Land of the Upright and Honorable People

Yesterday at the training center, I helped my friend Kailey work on a project decorating watering cans that are being used as a thank you gift. We went to a boutique down the road and bought some paint to use. There isn’t anything similar to an art supply store in Burkina, so we found a shack on the side of the road selling all sorts of knick knacks. We saw little cans of paint, picked out colors and were on our way with them. We decided to paint handprints all over the watering can in different colors. So, I offered up my hands and was soon covered in red, green and yellow paint. I could tell once we started that the paint was stronger than typical craft paint because it felt thicker on my hands. When we finished decorating the watering cans, Kailey and I went to wash my hands off with a faucet near the latrines.

The paint was completely waterproof. As I held my hands under the running water, not a single drop of color came off. Not having any clue what to do, we went and asked one our tutors for some advice. Without any hesitation, he said, “Oh you need gasoline. Let me go get you some.” Then he got on his moto and came back five minutes later with a water bottle full of fuel. The fuel just spread the paint all over my hands and forearms more. Then, Kailey grabbed some paper and tried to scrape the paint off with it.

After struggling for a good 15 minutes, two random Burkinabe women walk up to us and grab my hands. They didn’t say one word to us; they just went to work. They had picked up a handful of sand and a rock from the ground outside. They used the sand to exfoliate and lift the paint and they scrubbed it with the rock. The paint started to come off immediately. Once we were seeing some results, Kailey and I began thanking the women profusely. They didn’t say anything in return; they just smiled at us and continued until my hands were completely paint free.

This experience is a great example of Burkinabe culture. These two women had been busy doing laundry outside when they saw two strangers struggling with a problem. Without being prompted, they put their work aside and came to offer aid. They found a solution utilizing completely free, local resources that were all around us and readily available, but neither Kailey nor myself had thought to use them. They asked for nothing in return. They simply smiled at us in response to our gratitude and they returned to their work.

While I was preparing to leave the US I remember reading a story from a returned Peace Corps Volunteer. They recounted a time when they were stranded in the middle of nowhere because their bicycle had broken. A Burkinabe was passing by and immediately stopped and started helping the PCV without being asked. He strapped the PCV and their broken bike to his own and took them some exorbitant distance to their destination. I remember reading this and being really surprised at the kindness this stranger offered to a foreigner.

After being in Burkina for two months, I now realize that I see random acts of kindness like this every single day. I am now so used to the hospitality of the Burkinabe that it has become the norm. These two women that helped me yesterday reminded me that I need to continue to appreciate every act of kindness that I encounter while I am here. The hospitality of the Burkinabe has made my transition to Burkina Faso very quick and easy. I really like it here and I now understand why so many of the PCV’s I’ve met applied for a third year of service.

Finishing up Training!

Written Sunday, December 12, 2010

I can’t believe it but I’m almost finished with stage (my training) and I’m going to be dropped off at my village this weekend! The second half of stage went by so quickly once I got into a routine schedule: wake up, bucket bath, eat breakfast, go to class until 5:15pm, hang out after class for a bit, bike home, bucket bath, dinner, homework and sleep! Tomorrow is our goodbye ceremony with our host families, and then Tuesday morning we move out. My host family has been really great; they definitely helped me transition into life in Burkina. I’m sad to be leaving them, but I’m definitely ready to get to my village and start figuring out life there. So, I wanted to make sure that I wrote down some of the things that have happened towards the end of stage before I go to village with no electricity.

We had a really great Thanksgiving celebration where we cooked way too much food and all got to sleepover at the training center together. My cooking group made tortillas, salsa, guacamole, corn salad and garlic bread. My family called me from California and we compared what we were cooking for Thanksgiving. After I listed what I was in the middle of making, my sister said “Oh my god, you have avocados? You can survive for 2 years there if they have avocados…” That was my exact reaction when I discovered the avocados being sold at the fruit vendors J Our LCF’s (tutors) joined our celebration to see what this American holiday is like. We had to explain the history of Thanksgiving during a French class. So we told them all about the pilgrims and the Indians. After our feast, one of the LCF’s said, “So, basically the point of this holiday is to eat a ton of food. Then that night and the next day, you have to rest because you are so full.” We all laughed and told them that that was pretty accurate.

When I got back to my host family the next day, we had a brand new puppy named Toby! I was really excited to have a cute little puppy to play with…then I realized that one of our older dogs, Rex, was missing. This is the conversation that followed with my 12 year old sister:

Me: What happened to Rex?

Elise: He was a bad guard dog. He would bark all of the time at nothing. When a dog does that, it means he’s being haunted by a spirit. Milou (our other dog) is a good guard dog. He only barks when there are people around and he killed that rat in the courtyard.

Me: Oh, so what did you do with Rex?

Elise: We gave him to the neighbors and they ate him.

Me: They ate him?!

Elise: Yes. We don’t like the taste of dog meat, so we gave him to the neighbors and they ate him. Now we have Toby to be our new guard dog.

Me: Oh.

Elise: And when Milou dies, we will bury him because he was a good guard dog. We won’t let anybody eat him because he was good.

Burkinabe do not have pets; every animal they own has a work-related purpose. I’ve explained the concept of a pet in the US to my host family and they think it’s weird. I play with our baby goat, puppy and kitten. I’ll pet them, feed them from my plate and get upset when they hit them or throw them aside. This is really a foreign concept to my family. So, the story behind the rat that Elise said Milou caught…the other week, I woke up in the middle of the night to an animal screaming. I walked outside into the courtyard and saw Milou standing over something. I shined my light onto it and it was a GIANT rat. I took a picture of my brother Sidoine holding it by its tail the next morning. Sidoine is over 6 feet tall and the rat is as long as his torso. My family thought it was hilarious that I was disgusted by the size of the rat. They told me they were going to eat it for dinner that night…and they did. Thankfully, it was Thanksgiving Day and I was not home for dinner that night!

My family also got a baby kitten the following week! It’s really tiny and its name is Pipou. My mom said they got the kitten to kill the mice around the house. The funny thing is that my entire family is deathly afraid of cats. So, they got this kitten to kill mice, but they’re afraid of it. This poor little kitten will go up to my mom or sisters and purr against their feet. Then, they freeze up and scream and I have to move the kitten away. They think it’s funny when I’m afraid of a giant rat or the bats in the latrine…but they’re afraid of a little orange kitten that’s the size of my palm!

I was sitting in my room today and I saw a mouse run under my door and into my bedroom. I called my sisters over and I told them there was a mouse so they ran and got Pipou. In my small bedroom there was me, Elise, Marie Fidel, a neighbor and her baby brother and Pipou. We would see the mouse and one of them would pick up Pipou and throw the kitten into the corner where the mouse was. Pipou would get scared and run away from the mouse. This cycle went on for 15 minutes. All of us would scream when the mouse ran by us and then laugh when Pipou ran away from the mouse. All of the noise made the baby start crying. This situation was a little ridiculous, but also hilarious. We decided to leave Pipou in there to take care of this mouse business…and to overcome his fear of mice. We stood outside of my screen door and Pipou started meowing and climbing my screen door to get away from the mouse. We felt bad for him so we let him out. Apparently Pipou is afraid of mice…I’m not sure how long he’s going to last in this family if he can’t fulfill his only purpose and my family is afraid of him.

I wanted to thank my family for hosting me so two of my friends, Emily and Hayley, came over to cook an American lunch for them last Sunday. My family was really excited to have other Americans come over. Elise was the most excited. I told her she could go with me to meet my friends at the market to buy the produce. When I came out of my room to leave she had put on a dress, my older sister’s high heels, and a wig. I immediately called my friends to warn them about this new hair that Elise would be sporting to make sure that they didn’t have a shocked reaction when they saw her. It was really cute that she got so dressed up for us! We made tortillas, Mexican rice, corn salad and salsa. We made slight adjustments to the meal so that it would be something more familiar for them. We fried the tortillas and combined all of the other stuff together to make tostadas. All of the ingredients we used were things that Burkinabe use daily- rice, tomatoes and bread- but we added new spices and put a Californian twist on it. I don’t think my family liked the meal at all, but they were great sports about it. One of the main foods in Burkina is called tô; it’s made out of flour and water and is used to dip into various sauces. We told them that tortillas are the tô of California. They liked this analogy and smiled as they picked at the food. It was fun to cook for them and share with them some of my favorite food since they cook for me every day. 

Site Announcement!

Not too much has happened since Demystification. I am now situated here in Koudougou and my routine has made time pass by so quickly. I am in charge of planning Thanksgiving for our group of trainees and we’re all really excited! We get a night off from our host families and we’re spending the night together. Everyone is divided into different groups for cooking and we get part of the day off from class. We’re going to have a great Thanksgiving feast followed by a movie and a dance party! I’m going to miss my family at home and my mom’s delicious cooking, but I get to be with the rest of my training group so we will celebrate together.

We had site announcements this week, which was really exciting! Our LCF’s drew a gigantic map of Burkina Faso and made little stick figurines for each of us with our pictures as the faces. We read aloud a description of a location, then the group guessed who was going there, then that person put their figurine on the map at their site! We aren’t allowed to publish the name of our villages for safety and security purposes. But, I can give you my site’s description that they gave me:

This village is located just 25km from your health district of Kaya, 125km from Ouagadougou! The road is paved from Ouaga to Kaya. Even though this village is near Kaya, it has a great, rustic feeling. You have daily transport from your village, so no need to bike very much. Your village has an active market where you can find what you need.

You are the third PCV in this site. The first PCV has extended her service for a third year in Kaya with Plan International. She really liked your village. The second PCV also enjoyed the village. We think you will too!

Your house stands alone. It is made of a tin-roof house (the bedroom, a thatched hut, the kitchen) and a separate WC/douche, all enclosed in its own courtyard. It is right in the middle of the village surrounded by family compounds so no worry! You will be approachable to your villagers. Enjoy your stay!

There are a couple of trainees who had their Demyst at my site and they said it’s a great village! The women of the village told them they were looking forward to having a female volunteer who can work with women’s groups. I’m looking forward to starting some income generating activities for them like soap making and to starting a credit and savings club for them. It sounds like my village is very welcoming to Peace Corps volunteers and I’m excited to work with them J I will be continuing my Moore lessons because the majority of the village does not speak French.

Today, my mom and sisters showed me how to cook a traditional dish, riz gras. It’s rice with a tomato base with chicken in it. The recipe is simple; however, it’s more challenging cooking over a fire than with a stove top at home. My mom told me to put the pieces of chicken into the pot to begin. I was reaching into a bowl, throwing the pieces into the marmite (the big pot) and I looked down and I had grabbed the chicken’s head. I was startled, so I screamed and threw it back into the bowl. My mom thought this was hilarious and she and my sisters kept saying “Hayley a peur de la tete” (Hayley’s afraid of the head). Then, she said she had to cover it for me since I was scared. So, my mom put a bowl over the chickens head and said they weren’t going to cook with it today…just for me. It was pretty funny.

I also found out that being the baby of the family is called being the Benjamin. So today, my mom was introducing me to someone and telling them how old I am. Then she said “Hayley est le Benjamin de sa maman” (Hayley’s is her mother’s youngest). I wonder where this term originates from because it’s strange!

Demystification

Written November 2, 2010

This weekend we went on demystification. This is when you go with a small group of trainees to visit a current volunteer’s site. It gives you a better idea of what living in your village will be like. I went with 3 other trainees and our 2 Language and Cultural Facilitators (LCF’s) to visit a current volunteer Ilana. Ilana has been in Burkina Faso for 2 years now and she is having her Close of Service (COS’ing) in January.Ilana was one of the first PCV’s that we met. She helped with the first week of our training in Ouaga and Koudougou. She answered our millions of questions and was really helpful with our initial adjustment to this country. Her site is located in the north, about 7K past Ouahigouya in a small, Muslim village.

Each PCV’s site is very different. Ilana lives in a Mossi village that is set up in family compounds. Each compound has several houses and courtyards of varying family members. Her village has numerous compounds next to each other. Ilana’s house was located inside of a family compound. She has her own house with 2 rooms, a nice courtyard with a wall around it, a latrine and a bucket shower area. Her site had a sense of security because her house’s location made her a part of one of the families within the village. There is not much surrounding her site. Since it is up north, it is a much hotter region, which means there is not much foliage. The little bit of green that we did see in the landscape was being harvested and the remnants will soon be swept away by the wind storms coming up.

All health volunteers are placed into very rural locations because those are the ones in need of improved health. Ilana’s village did not have much within it. There were simply mud huts, courtyards, fields and animals. There was no market to purchase food and no stores to purchase any goods. Whenever she needs something, she has to bike to Ouahigouya to get it. We had our first experience with public transport to get to Ouahigouya. Public transport in Burkina is like nothing I have ever seen before. We had to get to take a green taxi to get to the station. This is a small green car that looks like it cannot run- I mean there are literally strips of rubber holding the door on, the steering wheel is coming out of nothing because the dashboard is missing, the windows cannot roll down (except for the ones that have a metal pipe sticking out of them as the crank), and they are all manual, which adds even more jolting back forth while the driver is changing gears. The worst part is that they will fit as many people as possible into these death traps. We had six of us in one green taxi, 5 bikes strapped to the roof, and 5 frame packs loaded into the trunk, which couldn’t close so it was flapping open and closed as we drove. The streets of Burkina are mostly unpaved with tons of green taxis, motorcycles, bicycles, trucks and buses. We have already had 2 lectures on the safest ways to travel here. However, you can only be so safe with such limited options. In the buses, we were told multiple places where we were not supposed to sit- what remained were like 4 seats in the entire bus. And if they’re taken, c’est la vie. These buses also carry as many people as can possibly fit (standing or sitting), motorcycles, bicycles, and livestock (yes- actual chickens and goats will be loaded under the bus or next to you in your seat).

Well we finally made it to the station and got onto our bus. The bus drivers blast really loud music the entire time and it is ridiculously hot. So, we tried our best to pass out and sleep the majority of the way. At one point, we were all suddenly awoken by a ridiculous volume increase when an American rap song came on the stereo. We finally made it to Ouahigouya where Ilana met us. While we were eating lunch we planned what we were going to eat for the weekend. Since there is no market in her village we had to plan ahead and buy all of our food in Ouahigouya. We were all so excited to finally cook for ourselves. When you’re living with a host family, you have no control over your meals and you get tired of rice and sauce every night. We cooked amazing food considering we were cooking with headlamps on because there’s no electricity with a camping stove and whatever local ingredients we could find. With no refrigeration, we could not purchase a lot of produce, so we had to be sure that we would eat everything we bought. On the first night we made spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce, salad and garlic bread. On the second night, I cooked Mexican food; we had Spanish rice, sautéed onions and bell peppers, homemade pico de gallo and a corn and chickpea salad. On the third night, we made a curry sauce with eggplant, green beans and potatoes. We got to eat delicious food and we introduced our Burkinabe LCF’s to American cuisine!  It made me very excited to be at my own site- I can’t wait to have my own house and to be able to cook for myself.

Ilana created a program with some of the mothers in her village to educate them on malnutrition for their babies. She selected mothers and their children to join the group based on the severity of malnutrition of each child. For meetings, Ilana would show the women how to cook something nutritious with local ingredients. While the food was cooling, she would talk to them about the importance of nutrition for their babies. Then they would eat together. Ilana tracked their progress by weighing the babies and measuring the width of their arms. We got to meet one of her groups and help take their statistics. A lot of the babies were still severely malnourished, but some showed improvements. The children here look a lot younger than they are due to a lack of healthy development. There are a lot of babies who are afraid of us because we’re white (they’ve just never seen white skin before).  So some of them cry hysterically when they see us. One woman had to cover her son’s face with a blanket so he couldn’t see us any longer. It’s kind of sad, but they’re just babies and they don’t understand what is going on. But even when they’re crying, the babies here are adorable! The older kids in the village are fascinated by our cameras. They absolutely love having their pictures taken and they all laugh when we show them the image on the display screen. Once we started taking photos of kids around Ilana’s house, they followed us everywhere we went waiting for the next picture we would take of them.

Another project Ilana started was an income generating project for a group of women in her village. She taught them how to make soap, which they can sell in their village to make some money. Ilana also taught the women’s group how to keep a record of their expenses and revenues, so they also have a credits and savings club. The women in her village taught us how to make liquid soap. It was pretty simple; it just requires a lot of stirring and they all take turns. Whenever Burkinabe teach us how to do something, they say we’re doing it wrong and they finish it for us. This was the same with the soap. They wanted us to try to help stirring, and then they said we looked tired and they’d grab the stick from us and finish it. This happens to us a lot! They also tend to think we get exhausted easily…probably because we do at first since we’re not used to the heat. After a few minutes of labor, they’ll ask us if we need a rest because we look tired.

While on Demyst, we had our first Halloween in Burkina! They don’t celebrate it here, so there was no trick or treating or dressing up (very sad for me since you all know how much I love costumes!). However, we did have an amazing impromptu dance party with the older women in the village, which was absolutely amazing. We played Shakira’s “Waka Waka” for them and I taught them the dance that my mom, grandma and I learned in our zumba class at home. Then, in honor of Halloween we played Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and taught them the parts of the dance we knew. They also love Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” and the dance for that. We tried our best to remember the dances, but when we didn’t know a move, we just made it up. After a while, the women wanted to show us some of their dances and songs. They sang for us and we all got into a circle and they taught us some traditional dances, which involved a lot of stomping and jumping. It was so much fun! All of the women in the village speak Moore and don’t understand any French; so even though we couldn’t communicate through words, we communicated with our body motions and through dancing. It goes to show that language isn’t the only form of communication. At the end of the night, the women surprised us with a thank you song. They sang in Moore and it was a song welcoming us to their country and village and thanking us for being here. When they finished they asked if we had an equivalent song in English. For some strange reason, the only song the 4 of us could come up with was “So Long, Farewell” from The Sound of Music. So, we sang it for them and they clapped and cheered and wanted an encore. Then, we sang a song from The Backstreet Boys and finished with Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” (Burkinabe love Celine Dion). This night is definitely one of my fondest memories in Burkina so far!

Visiting Ilana’s sight made me so excited to know where I am going! We find out on Monday and I cannot wait J I’m learning Moore, which is the most common language in Burkina, so I could be going anywhere. They may also change my language once my site is decided.

Getting Settled In

Written Sunday, October 24, 2010

Last night my father told me we were going to the village and whenever I asked what village he meant I got no response. So, as with everything else, I just nodded and smiled. He told me to be ready to leave at 7am to leave. So I was ready before then to eat some breakfast. After we ate, he said he was going to go look for a car and would be back. TWO HOURS LATER he returned with an extremely beat up truck. So, I got into the truck and we started driving in a new direction towards what looked like nothing. The road was terrible. It was wide enough for one car and the entire thing was full of huge pot holes. It felt like riding on the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland for half an hour in 100 degree weather. Once we got there I discovered that the village is called Imasgo and it is where my father grew up.

We pulled up to a large courtyard filled with people facing a building that looked like a church. There were hundreds of people sitting on the floor or on little stools that they brought and standing. Everybody was trying to stay in the shade. My father gave me a stool and we sat down together. I could not see anything happening, but I could hear a couple people speaking Moore into speakers facing us in the courtyard. I figured out that I was sitting in a Catholic mass with the entire village as the congregation. The service lasted for three hours. We moved our stools five times to try to chase the shade as the sun moved. I have no idea what the sermon was about because I couldn’t understand anything. I just stood up and sat down like other people around me. When the service finally ended, my father and I shook hands with around fifty people (nobody told me their names). Then he insisted that we rest before heading back to Koudougou. We sat down with one of his brothers and the chief of police for Imasgo in a gated area. They pulled out three bottles of hard liquor and started to drink. They wanted me to drink too but I said I was too exhausted and dehydrated, plus we hadn’t eaten since 6:30 that morning and it was 12:30 on a Sunday! After my father noticed how tired I was, we said goodbye and headed back home.

While we were at church my dad pointed at a little girl near me and said it was his daughter who lives in the village. I keep discovering that my dad has more children every single day. Tonight he told me he has a son in Ghana studying English at the University. He told me that he gave his son my phone number so he can call me to practice English…I can’t wait for this person I’ve never met to call and converse with me in broken English while I am here. Burkinabe families have very diverse structures that are never really explained to us. I have no idea why one of my sisters lives in this village. I’m also curious how many children my father actually has. If I’m meeting 1-2 a day at this point, he will have about 100 by the time I leave their house.

Tonight, I talked to my dad and my brother Sidoin for a while after dinner. I tried to explain what jobs my family members have in the US. It was really difficult because they are jobs that don’t really exist here and I don’t know how to say them in French. I said my father evaluates the value of properties, houses, buildings and land, for a branch of the government. They think my dad inspects houses after they are sold. I told them my mom hires people and she helps people with problems like health insurance if they go to the hospital. They think my mom is an accountant for hospital insurance. Explaining my brother’s job as a business consultant went terribly. I tried to say he is hired by varying companies to help when they have a problem. I said for example, a company wants to introduce a new product to a region. He researches and evaluates the region and their needs, then helps the company appropriately market the product. They said they understood after I elaborated for ten minutes. Then they asked me if I bought my computer from my brother because he sells laptops and cell phones.

Our next topic was brought on by my brother and it was about my love life. He wanted to know about dating in the US and what it’s like compared to Burkina. He said that I am too old to not be married here because you get married when you’re 18. Then he asked why I don’t have a boyfriend and I explained that I didn’t want to leave anyone behind in the US. Sidoin interpreted this as me saying I wanted to bring someone home to the US with me. So he started telling me that I need to meet someone here and take them home with me. He informed me that every single man here would want to go to the US. He also said that when someone likes me they will just walk up to me and say they love me (without knowing me) and we will be together then get married and move to the US. Dating sounds so uncomplicated in Burkina! When I said that I would tell the person they are crazy because we don’t know each other, Sidoin said that response is not a possibility. I explained that I don’t think a relationship would last once we got to the US because the circumstances would be so different. His response was that after two months I could get divorced and find another man and he would be happy to stay in the US. I got this weird feeling that my brother wants me to take him to America. He keeps saying it’s the land of dreams and that he really wants to go there and he’s studying English right now to become an interpreter in the US. And he’s single and I’m single so clearly all criteria match for marriage.

 Tomorrow all of us are going to the embassy in Ouaga to be introduced to the people working there. All of us are giddy with excitement because there is an American cafeteria! We got to pre-order our lunches and I think most people ordered enough food for two meals. When I was with a group of trainees today we all talked about how excited we are for our taco salads with guacamole and milkshakes. We’re in for disaster if we’re already missing food from home this early in the game!

My New Family In Burkina

Thursday, October 21, 2010 (began writing)

Saturday, October 23, 2010 (completed writing)

As of today, I have been in Burkina for one week! In only seven days, I have had the most intense emotional roller coaster of my life. As you can tell from my prior blog post (written on Monday), I experienced a low point for a while and today I would say I am at a mid to high point.

On Tuesday night, we were “adopted” by our host families. Leading up to the ceremony, we were all really nervous about being separated from each other. In only a week, we have become a family- we all rely on each other for support and a lot of laughter. The first night with our families was very intimidating because of the varying cultural customs and the language barrier. We all refer to our host families as our family- so my host mom is my mom here etc. I just wanted to warn my family that I haven’t replaced you when I refer to them as my family!

Everyone in my host family has very long, complicated names. This is what I have gotten out of it so far, but it could be really wrong.

My father is Alain and my mother is Cecil. Francoise Aulie, 24 years old, is my older sister who is in school to become a vet. I have two brothers, Sidoin and Jean. I don’t know how old they are but they are probably around my age. One of them told me that he is going to the university right now and he is studying English. I have three younger sisters. Elise is 12 years old, Marie Fidel is 11 years old and Clarisse is 6 years old. They all speak French except for Clarisse. Elise is the most comfortable with me and we talk sometimes. Even though they speak French, it varies immensely from the French we were taught in the US deriving from France. My fellow trainees who are fluent in French say they are having trouble communicating with their host families too.

After a few days, I have figured out a little more about my family. My father is an entrepreneur- he raises chickens (interesting connection because my dad grew up on a chicken ranch!). There are tons of chickens and roosters walking freely around the courtyard. They also make noise at all hours of the day, night and morning. I wake up to rooster noises probably once an hour. My family also has a donkey and at least two goats. Sometimes I dream that I am living on a farm because of all of the noises throughout the night and I guess I technically am. My mother sells cold water and beverages because we are one of few families that own a refrigerator. However, I can’t drink this cold water because it isn’t filtered (I miss anything cold)! I’m still not sure what my siblings do during the day. I think some of them go to school.

My host family is really nice and they seem to want to be around me…except for my youngest sister, Clarisse. Elise told me that Clarisse is afraid of me! My family is trying to teach me some Moore (the local language), but it is difficult because I’m still trying to understand the French they are using. When I first arrived at the house, it was very awkward. They sat me down in a chair in the middle of the courtyard and I had one little sister on each side. They just stared at me and didn’t say anything, so I stared back. Then, I decided to start asking them questions and they would respond with an answer that somewhat meant they understood what I was saying. But then my older sister Francoise got home and walked up to me with a little cooler. She showed me some medicine in a bottle and then pulled out a needle. Then she said “vaccination” and started to fill the needle. I thought she was trying to give me a vaccination and I thought that there was no way the Peace Corps would put my sister in charge of my vaccinations. When she saw the look of terror on my face and when I started saying “non, non, non” my family started laughing hysterically. So, I guess it was a joke! Then, a few minutes later, she brought an upside down chicken over to me and said “Tu dois preparer le diner” (You must prepare dinner). Then I said “uh, uh, uh, j’ai besoin de tuer le poule?!” (umm I have to kill the chicken?!) and the whole family laughed again. The Peace Corps totally prepared us for this- they said just laugh a lot when you don’t understand and everyone will love you here. So, I never understand what is going on and I just laugh, then my family laughs and all seems well!

My family really wants me to feel at home and they are so nice but there are problems with the language barrier. On the first night they asked what I liked to eat. They began naming random items and I would say yes or no. The next morning at breakfast, they brought out a cardboard box filled with everything I said yes to. They put it on the table and told me to use it all…at the same time. I paused with confusion, so my father took a baguette and filled it with The Laughing Cow Cheese, honey, eggs and tomatoes. Then they made me coffee, tea, powdered milk mixed with hot water and condensed milk. They also gave me a bushel of five bananas (all to be eaten immediately of course) and two oranges. When I didn’t finish it all, it was packed up for me to finish during class. This is only the beginning of the bizarre foods I have been fed (for dinner I had a peanut sauce with dried fish in it- scales, bones and all). I could write an entire blog solely on the food in Burkina.

My family ate inside on Friday night for dinner. When I say family, I mean me and my father and my sister Elise. Everybody else eats separately after we finish eating. I am not sure why Elise gets to eat with us. I think it may have to do with something I said when I first arrived. I asked her who I would be eating with out of curiosity because we were told that eating placement and order varied among different families. I think this was misinterpreted as a request for her to eat with me at all meals. I hope the other sisters are not mad at me for this! Anyways, on Friday night there was a bat trapped in the room we were dining in. So my dad took this long stick and was swatting at the bat while calling it a vampire (he thought this was very clever and chuckled whenever he said it), which then made it swoop down to my head repeatedly. Of course I am screaming every time it hits me or flies past my face. After five minutes of this, my dad tells me I must leave the room because I am too scared! Later, my little sister Clarisse walks out carrying the dead bat. When she saw my horrified face, she pretended to throw it in my direction and then everyone laughed hysterically at my reaction. There are many stories and more to come of me making a fool of myself in order to assimilate.

On Friday, I mentioned to my family that I would like to go to the tailor this weekend if we have time to have some Burkinabe clothing made. I also told them that I would not be coming home directly after school because I wanted to hang out with my friends and maybe go to a cyber café. So, I guess my father did not understand what I was saying because the next morning he told me to follow him on my bike at 7am. I thought we were going to school, but we started going down back roads that I did not recognize in the opposite direction. Then, we arrived at the tailor where he had me measured. He told me to give them my fabric but I didn’t have any with me because I thought I was just going to school. So he told me that I must return with fabric later and we left. So, with school starting in half an hour, I thought we were heading there. But we were not. We then went further in the opposite direction and stopped at an internet café. My father told me that I needed to go inside and I said I didn’t have time. After arguing over this for 5 minutes, I said I must go now or I will be late and I got on my bike and rode away. One would think that my dad simply forgot I had school because it was Saturday…but no. He asked me over breakfast if I had school today and I said yes, I have school at 8 this morning.

On Saturday night, I got to help cook dinner. Elise and Marie Fidel took me with them down the road to buy some wood. Then they made a small wooden fire surrounded my three large rocks. Something resembling a wok pan was balanced on the rocks over the fire and used to heat up oil. The Burkinabe cook absolutely everything in palm oil, so the food is really greasy. We then fried some patates (it is a vegetable similar to a potato but with a more starchy consistency and oblong shape). We also had some pasta with a tomato and meat sauce. My family has a lot of food at mealtime and they all eat a large quantity at a quick pace! I always eat a little bit and repeatedly say that I am full, but they insist “Il faut manger, il faut terminer” (You must eat, you must finish). It is a battle that we have every single meal! They want me to eat copious amounts but I can’t stomach it. I don’t understand how they can eat so much food! The local food is becoming monotonous and it has only been a little over a week. There is a lot of bread, sometimes eggs, tomatoes, meat (but it has a different flavor and tough texture that I don’t like so I’m not eating it when possible), pasta, rice and a local food called tô. So meals consist of egg or meat sandwiches, pasta with sauce, rice with sauce or tô with sauce. I really don’t know how to describe it but things taste much different here although they sound familiar. The dishes taste like heavy starches drenched in oil, which is very different than I am used to.

Hello From Koudougou!

Written on Monday, October 18, 2010

Hello from Koudougou!

I have finally found some internet connection so I want to give some updates and show you some pictures of where I am. The next couple of blogs were written on my computer as the days went by while I was awaiting some internet connection.

Traveling to Burkina was challenging. It took about 24 hours including 2 flights and long layovers in airports. When I stepped off of the plane in Ouagadougou, an immediate flush of heat and humidity hit as I walked down the steps of the airplane onto the hot cement. By the time the shuttle got to the base of the airplane ten minutes later, we were all sweating profusely. When the shuttle dropped us off twenty feet in front of us we were all shocked. We could have easily walked to the building directly in front of us and would have bypassed the long wait in the direct sunlight. The terminal for arrivals was a dilapidated building…it was simply a large mud hut with nothing inside. I cannot believe that was the international airport of the country’s capital. We were told that the conveyer belt for luggage was under construction (although it seems like a conveyer belt never existed and will not anytime soon), so we all waited while 3 Burkinabe men carried in every airplane’s luggage, which was then thrown into a pile. Once we got our luggage, we piled into a Peace Corps van and headed to our hotel in Ouagadougou.

The hotel we stayed in was really nice for Burkina standards. There was a lot of greenery, which provided nice shade in the late afternoon and evening (although keep in mind it is still approximately 90 degrees at night). Our training staff is a combination of Peace Corps employees, current volunteers serving in Burkina and local Burkinabe language and culture facilitators. The current volunteers (called PCVF’s) told us that this weather is not even hot (some of them shivered when we entered a venue with AC- I strive for the day when I feel even slightly cool in this country). The hot season averages at 120 degrees every day. The heat reaches the point where you can barely go inside of your mud hut to grab stuff because the tin roof heats it to unbearable temperatures. We are all trying to imagine how we will possibly be able to survive those conditions we have to look forward to in April.

Our training in Ouaga included a lot of introductory lectures about the country and what we will be experiencing (we have already had 2 lectures devoted entirely to diarrhea- who wouldn’t want to listen to diarrhea discussions for 2.5 hours?!). We also took a language placement exam. I was so exhausted from travelling and the heat that I couldn’t even remember how to say “health” in French (keep in mind I am here as a health volunteer). The only word I could remember that was close enough was “doctor.” So for twenty minutes, I talked about how I am here volunteering as a doctor and how I am exciting to learn about doctor (what I was saying literally translates to this completely ungrammatical sentence). I even told the examiner that I knew this was the wrong word but I was going to use it anyways for lack of a better one. When I walked out of the room, the first thing I said was someone please tell me how to say “health” before I go crazy. It’s difficult to be experiencing such a drastically different environment and to switch my mind to think and speak only in French. The staff in Burkina seems very supportive and I know that we will be relying on them immensely.

After only two days, we moved from Ouaga to Koudougou, our main training site for the next nine weeks. I think that Koudougou is a more accurate depiction of the rest of Burkina Faso. The greenery in Ouaga was atypical and was only present because the mini rain season just ended. The landscape here in Koudougou is very reddish brown, dusty and dry. When I walked down the streets for the first time, my first impression was that it was exactly what I was expecting to see. It looks like the commercials on television for impoverished countries that want Americans to help by “adopting” children to support financially. The structures are made of mud, tin and leaves. The majority of these shacks are disheveled. There are piles of garbage on the side of every road and in the middle of every road due to a lack of disposal options. The air is filled with the smell of warm waste and burning garbage. Burkina really is a poverty stricken country and I am glad that the Peace Corps has a place here to offer some aid.

No matter where we go everyone yells “Nasara” or “Les Blancs” which translates to foreigners. You would think that with almost 200 Peace Corps volunteers in this country they would not be surprised every time they see one of us. But I guess we provide endless entertainment. I laugh when I imagine how this would pan out in the US. Every time a foreign person walks by, you must yell or chant “Foreigner” repeatedly and point at them.

I can’t even find words to describe how hot it is here. I have never felt heat and humidity like this before. A lot of us are suffering from insomnia- partially from the temperature, partially from the malaria medication they have us taking. It is extremely humid, and I have a crazy schedule. Everyday I wake up at 5am (because that’s when the sun comes up and animals make more noise than during the night), I have classes from 8am to 5:30pm every day with no air conditioning, then I eat dinner at 7 and go to bed around 9. They were not exaggerating when they said we would undergo intensive training. We are learning so much, so quickly and we are so exhausted that I feel completely defeated by noon. With so much going on each day, it feels like I have been in Burkina for a month. I cannot believe I have only been in this country for five days. And with all that we are going through together it feels like I have known my fellow trainees for years.

Tomorrow night we will be introduced to our host families. We are all going to be apart from each other in different regions of the city and in a village called Ramongo. For the remaining nine weeks, we have to live with our host families (who we can barely communicate with at this point) and be apart from each other. My host family is located in Dapoya, a quarter of Koudougou. I will be a 40 minute walk or 20 minute bike ride from the training center. We are all experiencing extreme anxiety about leaving each other right now when we are experiencing a roller coaster of emotions.

When I was preparing to leave for Burkina I think I was in a state of denial. I had no fears at all and was beaming with excitement for what was ahead. Right now, I am feeling exhausted, homesick and frustrated. When I get through this experience, I know that I will be able to handle any situation thrown my way. I know that I am just in shock right now with so many changes happening at once. All I can do is try my hardest, keep positive thoughts and look forward to the rest of my time here once I am settled in!

One Last Post From Home

Yesterday was my first official day of training! It was a long day with lots of paperwork and information, but it was a lot of fun. Up until now, this experience has felt surreal. Finally meeting my fellow volunteers and beginning training made it feel like this is really happening now.

I started my day off walking around Philly, attempting to find a coffee shop, with two volunteers that I happened to meet in the hotel. We got to know each other and spent the morning wandering while we waited for training to begin in the afternoon.  It was easier to spot Peace Corps Volunteers when we returned to our hotel because they were all waiting around in business casual attire with Peace Corps paperwork and folders. There are 31 volunteers in my training group, ranging from people in their early to mid 20’s to older volunteers on their third tour with the Peace Corps.

I am really excited about my training group! Everybody is equally enthusiastic and anxious, which is nice because we can all relate to each other and what we have ahead of us. There’s a girl in my group whose name is Hayley with the same spelling as me, a guy whose father grew up in Orinda, a girl who went to Cal and a guy who grew up in Davis…it really is a small world! There are volunteers from the Mid-West, East Coast and even Alaska. Despite our differing backgrounds and reasons for joining, we’ve come together for a united cause. Our training director said from this point on we are a family. We will need to be a resource for each other to get through this experience. We discussed our peers' positive, negative and confused reactions to our decision to join the Peace Corps. It became a comfort knowing that we are all in the same boat right now. One of the returning volunteers, Jerry, recited the following poem to us in regards to this unique experience we will be sharing with each other:

It would be dishonest to pretend
that I went because I wanted to turn the desert into a garden
or to realize dreams that were thousands of years old.
I went because it was different,
because I wanted to go,
because it was a road that might have an end.
I knew I would not stay forever;
I never thought of tying my future to this newness;
I knew I would take the road back one day,
but perhaps carryng with me a particle of the night’s silence,
or the day’s honesty.
— adapted from “Dust” by Yaeldyan

As we are getting to know each other better, I am becoming even more excited for my service! Our training in Philly was a general overview of Peace Corps service. We will have more specific training in regards to Burkina and our jobs when we arrive in country. After we finished yesterday, a large group of us went out to dinner and drinks together. My earlier fears of not finding people to connect with in my training group seem silly to me now.

This morning, we had to check out of our hotel by 6:30am and load up our luggage onto a charter bus. Then, we walked to a clinic nearby and were administered our yellow fever vaccinations to get into the country. Then, we took the charter bus to JFK airport in New York where we are now. Our training group is travelling to Burkina together.

Well, I just wanted to give one last update before my flight. This may be my last internet connection until I get situated into my training program in Koudougou this weekend. But I wanted everyone to know that I am having a great time so far and I can’t wait to tell you about Burkina!

And So It Begins

I want to say thank you to everybody who was able to say goodbye and wish me good luck! I am missing everyone already, but looking forward to what's ahead of me.

With the help of my family, over the last six weeks I was able to get everything I need and to pack it all up. We fit two years worth of living basics into two checked bags, one carry-on and a personal item.

This morning, I flew out of SFO at 6:00am (my wonderful family came to the airport at 4:00am!) and I arrived in Philadelphia, PA this afternoon. I definitely got some interesting looks from people at the baggage claim as I picked up my backpacking frame pack on my back, camping duffle bag on my front, carry-on duffle bag in one hand and my messenger bag in the other. It takes me a few minutes to pick everything up and to get adjusted to all of the extra weight. And I may have lost my balance once or twice...I'll try to get a picture up of me with all of my luggage because it's pretty amusing!

After I caught a shuttle to my hotel in historic downtown, I immediately set my luggage down in my room and passed out in my bed. I walked around and grabbed something to eat and now I'm in my hotel room writing to all of you! I haven't seen anybody else in the hotel that looks like they're with the Peace Corps so I'm looking forward to meeting some people tomorrow! And I'm not sure when my roommate will be arriving...so maybe tonight or tomorrow morning before training.

So, here's a rundown on the rest of my week:

Tuesday, October 12: My first day of training in Philadelphia where we turn in forms and go over some basic information. And I get to meet all of the other volunteers training with me!

Wednesday, October 13: Check out of the hotel at 6:30am and load up the Peace Corps vans with our luggage. Then we have some vaccinations before heading to the JFK airport in New York. My flight departs for Brussels at 6:30pm, then I fly from Brussels to Ouagadougou, the captial of Burkina Faso.

Thursday, October 14: When we arrive in Ouagadougou, Peace Corps staff meet us before customs and takes our checked baggage to Koudougou, the city where our training takes place. We stay in Ouagadougou for 2 days for some training and we will all be staying together in a Peace Corps building.

Saturday, October 16: We travel to Koudougou, where we will be training until December. There is a welcome ceremony for us and we are introduced to our host family that we will be living with during training. Once training begins, I will have classes from 8-5 everday with nightly homework assignments. It sounds like it is a very intense, quick training, but I'm excited for it because there's so much to learn about Burkina!

Well, I can't wait to have some stories and updates for all of you, but that's it for now!

A New Adventure

Hello, and welcome to my new blog! I am starting this blog to keep family, friends, and anyone else who is interested informed of my Peace Corps volunteer experience.

So, I will begin with a little bit of background...

I began my application for the Peace Corps when I was about to graduate from UC Davis in December 2009. I honestly cannot remember where I originally came up with the idea of applying, but I had been contemplating it for about a year at this point. With my college graduation rapidly approaching, I was feeling a little lost and confused about my future. I am not one of those people that have always known what they want to be when they grow up. I am interested in so many things that I can't seem to pick just one field to focus on for the rest of my life.

As a soon-to-be college graduate contemplating the future, I started to evaluate my life. I focused on what factors brought me to where I am today and where I want to go from here. My beliefs are derived from my love of volunteering, which my parents instilled in me from a young age. I am grateful for the diverse philanthropic opportunities my parents have provided me with throughout my life. To me, volunteering is an activity and interest I pursue for enjoyment. I enjoy socializing with new people, helping others and the rewarding feeling of making a difference.

So, I began the Peace Corps application process (a long online application followed by a 2 hour interview, and a series of multiple medical/dental/legal forms) and awaited my invitation and destination. I decided that I wanted to go into this experience as open-minded as possible. I did not put down any preferences- I told them to send me wherever they needed me and where they believed I would be the most successful. While waiting for updates on my application status, I embraced the idea of going to any location and doing any type of project.

And 8 months later I finally got a phone call from the headquarters in Washington, DC. The gentleman on the phone told me he wanted to place me in a program in a francophone location of Sub-Saharan Africa with no electricity or running water. He said I would be working as a health volunteer in one or many villages and I would be speaking French and learning other native languages. And finally, he said I would need to bike through rugged terrain between villages. I said that sounds great, I'm in!

Then, I finally received my official invitation packet in the mail. Here is my assignment:
Country: Burkina Faso (located in West Africa)
Job Title: Community Health Development Worker
Orientation in the US: October 12, 2010
Pre-Service Training (in Ouahigouya): October 13-December 17, 2010
Dates of Service: December 18, 2010-December 18, 2012

I have an orientation somewhere in the US where I will meet the other volunteers departing at the same time as me. Then, I fly to Burkina and begin my Pre-Service Training. During this time, I live with a host family and attend various classes all day, everyday. These classes will provide resources like language training, cross-cultural training, health training, and safety training. Once I complete the courses and pass exams, I will have an interview where they will decide which location to send me to. Then, I begin my service as a volunteer!

Right now, I am busy packing and preparing for my departure. Life in Burkina is going to be an extreme change for me and there is only so much I can do to prepare! But, I'm really excited for this adventure to begin! I am hoping that this experience will help me decide what path I want to take with my life. It will enable me to utilize my experiences to discover a way to incorporate volunteer work into my future career.