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.