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.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wake Me Up When September Ends
“Summer has come and past the innocent can never last . . .
. . . wake me up when September ends.”
After being away from my site in august I was ready to put roots in the ground and stay in Diebougou for the entire month of September. I conducted a couple small projects around town but mainly stayed close to my own home. With burkinabe on vacation or in the fields, I took the time to gear up for a couple big activities that will commence in October.
Small Projects I worked on in September:
- I went out and bought a spiral notebook for my tailor. I am working with him to improve his small tailor business here in Diebougou. I did not mind paying for the notebook to get him started in proper accounting and money management. I sat down with him and constructed a way to organize all of his customers in the notebook so he could become accountable and reliable. We also talked about saving money and eventually improving the infrastructure of his shop or fixing broken sewing machines.
I follow up with him every week to track his business and make sure he is accounting every transaction. It helps that I went crazy buying fabric in August. I therefore, get something new made every week, ha-ha. I will have a whole new wardrobe when I come back to the
He will not change his business transactions overnight, but hopefully by the time I leave Burkina he has learned something from me and he has saved up to improve his business and his family.
- The other small project I worked on was in my front yard. I asked my neighbors to come over to my house for little meetings and I sensiblized them on moringa trees. I then gave each of my neighbors 15 trees each so they could plant in their own courtyards and use the leaves for preparing meals. The kids and I then planted more moringa in my courtyard to replace the ones that were taken. I plan to continue to sensibilize people on the wonderful benefits of moringa here in Diebougou. My goal is to create a market for moringa in the market here in Diebougou. Presently, moringa is not sold in Diebougou and I plan to change that by the end of my service.
Besides these small activities I have been spending a lot of time with my neighbors integrating myself within my community here in Diebougou. I have also made vast improvements to my house. I have had masons come to my house to close some holes in my back wall where it connected to my tin roof. This was to not allow animals to enter my house. I was having bats enter my house at night and fly around, not the most ideal living situation. Well after all the holes were closed I had 2 bats that did not take a hint to leave during the construction. So I had to be super stealth and came up with a way to have them leave my house without me killing them. It involved me waiting silently in the dark for about 3 hours one night and opening the screen when they started flying around the house. My house is now free of bats (fingers crossed). I just have a couple lizards and my next task is to kill the mouse that has all of a sudden decided to take residence with me. I bet these are not the types of animals that pop into mind when you think of
On a happy note, I began to bike everyday (13-15km) as a way to keep in shape and greet more people using my local language. I mainly do it for sport and fitness and couple it with 30-45 mins of yoga and strength training when I get back to my house. It is so enjoyable to watch the sunset every day from the small mountains on the outskirts of Diebougou. It makes me so thankful to be here in
October is gearing up to be a big month activities wise and I will also be celebrating the anniversary of living in
Ohh I almost forgot I will be coming back to the
Blogs to come:
- Activities in October
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