The longest entry ever!

Hello everyone,

I know it’s been far too long since I was last able to write, but I have found myself in a sleepy little town the internet hasn’t quite reached. Hmm…I don’t even know where to start. Last time I posted something was just before my big move to Houndé. In the end, I survived the nightmare trip on the bus with a million pieces of massive luggage (I took up 3 trunks under the bus), and managed to fend off the ticket man who insisted I continue on to Ouaga with him. I was greeted by everyone from the office when I arrived, and they were all very helpful in helping me get settled in, not to mention a bit curious to see what sorts of things the toubabu had packed. They even organized a welcome dinner for me.
My house is lovely. It’s right beside the office, and I share a courtyard with a young woman who works at the bank, and a mother who lives with her daughter. They are really wonderful, and have definitely helped me settle in. Their houses are always full of people coming and going, and they’re constantly inviting me over to try something new in Burkinabé cuisine, to watch the latest Burkinabé music video (which, I must say, are extremely amusing), to go to the market, to meet their friends, or watch Maria del Barrio, the Spanish soap opera that is incredibly popular here (and, naturally, extremely dramatic and complicated).
Just as I started to settle into Houndé life, I was sent off to Bobo again, this time with 37 children, to accompany them on a little field trip. For many of the children, it was their first time in a city, since a lot of them have never left Houndé, and come from villages in the surrounding area. It was an interesting trip, filled with multiple dramas, but the children were too cute! They loved playing with my hair, since they’d never seen hair like it. They all thought I was wearing a wig, since here, almost every girl has a wig of some sorts, and either wears it like a normal wig, or cuts it up and makes braids and fancy hairdos with it.
We visited the airport (which they loved…most of them had never seen a plane before), the train station (again…most had never seen a train before), the big market, the government buildings, the industrial zone, and other places I can’t remember.
We slept in an old school building, and it was my first time sleeping on a floor that hard…we had a little mat, which is basically as thin as a piece of paper, and serves only to separate you from the floor, but really, provides no comfort whatsoever. Delphine came with us, and the poor girl was in charge of cooking for 45 people twice a day. No easy task. Actually, make that 44 people, since I managed to get sick and couldn’t eat for the better part of the week. My pants got too big around the waist, and all I craved was Lipton’s chicken noodle soup. But, alas, that was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t keep anything down except for some bread dipped in condensed milk. Bo!
We spent a lot of time at the REVS+ office in Bobo, where the children got to meet the children there, and do some social activities. They had a blast on our last afternoon there, where someone put some music on and made all the kids dance. The man leading the activity then took out a microphone, and blasted over the entire compound that Sara had to report to the dance floor. Ay! So yes, I had to join in the dancing, and people commented on how I’m not like other white people, who don’t know how to move. Hehehe.
I left Bobo with 37 children, new curtains for my house, a parasite in my stomach, and two love declarations from men at the office (slightly awkward). An eventful 4 days!
So, after moving in, things started to roll…slowly. I think one of the things I needed to accept was that things happen slowly, and there’s no rushing them. This was a bit of a shock when it came to work; here, to say that the atmosphere is laidback would be an understatement. Unless there’s something planned for that day, or there’s something immediate which needs to be done, everyone sits in the office and socializes in front of the TV. It’s nice in a way to be somewhere where I really have the freedom to make my own schedule, since it also allows for some mornings off to go to the market, to do some things around the house, but at the same time, I’m finding it hard to even motivate myself, let alone the team I’m working with to start looking at some long term projects, and to get into the habit of documenting what they do, to meet regularly, etc. It’s interesting to experience a different work and office dynamic. Because it’s so relaxed, people are always getting along and laughing, so I can’t complain!
After a few days, I sat down with my team and discussed why I’m here, and what everyone expects out of my placement. I am working with an incredible group of people. They are all dedicated to what they do, and they do it very well. Where I come in is to see where we can expand, and how we can improve what already exists. I wouldn’t do anything to change the quality of work; like I said, people are very good at what they do. What I can do however, and what I’ve been starting to do is look at how they can better organize themselves to be more efficient. I had a meeting with the team of people I’ll be working closely with, and we discussed all sorts of exciting ideas and projects to get things started. The programming for children is pretty much non-existent right now, except for a social activity once a month. We’re going to start visiting each child at home on a regular basis, and start doing follow up. I’ve been creating documents to be used for this, since I’m the only one who knows how to use a computer, but trying to make sure that people are involved in every step. It was a little but tough trying to get people together almost everyday to discuss things and work together, since it’s not something they do normally, but I really felt it necessary to not do anything on my own. The work I was doing got interrupted this week so that I could help write a project proposal for an income generating project. Since I was the only person who had written a project before (well, sort of…it was that one assignment from Project Management…but that despised Results Based Management did come in handy after all!) I was put in charge of the project, and it was quite fun. I worked with 3 other people, and we basically didn’t stop for 4 days straight. Of course, it didn’t help that we were given almost no details, and every time we would show someone what we had done, they would conveniently pull out a document they had forgotten to give us, full of useful information. Oh well! It was a learning process, and it was approved!!!! I feel really good about it, because if the first project I did was a failure, ca ne sera pas interessant…ou bien?
On the homefront, things are coming along. People have started saying that my house is starting to look une maison d’une femme, like a woman’s house, as we’ve started to organize things a bit. I still don’t have enough furniture to make it comfortable when people are over, but I bought a little gas stove, which will make my life a lot easier, since right now we’re cooking on a little thing that uses coal. But the bottle with the gas still hasn’t arrived. The guy at the station has told me that there aren’t any within a 150 km radius, so I guess I just have to be patient. Like I said, things happen slowly, and as Pamtaba, my friend at the office always says, things will come to those who wait. Very appropriate.
Delphine has proved to be a blessing…we get along really well, and she’s been so helpful. As much as I was against the idea of hiring someone to help with the house, I see now that it is completely necessary. I would never have been able to find everything I need, get water from the pump, cook on that blasted coal thing, etc. without someone who knew what they were doing. She’s been keeping me busy helping her make bissap and yamakugi, two local drinks that people make and then sell in the street. Bissap is made from a pink flower, and yamakugi is made from ginger and tamarind. Both are really good, and I’ve been drinking way too much. We usually have a group of girls come over and help, since after we make the drinks, we have to put them in little bags and freeze them, which can take a while.
She also brought me to her tailor, and I am now officially une femme africaine. I got my hair braided last night, and it looked really neat except that it all came out in the night, so I have to go again after not washing my hair for a few days.
We went to visit her family on Thursday; she lives in the outskirts of Houndé, and it was really interesting to see the difference. We had to drive through rice and corn fields, and it was beautiful…very green and peaceful. Her uncle and aunt gave me a bowl of fruit picked from the shea tree, and they caught me a chicken, which is one of the highest forms of respect. I was really touched, although I have to admit, carrying home a live chicken destined for my stomach was a bit odd. I felt sorry for the blasted thing all night, and so the next morning I decided that if we were ever going to eat the chicken, it had to be sooner rather than later, or else I would end up keeping it as a pet. Here, women can’t kill chickens…I don’t know why exactly, but it’s a cultural thing. So, on Saturday morning, I had a house full of children again, since they all came for an activity at REVS+. A few of the boys offered to help with the chicken, so they killed it, plucked it, cut it into pieces, and then roasted the intestines and liver on little sticks for themselves. This reminded me of my impressions of these children when we were in Bobo…these kids are like young children and adults at the same time. They are capable of doing anything, but at the same time can amuse themselves for hours just with each other’s company. They’re so loveable, and not embarrassed to show affection. Little boys here hold hands all the time, which I think is the cutest thing.
Right now we’re working on a little play on stigma to be presented to the parents before school starts in October. We had our first rehearsal last night, and afterwards we had a little dance party at my house…too cute!
Monday was a national holiday for Burkina’s Independence Day. You wouldn’t know it was anything special, since no one celebrates, but we made to, since you can’t get much more Burkinabé than that, and I spent the afternoon with my neighbours making the some of the richest desserts I’ve ever eaten. We made crepes which we filled with my nutella (big hit!) and a cake that was basically solidified cream and sugar. Tasty, but after a few bites, I had to stop. Wednesday was another national holiday since it’s a Catholic celebration, and everyone celebrates everyone else’s holidays, no matter what your religion. So, I we got all dressed up, went to mass (which included much jubilant singing), then we celebrated all afternoon with the neighbours.
For the past few weekends, I’ve been invited to Medicus Mundi, a Spanish organization working in public health here in Houndé. Right now there are 2 people working there, Raquel, the coordinator, and Felipe, there to help her with the million projects she has on the go. When he invites me for dinner, it’s one invitation I can’ refuse. They have everything there! Kitchen appliances, filtered tap water, a stove, an oven, and a toilet!!! I go there and I forget where I am. So far I’ve eaten a Spanish omelette and chicken paella there. I don’t want to complain too much, but the food I eat here has absolutely no variety, and it’s starting to drive me slightly insane. It’s either rice, spaghetti or to, with the odd bean thrown in. You can try to mix up the sauces a bit, but basically; it all starts to taste the same.
I find the food really heavy, so I’ve started buying cabbages, cucumbers and tomatoes and making salads, and eating that with some white rice, hold the sauce. Delphine thinks I’m crazy, and can’t understand how I can eat rice without any sauce, and it took some convincing to get her to make it. This past weekend I was in Bobo, and stayed with my friend Aziz and his family. I got a bit of malaria, but I’m on treatment and I feel a lot better. On Saturday night I even felt good enough to go dancing , which proved to be the best cure of all… *I felt smuch better afterwards J’m going to go to Bobo to visit some friends and to do some hardcore grocery shopping. Tomorrow Delphine and I leave for Ouaga, to visit my neighbour Salome and got to her sister’s wedding.
That’s all for now…I’ll write with more stories the next time I come across an internet connection. A la prochaine!