A day in Burkina

I’m at a training this week in preparation for the new volunteers coming, so I’ve been thinking a lot about my first impressions of things here. Volunteers often talk about is how quickly you get used to life here and how things quickly lose their novelty or strangeness. But thinking back to my first days (months) in country, there was a lot that I just thought was crazy, that I now found not really that crazy.

For example, when I first got here I was amazed at the number of lizards here! I mean, I’m from Minnesota, not a place really known for any sort of reptiles at all. But here in Burkina (and the majority of Africa, I think) lizards run around like squirrels do in the Midwest. And animals in general are just everywhere here. I’ve written about several incidents involving bulls, but there are also donkeys, chickens, cats, dogs, sheep, goats and pigs everywhere. And they make noise. All. The. Time. But I’m used to it. I can sleep through the roosters’ morning cries, and the donkeys’ random screaming and the goats crying (that really does sound like kids). Just this weekend I saw some horses racing down a street in the capital, which was actually really weird. Though riding in a taxi in the capital city that’s following a donkey cart, that’s not weird at all.

In addition to animals everywhere, there are children everywhere. And they aren’t really supervised… They poop where ever they want. For example, my neighbor kids poop 10 feet from the gate to my courtyard, so often open the door to go out to school and see one of the popping a squat. They used to run away in fear of the white girl, but now they just ignore me and I ignore them. And then a pig or dog comes along and enjoys a nice breakfast. (I’ll let you connect the dots on that one yourself).

Another weird thing that you quickly get used to here is eating food from plastic bags. Instead of “to go” boxes, street vendors and even restaurants will give you your food to go in a black plastic bag. And at first you think it is absolutely bizarre and little gross to be eating your rice or spaghetti out of bag, but you get over it.

You also get over being dirty constantly. You never stop sweating, and it’s so dusty that you will always have a thin (or not so thin) film of dust and sweat on your face and clothing. If by some act of God, you do stop sweating, you have a crust of salt everywhere. Mostly on your neck, it’s rather unpleasant.

Transportation here is also really something you have to see to believe. Most of the transport here is what we call bush-taxis, which are vehicles larger than a mini-van, smaller than a 15 passenger van (would that just make it a van?) But in addition to loading the inside with as many people as possible, the top is loaded up with baggage, motorcycles, bikes, animals, etc. There have been numerous occasions where the height of the stuff on the roof is the same as the height of the car itself. Not a comforting site, but I have yet to see one tip over! One of my first bush-taxi experiences involved a jam-packed van that had 2 bulls and 15 sheep/goats on top. At one point some water was falling off of the roof and everyone was trying to avoid getting hit by it from the window. I thought to myself “why are they being so weird about it, the mist is kind of cooling,” then I realized it was animal pee...

But in addition to all these funny (and somewhat gross) things that I have gotten used to and now consider almost entirely normal, there are some things that I will never get used to. And I think a lot of that has to do with being an outsider in this culture. I will never get used to children (and adults) blatantly staring at me, following me, crying at the sight of me (not so much the adults on that one), and asking me for things. I will never get used to people trying to touch my hair, people calling me fat or telling me I’ve gained weight, no matter how many times they try to explain it’s a compliment…

One last fun story (once again about animals): the other day I was biking home from a little shop in “downtown” Yaho. There is a spot where a bunch of young men/boys hang out, and right as I biked past, one pulled up alongside me and challenged me to a race. Being an awesome biker, I accepted his challenge and we both took off pedaling. Not even 100ft down the road a pig starts to cross the street, so the boy veers to the side to avoid it. At this same time the pig realizes that he is interfering in our race and starts to turn back, but where he turns is right where the boy had swerved! Boy hits pig, sending boy flying over his handle bars. Boy is fine, as is pig. Everyone downtown had been watching our race, and they are now all laughing hysterically at the poor boy, who simply grabbed his bike and turned back in shame. Needless to say, I think I won that race.

The Day I Climbed a Mountain

I mean maybe it's just a large hill, but let's call it a mountain for simplicity's sake (and because it sounds awesomer).

So there's this mountain by my house. I can see it when I'm coming home from the main part of the village, and I've always wanted to climb it. And after recent events that have led me to realize that a lot of things are out of my control (previous post), I've decided to take the mindset of "why not now" in terms of a lot of things I want to do here before my second year is up. (Side note: I'm less than a week away from my one year mark!) So with this new focus of living in the here and now, I decided that I wanted to climb that mountain. Now.

The morning of my climb (about a month ago), I got up at about 6, packed a backpack with lots of water and some snacks and headed out on my bike. There were paths leading up to the that point for the most part, but occasionally they would suddenly disappear and I would have to walk over rocky parts until I found a path again to continue biking. After biking for an hour or so the incline got much steeper so I locked my bike to a tree and started hiking. After only about another hour I was a the top and saw this:



Then I turned around and looked back toward village. It looked a lot further away than about 2 hours biking/walking. In the first picture there are two cell phone towers just above where I typed Yaho, and the second picture is those towers magnified x100 (approximately).



When I got up there I was just amazed at the beauty of this place. It is so easy to forget that no matter where you live and what you're doing, but in all the craziness that has been happening here lately, I really just needed a reminder of just how wonderful this world is. I mean, just look at how beautiful that is. And that was just a 2 hour bike ride from where I live.

That morning, while on the top of the mountain, I got a text from home saying that one my best friend's dad passed away. It was just a very surreal moment for me. The scenery surrounding me was so beautiful and awe-inspiring it literally made my heart hurt, and now my heart was hurting for my friend's loss. More painful for me was the fact that I wasn't at home, and I couldn't be there for my friend. All this also came during I time when I was trying to live in the here and now and I was doing something I had wanted to do since getting to site, but I suddenly wanted to be not here at all, but at home.

There honestly haven't been too many moments over the past year where I want to be at home, but this was most definitely one of them. While I love the work I'm doing here and the people I'm able to do it with, that doesn't make me miss the people and events at home any less. There have been weddings, holidays, graduations, homecomings (both the event and literally people coming home) and just the spur of the moment gatherings that I've missed over the past year.
But in that same time, I've learned French and some Jula, I've eaten to (and many other things), I've taught math, physics AND chemistry, I haven't had running water or electricity, I've used biking as my main mode of transportation, I planted a (failed) garden, I taught numerous small children to call me by name instead of "white girl" and now I climbed a mountain.

So when times like this come up, when I think to myself that maybe I should just go home and stop missing all these important moments; it helps to remember all the challenges I've overcome and the victories (however small) I've accomplished. And to remember that even if I were home, I can't be there for everything for everyone. Living in the here and now is certainly not easy, and there will always be events that tear you one way or the other. But when I look around at my beautiful surroundings and think that I only have a year left, I hope to make the most of it.


Side note: I tried to make a panoramic of all my photos together, but it didn't work. Instead I layered the pictures one on top of the other and got this sweet looking guy:

Control Freak

So yesterday (May 12th) I was supposed to have a site visit from my boss, Firmin. I had been preparing all week, cleaning my house, clearing out the courtyard, and even having a neighbor help me prepare a meal for my guests. The night before the he was to get here, it rained starting at about 1am. It was still raining that morning when I got ready for school, and I was actually the only professor to show up for classes that day. That’s actually typical for rainy days here in Africa, but it’s been a while since it rained, and I forgot how everything just completely shuts down.

Unfortunately, the rain doesn’t just affect schools. At 1:30pm, about 20 minutes after he was supposed to be here, I get a call from Firmin. He was almost to Yaho, but there was a river between him and me. I had actually worried about that for a minute earlier in the day because there is a place that was often flooded last year during rainy season, but I hadn’t given it too much thought. I was too excited to have a visitor!! So, I have to admit, because of how excited I was to have visitors, it made the sudden change in plans that much more sad. Another volunteer had even come with him to surprise me and see my village. After I got off the phone with them, I honestly was very close to tears. I had put so much time and effort into getting ready and looking forward to the visit. And now, when they were literally 5km from my house, it wasn’t going to happen.

Now, this might seem like an overreaction to a situation that completely out of my control, and I asked myself the same question. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that everything event I have looked forward in the past two months has been cancelled at the last minute:
The last week of March I was going to take a trip with the couple who went to Wartburg with me, but I was having some tooth problems and spring break was moved up two weeks at the last minute, so it wasn’t going to work out.

March 31st there was a goodbye party for the volunteers leaving this summer, but the morning of the 30th there were some violent protests in the capital and the party was now off limits to everyone who wasn’t already there. This was something I was really looking forward too, and the last time I would have probably seen some volunteers.

Over Easter, I had planned to visit some friends south of me, but the President of Burkina dissolved the government a few days earlier, so travel was off limits (that wasn’t as intense as it sounds, basically he fired his 29 ministers, rehired 17 of them with 8 new ones to bring the total up to 25).

And now I was supposed to get a visit from a friend, but it rained.

Now, every single one of these situations was entirely out of my control. But it got me thinking about just how much control I am able to exercise over my life here versus my life in America.

-In America we have a stable government, but also stable electricity and stable internet (you might not think that stable internet is that important in a developing nation, but with more and more of our business world happening online, it is. If the internet is down here in Burkina, I can’t get money out of my bank account. And because I have to travel about 3 hours to even get to the bank, it’s that much more annoying). That stability gives us a daily assurance of what to expect. We know that it is (highly) unlikely that we will see rioters, that our stores will be pillaged, or that we will get to the bank only to be turned away because internet or electricity is down that day.

-In America (or at least Minnesota), we have systems in place to deal with inclement weather. It’s so effective that I often complained during high school that our roads were always plowed before the buses had to come through, meaning we wouldn’t get a snow day. We don’t often have plans ruined by a simple rainstorm, or worse; we don’t have our houses collapsed by rainstorms because we are able to build houses with more than mud bricks. (Yes, this did happen in my village. There were two people in the house and they were both killed)
-In America we are able to plan ahead to the next weekend, the month or even the next year with a high degree of certainty that everything will work out. The big events of our lives are often planned months and a year in advance. I know another volunteer here had her wedding scheduled at the end of July, but with the unrest the national exams were changed, and her soon-to-be husband now has tests during their wedding. She had to change the wedding, and most of the Americans that were going to be a part of the service are leaving before the new date.

So here, I’m learning not to plan for more than a week at a time, or I’m just going to get myself excited for something else that might not happen. And especially with all of the unrest that has happened here since February, I am certainly in the mindset of having a plan B, C, D, etc for every plan. Though, since Easter, everything does seem to have calmed down here. I am very thankful for that, but things are still a little behind schedule and I don’t really know exactly when school is over, exactly when I will be working at stage this summer, or exactly when I’ll take my vacation to Ghana. And while occasionally disappointing, I guess I’m learning to be more and more OK with those uncertainties.

A few anecdotes from site

My underwear: Well, most of you probably have no interest in my underwear, but it’s a pretty funny story. The other day I was wearing one of my complets (matching shirt and skirt made here). Complets are normally worn pretty tight, especially the skirts. That morning I had class with my 3e class, and was teaching them all about the primary colors of light when there is a knock on the door. I go and look who it is, and it’s one of my students. She quietly says to me that the director needs to see me, then as soon as I step outside she leans in and whispers, “Madame, la fermeture de votre jupe est descendue.” And I was very confused, I thought she was saying something about closing my Jeep. She repeated it, and I realized that she was saying the zipper of my skirt was down!!! (It’s in the back of the skirt) I stepped out of sight of the door, zipped it up and came in and started teaching again. There were only a few giggles when I got back in, so hopefully not everyone knew. By the way, the complet was grey/black and the underwear was bright red floral, so kind of obvious…

Another story about animals: The other night I was sitting in my courtyard, eating dinner, when I hear some rustling on the thatched roof. There were a couple times when a neighborhood cat jumped up there, so I thought no big deal. The rustling continued and I didn’t see the cat, so I went for a closer look. I saw a head in a gap between bricks, so I now thought it was a kid messing with my stuff. I yell at him, and he continues to pull at the straw roof. I open the door and there is a giant bull eating my roof!!!! Once again, after recovering from a brief moment of terror (fyi, the bull was scared too, he ran away a few steps), I open the door again, but the bull is now facing me. I decide to just ignore it. After a few minutes, I hear someone yelling and the bull finally ran away. My neighbor come over and chased him off for me :)

Coup de Directeur

So a couple blog posts ago, I commented on the challenges I’d been having with my classes. Well, since we’ve been back from spring break, I really feel like I’m finally in the swing of things! I think part of it was that I enjoy the part of the curriculum we’re covering (and by ‘enjoy’ I mean I actually know what’s going on). But part of it too, is just reaching that point in doing something new where everything clicks. My French is doing good (or at least ok), and I honestly enjoy teaching about the structure of light and how to solve polynomial equations. Since coming back from spring break the students have been more motivated and things in general are going well. I have a better rapport with my students, especially my 3e. There are only about 5 weeks left before they have to take their national exams, and they know it.

Unfortunately, just this last week there was a bit of a tiff between the other profs and the students and director. It’s long and complicated, dating back to an event from last year from the yearly soccer tournament. When the tournament started again this year, the crap hit the fan. And even though it really has nothing to do to me, I really can’t help feeling like I’m stuck in the middle. We didn’t hold class Friday because of the disagreement, and I just talked to my director, and they still haven’t had class!!

Students here in Burkina have been striking nationwide about some other issues, but it hadn’t spread to Yaho yet. So, I have to admit that I find it amusing that national issues don’t reach here, but a fight over a soccer match is enough to get everyone riled up enough to boycott school! (I honestly don’t know if the students or teachers striking though). So I guess I’ll have an interesting welcome back when I get back to village…

The Leaf People

So one night, I was sitting in my courtyard, under my hangar, working on lesson plans for the next day. I hear my neighbor, Sita, laughing and knocking at my door. I open my door, and am terrified by the sight of this:

After recovering, I start laughing and ask what is going. Apparently this is a yearly tradition where kids dress up in leaves and go around asking for money (or food). Kind of like trick or treating. Well, I got out my camera and made them dance for me. (this is second blog in the row that made kids dance for me…) But they loved getting their picture taken, so they didn’t care.

Also, I gave them candy and money, so I wasn’t really that surprised when they showed up again the next night. With more kids. I once again made them dance and took pictures. I asked a few people about the tradition of the event, and it the leaves they use are from a specific tree from the bush that the cows like to eat.

The kids (boys) who come by are mostly cowherds, meaning that most of them are lucky if there were able to finish elementary school. They take the cows out early in the morning in search of water, and don’t return until the evening. They normally don’t eat during the day and simply carry a water bottle that they fill up at the same watering hole the cows use. When there is more water, they jump in and are swimming as cows wade in and around them. Honestly, these kids look like they having the times of their lives, but when I think about the fact that there is little or nothing in their futures, it does make me kinda sad. I never found out exactly the reason why the kids do this, but I’m glad they did.

My favorite part of this picture is the kid pretending to drink his Sprite.

Or maybe the machetes.

The leaf man.

Fancy meeting you here...

So I really need to apologize to all of you, I’ve been the worst blogger ever lately! But I’ve had limited internet, so I don’t feel too bad about it :P

I have few stories, so I’m just going to post them in somewhat chronologically.

8 Mars (March 8^th, International Women’s Day)

8 Mars is also celebrated as a national holiday here, meaning that there is no school and everyone has a party! The women fonctionaire’s group decided to host a festival and invited other women’s groups to party with us. We were at the Eliane’s house, one of the nurses and president of the fonctionaire’s group. We all came over the night before to fry up some fish, then arrived early that morning to start cooking all the food. We made rice and spaghetti, as well as zoom-koom (a drink made from millet flour and flavored with ginger and mint, it’s really good!), ginger juice (very spicy), and bissap (hibiscus tea). I helped with the zoom-koom and generally tried to stay out of the way. The rice and spaghetti were made in generally the same way, cooking the carbs up with some tomatoes, onions, carrots and green peppers mixed in. They added some sort of leaf to the rice and it turned out really good. They were both cooked in giant pots (maybe 50+ liters) over a fire. As we were preparing, the other women’s groups dropped by lots and lots of tô, so there was no way anyone was going to be hungry at this party!

After cooking all the food, everyone went home to change into their party clothes and take an afternoon nap. We all came back, ate lunch, and started dancing!! Although my village has no electricity, women need to go to the neighborhood well to get water one bucket at time, and most people cook over a fire; they have rocking sound systems. As we were setting up for the day, these kids came in pushing giant speakers in wheelbarrows. They connected these speakers to a dvd/mp3 player, and powered this all with car batteries. And that, my friends, is how you have a party in Africa. They had the music pumping and we were all dancing around under the mango tree.

It was really fun, some of my students came and I made them dance with me. Mostly because they were laughing at me (it was probably the first time they’d ever seen a white person dance, they weren’t doing it to be mean), but either way, I showed them :P

DANCING!

Check out those matching outfits :)