Ini kibari!
I have neglected my blog for quite some time, so it’s time for an update. It’s funny, the more time I spend here, the more I become normalized to everything around me, and I find I can’t think of any news to post on my blog!
Let me think…last time I wrote, I just got back from Bobo, and was pathetically sick. I had some germ/parasite and another bout of malaria, which then affected my overall mental state, meaning I got super depressed and wanted to come home. I got so sick/depressed I couldn’t stay at home alone, and went to stay with some Spanish friends at their NGO for some moral support. The fact that there are toilets there as well was definitely a pull factor, since it made my life much easier. Everyone in Houndé knew I was sick…it’s incredible how fast news travels. I even got calls and messages from people in Ouaga and Bobo…don’t ask me how they knew. The fact that I left my house made everyone think that I was deathly ill, and so the whole office came to visit, and it was a really special boost to know that people care so much about the wellbeing of others, and take the time to make sure you’re alright.
After I got better work started up again, and I had lots of catching up to do. We’re working on a project to get milk for HIV-positive mothers to give their children, training our kids to become group leaders in their meetings, setting up microcredits for our girls who don’t go to school, and lots of other exciting little projects. We received money to pay school fees for our kids who couldn’t pay, so it was really neat because I got to go into all the surrounding villages and visit the schools there. Most of these villages are really in the bush, and a lot of the kids had never seen a toubabou (white person) before. At one of the schools I was sitting outside waiting for my colleague, and a whole bunch of little kids were hanging out windows watching my every move. At one point I took some bread out of my bag and started eating, and the kids started screaming ‘elle mange!!’ (she’s eating!) and calling their friends. I was like, just because my skin is lighter than yours does it mean that I don’t eat??? Quite the experience…
At another school, one of the teachers brought me to each class to show me to the kids because he said they had never seen a foreigner before, besides on TV. It was kind of weird…I felt like some kind of artefact bring brought around and displayed, but the kids were really cute. The teacher asked the kids to describe what I was like, and one little boy got up and said, ‘elle est jolie!’ Teehee.
Right now we’re organising an Eid/Christmas/New Year’s party with our kids, and it is too much fun. They’re doing little plays, and my girls are doing one on the importance of female education. They’re choreographing dances, writing a rap piece, and it is just the cutest thing.
This weekend I’m invited to the AGM of a women’s association in a little village called Karangasso-Sambla. It’s where my friend Emanuele did her research, so I’m excited to meet her people and discover another little corner of Burkina.
My mom and siblings finally booked their plane tickets, and arrive the 15th of December! Craissy pahty! We’ll spend Eid here in Houndé, and then go up north to go came trekking through the Sahelian Dunes! Pretty cool, huh?
I’ve gotten so caught up in my little world here that I forgot that I’m still a university student, and have a thesis to write next year. Imagine my panic and dismay when I received an email reminding me that my 20-page research proposal is due in 2 weeks. Right…like that will ever happen. One thing is sure and that is that nothing is getting sent off to UofT before the second week of January. I have no idea how I’m going to manage a research project when I get internet access once a month…
So yes, I guess I did find some news to tell you! I hope everyone is well, and please send me some news from home! Even if my internet access is limited, it always makes me happy to have lots of emails waiting for me.
Lots of love!
Sara
