Do the 180 Twist

I’ve been in the lovely country of Burkina Faso for almost four months now and everything has
changed over night. I’ve gone from spending every day with my amazing fellow trainees and
having practically every moment of my life planned out to no Americans (that I’m aware of)
within 80km and my own life to lead. This is it, this is what I’ve been waiting for; what I signed
up for in the first place all though I think most of us had forgotten. I didn’t come here to live at
summer camp for two years, but to live, work and integrate into this gracious country.

Two weeks ago, myself along with 46 other lovely new volunteers took the same oath as our
very own president and became official Peace Corps Volunteers! As the Peace Corps 50th
Anniversary group, we kicked off a three day fair, sharing fun, Peace Corps history and current
volunteer projects. The Burkinabé artist Floby debuted our very own Peace Corps song at the
culmination of the fair, graced by the presence of the First Lady of Burkina Faso herself. (hear
song at link below – video editing by yours truly)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUO2ZPiwMRM

Followed by a few quick days to room the capital and pick up things for my new home, I bid
farewell to my new fellow volunteers as we were all shipped off to our sites. I was prepared to
be a nervous wreck, with my French not where I would like it to be, even less local language
and honestly nothing to compare to for what was about to happen to me. Everything went
surprisingly calmly. There was one moment when we dropped off my nearest neighbor, when
I realized this is it, I’m on my own, but the moment passed. Ever since receiving my invitation
for the Peace Corps I’ve managed to maintain the mentality that this is what is happening in my
life and it’s going to happen one way or another, so let’s just go with it (fingers crossed I can
maintain it for the next two years!).

Arriving at my site, we awaited the director of the school to lead us to my house, only to find out
that the man with the keys was 45km away and wouldn’t be back until the evening. No worries,
my driver took the next hour to break into my house, which works out since he was going to
change the locks anyways. Locks changed, my gas stove set up, the driver asked if I needed
anything else and he was off.

Quick note about my house, I feel so spoiled. I have my own private courtyard with two little
mango trees, a porch, an outdoor latrine and “shower” (no running water or electricity), two
bedrooms, an indoor “shower,” and a living room. There are also steps up onto my roof, which
has become my favorite place to lay at night, watch a lightning storm in the far off distance
and gaze at the millions of stars above me; it is truly spectacular. After a week the place is still
basically completely empty. I have a cot, which I use for my clothes, and I sleep on a thermarest
on a mat on the floor. The carpenter stopped by and I ordered a table for my stove and water
filter. When they arrived the next day, I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited. It’s going to
be a process, but I’m excited to make this my own place. My first official house!

My first night, a neighbor girl helped me get water and took me to the marché. I quickly learned
that not that many people in my village speak French, and Mooré the local language I’ve been

learning is understood, but they respond in Yana, which I definitely do not understand. Oh the
joys of communication. That night the director of my school took me out to dinner at the only
kiosk (“restaurant” - basically a little shack with some tables and chairs around it) in the village.
We talked about the school before he started talking about how much he loves science fiction
followed by a narration of a whole science fiction novel - something to do with people going to
Mars in the future, robots and telepathic Martians…bizarre.

The next few days were a rollercoaster of emotions. I wake up around 5:30am (don’t worry I
go to bed at 8pm) and don’t want to leave my house. It’s terrifying thinking about approaching
people with little to say and a lack of ability to say things at all. I normally go for a bike ride or
walk to explore some other part of the village and greet people as I pass by. People always ask
where I am going and when I say I’m just wondering, they think it is tres bizarre. Here, people
are on the move with a purpose and destination. Their lives are so labor intensive there is no
need for exercise merely for the point of exercise. I’m happy to become the weird “nasara”
(local lang for “stranger” or “white person”), who loves to romp around the town. When I do get
the courage to enter a neighbor’s courtyard or to stop by a boutique (a little shack with a window
where you can buy packaged necessities), the people are always so friendly, open, and accepting
of the minimal exchanges we can make. The other day, I walked into my neighbor’s courtyard
and they were all husking corn. For the moment no one there could speak French, but I gestured
to help and they brought me a chair. I ended up husking corn for over two hours, even though
someone came and asked me if I was tired after ten minutes. It is extremely amusing that they
always think foreigners are quick to tire and we don’t know how to do anything correctly. In
this culture, there is also the standard to have children do everything – I know some parents in
the US wish it was like that. At the end of the day, I return to my house around 6pm as it gets
dark, make dinner and talk to some fellow volunteers. It’s fun to hear what everyone else is
experiencing as each situation is so different – the difference between replacing an old volunteer
or being at a new site (I’m the first volunteer in my village), having a site mate, having another
volunteer a short bike ride away, being in a big city with most amenities or remote villages.

This past week was the first week of school. I recently found out I would be teaching Math and
no science classes as I had previously expected. By Monday morning, I still had no schedule
or textbooks. Getting there at 7am my director basically said, “Okay, go teach!” I almost had a
heart attack. I had nothing prepared – I really had no idea what material the classes would even
be covering. Luckily I ran into my counterpart, a fellow teacher who has been assigned to help
me with cultural adaptation and to answer any questions I may have. He explained to me that
I would be teaching one class of 6e (equivalent to our sixth grade) and a class of 4e (equivalent
to our ninth grade). On the first day all I had to do was introduce myself and give them a list
of chapters to copy into their notebooks as the students themselves do not get the text books. I
was so nervous. My 6e had a wounding 75 students and I think their French might be as good
as mine. The following two classes with them was a little bit of a struggle, but I think I will be
able to make it work. My 4e class has only 50 students, which does feel small – so weird – and
some of the students are most likely my age if not older. With that class I have had to self teach
some of the material to myself as the notations used aren’t learned in the US until university. I
will say so far I love that class. They are very receptive to my French abilities, pay attention and
participate; granted it has only been one week, but let me keep my optimism up for right now.

I have a lot to learn about my village and it will take a lot of effort to put myself out there and
really get to know the people. I’m excited for the challenge and I am so happy to be here. The
other evening I went on a bike ride fifteen minutes out of town to a dammed lake, which has
trees growing throughout it (open water is a tragic rarity in this country). There was a ridge
along which to ride and as the sun set, white birds flocked in from all directions and massed on
four small trees in the middle. It was as if the trees were covered with white blossoms. I stopped
to sit for a moment and watched as a lone fisherman in a skinny canoe paddled along putting out
his fishnets for the evening. There is so much to learn, so much to see, let the real journey begin.

It’s been a while, eh?

Training is over and I’ve made it to site (see following post) and I have not shared a single word.

There have been the obvious challenges of the rarity of Internet and the minimal electricity, but

that is no excuse and I duly apologize. A lot has happened over the past four months, I don’t

even know where to begin or really to end. There isn’t really the time or space for all of that

nonsense and I know you all have to get on with your lives in that far off place called America.

Anywho, here is a brief summary of what I have been up to and a few ramblings of the highlights

of training.

After a week in country we were brought to our training site and deposited with our host

families. My family consisted of two yabbas (grandmothers), Madeline (mother), Alphonse

(father), and my six host brothers Serge, Abu, Claver, Wilfried, Ives and Bertrent (aged 22, 19,

15, 10, 5, and 3 respectively – maybe, ages here are questionable). My four older brothers spoke

French and the rest were without. Wilfried became my ultimate partner in crime and my instant

new best friend; I do not know what I would do with out him. All 35 Education volunteers were

placed in the same village and the 12 Agriculture volunteers were in a village about 20km away.

Our group is unique in the fact that we have no married couples and only one person over the

age of 25, an interesting dynamic, but we are all so close and seem to get along wonderfully.

Monday through Friday we had training from 8 – 5 and Saturdays 8 – 12:30, so all of our time

was basically planned out for us. Sessions were broken up into language lessons, learning about

the Burkinabé education system, practicing teaching, cultural standards, and other random Peace

Corps rules and regulations.

Here’s a list of some of the highlights, I promise I’ll do better with blog posts in the future, bare

with me…

=My first night with my host family they took me to the closest bar. Another volunteer,

Marisol, came with her host brother and we ended up dancing the night away. It was a very

interesting dynamic as kids were drinking beer and girls and boys dont dance together but with eachother.

=I brought a deck of Uno cards and the minute I taught Wilfried to play we had to play every

night. He never quite caught onto the rules of the special cards, but we did use them to

practice English and Mooré colors and numbers

=The Fourth of July we got the afternoon off and food delivered from Ouaga to celebrate. We

danced the night away at the Belle Vie – our favorite restaurant in town, with cold drink,

salad and brochettes.

=One night my host family told me there was a celebration for the Chef of the Village. There

was lot’s of dancing and drinking going on at one of my neighbors and these masked men on stilts showed up and were running around. My host dad actually handed my baby brother

to one of the men – he immediately started crying and all the women began berating my

father. As the sun set the festivities began to move down the road with men on motos

cruising by and popping wheelies. My friends Emily, Alaina and I joined the procession

running around with children, dancing with the traditional dancers and shying away from the

motos cruising by. The Chef himself was traveling along at a snails pace in his vehicle and

would periodically stop to let the dancers perform. At one point we were invited to join and

everyone circled around us as we danced away.

= Stage music video; coming to africa cant change me that much! Nothing like a good rendition of Bycicle Race by Queen when all we do is ride around on bikes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVHr4dXPZzM

v My host family was located in a tiny village outside of the village where we had training.

There were about nine of us that lived out there

v Stage Prom – that’s right even in the Peace Corps we have prom, at least our stage did.

Dates were asked in wonderful ways, couples wore matching pagnes and we frolicked until

the wee hours of midnight. We even had a talent show, where people displayed their musical

and dancing talent. And don’t you worry, we crowned a wonderful prom king and queen.

= My friends discovered a cave! Which supposedly has a genie and a friendly snake in it. Unfortunately if you fart it will close for three days. One person told us that it goes on for 11km while another said it was a mere couple caverns. We obviously searched for the other entrance to no prevail. Another person told us that the cave was created by a giant porcupine. I love the legends here. Ill talk ,ore about beliefs and traditions in a future blog but Im currently on a French keyboard and its driving me bonkers

=What happens when you ask a friend to go for a morning bike adventure? Why an eight hour

bike ride of course. A friend and I decided to bike out one morning to see what we could see.

We passed through several small villages, stopped for lunch and were feeling good. Minor

detail to remember that however far you go out you do need to come back. We really lucked

out with everything – there were plenty of places for us to stop and purchase water, it wasn’t

too hot and it didn’t rain. Let’s just say I wasn’t talking to anyone for the last two hours and

I did not want to bike home once we got back to the training center. Ultimately an excellent

adventure and a great way to see the Burkina landscape.

=On one of my last days there was a funeral. During the day the men prepared the burial

site and the women gathered under a tree and played calabash drums. That night, as is the

animist tradition (local religion), there was a mask dance. People formed a circle in the

dark and figures dressed up in these huge outfits that made them look like Gila monsters

with animal masks wandered around, swaying to and fro. We were told that there were five

different masks and only one would come out at a time. We asked the significance, but we

were told we were not allowed to discuss it there.

I have so much more to share but i am going to stop there for now. My next post is already typed so it will better formed. I hope all is well on the home front and I would love to hear updates from all

Let the Training Begin

Well, week "zero" has come to an end and now it's time to begin intense training.  I still feel like I have been superimposed into a movie set and that I'm not actually in Africa. Tomorrow we leave the capital to go a smaller village where we will be adopted into host families during training for the next three months.  Once we're out of the isolation of the compound, I think reality will finally set in!  With one mere French lesson through, tomorrow evening should be interesting.  I'm writing this post to let you know that this same little village has minimal if no internet, so there will most likely be no posts/emails/Facebook.  If you have time to send me letters I would love you forever and I would write back!  Any news is always good news!  I do have a cell phone, so with time permitting I may be able to dictate to the fam to pass info along.  I hope everyone is enjoying the summer and wish me luck!  Peace

Ready or not here I come!

After a three-hour delay at JFK (no hard feelings as this led to free wine and the ability to get some rest), and an unnecessary dash across the Brussels airport, I have arrived in Ouagadougou, and Burkina Faso is officially my home for the next two years!  I was the first to step off the plane into the humid heat and I couldn’t be more excited.  Leaving the airport we all piled into vans; mine proceeded to reverse full speed into the truck behind us in the parking lot…no big deal, with a little maneuvering we were quickly on our way again…only in Africa.  As we were driving, it began to rain – here in Burkina Faso, it is a sign of good luck if it rains during an arrival; the perfect start to this adventure!

For the first week (“Week Zero”) we are staying at a compound/hotel with running water, electricity and AC in the rooms…we’re really roughing it.  Most of our days are spent outside or in un-air conditioned rooms, aka sweat 24/7.  I already feel like 90 degrees is a cool day.  It is rainy season, so every so often we get a ten-minute dust storm followed by a torrential downpour for several minutes.

On our first night, my wonderful roommate Leigh was putting down her mosquito net in the dark when its cord got caught in the fan, not a pleasant sound to say the least.  After endless giggles, awkwardly standing on chairs, we finally had to untie the four corners of the net to get it down and then struggle to put it back up (= standing on top of chair on top of bed, real stable). 

Anywho, days are filled with hanging out, exploring (I can't even begin to describe it, hopefully I’ll take some pictures soon), vaccinations, sessions on health, and interviews (including an oral French exam – definitely more silence than speaking).  Walking around, we get stared at a lot and all the kids shout “Nasara! Nasara!” (“White person! White person!”), adorable.  We’re on our own for dinner most nights, a real adventure since “restaurants” are outside stands with little tables and plastic chairs, you eat what they’re making for the night and don’t ask what the meat is.  Most of it is pleasant to the palette and everything is so cheap by our standards!  Now we all wait to see who gets sick first…

Friday we get adopted by our host families, so let the immersion begin!  I don’t know the Internet situation yet, but hopefully I’ll be able to update again soon!  Miss you all!

Day One and We're On the Run!

Quick little background: eight months ago I applied to the Peace Corps.  I was initially nominated for a September departure, secondary science teaching in Sub-Saharan Africa.  April comes around, my medical clearance goes through, and next thing I know I'm receiving an email if I'd be willing to leave the first week of June and dedicate some time to learning French.  After mucho freaking out, I said why not?  I've been talking about the Peace Corps for a couple years, I'll have graduated school, there's nothing holding me back, and the time is now, right?

Now, here I am sitting in a hotel in Philadelphia, about to leave on a twenty seventh month escapade in Burkina Faso.  Two months ago, I couldn't have told you where Burkina Faso is, let alone that it was a country.  You would think my nerves would be running high, but I am surprisingly calm.  I think for the first time in the long time everything has fallen into the right place and I know it's going to work out (including lot's of illness, heat, and the biggest challenges I will ever have to face). 

Today I flew to Philly for Staging - the initial orientation, are you sure you know what you are getting into?  We have a group of 50 as they combined several programs into one.  Everyone is open, friendly and ready to bond!  Attending orientation was like attending a class where everyone wants to participate and learn; after sixteen years in school, it's a new experience.  Tomorrow we head to the doctors clinic for some shots, before heading to JFK to fly out!  Peace America, you and everyone you hold will be missed.  I don't know the next time I'll be able to post, but hopefully I'll have a good story to share!

I love you all!