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!