NanettePC: March 2007

Burkina pics

1. This is the cutest little girl who was at a gardening project we were visiting. A Burkina organization fenced off (to keep the roaming animals out) a field and divided it into 10 gardens (for local families to grow food for their families to eat and to sell) and built a well that supplies all the water for the gardens. And then the family has to pay back the costs over time witht he profits from selling the produce. Very interesting project...but not half as interesting as the little girl with the cup as big as she is;)

2. Here she is walking up the path with her mom. All in a day's work.

3. Can you tell I love the kids here. They are so frickin' adorable!

4. Here's a lady who works at a chicken coup who was so sweet and happy. When we got the cameras out, she jumped right up and smiled. Love it.

5. A formation teaching us about micro-lending (lending small loans for small businesses - growing and selling vegies, sewing, grinding up flour, peanuts, etc for cooking)

Pics with me

1. Me with my yoga instructor. He is fantastic! (it took 3 shots to get him to smile)

2. Me with some other volunteers at Mexican night at our boss's house - we try to keep it diverse:) Yuuuum.

3. This is me and Audrie tonight - it's St. Patrick's day and a lot of people wrote "Kiss me I'm Irish on their bodies," but Audrie is not Irish so she wrote "I'm a mutt." Peace Corps makes people do strange things.

4. Me with Mark - our token Filipino (he's here in the bureau with me right now, so I felt obliged to add him:)

Ok ladies, let's go fishing

You know the old saying "buy a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime." That basically sums up the first mission of the Peace Corps. We are here to build human capacity instead of handing out cash (like a lot of NGO's do, and many times it ends up wasted, stolen, etc) or building buildings (that sit empty cluttering the horizon because they couldn't be maintained) because somebody wanted to "make an impact" or have something that shows how they helped Africa. But here another concept has been identified that could be added to the saying...something like "teach a woman to fish, feed the next generation." The point being that while an educated man can go out and work and provide for his family, an educated woman will educate her children. I have never been a supporter of helping a category of people based on sex, race, religion. I don't believe in organizations/associations/whatever established to promote any one category of people - whether it be women, catholics, African Americans. As far as I'm concerned we are all human - and though we weren't all born equally, I think we should be treated equally. I don't think anyone needs handouts or special recognition nor do I think someone should get a job or a scholarship just because they happened to be born Latino or Jewish or whatever. In addition, I don't think Africa needs the rest of the world to hand them money because they are poor. The people here are perfectly capable of fixing their own problems and giving money only teaches people to be creative in ways to get more money rather than addressing the underlying problems. The only way I think a difference can be made is through education. So...since I do agree with the notion that an educated woman will most likely pass education on to her children AND since I was placed with a women's association here in Burkina, I am having less of a problem with focusing my efforts here on educating women.
Thanks for listening to me work this issue out via blogspot. I hope everyone is fantastic. I miss you all and will be home in 16 days...I can taste the Starbucks already;)

Leah - I still have all the teeth I came here with.
Brent - My thumbs are in the same condition as when I arrived back in Sept.
Fear not my friends! On the whole I am the same on the outside...it's the inside that's having the makeover. Toodles!

Quickie

1. Me with my host mom - love her love her love her

2. This was me (and some other volunteers) in the back of a taxi setting records in this country tonight - we got 9 in this hatch-back taxi - not including the driver and not including anyone riding in the hatch-back. phenomenal!

Mid-training update

My first week of training was fantastic! It has been wonderful to see all my co-volunteers with whom I came here from Philly and spent the first 2 months in Burkina. We started with 39, 1 girl left in October, 3 girls left in January, and 1 girl left in February (some were medically related and others just didn't want to stay here). That's not so bad considering the circumstances (i.e. Burkina Faso). And the rest of us seem to be getting along nicely at our sites. We all have our struggles, but on the whole people seem happy and motivated.
Of course it was so great to spend time with my host family too. They really are fantastic. This week we will spend in the capital city visiting various NGO's (non-governmental organizations) with which we could potentially collaborate on projects at our sites. Now that I'm back to 100% health I'll be ramping up the workouts this week and taking advantage of the pool (at the Embassy) and the great food here in Ouaga - life is all about timing my friends:)

When I read other people's blogs I notice that lists seem to be great way to present a decent amount of information while still providing maximum humor (kind of like David Letterman's top 10). So I started a list of things you can get here for 100CFA (the equivalent of 20 cents in America according to my last exchange rate check). So here goes...
1. 1 bike tire repaired (I should know)
2. 1 small bag of cashews
3. 1 pack of lotus (the small packs of kleenex that serve as our toilet paper)
4. 4 tomatoes
5. 1 thumb sewn back on at the local health clinic
6. 1 calabash (see the half-shell bowl looking things that I hung on my wall in my house - pictures are a few posts back) - these are often used for drinking dolo (the local made beer)
7. 3 carrots
8. 2 wicker baskets
9. 1 watermelon
10. 1 day of parking your bike at the internet cafe
11. 2 teeth pulled at the local health clinic
so this is my top 11 things that you can buy here for only 20 cents each! I would say that's a bargain!

The countdown is getting exciting!! Almost in the teens! 20 days and 20 nights! Wooohoooo!!Miss you all!!

Back home again...Burkina syle

Seeing my host family again after 3 months may be the best feeling I've had since I've been here. Earlier this week they had a small welcome back party for me and when I walked in the door I was overwhelmed with hugs and kisses and smiles and such a sense of peace. I love my host family to pieces. My host mom is her same larger-than-life self going 100 miles per hour. She got her driver's license (for a car - not so common here) while I was gone and made really great improvements with her boutique. What a woman! My host sister turned 9 while I was gone and I swear grew 5 inches. She's gonna be a knockout very soon! My host brother missed my ipod more than anything I'm sure, but I had to put the smack down on him to hit the books in preparation for his big test coming up. Boys - what can you do. My host dad kissed me on each cheek twice and wanted to know every detail about Bobo and my work. You know the priest came over and was asking questions in English and I was responding to all of them in French! They were so impressed with how far I've come with the language. I hadn't realised it until now that I understand most things and can respond easily. They prepared my fav meal for dinner and after dinner my host dad took my hand and told me how much they missed me and that when I left I left a big hole in their hearts and in their lives that only I could fill and that they were so very happy to have me back, but they knew I would leave again and they would feel hollow again. It made me shed a tear because I felt the same. Bobo is good, but this is home for me here in Burkina. Did I mention I love them to pieces? My perfect little Burkinabe family - mom, dad, brother, sister and 2 dogs. Oh my goodness the dogs remembered me and went crazy when I walked in the courtyard - jumping around and wagging their tails ferociously! Sigh. It's good to be home...Burkina style.

Deathbed

Sorry I've been away for a while. I got amazingly sick last Thursday while visiting a volunteer for her birthday and ended up in the hospital for the week. Fear not, I think I am finally recovering and hope to be back to 100% momentarily. There are not a lot of positives to write about being sick here, so I will just say that the Dr. I saw here was super nice and I'm not dead. The end.
I came to Ouaga yesterday because FESPACO - not sure what it stands for but it is the largest African film festival which is held in Ouaga every other year - is taking place this week. I came in to watch a couple of films on my way up to training back in my host family's city starting Sunday! I am not sure I have to say how super duper happy I am to be going to see my host family again. Love them. I saw Blood Diamond (realtively new movie about the diamond industry in Sierra Leone) today - in French so, needless to say, I didn't understand every word, but I got the message. Man, it's going to be good when I get fluent in this language:) After a week up in my host family's city I will come back to Ouaga for a week, followed by a week in one of my neighboring volunteer's villages, followed by a week back in Bobo, followed by U.S.A.!!!!!!!!!!!!!! woooohoooooo!!! 30 days and 30 nights.

Some pics for your enjoyment

1. Me with the girls in Banfora.

2. The goats on top of the buses never cease to amaze me.

3. Here are the kids from my organization's daycare center. The little girl with the braids standing by the pole is quite possibly the cutest person in this country. This was a dedication ceremony (UNICEF donated playground equipment to the daycare center that my organization manages) and every time a new song would come on she would jump up and starting dancing and the teacher (at the far right of the picture with her son strapped to her back) would come over and sit her down and then it would happen all over again when the next song came on - like every song was her favorite. She is ADORABLE.

4. Ok, this was mere hours before I wound up on my deathbed (see next post) and, looking back, I wonder if this had anything to do with my sickness...but I really don't think so. This is the pig that Audrie's (American girl standing next to me) village killed and cooked for her birthday celebration. According to the girls it was some gooood eats, but I didn't get to try it.