Tabaski Festivities

     Work has finally started to pick up with the beginning of the school year a couple of weeks ago.  I have four big projects going on and I am also teaching English three days a week to middle school and high school students.  The class sizes range from 25 students to over 100.  Most of the younger grades have more students but unfortunately, by high school, many students have already dropped out.  None of the students have English textbooks, which makes it difficult to teach.  I am working on ways to make it creative, interactive and fun because the students are used to reading from the board, copying, and then repeating over and over again.   The level of English is extremely low, but hopefully we can work on changing this.  I am also trying to do a lot of teacher training with the current English teachers, although some are more motivated then others.  

     Besides teaching English, I want to briefly explain my other three projects.  The first is a Healthy Schools Award Competition. I created a contest between 7 of the primary schools in my village to see which school can implement the most health activities or increase the amount of health education being taught.  The project is a collaboration between the school board, the clinic, the mayor and myself.   We had the training for this competition last week to prepare the principals, teachers, community health workers, and parents associations for the competition and to train them on the importance of health education.  The competition starts November 1^st and each month the schools are required to submit monthly reports with the activities that they have completed.  Points (1, 2 or 3) are recorded, depending on the activity.  There are display boards at the school board’s office and at the clinic to show which schools are in the lead and to allow the community to encourage their schools to win.  Schools are expected to ask their parents association, community health workers, clinic staff and myself to come help lead these health activities.   Each school also received a book called Health For All, which is a collection of example health activities that they can do at the school.   A winner will be awarded in July when the school year ends.  I am working on prizes and funding for the prizes, however I know for sure I am going to do a world map mural at the school that has the most points.  (Geography is really not a strong point here, and so a world map might help people realize that America is not part of Europe.)  If anyone has any other ideas or wants to donate some prizes, let me know!       

     The second project I am working on is the Komtoega Internship Program at the high school.  This project is based on work I did when I was with Spark, a youth development organization in Chicago.  Five students from the high school in my village will be matched to 3 organizations for an 8-week internship program.  This is the pilot group, and I’m hoping to expand the amount of students and organizations involved, if all goes well.  Students will be matched with the clinic, a primary school or a preschool where they will learn about the work these organizations do, the educational background of the staff, and gain valuable skills will helping out.  Before starting, students are trained on professionalism, goal setting, and leadership and communication skills.  The organizations are also trained on how to work with youth, how to set realistic and appropriate responsibilities for the interns, how to be a mentor, and how to motivate youth.  I am really excited about this project and hope it goes well.  Like many of the youth in the states, kids here find it hard to see the connection between staying in school, getting an education, and the real world afterwards.  They need projects like this to motivate them and to challenge them to think about what they want to do after school.  94 students dropped out of the high school last year in my village, and I am hoping projects like this will help them stay motivated and value their education.  The Peace Corps has also asked me to share this project plan with the new group of volunteers during their training program.  Hopefully, after the training program, several other volunteers can implement this project at the high schools in their villages. 

     The third project also involves youth and education (you can see where my interests lie) and was also created because of the need to motivate youth to stay in school.  However, this project also includes the families and parents of the youth.  Many of the parents haven’t finished primary school and don’t see the value of their child’s education.  Financial problems, arranged marriages and early pregnancies are also factors.  The project is called Flags for the Future.  It is a collaboration between the 14 primary schools present in the school district of Komtoega, each Parents Association, Peace Corps and the Mayor.  We are having two door-to-door campaigns to talk about the importance of education, how education and the development of a village are related, and why families should send their children to school.  During the first campaign we are also recording the statistics of each family to see how many school-aged children are enrolled in school and how many should be attending, but currently are not.  Then, during the second campaign, we will be distributing flags to each family that is managing to send all of their school-aged children to school.  The goal is that families will see their neighbors with flags and conversations will begin about education and how to financially save money for education.   Families will become motivated to send their children to school, the youth drop-out rate will decrease and the flags will be known throughout Komtoega as a symbol, showing that parents do value their child’s education.  Once all the materials are purchased, local tailors will be helping to make the flags and paint the logos on using a stencil.     

     Lastly, I am currently Vice President of the Youth Development Committee in Peace Corps Burkina Faso, and we are planning a dance marathon.  The event will be held on November 23^rd to raise money for the Youth Development Committee Fund.  This fund will finance volunteer projects that relate to youth development.  (For example, theater groups, fieldtrips, camps, etc.)   Volunteers and around 100 Burkinabe will be dancing to raise money.  There will also be motivational speakers, health talks, and dance competitions during the event.  Each volunteer who is participating in the event is required to raise $150.  We are also hoping that schools in the states will host their own dance marathons to help us with fundraising.  If you have family or friends involved in the school system who might be interested in teaching their students about another culture and helping the youth of Burkina, please let me know! If not, please help us raise funds by clicking this link: www.peacecorps.gov/donate. You must click on Donate to Country Funds on the left side first.  Then click on Burkina Faso.You must type “YDC projects” into the comments section on the donation site. Also, please let me know if you do contribute, as I can not see the names of the people, but definitely want to thank you.    

     Okay, sorry for the long spiel about the work I am doing at site.  I just wanted to catch everyone up to date with what I am doing over here.   Besides work, I am still hosting movie nights at my friend’s house.  In the last blog I wrote about how much they liked Cinderella, but I definitely spoke too soon.  Jungle Book is their absolute favorite.  We have watched it at least 5 times and whenever I come over they attempt to sing “It’s just those, bare necessities” and beg me to show the movie.  They roar with laughter when the little boy tries to walk like an elephant and they think it is hilarious when he dances with the bear while singing the Bare Necessities song.  On several occasions grown men and women are sitting with their little kids watching Jungle Book and the whole courtyard is laughing.  I like showing the movies because it provides an occasion for families to just hang out together enjoying themselves.  Harry Potter has also been a favorite, and the high school kids love to come to the courtyard and ask to watch the 2^nd, 3^rd,  and 4^th Harry Potters.    

     Last week we celebrated the Muslim holiday of Tabaski.  In the states it is called Eid al-Adha.  

I got up early to celebrate and headed directly to the mosque.  I was shocked to see how many people were already up and celebrating.  There was a huge mob of people surrounding the mosque but luckily I found my friend, the pharmacist, and went over to say hello.  She explained the local language greetings that I can use to say “Happy Tabaski” and we also took a picture. Next, she told me to go visit the village chief because a lot of people went to his house to greet him.  He and his mother had come from the capital to celebrate. He doesn’t live in my village, and I had never met him before.   My friend,the pharmacist, couldn’t come with me because she  had to go cook, so I got on my bike and started peddling over to his house.  As I arrived, I started to get nervous because I was by myself and there were so many people.  Luckily, I saw another friend and went right next to her.  However, since I am the only white person in my village, I stick out like a sore thumb.  Everyone wanted to find me a seat in the shade and wanted me to get close so I could take pictures. They wanted to give me candy and Fanta and they  wanted me to meet the chief..  All of this commotion was going on while people were praying for a happy year, good health, lots of kids, etc.  I felt like I was making such a scene, when all I wanted to do was be an onlooker from the back.  Next thing I know a man has grabbed my hand and we are making our way through the crowd.  He is informing me that he is taking me to see the chief and that I need to say hello.  Everyone is now looking at me and waiting to see my next move.  Finally we arrive front and center.  The chief is sitting in a huge throne-like chair and they have even placed a stuffed animal lion next to him for effect.  We are now kneeling on the ground ( me and the man holding my hand) and it is time to say our greetings to the chief.   The man goes first and I am trying my best to listen to what he says in Bissa, the local language, so that I can try to say the same thing.   Of course, I catch like one word and when it is my turn, I say the two greetings that the pharmacist taught me.  “Can o tabokee” which means Happy Tabaski, and “Woosoh dolah ayentah can” which means may God give you a good year.  After I said these two things, the chief still hadn’t said anything back. Everyone is waiting to hear the next thing I’m going to say.  Luckily, all of the sudden, the chief begins to talk and he said… in PERFECT ENGLISH (such a rare thing to find here)…“Thank you for celebrating with us in my village.”  We continued to have a conversation in English and then finally, I was able to step off the podium and walk back through the crowds and out of the spotlight.  I couldn’t believe that all of my nerves and worries could have been avoided if I had known ahead of time that he spoke English!  I looked down at my hands after and they were still completely shaking.  Next year, I’ll be prepared. 

The Village Chief and his Lion 

Me and my friend, the pharmacist, celebrating Tabaski