It's Been a Long Time, Hot Season

I know it has been a LONG freaking time since I wrote in my blog. I look at is as a good thing, since that means I have been too busy and in village working on projects!!! March and April have been very productive for me. I have also had a lot of visitors to my site, so I am entertaining a lot. Now that I have been here a year and a half, I find myself a veteran PCV, scary. A new stage will be getting here next month, June and I will be working 1-2 weeks this summer back up in OHG. It has been over a year since I have seen my host family and been in OHG, it will be very nostalgic to go back.

As I am nearing the end of my service I have to start winding down projects and finalizing my activities here at site. The pressure has set in and I find my thoughts drifting towards what the HELL I am going to be doing come January 2011 when I get back to Americaland. Many of my fellow volunteers are either going to graduate school (done that) or staying on in Burkina Faso for another year (no thank you).

Needless to say, come the beginning of April I was feeling stressed out beyond belief, I had a little meltdown in Ouaga and decided when I got back to DBG I needed to take action so I would not physically become sick. My sanity came the second week in April when I finally gave up the ghost that my NGO would ever get internet and I went in with 2 other PCVs in my region and we got internet for my house.

The stress and the pressure have just melted away. Yes, the internet is VERY SLOW for how much it costs; but it allows me to check my email everyday and download the most important thing in my life right now, GLEE. Yes, I am a MAGOR GLEEK. I now feel so much better about the availability to be able to search for jobs come August and September. I will not have to go the 6 hours to Ouagadougou or Bobo for internet to get my future life in order, I can do it all in DBG. Big sigh of relief. Therefore, please email or facebook me more because I do have the time to respond now!!

I have been planning things month by month and not even thinking about the month ahead of me because I am so busy with activities and have no major plans for vacation in the near future. I also do not know what weeks I will be working training this summer. All I know is that I want to not be in Burkina Faso for my 29th birthday in August. I want to go with a group of other August birthday PCVs and head to the coast, GHANA, for a week or so, fingers crossed. It will be my last “vacation” before my close of service (COS) trip.

Now let me get to all these Activities I have been talking about for March in April.

March:

Dental Hygiene Sensibilizations with my Neighbors: In my courtyard I conducted small information sessions with my neighbors about the importance of brushing their teeth. With toothbrushes and toothpaste I showed them how to care for their teeth by brushing 1-2 times a day. I showed them the techniques of brushing in a circular motion and each of the kids demonstrated brushing their teeth in front of me. I instilled in them the importance of covering their toothbrush up after use so dirt and germs would not get caught in the bristles. I gave each neighbor a covered toothbrush and toothpaste at the end of the information session.

Individual One on One Technical Computer Training with the Employees of ASUDEC: When I got back from the ASHOKA conference the second week in March I began one on one trainings with my ASUDEC colleagues. These are time consuming and mind numbing sessions were I become so frustrated and impatient but I stick in there because they are so thankful. This takes up 5-7 hours out of my week. Internet has sadly not been set up like I said before so I am instructing them on Word and Excel. I give them exercises like retyping a paragraph in Word, and then sit back and help them find the period and fix how many spaces are between words. Very basic computer skills like even how to use a mouse, I normally bring a magazine to read while I am “teaching” them. It is hot and with the heat I sometimes have a short fuse especially is the computer is not working properly. This will be an activity I continue for the rest of my service.

English Club continues every week with an increased intensity as June nears and all of my students will be taking exams to continue on with their schooling. We have been doing mini exams each week, improving their vocabulary and ability to answer questions in complete sentences.

April:

Three Agricultural Formations: My entire month of April was taken over by agricultural formations I conducted with my counterpart Lagou in three villages surrounding DBG. I went out and lived the village life each week in the villages of Bapla, Navielgane, and Tiankoura. To conduct each formation I received a small grant from Peace Corps, which allowed me to fund the sessions. In each village we discussed different agricultural techniques depended on the needs of the village. Topics included composting, soil quality, seed dissemination, seed quality, and plant information for corn and black eyed peas. Lagou and I had about 25 men and women in each village come to our 3-day formations, very pleased. At the end of each week I bought the village metal shovels, pitch forks, and hoes to share within the village. These formations were done before the raining season so the farmers would take what they learned and make changes to their fields.


Besides my work activities I have been hosting a lot more volunteers at my house, as they realize the awesomeness of DBG. I have also become really close to a couple new volunteers from the training stage from this past summer, one of them, Mikey Berino and I talk practically everyday. He has been kind to keep me company in DBG a couple times a month and we rock out to GLEE and Lady Gaga. He makes me not feel so alone in Burkina. I also want to throw a shout out to his dad, Manny Berino, whom I hear reads my blog!! Happy belated birthday to Manny (April 30th) and my mom (May 1st)!!!

On the weekend of April 16-18th I hosted 6 fellow volunteers at my house for the annual Dagara fete. It was overwhelming to have all those white people in my village and have to worrying about getting water (manually) and cooking food (in 110+ degrees). We had a ton of fun and converted my porch into a movie theatre. It was great to have so many people see where I live, work, and play. When Sunday came though, I was happy to see them go because I needed my privacy back, haha. Us PCVs, we are loners.

And now to the HEAT!!! I believe it has been a hotter HOT season than last year. I have not slept in my bed since mid February and have been sleeping every night on a cot or on the hard cement floor because it is so unbelievably hot. I tried sleeping outside with my neighbors but that lasted 3 nights because there was no wind, at least inside I could have the hot circulation from my fan. Most night I have to drug myself or get up in the middle of the night and shower to cool off. I have also been the great recipient of a really bad case of heat rash that turned into “cute” boils. What fun, NOT! That made it even harder to sleep. Ohh what I do for this job, haha.

All is well now, I got some medical help with my heat rash, it got so bad because it was on my back and I could not reach it. Another downfall with living alone, no one to spread crème on your back, no way would I ask a Burkinabè.

May is really busy and Mikey and I have planned a lot of trips before the new volunteers come in June! Camel rides up North and a trip around the Ghana border of Burkina to Leo. If you are wanting photos check out my facebook page because I found a REALLY FAST way to upload my photos using iPhoto on my new MacBook Pro!!!

Au revoir!