Summertime and the Livin’ is Busy

June has been a crazy month. Between work, a sick dog, summer camps and visitors I can finally “complain” about being too busy! Summer is now in full swing in Burkina, which means all the schools are out and everyone is in the fields full time. For the last two weeks I’ve been preparing and implementing Camp A.C.E around the center-east region of Burkina. Camp A.C.E, which means Apprendons Nos Corps Ensemble (Learning our Bodies Together) was a family planning and reproductive health camp for 6th and 7th grade Burkinabe youth. The camp was held for 3 days in Boudry, 3 days in Komtoega and 3 days in Linoghin. Three Peace Corps Volunteers, who collaborated with local NGOs like Social Action and Marie Stopes, local village clinics, Burkinabe doctors and nurses, and Peace Corps Staff members, organized the camp. Sessions covered puberty, the risks of early pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, violence, gender norms, the importance of family planning, and the different types of family planning methods.

My camp had 22 participants, both boys and girls, all middle school age. The nurses at the clinic helped me lead sessions, as did two amazing Peace Corps Burkina staff members. We ended the camp with certificates and a group photo. The head nurse also talked about the importance of this camp and encouraged the students to go home and show their families the manuals and certificates A few days later I ran into one of the boutique owners in my village. I was with two other volunteers who had helped me with camp. We were entering the bar to get a beer. As we entered he was calling my name and yelling, “Thank you, thank you, Natalie.” I thought he was being sarcastic and saying that because I didn’t come over to introduce my friends to him. So, we went over and I asked why he was saying thank you. Turns out his daughter was part of the camp and he wanted to thank me for the certificate and for inviting his daughter to camp. He also told me that he stopped by the camp one of the days to make sure she was participating. I was so happy to see such a proud father supporting his daughter! Later in the week the same thing happened with another dad who was on his bike and started peddling and chasing after me to say thanks. He said he saw the pretty certificate and wanted to tell me thank you in person.

The camp is hopefully going to be implemented all over the country in the coming years. Already a newer volunteer is going to use our manuals, camp logo, and lesson plans and implement the camp in his village later this summer! I’ve been trying to quickly finish the Flags for the Future project, since schools are ending and everyone is in the fields. The first part of the project is done and we will start back up again in October with the second part. However, I was asked to write a success story about this project for the last reporting period Peace Corps document. I thought I would share with you what I wrote:

It has been hard for people in my village to realize the value of education and all that it can provide. The school board director of my village and I would spend hours talking about this problem and ways to get my village to care! We came up with a project called “Flags for the Future.” It involves two huge door-to-door campaigns to teach families about the importance of education and why both boys and girls should be in school. The project began by training members of the APE (Fathers of Students Association) on how to do a campaign and why the issue of education is important for the development of a village. The plan was to go door-to-door and talk about this issue, ask how many children were school age, and then how many of the students were currently enrolled. All the information would be recorded and we would track this information to see if any changes happen while the project is being carried out. If the families did have all their children in school, we gave them a flag. The flags were made for free by local tailors. Each had an image of a girl and a boy walking to school, with the words "Our Future" on top. Then we planned to go around to all the families again, at the start of the next school year, ask the same questions, and see if any of the numbers have changed. We trained several members and explained that we would start the campaign in the coming weeks. During the last part of the training we asked the fathers if they had all their children in school. Unfortunately one of the fathers, Hamadou, said no, one of his kids guards cattle. The Inspector quickly gave him suggestions, like building a fence for the cattle, or creating a rotating schedule were all members of the family could help out with this task. He seemed half interested and I began to worry about the outcome of my project. I realized I should have asked this question before picking the fathers to work with me. It would have been better to choose fathers who already had all their kids in school. Anyway, there was nothing I could do now, so we ended the session and picked a date to start the campaign. The campaign has now been implemented in two villages, and the results definitely show that there was a need for these talks on education. Most of the door-to-door visits were completed with both me and one of the trained facilitators. However, a few times I gave them the materials and had them go out on their own to conduct the campaign and record numbers. Recently, I rode my bike to Hamadou's house so that we could continue with the campaign. I arrived at his house and saw a flag hanging outside his door. I was puzzled because I knew one of his kids was not in school. I assumed he thought the flag was pretty and wanted one up regardless of the fact that he didn't meet the criteria to get one. I decided to ask him about the flag and he said, “Oh yeah, I put one up.” I reminded him of the fact that he can't have a flag because of his child who guards cattle instead of being in school. Quickly Hamadou said, “Oh, no, after the formation and our talk I realized it was better to put him in school. Since I am part of the parents association I went directly to the principal and asked if my son could go back to school.” Apparently she said yes! Even if this project only changes one families' thinking, I can now successfully say I have done just that!

At the end of June I also had the Healthy Schools Award ceremony. This was a project I started at the beginning of the school year with 7 elementary schools in village. I trained one teacher and one community health worker from each school on how to teach kids about health and how to implement fun health activities in classrooms. Then I gave each school a health activities resource book and the competition began in October. Each month schools submitted monthly reports and the school board president and I would calculate the points based on a 3 point scale. We would visit each of the schools to check-in, make sure they were actually doing the activities that they were reporting, and encourage and congratulate them on their progress. The competition ended in May and we announced the winners at the end of June. I was happy that my boss came for the closing ceremony. Schools showcased activities that they did throughout the year, such as songs about malaria or HIV/AIDS, demonstrations on how to properly wash your hands, and theater skits on family planning! The end results of the competition were amazing. The schools managed to do 203 health activities over the course of the school year! These activities fell into five categories: malaria, hygiene, HIV/AIDS, family planning and STIs, and nutrition. The winner of the competition got a Tippy Tap hand washing station donated by WA-WASH (USAID program), a world map mural and one soccer ball and one handball (donated by the school board.) The second place winners received some soap donated by the board of directors at the clinic and two tee shirts donated by Peace Corps. Third place got moringa seeds, a plant that has a ton of nutritional value and grows quickly. All schools got a certificate and a Peace Corps calendar. I was really proud of the event and happy that my boss got to see everything! She sent me a text after that said, “ Hi Natalie. Thank you again for inviting me to the closing of this great activity. I was so impressed. I knew that it was an outstanding activity but I was just over the moon watching your students presenting their health activities. From this, I got a lot of inspiration for the health program and how we can guide volunteers to implement health projects through cross-sectorial collaboration and in the schools. We feel so lucky to have in you in the health sector.”

Now it is the middle of July and I swear it just started. I celebrated July 4th with some friends in a village close to mine and then we had Emma’s birthday party (for the second year in a row) in my village. We grilled four chickens, played badminton, made a cake and watched the World Cup.

Now I’m counting down the days till I go on vacation. My family bought me a ticket home so I am crazy excited to spend some days in Alexandria visiting with friends and family, eating corn on the cob, salads, ribs, bbq, and all the other good stuff America has to offer in summertime! N