neighboring town, who traditionally has the power to recognize the chief of Diapaga, and also was crowned chief. This meant that there were two chiefs in one village. According to the townspeople, this just is not acceptable, and only one can be considered chief. Most people recognize Am as the legitimate chief, and some say that if Al doesn't give up his claim to the throne and apologize, magic will end up killing him. Others believe the gods are unhappy with the situation and thus are withholding rain from Diapaga until things are settled. (side note: it has since rained a decent amount here so this is probably less of an issue now)

And that's a good segue into a larger discussion of the role of magic and traditional beliefs in Burkinabe society. An oft quoted statement about Burkina's religious beliefs is that the population is “50% Christian, 50% Muslim, and 100% animist.” While not strictly true, many do manage to be devout in their religion while not discounting the power of sorcery. One of the chief's duties is to perform animal sacrifices to ask for rain or other otherworldly bequests. Most families have what is called a 'totem', or something specific they aren't allowed to do, or face misfortune. Usually, this takes the form of food they aren't allowed to eat. For example, legend has it that in the olden days, a war took hold of the area. The Yonli family was fleeing the fighting when they came to a wide river. Crocodiles swam up to the shore and offered to carry them across. Ever since then, crocodiles have been the Yonli's 'totem' and forbidden food. People often also consult fortune-tellers to ask what they should do in certain situations.

A Gourmatche-specific fortune-telling technique is reading the sand. The process is as follows:

1. Think of a question you would like to ask the sand. Popular topics (with PCVs at least) are life after Peace Corps, future career paths, and of course, relationships.
2. Touch the sand while thinking of your question, but don't ask it out loud yet. And this part is important-you must ask it with your heart. Less than full concentration during this stage could yield unsatisfying results.
3. The sand-reader starts communicating with the sand, making marks in it and tallying the results.
4. You tell the sand-reader what your question was and he interprets what he read in the sand to give you an answer.

Like with all fortune-tellers, there are varying degrees of accuracy. Some PCVs have been told eerily accurate facts about their life from a sand reader, while other predictions have turned out not to come true. Burkinabe have told me stories of people who didn't heed the sand-reader's advice and were met with unfortunate circumstances. Of course though, everyone has to choose for themselves whether or not they believe in the power of the supernatural.  

Peace Corps photo contest

Each year, Peace Corps comes out with an AIDS calendar, showcasing work Peace Corps volunteers do in AIDS education and prevention. I entered the PC AIDS-free generation photo contest this year, and my photo was one of 18 finalists for the People's Choice award. 

So, please click on this link to "like" the photo on Facebook and therefore vote for it by Monday: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151064517890914&set=a.10151064514975914.410512.110634980913&type=3&theater.

Thanks in advance to everyone for their support!

Making neem cream

My counterpart talking to a group of women about the dangers of Malaria and how to prevent it.

Cutting up soap to add to the neem cream.

Stirring the concoction.

The finished product! All bagged up and ready to sell and and use. 

All About Malaria

 Here in Peace Corps Burkina Faso, we celebrated Malaria month in April, with World Malaria Day being April 25^th. So this blog post is a little late. But it's definitely still relevant, and actually matches up quite well with my current Malaria education-dominated activities at site. I was on vacation for most of April, traveling around China and Indonesia with my family, thus minimizing opportunity and motivation to really do any projects at site that month. Then, in the beginning of May, one of my counterparts and I attended a training on Malaria and HIV/AIDS in Fada, giving us the tools and a starting place for activities. We are currently heading into the rainy season in West Africa, and while rain does bring cool breezes and sprouting plants, it also means mosquitoes arrive and reproduce in hordes. From now until about September, the health clinics and hospitals here are going to see many cases of Malaria.

Malaria is the number one killer in Sub-Saharan Africa, affecting more people than HIV/AIDS. In Burkina Faso in 2009, there were 4.5 million cases of Malaria and it caused 54% of hospitalizations and 8000 deaths. This disease is entirely curable and mostly preventable. To address this issue, Peace Corps has implemented a continent-wide program, Stomp Out Malaria, to improve Malaria education and lower the number of deaths that occur due to it.

All I knew about Malaria before coming to Burkina was that it's transmitted by mosquitoes, it's present in tropical climates, and you should take pills to keep from getting sick. So for those of you who, like me, are lacking in tropical disease knowledge, here's a brief overview: There are a couple different types of Malaria, but the most common form is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium that lives in blood. Not all mosquitoes transmit the parasite; it's mostly female anophele mosquitoes that are out between dusk and dawn (mosquitoes feeding during the day are more likely to transmit dengue fever, another disease you probably want to avoid). Simple Malaria can cause fever, chills, body aches, diarrhea and vomiting. In other words, symptoms that can also come from many other diseases. That's why a blood test is needed to accurately diagnose Malaria. If simple Malaria is left untreated, it can become more complicated, resulting in seizures, brown urine, anemia, difficulty breathing, jaundice, and intense fatigue. It's especially dangerous in children under 5 and pregnant women.

It's pretty probable that I already have Plasmodium in my blood stream. Peace Corps requires that all volunteers take a malarial prophylaxis that basically keeps the symptoms from developing, and then at the end of our service, we take even more pills to kill any parasites that might exist in our bodies. We PCVs have to do this for 2 years, but for Burkinabe, preventative pills are not cost-efficient or even possible. So, it's best to try to avoid being bitten by infected mosquitoes.

In Diapaga, my counterpart and I have been holding sensibilisations with women in the community and schoolchildren to teach them about Malaria. When we talk to children, it goes something like this:

1. Ask them if they know what Malaria is and what causes it (children are pretty good at answering this, though it's often just the textbook definition they recite).
2. Explain how Malaria can be transmitted from person to person and play a small game to demonstrate. About 8 children come to the front of the room. One is chosen to be the “mosquito” or “person with Malaria” while the others line up against one wall. On the count of 3, the other children try to run past the “mosquito” but if he tags them, they become “infected” and help the “mosquito” tag others. After a few rounds of this, all the children will become “infected.”
3. Describe methods for avoiding mosquito bites, such as the use of a mosquito net (after a national campaign in 2010 to hand them out, almost all Burkinabe families have mosquito nets. However, many rarely use them.), getting rid of stagnant water in the courtyard, insecticides, skin coverage, and using mosquito repellant cream (more on this later).
4. Ask if the kids have any questions and dispel traditional Malaria myths. For example, many people here believe eating shea fruit can cause Malaria. It's our job to explain that Malaria can only be passed from person to person by mosquitoes, and abundance of shea fruit correlates with increase of rain, which also correlates with increase in Malaria cases. Classic case of correlation being mistaken for causation.
5. Review information given and teach the kids the “Malaria clap.” Clap, clap, scratch your arm. Clap, clap, slap your other arm. Clap, clap, clap around in a circle. Kids usually get a kick out of that.

When my counterpart and I talk to groups of women about Malaria, we also include a section on neem cream production. Neem is a type of tree here that has many useful properties. Its wood is sturdy and used for construction, its branches are often used as makeshift toothbrushes, and its seeds and leaves can produce pesticides and mosquito repellant. Obviously, that last quality is what makes neem important in Malaria prevention techniques. A lotion/cream repellant can be made by simply boiling neem leaves, then adding hard soap and shea butter to the neem water. In Diapaga, neem cream has been a hit. My counterpart and I have already taught over 50 women and children how to make it, and even more want to learn. My counterpart's association has been selling the cream, which, with the low cost of inputs, can lead to a decent amount of profit. So hopefully neem cream will end up being a successful business venture and Malaria prevention method!

Miscellaneous photos to start out the new year

March 8th, International Women's Day: My friend behind me and I are wearing outfits made from the March 8th pagne (cloth). This year, Diapaga celebrated with a women's bike race, a parade, a play put on by students, a co-ed soccer match, and lots of eating, drinking and dancing.

My counterpart and I taught a group of women in our association to make liquid soap and explained the importance of proper hand-washing and hygiene in everyday life.

It is possible to eat good food in Burkina! Doug, master chef that he is, found an easy lasagna recipe with ingredients we can actually get in the country. (Well, minus the parmesan cheese. That was courtesy of Kelsey. Thanks KP!)

An elephant crossing the road, just another day in Burkina. Just kidding. Though I actually live pretty close to the wildlife parks, I still have yet to see elephants enter into my town. This is from a safari I went on in February with a group of Italians. We were also charged by another group of elephants, but were able to outrun them in our truck.

A very Fada Christmas

The Christmas spectacular at Fada's Youth Activities Center.

Our decorations: a plastic tree and a snowman pinata.

Group shot! (minus 2 photographers and a few people who left earlier in the day)

One of our delicious roasted pigs.

December photos

World AIDS Day. Me with some of the kids we trained on HIV/AIDS awareness.

After the presentation, students took a pledge to remain AIDS free and signed the mural with their handprints.

The G25 stage after swearing in as volunteers.

 

PCVF (Peace Corps Volunteer Facilitator) group photo. 

 

Camp G2LOW: Girls and Guys Leading Our World

 Summer camp seems to be a staple of the American childhood experience. After all, parents need some way to keep their kids busy and out of trouble once the summer vacation starts. But here in Burkina, life is a little different. The school vacation corresponds to the growing season, and once students are out of school for the year, they often head to the fields to plant corn, millet, beans, sesame, and other crops. There are very few other options for students during the summer.

Last year, a few PCVs brought an international Peace Corps program, Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World), to Burkina. Here, it became Camp G²LOW (Girls and Guys Leading Our World) to include male student participants. This summer camp aims to offer students at the top of their class a chance to continue their education and get leadership training during their vacation. Sessions focus on leading a healthy lifestyle, becoming an active and informed citizen, and promoting gender equality. And of course, there will also be fun activities for the students such as yoga, games, and s'mores. This year, the camp has expanded to 4 locations, and a total of 240 girls and 240 guys will be able to participate. Each site will hold one week of camp for 60 girls, and the following week for 60 guys.

Needless to say, organizing these camps will be a big task. I'm on the planning committee for the camp in Fada, the regional capital of the Eastern province in Burkina. We'll hopefully also be partnering with the local offices of the Burkina Ministry of Youth and National Volunteer Program in Fada. The camp won't be until July or August, but there's a lot to do before then! We'll have to contact and hold meetings with villages that wish to participate, fundraise, determine how to select participants, order supplies, plan the schedule, and hold a training of trainers with our Burkinabe facilitators.

And we'll need your help to make Camp G²LOW possible! The cost of each camp is approximately $11,500. About half of the cost will be contributed by the community (lodging, transportation, volunteer facilitators, etc.), but that means a significant amount still needs to be raised for each camp. The exact figures for the Fada camp are as follows:

Total cost: $11,801.06

Community contribution: $5376.61

Amount left to raise: $6424.45

More details about Camp G²LOW and how to donate can be found here: http://www.pcburkina.org/camp-glow (Click on the image for the Fada camp to donate to us Easterners!)

Thanks in advance for your help!

A long overdue blog post

 Happy New Year!

It has now reached the point where I can reminisce about what I was doing at site a year ago, which is both strange and reassuring. Strange to think back to a year ago, when I was just meeting new friends and hoping to not commit too many cultural faux pas in village, and reassuring because I have survived a year. Now, less than 1 year to go! I realize my blog posting has fallen off significantly since one year ago, but I suppose I'll make it a New Year's Resolution to be more consistent. And if not, I have new neighbors! And thus will occasionally make guest appearances in their blogs.

Pat: http://williamspatrick11.blogspot.com/

Clarissa: http://clarissa-burkinafaso.blogspot.com/

And an old neighbor, Joey: http://grasroots.wordpress.com

But, anyway, it has been an eventful few months since I last posted, and here are a few highlights (pictures coming soon, whenever I have a decent enough connection to upload them):

Kelsey's visit

Kelsey, a friend from home, came to visit! It was a whirlwind of a trip, since she only had about 2 weeks between finishing grad school and starting work. And with the long travel times between Ohio-Wisconsin-West Africa, that meant about 9 days to tour 2 countries: Burkina Faso and Togo (where another friend is a PCV) During the trip, Kelsey got to experience almost all possible types of transport available. Crowded taxi, broken down bus, bicycle, open bed truck, to name a few. We started off this high school reunion trek in Ouaga, with Kelsey's arrival by plane. From there, about 2 hours behind schedule, we arrived in Fada and got to hang out with the Fada crew for some fried chicken and Settlers of Catan. Kelsey also got to meet Scott, who she had a mutual friend with from grad school. Small world! The next day, despite a few issues with transportation, we made it to my site way out in the East of Burkina. That Saturday was a market day, so we wandered around and looked at all the Burkina goods. Kelsey and I both picked up some Obamawear, which is very popular here, but may not be in the US (I've lost track of politics over there by now). We also baked some cookies to bring to our friend in Togo, Ellen, and ate some traditional Burkina foods.

On Sunday, we headed off for our long trip into Togo. We left Diapaga at about 7:30 am, and didn't reach our destination, Dapaong, until about 9 pm. Quite the trek. It was great to see Ellen, reminisce about those high school days, and compare PC experiences! Our few days in Togo were spent biking 20 km to a town with ancient caves, unexpectedly having to climb a mountain to reach said caves, and visiting Ellen's site. And playing with Ellen's adorable puppy! It was also interesting to see the similarities/differences in our experiences. Because we were in Northern Togo, the landscape and culture were similar to Burkina's. Some of the same languages were also spoken there. However, the food, prices, and infrastructure varied. Burkina's road system, while not that great and mostly unpaved, is one of the best systems in West Africa. In Togo, there is really only 1 national road, running from North to South. It takes PCVs in the North about 10 hours to get to the capital of Togo, which is a distance of about 400 km. Overall, it was a nice mini-vacation, and Kelsey enjoyed getting to see what life as a PCV in Africa was like!

50^th Anniversary Fair

The other big event in September was our PC 50^th Anniversary fair. A bunch of Burkina PCVs planned an amazing 3-day event in the capital to celebrate. It also coincided with the swearing in of 50 volunteers in G24 (the 24^th group of PCVs in Burkina) and the arrival of the bike tour. As a fundraiser for the Gender and Development committee, volunteers biked over 1700 km and went to 20 different sites in Burkina,spreading awareness of Peace Corps while they were at it. Despite a huge storm that blew over all of the tents and tables just hours before the opening of the fair/swear in ceremony/bike tour arrival, things were put back together again and went off relatively smoothly. A carnival for kids was a big hit at the fair, and Burkinabe and Americans alike loved the dunk tank. The 3 day event ended with a concert by a Burkina artist, Floby, who had agreed to write and perform a song about Peace Corps. Don't have the link currently, but it can be found on youtube, through a search of “Floby Peace Corps song” or for the username of pcburkina.

New Stage arrives!

October 14^th was one year from the date that my stage, or training group, arrived in Burkina!Around that time, the newest stage came. I helped out with a few weeks of training the new DABA (Developing Agriculture (Environment) and Business Abilities) volunteers. It brought me back to those first few weeks in Burkina, when we were confused and excited and apprehensive, all at the same time. After 2 months of French lessons, an 8-5 schedule, and probably lots of diarrhea, 22 new PCVs swore in as volunteers! One exciting thing about this new group was that it contained 2 new neighbors for me. Now, my closest PCV friend is only 35 km away. Though unfortunately, there aren't many transport options between our sites, so I'll most likely be working on those leg muscles with quite a bit of biking.

Thanksgiving and MSC

Our mid-service conference took place in November, the week of Thanksgiving. My stage was reunited in Ouaga for the week to discuss how things were going at site and to get medical check ups. The three days of MSC were fun, but the main event of the week was Thanksgiving. Our country director invited us over to her house for the celebration. Because there were 28 of us in Ouaga, and that would mean a lot of food for one person to cook, we helped out with a few side dishes. Our feast consisted of a Butterball turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, sweet potatoes, empanadas, salad and biscuits. Dessert included pumpkin pie, cookies, and chocolate mousse. We were all stuffed by the end of the afternoon, and spent some time relaxing at our director's house and playing the hat game (a combination of taboo and charades).

World AIDS Day

December 1^st was World AIDS Day. I can't really remember if this is a recognized day in the US, but in Sub-Saharan Africa, it's a pretty big deal. Luckily, the AIDS rate in Burkina is pretty low, but we still need to make sure the population stays informed to keep the rate low. This year, PC Burkina organized a national project. A bunch of volunteers got red, white and black paint to create an AIDS mural (white background, red AIDS ribbon, and the words “Journee Mondial du SIDA 2011”). Then, we were supposed to partner up with local counterparts, like teachers or nurses, to hold a sensibilisation on AIDS.

A quick lesson on French work-related vocab. A sensibilisation is, according to the dictionary, a 'consciousness raising'. The purpose is to communicate important information to the target population on topics such as proper hygiene, preventing malaria, and family planning. It is often held as a presentation in an informal setting, sometimes with visual aids to help get the point across. The person who leads a sensibilisation is an animateur.

I decided to hold my sensibilisation with CM2 (6^th year of primary school) kids, aged 11-14. I talked to the directors of 3 primary schools and told them to inform their CM2 students of the sensibilisation, which would be held in the courtyard of one of the schools. A few students and a professional painter helped me prepare the mural a week before the event. On the day of the sensibilisation, one of the counterparts who had agreed to help out wasn't able to make it, and a nurse wasn't showing up until later. So, I started the presentation with about 80 students by myself. To get their attention and give a visual representation of how HIV works, we played a little game we had been taught in training. Fifteen students joined hands in circle to protect one student in the middle, while one student was on the outside, trying to break through the circle and tag the middle student. Then, each round, 1 or 2 students were subtracted from the protecting circle and added to the attackers, until finally the attackers were able to break the defense and tag the middle student. The game symbolized how HIV compromises the immune system, leaving the person vulnerable to diseases that eventually cause death. After the students settled down from the game, I asked them what they already knew about HIV/AIDS and went over the definition, transmission, and prevention of AIDS. Luckily, a teacher had come over at that point to help with the sensibilisation and put the information into words the students would understand. We also did a condom demonstration with the students, which drew quite a few giggles at first, but then all of the students wanted to try it. To finish off the sensibilisation, the students took a pledge to remain AIDS free, and signed the mural with their handprints in red paint.

Fada Christmas

“Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fadadadada dadadada” is just one of the carols we sang at our Fada Christmas celebration. About 15 of us, including the 3 new volunteers in the area, gathered in the regional capital for the holiday weekend. On Christmas Eve, we attended a local Christmas production put on by Burkinabe students. This included short skits, music, and Christmas trivia questions. At the end, we PCVs were asked to go on stage and perform an American Christmas carol. The students seemed to enjoy it (especially Scott's juggling on the side of the stage), though they most likely didn't understand most of what we were saying.

Though there was no snow on the ground, nor any houses decked out with giant Santas and monstrous decorations, we were still able to get into the Christmas spirit. We even had a tiny plastic tree decorated with a few ornaments and lights. An attempt at an ugly sweater competition failed because most of us did not bring sweaters to this country, nor did we have the time or energy to sift through piles of clothes to find one. Our white elephant gift exchange went well, and included a live chicken, a scarf and hat set (it does get cold here!), and fought-over sour patch kids. Christmas dinner was the main event of the celebration. Though dessert came first. A few volunteers and I had made baked goods and brought them to Fada, so we chomped on those before heading out for dinner. The Fada crew had a friend who agreed to roast 2 whole pigs for us, over a spitfire. They even stuffed one pig with couscous and the other with potatoes. We also ordered a bunch of salad and bread to complete the meal. While waiting for dinner to finish cooking, we sang through a bunch of Christmas carols and explained the tradition to our Burkinabe friends we had invited to the celebration. During dinner, we also brought out the snowman pinata we had made, and had kids take turns hitting it. After everyone was stuffed and merry, we concluded the night with dancing around a bonfire.