Landlocked: A Journey with Peace Corps

Friday, March 9, 2012

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.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

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!

Monday, January 23, 2012

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.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Togo trip

Kelsey came to West Africa to visit me and Ellen! Below are some pics of our time in Togo. Blog post to come.

Biking 20 km to visit the Moba caves. My longest bike ride yet.

View from the entrance to the caves (which are actually on top of a mountain).

A hidden waterfall.

At the caves! The Moba people used to hide out in these mountain-side caves during wars in the 18th centuery.

Toby, Ellen's adorable puppy!

Vacation in France

In August, my stage, or group, of Peace Corps Volunteers was nearing the 8-months-at-site mark, which meant (1) we had accumulated enough vacation days to take a 2 week trip (PCVs gain 2 vacation days/month), and (2) we were ready for a break from site. Also, many education PCVs travel during the summer, since they don't really have a chance to during the school year. Therefore, in August, it seemed like the Burkina Peace Corps population diminished by half.

I was one of the many who left in August. Joe and I had planned a vacation in France for 2 weeks. Well, it was really Joe who did all the planning. With my excruciatingly slow internet at site, it would have taken forever to look up just one potential activity or place to stay. We met up in the south of France, after only a few flight mishaps, and enjoyed a few nice days near Nice. I was excited about being able to go to the beach! But apparently, the beaches in Nice are all rocky. Very little sand, just lots of medium-sized, smooth rocks. Picturesque, to be sure, but slightly painful on the feet. Especially if there are waves crashing into you, making you fall into the shore as you're trying to get out of the water, as I found out through first-hand experience. We also went to Monaco for an evening, though opted not to go and lose money at the famous casino. Instead, we stood outside, marveling at the army of luxury cars parked in the lot.

The next stop was Vaison la Romaine, in Provence. We stayed in a cute bed and breakfast owned by a couple that spoke pretty good English. Actually, for most of this trip, I didn't really need to speak French. I guess many places are used to English-speaking tourists. One of the highlights of this leg of the vacation was a cooking class Joe signed us up for! We learned how to make a few traditional Provence dishes, and had a delicious lunch of them afterward. Unfortunately, most of the stuff probably can't be recreated with the limited materials found in Burkina Faso, but maybe Joe will have more luck in New York. One of the afternoons, we decided to bike to Villedieu, a small village about 7 km away. It was a pretty ride through the French countryside, surrounded by vineyards and greenery. Our time in Vaison was pretty relaxing, and of course, we ate a ton of great food.

The last stop in our French adventure was Paris. This was where the bulk of the sightseeing took place. We stayed in an apartment in Paris for a week, and were able to go to most of the big sites. This included Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, Versailles, and a few other places. Paris was a surprisingly walkable city, and we spent quite a bit of time roaming the streets, stopping at shops and searching for elusive French bakeries (Angelina's and Laduree). Finally found the first one, but despite crossing crowds of people with bags from Laduree, we never actually came upon it. Guess I'll have to wait until I go to their new shop in New York to get a taste of their macaroons.

Paris was filled with many aspects of life I had almost forgotten about, like washing machines, public transportation, and grocery stores. However, there were also some aspects of life in Burkina that I missed, such as greeting each person you pass, even if you don't know them. Of course, it was difficult to go back to Burkina after such a nice vacation, but luckily more traveling and various Peace Corps activities helped keep me busy afterwards!