Je m’appelle Jasamine

I cannot believe I have been here a week it feels like I have been here for a month. I am having a blast, and it is better than I ever dreamed. I think I might have been born to be a Peace Corps volunteer. I have the pleasure to serve with 31 other extraordinary young men and women.

The journey from Philadelphia to Ouaga took over 2 days, which meant no sleep and 32 individuals in the need of a bucket bath and change of clothes.

Last week was week 0 meaning orientation and information for all before we were split up and adopted into our home stay families for the rest of training. Health volunteers’ head out into villages while the other SED volunteers stay in the major regional city.

We got into Ouaga last Wednesday and it was beautiful coming in at night. It was foggy and the moon was shining down over Burkina. Our first night in Burkina was a luxury; we stayed at a hotel with great amenities, even a pool. The juxtaposition between the hotel and the surrounding area was unbelievable. We stayed in Ouaga less than 12 hours off to training last Thursday, October 16, 2008.

Upon arrival at our training site, we were greeted by drums and welcoming water from the Peace Corps staff. That evening they had a dancing and drums to welcome us to the community. Training has been very scheduled but our nights are on our own to go exploring. Since I will be here for the next 2 months, I have been exploring the area for favorite spots. I am in love with citron (frozen bag of lemonade) and the tangy yogurt at a stall near the training center. I go there practically everyday.

The real fun did not begin though, till this past Sunday when we were adopted into our host families. The one stipulation I made towards my family was that I could not have any oil in my food. Burkinabe love oil and it is practically in everything they make. On one of the first days I was here I got an egg sandwich at a stand and it was covered in oil and it made my stomach wretch for hours. Nightmares come back to me eating out at American diners.

Sunday night SED and Health separate to be adopted into families. Since SED stays in the main city, I will only be able to see my health friends every so often because they head out 8-12 KM away from city. But do not worry we were all able to get CELL PHONES!! Technology has reached Peace Corps in Burkina somewhat. It is no longer sooo lonely to be a Peace Corps volunteer.

As everyone can imagine I have become the photographer for our Peace Corps training group. Everyone grips but in the future they will love me, haha. Everyone back home is nodding their heads not surprised at all that I have taken roughly 500 photos. I figure that I might as well take them since I have subjects to pose for me. When I get to my site I will be alone and it will most likely not be a good idea to bring out my camera all the time. Many Burkinabe have never seen a camera, let alone a digital camera before. Therefore, whenever the camera comes out it creates a spectacle. It is easier to hide the camera now since a group of Americans already creates an even bigger spectacle. I will include some photos in this post but they will be very FEW due to time at the internet café and the amount of time it takes to upload photos onto the internet.

Note: It is easier to write blog entries at home on my laptop and then save them onto a junk drive to take to the internet café, it saves soooo much time.

My Host Family:

It is now Wednesday night, so my fourth night with my house family and I can actually say I feel like a part of this family community. All SED volunteers have electricity in their home stays, which is a BLESSING (Health does not). Right now it is 9pm and there are about 10 children outside on my porch studying under the lights, incredible. I really lucked out on my homestay though. I am in the center of town right next to the market and only a 10-minute bike ride to the training center.

I have my own separate entrance to my room, which is actually 2 huge rooms. Today we went around to visit the other homes of my training group (6 of us) and it made me greatful for my situation. I have a table and a chair while some other volunteers have nothing to set their things on.

My “dad” is in commerce and has a couple stores, his house is right off the street behind one of his stores. There is a main courtyard and then doors go off to separate rooms for the family. The family is huge and I am slowly figuring out who lives here, maybe. They are all related to my “dad” but all extended family therefore I eat alone in my room which is nice. My dad’s step sister makes all of my meals and she is an amazing cook. I actually look forward to dinner everyday. Talking to the other volunteers I feel so greatful for my placement, no oils at all. One night fish with cous-cous, the next night beenga (beans) with tomato sauce, and tonight salad with rice. On top of that I get a platter, yes a platter of fruit everyday. Bon Bon Bon

I do not have a fan, some SED volunteers do, but I am fine with that because I have my bed right next to the window to try to get a breeze. Sunday night was the WORST night, so so hot, I sweated through everything. I sadly cannot sleep outside because I do not have a private courtyard and it is rather noisy because of the city. I like the noise though, reminds me of living in a US city.

The only thing I mildly dislike is taking a shower and going to the latrine, but anyone would. Some SED volunteers live with families that have western plumbing. I take the infamous bucket bag (Gwen, soap, shampoo, ampleman wash clothes, and a bucket of “well” water) and go to the toilet in a hole in the ground. There is one restroom for about 30 people, they are separate rooms though which is a good thing. It is still the part of the day that I dread. Some of my fellow volunteers refuse to go to the restroom at their home stays and will hold it all night, just to go at the training center.

After our first HOT night at the homestays ( I refuse to use a fan) we were all so excited when it RAINED on Tuesday. The rainy season was supposed to be over and everyone kept telling us that we would not see rain till next June. The clouds parted and it poured. When it rains here, it RAINS, thunders, lightning. And the temperature drops. Needless to say Tuesday everyone slept like a baby. I cannot wait till rainy season, haha.

My favorite night though was last night when I sat outside with all the children. I wrote letters home to the Family in PA and the Silver Kights (American students I am corresponding with while I am in Peace Corps). While I wrote all the kids would stare at me. Eventually they were teaching me their names and helping with my Moore (language). It was so great and fun. They would laugh whenever I would speak Moore, mainly because they cannot believe I would ever want to learn their language.

Later on my dad came over and joined Adeeza (17 year old girl in my family) since all the little ones went to bed. I was so pleased to see that they all went to school, even the girls, and that they stayed up and studied. Adeeza is presently learning English and will be going to University next year in Ouaga. She is beautiful and I expressed how proud and happy I was that she was going to go to college. We three sat and talked for over an hour about my family, their family, my previous education and jobs. It was so much fun and I am amazed that they understand me and both the French and Moore are coming along. In DC I felt so far away from everything and it felt great to know that the MCC is being acknowledged at this microeconomic level.

Before bed my host dad tells me that the kids have a new name for me. He nudges Adeeza and she tells me that they would like to call me Jasamine. I laugh and laugh and laugh because all I can think of is my great friend Yasaman back home. I told Adeeza this and they laughed too. Today was my first day with my new name and it has spread on like wild flowers in my family, hilarious. The language trainers love that they gave me a name. I told them Je ne m’appelle pas Gwendolyn, Je m’appelle Jasamine. Laughter ensues.

I am trying to stay away from the internet but I will try my hardest to blog once a week or every other week during training. If you have questions please send me emails or comment on this post and I will respond. I have NO ONE’S addresses or telephone numbers, please send them to my gmail address. I will send out my telephone number here in Burkina if you want to text me or call. It cost me nothing for you to call, hint hint. And it is REALLY REALLY cheap for me to text you. It might cost you money to receive texts though.

Enjoy some photos!!

PS: I am LOVING my shorter hair, thank goodness I chopped it off. 2 people have already shaved off their hair (one guy and one girl). I am definitely NOT next, haha.