I Cannot Believe ONE Year Has Gone By

I cannot believe I have been living in Burkina for over a year. I feel like I have so much more to do here at my site and not enough time to do it. One year left does not seem like enough time, scary. October came and went by so fast and I know it was because I was so busy. I also said goodbye to one of my closest neighbors (32km away) and very good friend Matthew. He was a second year volunteer and he finished his service in the beginning of November. It will definitely be an adjustment living without his visits up to DBG this next year.


On the first of October I had a very nice and constructive visit with my boss and the Director of ASUDEC. I found this very helpful because it allowed me to organize my service and discuss things I have done and enabled me to plan for future activities. We were also able to discuss some successes and failures about my first year here in Burkina. It really energized me and I am happy to say that I have shed off the lethargic feeling of the summer, when it was difficult to any projects done.


I also began to spend more and more time at ASUDEC and it has incredibly helped with my deeper integration with my ASUDEC colleagues.


ACTIVITIES:

 ENGLSIH CLUB: School started back up in the beginning of October; therefore, I began facilitating English clubs for the “junior high” and “high school” students. For this school year we decided that I would do all the clubs on Saturday during the day. Even though the kids go to school Saturday mornings they are normally finished with lessons around 10am. I do two 1 1/2 hour sessions, the “junior high” kids come in the morning at 11am and the “high school” students come after repose at 3pm. Between the hours of 12pm and 3pm I stay at ASUDEC’s NEW restaurant and help any student on a one-on-one basis. Thus my ENTIRE Saturday is spent at ASUDEC. Attendance varies and I am trying to increase the number of girls, like everything else here in Burkina, it is hard to get girls to participate especially when their families want them at home “working.”


The first couple of weeks of English club entailed basic discussion, which is Gwen asking the students questions about themselves. As you can recall from last year they are fine with written English but oral English eludes them, and I find myself repeating question 4-5 times before one of their friends tells them what I asked in French. I know it is because they are nervous, and when put on a spot their minds become muddled. Rarely are they ever called on during school so this club aspect is different for them.


The students also began writing letters to my mother’s junior high students (Linglestown Middle School Silver Knights) back in the United States. Burkinabes treasure the opportunity to have a foreign correspondence but since most of my “kids” are in their late teens and early twenties it took a while for them to comprehend that they would be writing to students between the ages of 11-13 years old.


The student give me the letters when they have finished, some students wrote 3-4 drafts before they were ready to give it to me. I then mail them back to America and hope that the Silver Knights send responses back to me.


NOTE: It is hard to explain to Americans how much a correspondence means to a Burkinabe. I am asked everyday to find people correspondences back in the States. I do not know how this culture came about but Burkinabe think that their American pen pal will send them things or be able to bring them to the United States. Then on the other hand it is a prestige thing something they can tell people, brag about. I have been with my Burkinabe friends and they will bring out a 10 year old letter from a foreigner and they are SO PROUD of the letter and the photos that might have came with it and they INSIST that I read the letter because they do not understand a word of it.


 RAISING MONEY FOR LIBRARY BOOKS: With the help of my sister and mother who designed a website to raise funds back in the United States for the traveling village library I want to start here in the Bougouriba region of Diebougou. All of the details are on the website so PLEASE check out www.mrsarmstrong.com and if you would like to donate funds to this cause please email Kathryn Armstrong at karmstrong@cdschools.org. To raise money I have been purchasing African arts and crafts to bring back to the United States when I come home in December. The Linglestown Middle School will then auction off these items to raise more money for the library here.


The goal of this project is to provide funds to purchase books written in French and local languages to donate to the town’s library. Children, young adults, farmers, weavers, traders, and others in very poor villages should have similar access to information- through books and other media- as people in developed countries. Besides children’s books, books will focus on gender and development, women's rights, healthy reproduction practices, and how to start and manage a small business. By providing books written in French, many children could begin to understand the language before attending primary school. Books will also be bought to further the dreams and education of these village children; for example books with photos of the world (geography) and professions besides farming (98% of Burkina Faso’s population are subsistent farmers).


 RESTAURANT: As you read earlier ASUDEC is renting out a part of their building as a restaurant to gain more funding for projects at the village level. In October I went and worked first with the accounting and bookkeeping of the new restaurant owner, Claris, a former employee of ASUDEC. This is her first adventure into running a restaurant and bar. Along with tracking her inventory I have also made suggestions to the layout of the kitchen and insisted on more shelves being built and having produce NOT laying around on the ground. It has been VERY VERY FRUSTRATING. There have been many cultural barriers to cross and I have only just begun. Many days I will show up and have to wait around 1-2 hours because Claris decided not to be there. She employs her family and it is very hard to express myself sometimes. I have only brushed the surface of this activity and hopefully I will not become too frustrated with her. My counterpart Lagou has been a wonderful venting board and I am not alone with my frustration with Claris. Sometimes I wish they had found another women to rent out the restaurant.


Besides accounting and inventory in the future I hope to move towards food preparation, hygiene, customer service, and marketing. I have also opened the door to the idea of preparing American food on certain days of the week and teaching Claris and the other women how to make “American” dishes like tortillas and grilled cheese. This will start up in November and work towards an even greater cross-cultural exchange at my site.


 PREPARATION FOR DONOR VISIT: A main reason the director of ASUDEC wants me to work with Claris the restaurant owner is that a major American donor is coming to visit ASUDEC’s offices in Diebougou in the beginning of November. I am to help with the organization for the visit and help with food preparation for the guests. The donor, a very good friend of the Director, a Dr. Schneider from Georgia, is coming to open the 5 hotel rooms that ASUDEC built here this past year. The inauguration will be on November 11th and the Director has asked me to make Fried Chicken since one of his top 3 American things is KFC Chicken, ha-ha.