So this past week my language teacher told me my French homework was to make a family tree of my host family. I knew this was going to be challenging for several reasons. First of all, most of the family doesn't speak French. Second, my family seems huge and it's very hard to figure out who everyone is. However, I went back to my courtyard and attempted to do the homework. I showed my host dad a family tree of my family and then tried to explain that I need to do one of his family. He called over one of my sisters and we sat on the floor with some flashlights trying to do the assignment. She was able to write the name of her dad and the names of his three wives. Then she began to write the names of her 13 brothers and sisters. After, we were supposed to write the ages of everyone. My host dad went into his house and a few minutes later came out with a bunch of papers. The papers were the hand written birth certificates of the kids. It took me a minute but I realized nobody in my courtyard knew how old they were, the dad included. After calculating the age of everyone I was able to finish my family tree. My family has 14 kids, all under the age of 15 and 3 wives. My host dad is 49 and he is a farmer. The next day we presented our family trees in class. Most of the other people in my language group had between 5-8 kids. I now understand why my courtyard is always loud, busy, and full with kids!
For lunch this week we found a place that makes omelets. Everyone was so excited because usually there is just rice with some different sauces. After lunch I began to feel really sick. I thought I might be dehydrated but it got progressively worse during the afternoon. Eventually I threw up and got a ride home to my village. I tried to explain to the wives that I was sick and that I had thrown up. I got a pillow and sat outside on a chair. Later, my host dad came home. I could tell all of the people in my courtyard were telling him I'm sick. He said hello and then went to sit on his chair over by his house. A few minutes later he gets up and brings over his chair. His chair is more like a lounge chair. It looks like a pool chair but it's wood. He brought it over so I would be more comfortable. This was an incredibly nice gesture because all the women and kids in my courtyard sit and sleep on the floor. He wanted me to have the chair for the night since I was sick. It made me realize that even if you can't communicate with words, there are other ways to communicate. I lounged on the chair for a while and then went to bed. Luckily, I woke up feeling better the next day. I also spoke to a current volunteer who said that some Americans are allergic to pintar eggs, which are eggs produced by guinea fowl. So now I know I can avoid omelets that aren't made with chicken eggs.
On Wednesday afternoon we traveled to Ouaga, the capitol, for the night. We stayed at our transit house which is basically a hostel for only us Peace Corps volunteers. It has fans, wifi, a real kitchen, a bunch donated books, clothes up for grab and some beds. We went out for dinner to a shwarma place and then found a bar with one beer on tap!!! We drank beers and stayed up late meeting current volunteers who were in Ouaga.
The next morning we got up at 5 to head out for "Demyst". Demyst is when we split into our language groups and visit a current volunteer for the weekend. My language group traveled to Sabce, a village 2 hours North of Ouagadougou. We are staying with a volunteer named Wendy. Wendy is a volunteer in her 60's and her site has electricity. She was a lawyer in the states and decided to do the Peace Corps because she felt her life was too predictable. She is also a health volunteer and she has been here for two years. She lives right by the CSPS (health clinic) and her site has about 3,000 people. She is really cool and it was nice to learn about the projects she has done. One of the projects I found most interesting was her project with the village elders. She held a lot of sessions with them about getting older, menopause, dental care, and staying active. I found this interesting because a lot of the younger volunteers work mainly with youth so hearing about her projects with the elders was so new and different! Wendy has also had a girls group of about 28 teenage girls. She talked to the girls about menstruation and safe sex. In Burkina it is very taboo for mothers and daughters to talk about these types of things. Prostitution is becoming a problem in this village so she talked to them about that as well. The reason prostitution is increasing in Sabce is because they recently opened a mine close by. Men from all over the country come have been coming to work here. This has caused a lot of problems and Wendy said her village has changed a lot in the two years since she has been here.
In the mornings we got to go with her to the clinic to weigh babies and watch the nurse and Wendy give vaccinations. The mothers who came to the clinic today are involved with the Plumpy Nut Program. This program is for babies who are severely malnourished. They come in for weekly weigh-ins and if the babies aren't gaining weight, they have to pay to visit the Head Nurse. Babies usually gain weight from the program and are able to get on a more healthy track. Wendy says the Plumpy Nut is really popular and tastes like chocolate peanut butter. Apparently it is a hot commodity and sometimes parents will give it to other kids or eat it themselves, which is why some babies don't gain enough weight. We saw one 4 month old baby that was 6 pounds. It was devastating and the baby looked like an alien. It was completely deformed and unbelievably tiny.
Later in the day we got to see the school and attend a session on family planning. The session was put on by the Head Nurse and it was given to about 70 kids all around 14 and 15 years old. It was really fun to see their reaction to the different family planning options. I was surprised that so many kids showed up to listen! At night Wendy made us spaghetti and salad! It was delicious and it felt like we were back in the states. We listened to music and drank some beers and then went to bed outside in our tents. The rest of the weekend should be fun because today is a Muslim holiday called Tabaski. They eat a lot of goat on this holiday and the men wear all white. We are invited to celebrate the holiday with one of Wendy's friends. She is 13 and Wendy said she is an incredible person. Wendy has been paying for this girl's schooling because recently her parents cut off the funding. I'm excited to see how they celebrate Tabaski and will write more soon when I'm back in Leo. Hope all is well with everyone! I'm excited to hear about Halloween celebrations! N
Friday, October 26, 2012
Saturday, October 20, 2012
So Far So Awesome!
Where to begin! I'm currently writing this post from an internet cafe in Leo. This internet cafe is pretty new and was created by a current Peace Corps volunteer who is doing his third year in Burkina! Leo is a "city" in southern Burkina, about 15k from Ghana. It is a city for Burkina Faso standards, however, it is far from what we would call a city. There is one main paved road with some kiosks that sell food, small grocery stores and places where you can buy minutes for your cell phones. There are also a few hotels and they have decent restaurants where we eat lunch when in Leo for training. Peace Corps has us on a pretty set schedule during our training months, so Monday- Friday we have different sessions all day. These have consisted of language training, safety and security, cultural exchange, international development, and some health related sessions for us health volunteers.
The trip from Ouagadougou to Leo took about 3 hours and we arrived just in time for our adoption ceremonies. Our group was split up into three villages that all surround Leo. I am placed in a village called Sanga with 8 health volunteers. Our big group is also down to 26 because one of the girls actually already decided to leave and go home. The adoption ceremony was incredibly awkward, funny and awesome. Everyone got matched to a family that we will live with for the next three months. I got matched with the chief of the village and I am still trying to figure out how many wives and kids he has!! I live in my own small house in their family courtyard. I have two rooms in my house, one with my bed and one with all my luggage. The first night was pretty crazy and I tried to just soak it all in. My family mostly speaks their local language called Nuni so communicating with them is really interesting. I usually just use hand motions with random French, Nuni, English and Spanish words. Little by little though, we manage. The first night my family served me spaghetti which was a nice surprise. I figured out how to shower with a bucket and tried to figure out how to sleep in an incredibly hot mud house. The bucket shower I managed but the sleeping I did not. So, the next night my host dad and I constructed a bed outside with a mosquito net and the mattress from the bed. I had a much better night sleep and have slept outside ever since.
My week has gone by pretty fast. I wake up when the sun comes up about 5:30/6. My family gets me 2 buckets of water and I go take my bucket bath. I get ready for training, eat breakfast and then bike about 7 miles to Leo for training. We usually end training around 5 and then we bike back home to get back just before the sun goes down. It gets dark really early in Burkina and it is usually totally dark by 6:30pm. The bike ride to Leo is kind of hard because it is uphill but the way home is my favorite part of the day. On the way home we pass a few other villages and all the kids run to the road to say hello. They all yell "nassara" which means foreigner and they love to give high fives or hear us say hello back. Once back in village I say hello to the family. Saying hello in the Burkina culture takes a long time. You have to say hi, ask how your day was, ask how work was, ask how the family is, etc. And you do this routine each time you say hello. I've been trying to learn how to say hello in Nuni. Last night about ten kids and I translated some common phrases or words that I know in French into Nuni. The women and kids get a kick out of me practicing Nuni and everyone loves to come to my courtyard to hear the white girl try to speak the local language. After saying hello I wait for them to get my water for my second bucket bath. The stars here are unbelievable so taking my nightly bucket bath is really enjoyable. I also live right by 2 mosques so I usually hear the call to prayer during my shower.
This past Sunday we did a tour of our village and did a mapping exercise to learn where everything is. My house is really close to two other volunteers. There is also a small restaurant, 3 mosques, a water pump, and a health clinic. The village is much prettier than I expected, and has a river and lot of green grass and trees. We spent Sunday afternoon under a tree hanging out with some local kids. We did face painting and ate some yummy potato things my host mom gave me. The face painting was a big hit and even adults wanted to get a small drawing. I also like to have dance parties with the kids in my courtyard or play a memory game out of some old maid cards I brought from home.
Yesterday we had an opportunity to visit the local clinic. The health care system in Burkina is really interesting. In the past, the system was run by the Ministry of Health. They had all the power and all the decisions were made by them. This meant that small rural health clinics had to follow rules set from the capitol city. In the 90's however, this changed to a community health approach. Today, the community has a huge influence on how the clinic is run and who is in charge. The Ministry places a Head Nurse in each rural clinic but a lot of the other positions are filled by local villagers. In our village, our Head Nurse is a woman, which is really exciting and pretty rare. Visiting the clinic was really shocking. Each room looked like a scene out of a horror film. The clinic has no electricity so after 6:30 it is completely dark in the rooms. The clinic had a waiting room, a pharmacy, a maternity house, a malnutrition house, and a few other rooms and houses. There is also a vaccination program that was going on last night in our village. When we entered the maternity house there was a woman on a mattress on the ground waiting to give birth. The midwife was not on duty yesterday so one of the male nurses was explaining that he was going to be doing the delivery. He also explained that if she has the baby after dark, he will deliver the child using just a flashlight. He invited us to come watch the birth but Peace Corps doesn't allow us to do that because of security and sanitary reasons. One positive thing about the clinic was that if there are problems that occur at site, Leo has a free ambulance that they can send! This is really awesome and usually people have to pay a lot of money to get access to doctors in a bigger city nearby. The clinic really put into perspective the type of work and projects I will be doing once I get to my site. It was also helpful to talk to current volunteers about the projects they have done with their local clinics.
This coming week we get to go back to Ouagadougou on Wednesday! We spend the night in the city and then we get to "Demyst". This is when we get to spend the weekend with a current volunteer at their village site. I'm not sure where I will be going yet but it will be a small village close to Ouaga. The volunteer will also be a health volunteer so I'm hoping to see what her clinic is like and spend some time at it! Hope to write again soon. N
The trip from Ouagadougou to Leo took about 3 hours and we arrived just in time for our adoption ceremonies. Our group was split up into three villages that all surround Leo. I am placed in a village called Sanga with 8 health volunteers. Our big group is also down to 26 because one of the girls actually already decided to leave and go home. The adoption ceremony was incredibly awkward, funny and awesome. Everyone got matched to a family that we will live with for the next three months. I got matched with the chief of the village and I am still trying to figure out how many wives and kids he has!! I live in my own small house in their family courtyard. I have two rooms in my house, one with my bed and one with all my luggage. The first night was pretty crazy and I tried to just soak it all in. My family mostly speaks their local language called Nuni so communicating with them is really interesting. I usually just use hand motions with random French, Nuni, English and Spanish words. Little by little though, we manage. The first night my family served me spaghetti which was a nice surprise. I figured out how to shower with a bucket and tried to figure out how to sleep in an incredibly hot mud house. The bucket shower I managed but the sleeping I did not. So, the next night my host dad and I constructed a bed outside with a mosquito net and the mattress from the bed. I had a much better night sleep and have slept outside ever since.
My week has gone by pretty fast. I wake up when the sun comes up about 5:30/6. My family gets me 2 buckets of water and I go take my bucket bath. I get ready for training, eat breakfast and then bike about 7 miles to Leo for training. We usually end training around 5 and then we bike back home to get back just before the sun goes down. It gets dark really early in Burkina and it is usually totally dark by 6:30pm. The bike ride to Leo is kind of hard because it is uphill but the way home is my favorite part of the day. On the way home we pass a few other villages and all the kids run to the road to say hello. They all yell "nassara" which means foreigner and they love to give high fives or hear us say hello back. Once back in village I say hello to the family. Saying hello in the Burkina culture takes a long time. You have to say hi, ask how your day was, ask how work was, ask how the family is, etc. And you do this routine each time you say hello. I've been trying to learn how to say hello in Nuni. Last night about ten kids and I translated some common phrases or words that I know in French into Nuni. The women and kids get a kick out of me practicing Nuni and everyone loves to come to my courtyard to hear the white girl try to speak the local language. After saying hello I wait for them to get my water for my second bucket bath. The stars here are unbelievable so taking my nightly bucket bath is really enjoyable. I also live right by 2 mosques so I usually hear the call to prayer during my shower.
This past Sunday we did a tour of our village and did a mapping exercise to learn where everything is. My house is really close to two other volunteers. There is also a small restaurant, 3 mosques, a water pump, and a health clinic. The village is much prettier than I expected, and has a river and lot of green grass and trees. We spent Sunday afternoon under a tree hanging out with some local kids. We did face painting and ate some yummy potato things my host mom gave me. The face painting was a big hit and even adults wanted to get a small drawing. I also like to have dance parties with the kids in my courtyard or play a memory game out of some old maid cards I brought from home.
Yesterday we had an opportunity to visit the local clinic. The health care system in Burkina is really interesting. In the past, the system was run by the Ministry of Health. They had all the power and all the decisions were made by them. This meant that small rural health clinics had to follow rules set from the capitol city. In the 90's however, this changed to a community health approach. Today, the community has a huge influence on how the clinic is run and who is in charge. The Ministry places a Head Nurse in each rural clinic but a lot of the other positions are filled by local villagers. In our village, our Head Nurse is a woman, which is really exciting and pretty rare. Visiting the clinic was really shocking. Each room looked like a scene out of a horror film. The clinic has no electricity so after 6:30 it is completely dark in the rooms. The clinic had a waiting room, a pharmacy, a maternity house, a malnutrition house, and a few other rooms and houses. There is also a vaccination program that was going on last night in our village. When we entered the maternity house there was a woman on a mattress on the ground waiting to give birth. The midwife was not on duty yesterday so one of the male nurses was explaining that he was going to be doing the delivery. He also explained that if she has the baby after dark, he will deliver the child using just a flashlight. He invited us to come watch the birth but Peace Corps doesn't allow us to do that because of security and sanitary reasons. One positive thing about the clinic was that if there are problems that occur at site, Leo has a free ambulance that they can send! This is really awesome and usually people have to pay a lot of money to get access to doctors in a bigger city nearby. The clinic really put into perspective the type of work and projects I will be doing once I get to my site. It was also helpful to talk to current volunteers about the projects they have done with their local clinics.
This coming week we get to go back to Ouagadougou on Wednesday! We spend the night in the city and then we get to "Demyst". This is when we get to spend the weekend with a current volunteer at their village site. I'm not sure where I will be going yet but it will be a small village close to Ouaga. The volunteer will also be a health volunteer so I'm hoping to see what her clinic is like and spend some time at it! Hope to write again soon. N
Thursday, October 11, 2012
"The Land of the Upright People"
Hello Everyone!
It's my last night in Ouagadougou! Tomorrow we leave for our training site in Leo. So far everything has been going really well! In Philadelphia we had orientation and I got to meet all 27 of the volunteers. Our group is awesome and everyone has an interesting and diverse background. Monday morning we left from JFK and flew to Brussels. On our night flight the captain made an announcement to look out the left window so we could see the Aurora Borealis, which is the Northern Lights. It was amazing and off in the distance the sky was green! I recommend googling it to get the full effect! Eventually, on Tuesday afternoon, we arrived to Ouagadougou where some of the Peace Corps staff were waiting for us! I was so happy because all of our groups luggage made it safe to Burkina! Somehow we piled all of our luggage into two small vans and we were off! Burkina Faso is completely different then anywhere I have been before. The parts of the city that we have seen so far are crazy! It's basically all dirt roads and doesn't look like a city at all. There are no tall buildings and its very crowded with people walking, biking or motorcycling. Our hotel has been really nice and we have been lucky enough to get wifi, a room with a/c, a private bathroom with toilet and shower, and a small restaurant that serves yummy food! We have spent most of the time in the hotel getting shots, having introduction meetings, hanging out with volunteers, and meeting the incredible Peace Corps Burkina staff. The staff is a mixture if locals and Americans and they are really supportive and helpful. Last night we finally got to explore a bit more! First went to our Country Director's house and had dinner with all of the volunteers and staff. We had couscous with chicken and it was delicious! After, one of the current volunteers took us out for some beers. We went to a great little outdoor bar/dance area with fun music and really cheap beers( $1.20ish). We had a fun dance party while all the locals looked at us like we were crazy. I even got to meet another current volunteer who went to UW-Madison!! Today we had sessions about our host families because tomorrow we will travel about 3 hours south to Leo. In Leo we will have an adoption ceremony and I will be matched to my new Burkinabe family. I will live with them for the next three months! We also had some much needed language sessions. My family will only speak French and this is the first time they have ever hosted an American! I'm really excited but super nervous about the communication part. It will definitely be rough at first but hopefully by the end of the 3 months I will be able to communicate pretty well with them. We will have about 6 hours a day of language training and they split us into groups of 3-5 people. Lets hope the training is as good as they say it is. I have to test out of intermediate-mid in French to be sworn in on December 14th. For now, I'm I enjoying my last night with A/C, wifi and a toilet! Hope to write again soon. XOXO N
It's my last night in Ouagadougou! Tomorrow we leave for our training site in Leo. So far everything has been going really well! In Philadelphia we had orientation and I got to meet all 27 of the volunteers. Our group is awesome and everyone has an interesting and diverse background. Monday morning we left from JFK and flew to Brussels. On our night flight the captain made an announcement to look out the left window so we could see the Aurora Borealis, which is the Northern Lights. It was amazing and off in the distance the sky was green! I recommend googling it to get the full effect! Eventually, on Tuesday afternoon, we arrived to Ouagadougou where some of the Peace Corps staff were waiting for us! I was so happy because all of our groups luggage made it safe to Burkina! Somehow we piled all of our luggage into two small vans and we were off! Burkina Faso is completely different then anywhere I have been before. The parts of the city that we have seen so far are crazy! It's basically all dirt roads and doesn't look like a city at all. There are no tall buildings and its very crowded with people walking, biking or motorcycling. Our hotel has been really nice and we have been lucky enough to get wifi, a room with a/c, a private bathroom with toilet and shower, and a small restaurant that serves yummy food! We have spent most of the time in the hotel getting shots, having introduction meetings, hanging out with volunteers, and meeting the incredible Peace Corps Burkina staff. The staff is a mixture if locals and Americans and they are really supportive and helpful. Last night we finally got to explore a bit more! First went to our Country Director's house and had dinner with all of the volunteers and staff. We had couscous with chicken and it was delicious! After, one of the current volunteers took us out for some beers. We went to a great little outdoor bar/dance area with fun music and really cheap beers( $1.20ish). We had a fun dance party while all the locals looked at us like we were crazy. I even got to meet another current volunteer who went to UW-Madison!! Today we had sessions about our host families because tomorrow we will travel about 3 hours south to Leo. In Leo we will have an adoption ceremony and I will be matched to my new Burkinabe family. I will live with them for the next three months! We also had some much needed language sessions. My family will only speak French and this is the first time they have ever hosted an American! I'm really excited but super nervous about the communication part. It will definitely be rough at first but hopefully by the end of the 3 months I will be able to communicate pretty well with them. We will have about 6 hours a day of language training and they split us into groups of 3-5 people. Lets hope the training is as good as they say it is. I have to test out of intermediate-mid in French to be sworn in on December 14th. For now, I'm I enjoying my last night with A/C, wifi and a toilet! Hope to write again soon. XOXO N
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