On April 25th I had a huge event in my village for World Malaria Day. Malaria is the most common sickness in my village and it is an extremely deadly disease across Africa. I worked with one of the primary schools, the clinic and the high school to put on the event. The primary school children learned a song called “Luttre Contre Le Palu” which means fight against malaria. They sang the song in front of around 100 people who came to the event. After the song, the high school students put on a play about the dangers of malaria and how to protect yourself. I also had a role in the play, the mosquito, which my village is still talking about. They keep coming up to me laughing and making a buzzing noise like I did in the play. Apparently, me as a mosquito is extremely funny. The play in general went well and everyone really liked it. After the play, the head nurse came and talked about malaria in Komtoega, and which groups are most at risk of dying. (FYI it’s children 0-5 years old, pregnant women and elders).
In May I was lucky enough to get more visitors! My aunt Kathy and my cousin Cameron came to see me for a week. We had a blast! We spent 2 nights in Ouagadougou and 3 nights in my village. In village, we visited the two primary schools, played with balloons at the preschool, helped an English class at the high school write letters, visited the church, tried the local dish of tô, had a nice picnic lunch under a tree by my house, and had some beers with my friends. The weather, after much worry, was actually okay, and we were able to sleep inside! The village was so impressed that more of my family came to visit. Cameron got several village proposals but we explained that she had to go back to finish school. Aunt Kathy was able to speak some French with the women and really enjoyed visiting the schools and just walking around the market. When we got to Ouaga we treated ourselves to a nice lunch (in air conditioning) and went shopping at an artisan village. Aunt Kathy also took a bunch of my friends out for drinks and dinner to one of our favorite places. It is a bar that has burgers and kabobs and is situated on a rooftop in the “downtown” area of Ouaga. It was really nice for her to meet my friends and even nicer for her to take us out! THANKS AGAIN AUNT KATHY!
After my family left, I went with another volunteer, Kara, and her visitor friends, to a village called Sabou. It has a sacred lake with crocodiles. The crocodiles have been there for thousands of years and the village is very proud of them. They do not harm the villagers and the villagers don’t touch them. It is a place to visit and learn about the history of the village and take a photo with the crocodiles. To get them out of the water villagers attached a live chicken to a string and flapped it around until the crocodiles came out to eat it. After they ate, we were ready to take a photo with the happy crocodile that just had a delightful feast. I could barely watch the chicken being killed and was extremely nervous about the photo. I basically ran over yelled to my friend to hurry and snap that photo and then ran away.
Later in the week I celebrated Kara’s birthday in the capital. During the day, Kara and I and some friends went go-carting. It was really expensive but a fun change of scenery! At night we found a wine bar where we had some wine and cheese and then went out dancing
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Rainy season is starting so, if it is not market day, everyone is in the fields. The villagers really want me to have my own field and grow vegetables but manual labor is really not my thing. I do go to the fields and play with the kids while the parents plant corn, rice, or beans. I usually try to help for a while but I get blisters on my hands and they all laugh. Rainy season is so important here because most of the villagers are subsistence farmers. This means that what they plant and harvest they use as their own food. So if the rain doesn’t come, there is no food for them to eat. After every rainstorm here, when the sun comes out, they say a saying in Bissa that means "God gave us rain!" A small majority of the villagers also plant to sell their product, so even for them, if it doesn’t rain, they won’t make money. It is really interesting to watch my whole village turn from a dusty mess to a some-what pretty green, grassy farmland. Let’s hope the rain keeps up!
At site, I have been busy wrapping up my "Healthy Schools Award Program", continuing with the "Flags for Development" distribution, and helping 5th graders prepare for their closing exam. In 5th grade, students take a test called the CEP. It is an extremely hard exam and necessary for students to pass on to 6th grade. I have been working with one school in particular to implement a Jeopardy revision game. A former volunteer made the game a few years ago and it really helps the students review. Last year, out of about 80 students, only 18 passed the exam. This year, they did a practice CEP test and the number of students was only a little bit higher. The test requires that students get at least a 50%. If students pass, they get the CEP certificate, which allows them to be eligible for certain jobs in the country later on. However, this doesn’t immediately make them eligible for 6th grade. Now, to continue on, they have two options. One is to pay money to be able to go to 6th grade and the second is to re-do 5th grade to get a higher score. However, once they reach 16, they can no longer take the test. It is incredibly sad and frustrating to watch these kids study and take the test and either not pass or pass and not have the money to continue their education. The learning environment for these students is full of difficulties. I am sure if I were their age, in their shoes, I never would have passed! This particular classroom has 76 students. Students sit five to a bench and there is one teacher. I’ve been trying to teach them ways to study. I show them how to make flashcards, fold their sheets of paper in half to make study guides and encourage them to quiz each other. Hopefully, some of these tricks will help.
I have also been working with some other volunteers to plan for Camp A.C.E. (an acronym that in French means "learning our bodies together.") This is a family planning and reproductive health camp for 6th graders. The camp is for three days and there will be about 20 students participating. I'll let you know how it goes! N
Another fine blog. It is very interesting to hear your thoughts as you begin to think about the ending of your adventure there. Unc D
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