This past month has definitely been exciting and interesting. I am now living in my new home in Pobe-Mengao and am settling in quite nicely. I arrived to find the local school-parent association had planted a few eggplant, bean and a tomato plants in my courtyard as a gift, which was a pleasant surprise. As far as my home goes, it’s a main room with kitchen area and then the bedroom. I haven’t really been able to add anything to the house yet so it basically looks just like it did when the other volunteer I replaced was living there. I have yet to sleep in the bedroom (too hot!) and have no real furniture in there besides a bed so right now it’s my storage room. I have plenty of time to make it more homey. My only complaint about the house is that when I arrived I found it completely infested with both termites and cockroaches. While I’ve been able to slowly eradicate the cockroaches, the termites are still in full force. Let me just say that keeping house is no easy task ! I have to sweep daily to keep the dust (and scorpions) at bay, cook, wash dishes and wash clothes by hand. Add the fact that I have to fetch my water with a big jug from a pump everyday, it makes things interesting.
The market that happens every 3 days in my village is terrible in terms of food… there is none. (I’m lucky if I can find onions. I can find pasta and bread however at one of the little boutique stores). So I’ve been biking the 25K to Djibo every Wednesday for veggies and such. With the rainy season the dirt roads are awful but the scenery is beautiful. Sometimes Ill find myself daydreaming and forget where I am. Then 6 camels will trot past me and Ill remember, oh yea, Im in Africa! So far I am really enjoying the biking…we’ll see how long that lasts.
Truthfully I NEED to enjoy biking, since I plan to depend on bus transportation as LITTLE as possible. I’ve already had a couple transportation incidents that haven’t been too enjoyable. To make a very long story short, during one bus ride (that was supposed to take 1 hour) the bus broke down for about five hours. The sun set, it was dark and I started panicking a little after a man said no other bus would come to our aid and if we couldn’t fix the problem we’d be spending the night where we were…in the middle of the African bush ! To solve the problem a man went to chop down a thick tree branch, made a log from it, from which the driver used as a make-shift part for the bus. The bus shaked rattled and rolled (with a few nuts and bolts flying off as we headed over pot holes and ditches) but we finally arrived at our destination. I am not a very religious person but I have never prayed so hard to God, Allah, the bus spirits….anyone listening to help survive the trip !!
In terms of integration, I have to say I am truly happy that I speak French (thanks mom!). Because of it, I have been able to quickly befriend two village locals who went to school and speak French. However because I do not yet speak Moore, Fulfulde or Karumfe I have yet to really integrate or get to know the majority of the villagers, especially women. I can’t imagine being a volunteer alone in a new site and not speaking French, let alone the local language.
So I quickly befriended Amidou and Sita, two brothers whose father owns the compound that I live in (there are four other homes in the same compound). I spend most of the day relaxing with them, talking, drinking tea and eating maize (corn, which is now in season, that they cook over coals and you eat right off the grill…delicious ! I can eat 4 at a time.)
Sita has not only become a friend but my personal tour guide. He’s been taking me all around not only Pobe-Mengao but the surrounding areas. The village truly has a rich and ancient Karumfe culture which is fascinating. So far I have seen gorgeous views from cliff tops, ancient drawings sketched onto rocks, old statuettes and artifacts, and elephant foot prints imprinted permanently onto rocks from back in the day when elephants used to roam the north of Burkina.
I have been trying to keep my days busy but despite all this sometimes the days seem to pass by so slowly. People literally sit around outside their home all day, talking, sleeping and drinking tea. Now apparently it’s the busy season because most people are out cultivating in the fields. I can’t imagine what its like for villagers once their work in the fields is done. There are no jobs for them, there is literally nothing to do. I’m not supposed to start any major projects until November (we re supposed to spend time integrating, developing people’s trust and getting to know the real needs of the community first) I plan to help out in the schools as a teachers aid starting in October. Not only will I be able to help teachers in the classroom, (student teacher ratio is about 120 to 1 but it will help me get to know the students and children better as well.
Overall I am definitely enjoying myself, my health is good and so far Im adjusting surprisingly well, although Ill be the first to admit there are good days and bad days. A bientot!
The market that happens every 3 days in my village is terrible in terms of food… there is none. (I’m lucky if I can find onions. I can find pasta and bread however at one of the little boutique stores). So I’ve been biking the 25K to Djibo every Wednesday for veggies and such. With the rainy season the dirt roads are awful but the scenery is beautiful. Sometimes Ill find myself daydreaming and forget where I am. Then 6 camels will trot past me and Ill remember, oh yea, Im in Africa! So far I am really enjoying the biking…we’ll see how long that lasts.
Truthfully I NEED to enjoy biking, since I plan to depend on bus transportation as LITTLE as possible. I’ve already had a couple transportation incidents that haven’t been too enjoyable. To make a very long story short, during one bus ride (that was supposed to take 1 hour) the bus broke down for about five hours. The sun set, it was dark and I started panicking a little after a man said no other bus would come to our aid and if we couldn’t fix the problem we’d be spending the night where we were…in the middle of the African bush ! To solve the problem a man went to chop down a thick tree branch, made a log from it, from which the driver used as a make-shift part for the bus. The bus shaked rattled and rolled (with a few nuts and bolts flying off as we headed over pot holes and ditches) but we finally arrived at our destination. I am not a very religious person but I have never prayed so hard to God, Allah, the bus spirits….anyone listening to help survive the trip !!
In terms of integration, I have to say I am truly happy that I speak French (thanks mom!). Because of it, I have been able to quickly befriend two village locals who went to school and speak French. However because I do not yet speak Moore, Fulfulde or Karumfe I have yet to really integrate or get to know the majority of the villagers, especially women. I can’t imagine being a volunteer alone in a new site and not speaking French, let alone the local language.
So I quickly befriended Amidou and Sita, two brothers whose father owns the compound that I live in (there are four other homes in the same compound). I spend most of the day relaxing with them, talking, drinking tea and eating maize (corn, which is now in season, that they cook over coals and you eat right off the grill…delicious ! I can eat 4 at a time.)
Sita has not only become a friend but my personal tour guide. He’s been taking me all around not only Pobe-Mengao but the surrounding areas. The village truly has a rich and ancient Karumfe culture which is fascinating. So far I have seen gorgeous views from cliff tops, ancient drawings sketched onto rocks, old statuettes and artifacts, and elephant foot prints imprinted permanently onto rocks from back in the day when elephants used to roam the north of Burkina.
I have been trying to keep my days busy but despite all this sometimes the days seem to pass by so slowly. People literally sit around outside their home all day, talking, sleeping and drinking tea. Now apparently it’s the busy season because most people are out cultivating in the fields. I can’t imagine what its like for villagers once their work in the fields is done. There are no jobs for them, there is literally nothing to do. I’m not supposed to start any major projects until November (we re supposed to spend time integrating, developing people’s trust and getting to know the real needs of the community first) I plan to help out in the schools as a teachers aid starting in October. Not only will I be able to help teachers in the classroom, (student teacher ratio is about 120 to 1 but it will help me get to know the students and children better as well.
Overall I am definitely enjoying myself, my health is good and so far Im adjusting surprisingly well, although Ill be the first to admit there are good days and bad days. A bientot!
3 comments:
It is so good to hear how you are doing. We also received your letter in the mail today. Sorry to hear about cockroaches and termites. How about roach traps in the next package? It sounds like an amazingly beautiful place. Can't wait to see it. Keep up your positive outlook.
Emilie! Had a few extra mins to check everyones blogs.. good to hear you are doin well.. life is good here in the south too! hope to see you soon!
I don't know Em. I think you need to ride my bike. Just kidding for the time being. I think that working with the local children is going to be amazing, if not too much. It's difficult not to imagine what we can do with them if we can spend more time and money for their education and their well-being. I don't even want to think about it because of our very own situation here in California. Enjoy and I'll be back.
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