Hello lovely people,
You know you’re Burkinabe when: you set your Akon ringtone on high and have it ring at least a couple times during a meeting before answering just to make sure everyone knows how cool you are (and naturally you take the call, wouldn’t want to be rude to the caller…); wonder what people are waiting for outside of ticket counters when all they really have to do is walk towards the front and lean their head into the window directly in front of the person who is standing there; or choose to head outdoors and stare/wait for the tractor that passes once every 5 hours rather than write a blog. The last one is my level of Burkinabe at this point…
So Senegal was probably the best vacation of my life. I won’t draw it out too much only to say that highlights included a West African PCV Conference, Thai food, salsa dancing and participating in the greatest karaoke/dance party ever held on Senegal’s very own ‘China Street.’ No one excels more at the art of karaoke than the Chinese… :)
After that, it was off to Burkina Faso’s Biannual Mask Festival held in a village not to far away from my own. Unfortunately I have been spoiled thus far by being able to take buses to and from all of my destinations so therefore it seemed fitting that in order to get to this village I would have to sit in the back of a truck (think Ford Ranger cab size) for 3.5 hours with 17 other people. I will say that it is rather remarkable how many people the Burkinabe can fit in one small vehicle. Just when I would say, ‘Okay, there are already 13 people here, some of which are sitting with their heads between their knees… so we can probably take off because there’s no more room…’ A Burkinabe would say, ‘well lets take that inch of space that every one person has and throw 2 more people into that and while we’re at it, why not just throw the other 2 on top..?’ Resourceful! The mask festival was definitely worth the brutal ride to and from though. There were masks from all over Burkina Faso and West Africa, each with their own costumes, music and dances. A very cool, once in a lifetime opportunity.
After that it was back to village once again!
During the month we held a couple of trainings for one of the women’s groups. For two of the four days the women learned about raising poultry and pigs. I wanted the teacher to tell the women how to breed the animals together in order to produce superior animals but fortunately he knew better than I did and realized that the focus needed to be on the basic food, shelter and water since the women didn’t grasp the significance behind those three. The other two days the women learned about best gardening techniques which once again were surprisingly basic to me. It’s amazing that these women will continue with the same practices passed on from generation to generation, never completely understanding why they are necessary and/or never changing their techniques when new and improved ones come along. That last part I’ve especially seen a lot of in the agriculture field. It seems as if everyone follows the ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it’ rule and takes no interest in learning and applying new technologies that could completely transform their fields and lives. Luckily I’ve got a little more money left over and will be able to continue to hold more trainings for women’s groups and possibly another finances/budget training for the males.
Our soccer team held our first ‘little buddies’ clinic this month. We had about 30 little girls come out to the field and I had my girls lead them in warm-ups, games, drills and a final match. My girls were EXHAUSTED by the end of it and naturally I let them all know that that was how they made me feel after every single practice. I don’t think any of them listened to that… It’s amazing how difficult and exhausting teenage girls are to work with… Who would have thought? :) The little girls loved it though and kept showing up to our scheduled practices until I finally designated every Sunday as ‘little sister’ day. It is cool to see my girls working with the younger girls and becoming role models to them as well as to see the enthusiasm that the younger girls bring with them. I think the hiring pool for the future Burkina Faso women’s team will be solely based out of Solenzo…!!
I also took 10 of my older girls down to a fellow volunteer’s site where they and 3 other groups of girls participated in a 4 day Coaching for Hope camp. I think it was a great opportunity for them to see a different part of their country and interact with girls from different socio-economic classes then them. For me, it was an opportunity to get to know my girls better and to finally see them bonding more as a team. I feel like in Africa the bonds between family members and ethnicities are so strong that sometimes it prevents relationships with those who aren’t included in those categories. Being a real team, a family, rather than a group of hot-tempered, gossiping individuals is something that we’ve really struggled with and it was so rewarding to see the girls finally stop bickering with one another and take the first steps towards becoming a team. With everything that girls face here – teen pregnancy, forced marriages, excision, lack of encouragement and lack of power, to name a few – it would be so much easier for them to face and stand up to all of that as a group of girls, rather than as individuals. That would be my main goal with the team and after the last week I hope/believe it’s finally gotten somewhere… just as long as it carries over to Solenzo. Oh yeah, and we had a final match between all the willing girls and the coaches for our grand finale. I made sure to constantly remind the girls of this match during the week leading up to it as well as continuously reassure them that we coaches would be taking away the win! In case you were wondering - we won (of course), had to show those girls why we were the coaches! :)
So now it’s back to village again where I’ll be starting to teach four times a week at two Girl’s Centers and starting a large community garden project! Definitely looking forward to all that, continuing with the girl’s team, English clubs and agriculture formations… Dare I say I may just actually be busy?? It’ll definitely be an adjustment for both me and my fellow lizards if so…!
Oh – and I added some more pictures for your viewing pleasure! Most of them I can’t take credit for and anything that looks really professional/creative/artsy was taken by my fellow volunteer. Anything that doesn’t – that’s mine!
Much love.
You know you’re Burkinabe when: you set your Akon ringtone on high and have it ring at least a couple times during a meeting before answering just to make sure everyone knows how cool you are (and naturally you take the call, wouldn’t want to be rude to the caller…); wonder what people are waiting for outside of ticket counters when all they really have to do is walk towards the front and lean their head into the window directly in front of the person who is standing there; or choose to head outdoors and stare/wait for the tractor that passes once every 5 hours rather than write a blog. The last one is my level of Burkinabe at this point…
So Senegal was probably the best vacation of my life. I won’t draw it out too much only to say that highlights included a West African PCV Conference, Thai food, salsa dancing and participating in the greatest karaoke/dance party ever held on Senegal’s very own ‘China Street.’ No one excels more at the art of karaoke than the Chinese… :)
After that, it was off to Burkina Faso’s Biannual Mask Festival held in a village not to far away from my own. Unfortunately I have been spoiled thus far by being able to take buses to and from all of my destinations so therefore it seemed fitting that in order to get to this village I would have to sit in the back of a truck (think Ford Ranger cab size) for 3.5 hours with 17 other people. I will say that it is rather remarkable how many people the Burkinabe can fit in one small vehicle. Just when I would say, ‘Okay, there are already 13 people here, some of which are sitting with their heads between their knees… so we can probably take off because there’s no more room…’ A Burkinabe would say, ‘well lets take that inch of space that every one person has and throw 2 more people into that and while we’re at it, why not just throw the other 2 on top..?’ Resourceful! The mask festival was definitely worth the brutal ride to and from though. There were masks from all over Burkina Faso and West Africa, each with their own costumes, music and dances. A very cool, once in a lifetime opportunity.
After that it was back to village once again!
During the month we held a couple of trainings for one of the women’s groups. For two of the four days the women learned about raising poultry and pigs. I wanted the teacher to tell the women how to breed the animals together in order to produce superior animals but fortunately he knew better than I did and realized that the focus needed to be on the basic food, shelter and water since the women didn’t grasp the significance behind those three. The other two days the women learned about best gardening techniques which once again were surprisingly basic to me. It’s amazing that these women will continue with the same practices passed on from generation to generation, never completely understanding why they are necessary and/or never changing their techniques when new and improved ones come along. That last part I’ve especially seen a lot of in the agriculture field. It seems as if everyone follows the ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it’ rule and takes no interest in learning and applying new technologies that could completely transform their fields and lives. Luckily I’ve got a little more money left over and will be able to continue to hold more trainings for women’s groups and possibly another finances/budget training for the males.
Our soccer team held our first ‘little buddies’ clinic this month. We had about 30 little girls come out to the field and I had my girls lead them in warm-ups, games, drills and a final match. My girls were EXHAUSTED by the end of it and naturally I let them all know that that was how they made me feel after every single practice. I don’t think any of them listened to that… It’s amazing how difficult and exhausting teenage girls are to work with… Who would have thought? :) The little girls loved it though and kept showing up to our scheduled practices until I finally designated every Sunday as ‘little sister’ day. It is cool to see my girls working with the younger girls and becoming role models to them as well as to see the enthusiasm that the younger girls bring with them. I think the hiring pool for the future Burkina Faso women’s team will be solely based out of Solenzo…!!
I also took 10 of my older girls down to a fellow volunteer’s site where they and 3 other groups of girls participated in a 4 day Coaching for Hope camp. I think it was a great opportunity for them to see a different part of their country and interact with girls from different socio-economic classes then them. For me, it was an opportunity to get to know my girls better and to finally see them bonding more as a team. I feel like in Africa the bonds between family members and ethnicities are so strong that sometimes it prevents relationships with those who aren’t included in those categories. Being a real team, a family, rather than a group of hot-tempered, gossiping individuals is something that we’ve really struggled with and it was so rewarding to see the girls finally stop bickering with one another and take the first steps towards becoming a team. With everything that girls face here – teen pregnancy, forced marriages, excision, lack of encouragement and lack of power, to name a few – it would be so much easier for them to face and stand up to all of that as a group of girls, rather than as individuals. That would be my main goal with the team and after the last week I hope/believe it’s finally gotten somewhere… just as long as it carries over to Solenzo. Oh yeah, and we had a final match between all the willing girls and the coaches for our grand finale. I made sure to constantly remind the girls of this match during the week leading up to it as well as continuously reassure them that we coaches would be taking away the win! In case you were wondering - we won (of course), had to show those girls why we were the coaches! :)
So now it’s back to village again where I’ll be starting to teach four times a week at two Girl’s Centers and starting a large community garden project! Definitely looking forward to all that, continuing with the girl’s team, English clubs and agriculture formations… Dare I say I may just actually be busy?? It’ll definitely be an adjustment for both me and my fellow lizards if so…!
Oh – and I added some more pictures for your viewing pleasure! Most of them I can’t take credit for and anything that looks really professional/creative/artsy was taken by my fellow volunteer. Anything that doesn’t – that’s mine!
Much love.
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