Lara in Burkina

COS

2009-07-22T16:06:00.001Z

I lived in the same house for my entire childhood growing up in California. On the wall of our kitchen there are four matching blue tiles that my mom brought back from a trip to Copahagen. My favorite tile says, "He that lets the small things bind him, leaves the great undone behind him".

I always thought the phrase was the perfect advice to give to a PCV. Even though being a Peace Corps volunteer is the hardest thing that I've ever done (which maybe isn't saying much because I'm only 24), it was the best thing that I've ever done. I learned more in the past two years that I ever could have learned staying in a classroom setting. But it was hard. Really hard. People yelling whitey at me everyday, not to mention the living alone in village for two years thing. But reading over my description of service statement, I feel really good about all of my classes and projects, and I'll never be able to forget my students, friends and colleagues.

So, tomorrow night I'll get on the plane to go back to America, and hopefully someone, somewhere, will give me a job. I'm nervous about all of the things I have to do when I get back, but maybe I should heed my own advice.

If you're thinking about joining the Peace Corps, I would say go for it. Just know that the road of being a PCV is not for the faint of heart, perseverance is key, and you may not feel that you're having an impact. But you will. You will help develop a country by aiding people who receive very little of the aid that comes from international organizations. You will change their ideas about americans. But most importantly you will change yourself. You will mature and develop as a person, and leave your country of service with a new perspective on life that very few americans have. I can't imagine a better way to change your life and other people's lives.

People People People

2009-04-26T15:32:00.003Z

As my time in Burkina comes to a close, I've been reflecting on everything that I'll soon have to leave behind (somethings more willingly than others...). More than anything else, I'll miss walking to school every morning. I usually leave my house at about 6:45, and every few steps there is another person on the road to greet. My neighbor, giving her baby a bath; her husband setting the chairs out at his maquis. He greets me almost everyday in a huge, booming voice, saying "ne y yibeoogo" (good morning in moore), after which we exchange asking if the other person slept well and is in good health (it's cultural). Then when I get on the main road I walk with a cluster of students to the school. They move along the road in khaki-colored packs (they all wear khaki uniforms), saying how hard the last test was and asking, "will you please please please give us bonus points this trimester Madame?". If I'm lucky I'll get to greet the security guard at my village's caisse populaire (it's a credit union where people can keep their money), and I'll pass by the commisariat (police station) before they do the flag raising ceremony. If they blow whistle while you're passing on the road alongside the building you have to stop until they're done raising the flag. Even people riding bikes and motos stop. Then it's a straight shot up a gentle slope to my school. Usually I greet my collegues if they're at the administration building and then walk to the classroom where I'm supposed to teach. One of the students usually runs out to carry my bag for me (a sign of respect), and those walking behind me start running to get into class before me (you can't go in after the teacher). I try to pause for a few moments to let the running students get into the classroom. When I walk in all of the students stand up (a sign of respect-this one was really hard for me to adjust to at first) and then sit down after I say "bonjour, assiez vous". This is what I'll miss more than anything else when I leave here: seeing every student in the classroom and hearing their responses when I ask how they are doing. Some of them are unforgettable and feel like old friends, simply because we've spent so much time together. There's Abdoulaye and Abel, who, though they ALWAYS talk in class (I occasionally kick them out), ask the best questions and push the class's discussion forward. There's the "smart kid", Inoussa, who knows every answer to every question because he's already learned all of the day's material before coming to class. There's Lilli-Estelle, who repeated a grade last year, but is now motivated and empowered, raising her hand to answer almost every question (I think she just might pass her national exam last year after looking like she'd rather be anywhere else at the beginning of last year).

So, to everyone who will ask, "What is Africa like?", there's your answer. Africa is people.

CRUNCH!

2009-03-14T08:05:00.002Z

This week my whole training group came to Ouaga for a three day close of service (COS) conference where we received information on finishing our time in Burkina. It suddenly seems like there's so much to do: materials to return, resumes to write, reports to turn in...it all makes for a very stressful last few months. Not to mention that I just happen to becoming out of the Peace Corps during a giant recession. Thanks economy. Thanks a lot.

On the bright side I finally know when I'll be coming home. The official COS date is July 23, so I should get back to the states July 24th or 25th (I won't know until they give me my ticket). I'm going to fly to PK's house in Minn, then we're going to drive my car across the country to Mom's in CA. I'm really sad to leave Burkina after having created a whole life here, but there are some things I'm looking forward to in the US. I stopped craving US food a while ago, or at least I thought I did, then the other day I was sitting in my courtyard and suddenly had the strongest craving for a Cinnabun. "CInnabun?", I thought..."I've only eaten one of those two or three times in my life, how could I possibly be craving it?"

Anyway, the readjustment back to the states is going to be filled with lots of ups and downs. I'm already worried about walking into a job interview and having the person think I'm a bum and didn't do anything for the last two years because they don't know Peace Corps. They talked to us this week about how to deal with different reactions from people not caring at all, to people making assumptions, etc. Ugh...it's just a lot to prepare for...but as the Burkinabes say, ca va aller (it will go or it will be okay).

Camels, World Map and a Visit to My Village

2009-02-27T08:33:00.009Z

Wow! A lot has happened since I last wrote on here. Over the Christmas break I went way up north to Gorom-Gorom with An and her friend Meghan, a PCV from Uganda. We hired a guide to take us on an over night camel trek into the desert. Riding a camel was really strange because unlike riding a horse, you have to keep your feet on the camel's neck the entire time. It was also really high up (camels are big!). We rode about 10 km outside of Gorom to a village where we slept in a sand dune. The guide made us a delicious dinner of chicken and rice which we shared with villagers. Unfortunately it was really cold. We brought mats and blankets, but we should have brought more. Now I really understand why people who live in the desert dress the way that they do. One of the villagers who came out to greet us in the morning started counting how many layers he was wearing in Fulfulde. Five! Then we almost couldn't find transport to get back to Dori from Gorom that day, but luckily we found a car and arrived just before nightfall in Dori (after waiting on the side of the road for an hour while the driver got a ride to Dori to get a spare tire-we got a flat). It was a fun trip though, and I'll try to upload the pics if I get a chance.

Then at the beginning of January a group of american college students came to my village from the University of Illinois. Their professor, Richard Akresh, was a volunteer in Togo and now studies economics. Every other year he has a "study abroad" program for two weeks in Burkina to allow students to see development projects. He contacted me a while ago to organize the visit, and I couldn't refuse. We went to my school just to give them an idea of what I do, how few resources we have, etc. Then we had lunch with the chief of my village, the mayor, my school director, and some of the other teachers (including my counterpart). After eating, each group got to ask each other cultural questions. I think that both the Americans and the Burkinabes enjoyed the opportunity to discuss with one another.

This trimester I started painting a world map mural with a group of girls at my school. It's a project that many PCVs have done all over the world, and there is even a manual on how to do it. You paint a rectangular wall space light blue and draw grid lines on it. The resulting squares correspond to squares on map section sheets in the manual. The map makers then copy square by square the map design in pencil onto the wall and paint/label the map. We're almost done. It's just to label the countries and have a ceremony to present it.

I chose a group of girls to do this project because they are so underrepresented in Burkinabe secondary schools. I have at most 30% female students, but the levels drop off tremendously in the higher classes. This allowed us to sensitize students and even other teachers who would come and watch what we were doing. Hopefully the map will become a resource for the community at large, as most people in Burkina never go to school and have never even seen a map. Even my students didn't recognize the basic forms of the land masses. Again, I'll try to upload photos.

Yay! The upload worked! The first pictures are of us makng the world map. After that I included two photos from Richard Akresh's visit to my village with his students. There's a photo of us all having lunch and a photo of the chief of my village and the mayor. The chief is the one wearing the green boubou and his special chief's hat. When the students asked him about why he wore that particular outfit, the mayor responded by saying, "so people know he's important, so they know he's the chief". After that you will see two photos of our camel trek. One with me and our guides, and another of the back of An and Meghan as we made our way out to the village.

Pictures

2008-11-21T06:57:00.006Z

Delphine and I with her neighbor's baby last spring.

Reading magazines in the transit house (you really get to like In Touch as a volunteer, and no they're not posing, no really!) Pete fooling around with his super stylin' sunglasses and safari hat.

Here are some pictures from a while ago. Everybody always asks for pictures, and I've got them; it just takes a really long time to upload here or I lose the connection.

Frustrations

2008-11-21T06:22:00.005Z

I just looked back at the last blog entry I wrote. Sometimes when I write a really optmistic update like that I feel like I'm not doing the experience justice. As volunteers we try to keep it positive when talking about our host country (they are hosting us for two years after all), but being a volunteer can be trying at times. There's a reason that they call it the toughest job you'll ever love. I've definitely had days where I feel like tearing my hair out or maybe curling up in the fetal position in the corner of my house.

One thing that I've been wanting to talk about here is how difficult the situation is for women in Burkina. Most of the situations that really have gotten under my skin have to do with the differing gender roles here. Women still play a very traditional role in Burkinabe society, so I guess we could say things haven't really "arrived" here like they have at home. Whenever I tell people (especially men, it's always the men!!) that I teach, they looked so shocked to find out that a woman could be teaching math and science. "Oh, but women usually teach literature, languages and history", they tell me. Luckily I have a female colleague who also teaches math science. One day we were sitting in the teachers room at school, and then out of the blue she asked me, "Lara, est-ce que les personnes parlent mal a toi?", which means do people say mean things to you, or literally, do people talk bad to you? (African french anyone?). "You mean like male students?" I asked. "Yes." "Does that happen in the US?", "No, not like it does here". Then she smiled and had a look of relief on her face. I used to feel like all of my frustrations as a volunteer came from the fact that I was a white american. But it's really that I'm younger than anyone else who works at the school (some of the upper level students are even older than me!), and I'm a girl. Even though women are starting to pursue upper level education and professional positions, it's sort of like they can do it if they want to, but they are always expected to fulfill their foremost role of marrying and having children. And women often aren't taken seriously by their male colleagues. I find that almost all of the male teachers at my school have either stared at me during meetings, made comments about how "jolie" they think I am, etc. When I told one of them that I didn't like it when they did that, he said, "Oh but you have to say things like that to a women from time to time, or else she won't feel good". This is one aspect of the culture that I will never accept. I go through it over and over and over again in my head, why it's like that, that marriage is important, collective society...blah blah blah, and I'm sorry, but I will never like the place that women currently occupy in the sociale fabric. I refuse to accept objectification!

On a lighter note, it's finally cooled off here, which means I can sit inside my house during the day and get work done, without finding myself in a pool of sweat after five minutes. Woo-hoo! Yay cold season! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone too! I'm not sure what I'll be doing yet. I had planned to meet up with some volunteers, but I don't like the idea of traveling two weekends in a row, so I might just stay at my site...maybe I'll make an apple pie in my dutch oven and share it with some village friends.

Back to School

2008-10-19T13:13:00.003Z

October is the start of the school year in Burkina Faso so I'm back to waking up early, getting dressed after a nice bucketbath, and running down the road to teach rooms full of kids packed in like sardines, four to a desk. I really am happy with my job though. Even though its tough sometimes with the lack of resources (chalk, chalkboard, and umm....me), the students are great. They're still kids, so when they come late, I have to make them wait outside, tell them not to talk in class, etc. But knowing how profoundly education will change some of their lives fills me with hope (not to get to idealistic and sentimental because very few of them will actually pass through the system to university). The handful of students who do make it through to get their BEPC (exam after middle school) or BAC (exam equivalent of a high school diploma) do have a chance at finding a job as a civil servant or something with a somewhat regular salary. Contrasted with the cultivating lifestyle that most of their families lead, it's not too bad. One of my best friends in Burkina says that growing up in her village was hard, and that she suffered (she actually uses the french verb to suffer). Mais maintenant, ca va un peu, au moins un peu. (But now, it's a little bit okay, at least a little bit.) Oftentimes there is only one child out of a family who makes it through to university to become a teacher, nurse, etc. They become the head of their family and support the other children and relatives to go to school, as well as providing a financial cushion for their families in hard times. I love to think about my students being able to support their families like this if they can through the system.

If it wasn't for this, and their enthusiasm I really don't know if I could have made it to this point in my service. It truly is inspirational to see them waking up at five in the morning to do chores, then walk to school for seven o'clock classes, back home for lunch, and then back to school in the afternoon. Then finding a way to study at night...if they're lucky and have electricity, then they can use a lightbulb until the power cuts out at 11 pm...if they can't then their parents buy kerosene for a lamp for them. I've even heard of students lighting small bonfires in the bush with remnants from the last millet harvests to have light to study. It makes everything that I did to get my education in America seem so much easier. I had a fantastic free public education through high school and then went to a university with libraries, laboratories and resources beyond imagination.

I sometimes wish that I could give all of my students an educational experience like the one that I had. How many more of them would be engaged during class if they weren't worrying about where their next meal was coming from? Or how they were going to buy paper to take notes and study? How much richer would their understanding of biological concepts be?

But this is not the current reality of Burkina...which is exactly why we're here. No, I can't build the libraries, or buy books, or make a laboratory appear out of thin air. In fact the nature of the Peace Corps sometimes frustrates me because I wish I could do these things, but it really is better if it comes from the community. And these things are arriving...we now have a small library at my school thanks to PLAN-Burkina, a NGO. If all goes well, we'll have a garden by the end of the school year too with Moringa trees, Neem trees, and a bunch of smaller plants. I'm planning on taking on this project with the other biology teachers. It should be a fun way for our students to learn botany. If we keep going someday everyone here will have access to a great education. I just know that it's possible. We just have to stay motivated, even though it might seem impossible. My host dad from training likes to say that development is about each and every person making their small contribution to the bigger movement.

Sometimes when people talk about Africa in the West they make it seem like it's a stagnant place that's stuck in the past. In reality, things are changing quite rapidly here. There is now free primary school education for all first year students (started this year). More and more people are going to school. Movements for women's rights and social change are very active, even on the grassroots level. (Each village even has a group devoted to solving problems in the community like forced marriage etc.). I'm not saying that any of this is easy, but it is happening to some degree. It's nice to know that by serving in the Peace Corps I can make my small contribution to development by teaching the next generation of Burkinabes.

Cassandra's Village

2008-09-25T18:58:00.002Z

Even though I just blogged, I decided visiting Cassandra's village merits another entry.

Cassandra and I trained together last summer (2007) to be Peace Corps teachers. Her site is kind of near mine, also located in northern Burkina. Unlike me, she lives with a host family. After a bumpy, dusty (I turned brownish-red and it wasn't a tan) bus ride we got off at her site. While walking to her house we greeted the guy who is always at her gare (bus station), the pastor from her protestant church who wanted to know why there wasn't anyone in the school office yet, the director of the private primary school, and a couple village kids who wanted to carry our bags (a sign of respect from children in Burkina). When we arrived in her courtyard we said hi to her host mom (well actually Mom #1), host siblings, and her dog.

Her family has a large, traditional style, Mossi compound. Each branch of the family gets its own house or hut, with the family spending the majority of its time in the courtyard area because it's just too darn hot to stay inside here. So, the dad has a house, and each wife also has her own house. Even if there is only one wife they still live separately in the most traditional settings because sex is so taboo in Mossi culture. Parents end up sneaking around a lot at night if they want to conceive a child.

Yes, I did just say each wife. Since a large fraction of the population is in fact Muslim and the Quaran allows men to keep up to four wives, polygamy is not by any means uncommon in Burkina. In fact many of my students have multiple moms, and many of my friends have polygamist parents. The practice is starting to go away in larger cities, as some educated women refuse to share their husbands with another woman, and would sooner just leave than do so.

In Cassandra's case, three of the four wives just arrived because they were formerly married to her dad's brother who recently died. It is traditional for the next oldest brother to then wed them, and treat them as his wives (that usually does include having children with them). In this family's case, the rumor in the village was that the husband didn't tell wife #1 about her cowives, and just started bringing them (and their kids) back to the village after the funeral. Needless to say, she wasn't too happy. Especially with the increasing knowledge of HIV/AIDS, people have become warrier of this type of situation. She demanded that if they were going to live there that they all be tested at the local health clinic. (It makes me excited to know that all that money that goes towards AIDS education really is doing something).

I'm not going to say anything here about being for or against polygamy, but rather just try to explain the situation. I would really love to just say how much it inhibits women's rights, and takes advantage of them, but in the traditional setting this sort of thing makes sense to a certain degree because someone is always looking after everyone. Having lots of kids also makes sense if you are trying to work your fields by hand. But at the same time sharing your husband with someone, or getting shoved aside because you're not as young and pretty as you used to be is frankly just sad. It will be interesting to see how this facet of Burkinabe culture changes as the country continues to develop.

Getting back to Cassandra, this has made things a little bit complicated for her. Her courtyard is busy with people these days, and the tension between her family members isn't always easy to handle. She's going to try to find another house in the village (if one is available). I hope she figures it out. People always say ce n'est pas facil (it's not easy!). They aren't kidding.

So, after a couple days of hanging out in her village, meeting her friends/villagers, I'm back in Ouaga, next stop Bobo. This vacation is exactly what I needed! I'll try to write again before I go back to village. A la prochaine!

School's Almost Back in Session!

2008-09-21T13:11:00.005Z

School will finally start in two weeks! I can't wait to get back into the classroom to teach! This year I'll have the same classes as last year with an additional math class, which means lots of time spent grading, but almost all of my lessons are already planned. This year will also hopefully include growing Moringa trees with my students and doing an AIDS/HIV (theater?) activity at the school.

There's been a lot of talk about the Moringa tree in the Burkina volunteer community. It's really just, in a word, fantastic. Although it can sometimes be difficult to grow due to pests (termites, crickets, etc.) and water issues, the highly nutritious leaves can be eaten raw or in sauces, you can purify water (not fully-this is still something I'm researching) with the seeds, and you can even make soap out of certain plant parts. My biology students will each attempt to grow one during our botany unit, and do observations on the growth of the plant. Hopefully this will help them understand germination and plant development and nutrition. Then we'll plant the trees at my school and around the village (at least at the new CREN they're building-a malnutrition center). We will also do a lesson in class about the uses of Moringa and how to properly take care of it. Although pests are a problem (especially the termites) you can easily make a natural insecticide by boiling the leaves of another commonly found tree (neem) and then spritzing the water on the Moringa. I'll also talk about how to grow the tree for seeds or for leaves. Villagers tend to enjoy learning about Moringa because most of them spend much of their time farming for their livelihoods anyway, so they are aware of some agricultural techniques (though much is being done to introduce others on the part of development/government agencies).

This week I am on vacation. That's right. VA-CA-TION! I was going to go to Benin and Togo with a group of volunteers but had to go to Senegal to see the doctor (don't worry, I'm fine and won't be med-sep'ed or anything like that). So I'm going to check out Cassandra's village and then go down to the Bobo area for a few days. Even after this week I won't have even used half of my vacation days, and once school starts I'll have little opportunity to do so. Maybe I'll even find one of those tropical drinks with the umbrella floating in it...

Host Family

2008-08-10T22:34:00.008Z

While I was working at the training the other week, I visited my host family from when I was in training. It was great to see how much they'd improved their house (new living room set) after my mom got her bac last year. They also had a new puppy who spent about half of the time taking a nap on my lap while we ate dinner. Little Farris was just as crazy as usual, running around trying to be the boss of everyone. Although he did remember my name, which was kind of cool because he's only three now, and was two when I lived with them. My host dad also told me about all of the volleyball activities he's been doing with kids in the community. He does a lot of stuff to try to boost primary students' self esteem, especially girls'. He even goes to visit families of students who are having a hard time or who are doing well. I feel so lucky to have had such a wonderful host family, and wish both of my parents luck as they pursue their university diplomas (who-hoo!).

Having been in Burkina for over a year now, I feel like I'm finally starting to know what's going on. Even traveling through Europe in countries where you may or may not speak the language, it's easier to know what's happening because the cultures are (generally speaking) more akin to American culture than they are here.

One of the hardest things about living here has been learning to "read between the lines". Although I titled this blog entry "lying" culture, I didn't mean to imply that Burkinabes are dishonest. It is more culturally acceptable, and even expected in some situations, to lie about certain things. You might even have an entire conversation without directly saying what you're trying to communicate, but in the end you both know exaclty how the other person feels.

Similarly, people will never directly ask for anything. The other day I was sitting in my friend's courtyard in village. He wanted to ask me for a favor, but instead of asking me directly, "hey would you mind...?", he went on and on about how nice it would be if someone would talk to our mutual friend to help them work out their problem. Finally I asked "would you like me to intervene", "yes" he said. "Why didn't you just say that in the first place?", "Oh but I did, and plus we are always taught that it's rude to just ask for things outright. I really was being direct." This is typical. When I first swore in as a volunteer there were so many things like this happening that I didn't even realize. Now, if I think that someone's trying to ask or tell me something I usually just end up asking them straight out.

In other news, my whole stage is in the capital right now doing mid-service medical exams. Nothing like pooping in a red plastic cup three times in the same week. But in the words of a fellow volunteer, "I'm EXCITED! I get to find out if there's anything wrong with me!!" (Believe me the exclamation points don't lie, he really was that excited to go to the doctor). After that there's about a month until school starts up again, and then I'll be teaching about 20 hours a week and doing some projects (hopefully) at my school.

Happy birthday Petra (it's not really until Wednesday), and don't work too hard trying to finish that phd :)

TP or TP?

2008-05-29T17:22:00.002Z

It's been a while... I've been a bit busy in my village finishing up the school year (nothing like grading 400 tests, filling in 400 report cards and then 400 grade books).

Today we journey where few blogs have gone before... nature is calling and you have to go to the bathroom in Burkina Faso... what no flush toilets? there's not even plumbing? what are you to do?

It's time to to take a trip to your closest latrine. What we would consider as "real" bathrooms in the US are few and far between here. Latrines typically are a hole in the ground with walls built around it. They usually serve as a shower area as well if they are for a home. The shower area may be separate (like it is chez moi) or it might be one walled off area.

But if you are a poor villager in Burkina, you probably don't have enough money to buy toilet paper (our "TP"). So what to do? That's where the Burkina "TP" comes in. It's a plastic teapot. You fill it with water, and you wash with the water instead of wiping. Sorry to get graphic, but people have been asking. People usually keep a plastic teapot filled with water by their front door or in the courtyard area just to wash their hands, or if they're Muslim, to wash hands, feet and face before praying.

I personally am not a huge fan of the teapot and prefer to buy my american tp at the boutique. Do my neighbors think I'm dirty for not bringing the teapot with me everytime I go to the latrine...probably, but I could already have it out there right?

I hope that answers some of your questions. People really have been asking me about this stuff.

Lastly, shoutout to the new group of trainees who will be coming to country in a couple weeks. Yeah, joining the Peace Corps is scary...it was like that for all of us. Don't worry. You'll figure it out. Just have faith. Make the effort to learn French with your trainers. And don't worry too much about packing. As long as you have underwear and a toothbrush you'll survive :)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2008-05-02T08:03:00.002Z

Weather can sometimes be a bit hard to handle in Burkina Faso. It's what we in the United States would call "warm" year round, but then there's what they actually call the "hot" season. The time between when it's cold in December through February to when it starts raining (anywhere from May to July). Yeah, a "hot" season in Africa. It feels like exactly what it sounds like. Cassandra said it best when she remarked, "Wow...I feel like I'm in the sun right now, no not just standing on the surface of the sun, but really walking straight inside the sun..." This time of year involves a lot of trying to sit as still a possible with a really large bottle of water next to me, under the tree in my courtyard during the repo everyday. Even my students and colleagues have a hard time handling it. My male students wear uniforms with button down shirts and at about 10:30 in the morning when the room really starts to heat up, they start to unbutton them. That's right...it's so hot that my students were literally taking their clothes off! Ummm...Moumouni you need to keep your shirt ON during math class.

Well, that was the situation anyway, until a few days ago, when miraculously, a giant dust cloud blew out of the northern sky and was followed by rain, glorious rain, buckets and buckets of rain that lasted for hours. Who hooo!! The French describe someone who is lucky as having many chances, and in this particular case, nous avons eu la vraie chance. My burkinabes tell me that it's ultra rare for it to rain that early, especially so far north in Burkina. Now they can go out into the fields and start cultivating (virtually the only thing 90% of the population will do for the next four months).

In other news, classes at my school are winding down, so all of my students will return to their home villages soon, and leave me to ponder the great mysteries of the universe for the rainy season (hopefully while I'm doing some sort of secondary project yet to be determined). The only thing standing between me and total freedom is 400 devoirs and report cards. I'd better go find my red pen...

Out of Africa...and into the Developed World

2008-03-30T01:37:00.009Z

Greetings blog readers! I am currently enjoying the complimentary internet during my one night stay in Hotlanta thanks to my airline who, despite unbelievablely rude customer service people and booking me with only an hour to connect to my flight to Paris (which shockingly I missed), did provide a voucher for my stay here. After not being in the states for about ten months, it's a little bit weird to experience it from an airport hotel. It is, however, just as overstimulating, if not more so, than I thought it would be.

So...what the heck am I doing in Georgia? Well, my sister, the fabulous, Petra Kohler, decided that she just had to get married at an all inclusive beach resort in Mexico during my Peace Corps service. Since we have spring break from school in Burkina right now and my mom offerred to buy me a ticket, I went. Not to stray too much from Burkina stuff (technically the topic of my blog), the wedding was amazing. Petra and Lucas (her husband) got married on the beach, with their friends Bill and April officiating the ceremony. It was great to see the family for a week and to be a part of this special event in their lives. Here are some photos of PK looking hot in her wedding dress along with new member of our family Lucas, and their friends Bill and April (far right) in first photo, and Mike and loyal blog reader Rose (middle):
After a week of eating at an all you can eat buffet and drinking more than I should have, I am more than ready to return to Burkina to finish up the school year with my students. As I said before, I really enjoyed seeing my family, but not a day went by when I didn't think about my friends back in Africa...now just to negotiate getting there...

8 Mars 2008

2008-03-20T08:10:00.001Z

Sorry for the long absence, I've been really busy at site finishing the trimester and putting together some activities for La Journee Internationale de la Femme (AKA Women's Day AKA 8 Mars AKA March 8th). I held a poetry and essay writing contest as well as a girl's soccer match. About 80 students wrote entries for the contest, of which the French teachers at my lycee chose eight as winners. I was really excited to see lots of participation from boys, which may or may not have been due to the awesome prizes (notebooks, pencils, erasers, protracters, etc). In fact only 26 of the writers were girls, and the themes were to discuss why girls should go to school or to write a poem about women and education. I even walked around to all of the classes and asked the students why they thought we celebrated 8 Mars when we announced the contest, just for a two minute sensibilization, with the permission of the other teachers, of course.

The soccer match was the first between two all girls teams at my lycee. I asked any girls who were interested to come and sign up and then I divided them into teams. Then the day of the match they took a few minutes to get organized and put on their jerseys (given to our school by the fantastic NGO Plan Burkina). Most of the other teachers and staff showed up to watch too, which really helped support the girls and build their self confidence. I talked for a couple minutes about women's rights and why we have 8 Mars, then the match got under way. Three of my male students agreed to be line judges and referees. After the game was over, which ended in a shoot out, I handed out prizes for the writing contest. Next trimester the winner's work is going to be posted next to the office at school for all to read.

As a teacher, I don't have a lot of time to organize secondary projects, but for my first real secondary project at site, I think that this one turned out pretty well. The most important result of it was just to get a dialogue going at my lycee, to spark questions like, "why are almost all of the extracurricular activities so centered around the male student population?" "why do so many female students drop out after the first year or two?" etc. I've even taken up debating gender issues with one of the male students in my physical sciences class, and I think that I've made him think a little bit more about how he treats women. Okay...so it's not saving the world, but that's not really our job, no matter what people say. It's more about getting people to imagine living their lives a different way, and brainstorming how they could do that. Anyway, Happy Women's Day to all! Also, shout out to the women in my village who waca-ed me to play soccer in a dress in front of 500 villagers for the celebration en ville. I don't think I'll ever feel embarrassed ever again.

It's that time of year again...and Africa Time

2008-02-16T17:22:00.000Z

When I first received my invitation packet to join the Peace Corps I imagined teaching school to a group of kids that would somehow be more motivated, more insightful, or more something than students in the US. Just different at least. But world I've got news because the kids I teach in Burkina are just like the kids in the United States. Last week I even had to tell one of my girls to stop staring at the boys from the upperlevel class out the window...that is why we have a morning break after all...but on a more serious note...people (myself included) always assume that just because there's rampant poverty in Burkina the kids will all be angels or something like that anyway. Not true. They do everything that we did when we were in school. There are really motivated kids who ask for more homework, but also the kid who sits in the back and doodles until I call on him in the middle of the lesson (yes I am that teacher). In the end though I'm kind of relieved because it makes it easier to relate to them. For my youngest class (biology) I had them play Simon Says (I translated as Simon Dit) to learn the names of bones for our skeleton lesson. The reaction of the kid who didn't know what was going on was the same in Burkina! His or her neighbors who look over and start laughing and then we'd all laugh together...and then they'd learn the vocab :)

I say this because it's getting to that time of year again, even here, when the staff is just a little bit tired, the kids are antsy to leave early, and the end of the year looks just a bit too far away. But anyone who ever stepped into a classroom in their life as a student remembers a day like that, staring at the clock, feeling the anticipation of the bell as the minute hand creaked forward one more tick. I like teaching in Burkina a lot, but I wish that once, just once, I could tell my students that it's hard for us as teachers sometimes too. They have these ideas that you're some sort of super hero robot person, and then they see you at the market on Saturday buying tomatoes and look with an amazed expression on their faces. Gotta eat right?

Peace Corps seemed like a way for me to leave my old life behind, but everything is still the same, even in Burkina Faso of all places. But at the end of the day it's kind of nice to know that we're not crazy in the US, that in a village in Burkina Faso there is also a teenage girl staring out the window at the boy she has a crush on.

On an unrelated note, I had a funny experience in village about a month ago. I was early, as usual for an event at school that didn't start until an hour after it was supposed to. When one of my colleagues showed up he teased me for always being early, and the conversation went something like this:

ah Lara...we were all talking about how you were going to show up early again when this dinner will start late.

I hate Africa time, I never know when things are actually going to start on time or when they're going to be late. How do you guys know when to show up anyway?

What do you mean?

I mean, you always all show up at the same time, early or late. It's like everybody gets a memo and I'm not on the mailing list.

Ahh...yes...well that's just Africa you know? We just know.

But how?

I don't know. I just do.

But how?

(smiles) Lara, look: you are American. You show up ten minutes before anything is supposed to start. It is just your nature.

Wait a second...why were you guys talking about me...I'm beginning to feel a little uncomfortable...

So in my quest for cultural integration I will stop at understanding Africa time and bring a book. Like my friend said, it's just my nature. It's funny to think that when you show up can be a part of your personality, even your cultural traditions, but it is. At least I'll never have to worry about being late...

Burkina What? and Life of a Nassara

2008-02-02T18:45:00.000Z

Last fall I began corresponding with a class of high school students in Michigan as part of the World Wise Schools program. In reading their recent letter I realized that a lot of people might still wonder why the heck I decided to join the Peace Corps and move to Burkina Faso, which even the lady at the post office in my hometown didn't know was a country (ending up with my mom writing Burkina Faso, West Africa on everything she sends me). Moreover, even when people realize it's a country in West Africa and learn a little bit about the culture they still view it as an oddity, like being able to answer the random Jeopardy question that includes an obscure Shakespeare quote. This blog is dedicated to people still wondering, "Lara, you crazy, crazy person, why did you join the Peace Corps and why do you keep trying to tell me to care about Burkina Faso"

First of all, let me say that being in the Peace COrps is by no means for everyone. There are many challlenges which people don't even anticipate. In fact it is not unusual for some volunteers to quit (or "ET"-early terminate aka "the pan am award") during training/service. Of our original GEE/SE stage maybe about 1/3 are gone now. Some people leave for family reasons, others because they get sick and/or don't like being sick all the time, language issues, food, or because it's just too hard. So if you absolutely can't imagine doing this or wanting to do this, you are not alone. That being said...I (so far) really like living in Burkina Faso and despite not having some things like running water, it's, in many ways, just like living in the United States in that there are good days and bad days. No matter where you live or who you are, nothing will ever change that. So, I could have a bad day in Burkina because the guy at the bus station is a jerk and decides to write Nassara (whitey in Moore) down for my name or I could get stressed out because there's traffic during my commute to work in the US. Some people are nice (like my friends in village) and some are not (like the guy at the gare).

But what really prodded me to fill out that ridicously long application and actually go to the five doctor's appointments? I had spent most of my life in either a classroom or a laboratory and was sick of only reading about the world in books. I wanted to experience it, learn another language, and do something beneficial (or at least try) at the same time.

But Burkina Faso? First of all, when you apply to the Peace Corps, they don't tell you where you're going and you don't get a choice really. You can request a region of the world (regions are continent sized) but usually then just send you where they want. But Burkina is a very cool place and I am happy (at least for the moment-lets not jinx it here-there's still too much time left in my service) that I ended up here. Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world. In fact in the most recent United Nations Human Index of Development Burkina ranks the second lowest in the world based on a number of indicators like literacy, life expectancy, etc. Several worn torn countries (Iraq and Somalia) are not listed because it is too dangerous to collect current stats there, so Burkina is and isn't the second poorest country in the world. That being said, it's poor. This is a bold statement, but poverty that I see on a daily basis in village for the most part does not exist in the United States. But that's another question to elaborate on another day.

But you shouldn't care about Burkina just because it's poor. Burkina Faso is so much more than a tiny African child with a distended belly running down the street in a charity infommercial. It's a real place. The Burkinabe are real. My friends in village can be at times even more articulate and intelligent than some of my American friends. Some of them have even finished university and know more about American politics and history than some Americans. You should care about Burkina Faso for the same reasons you care about other interesting places like England or New York or I don't even know where...because as a human being you are not the only person inhabiting the planet earth. There are 6 billion plus of us out there, so if we're all going to make this work, if we're going to get along, we might as well try to understand one another. So why not start with Burkina? Alright, this is getting a little too warm and fuzzy, a little too feel good, so let's talk about that guy who wrote Nassara on my bus ticket the other day and what it means to be a whitey in West Africa.

I was in my regional capital, went up to the window to get my bus ticket to come to Ouaga, paid the guy, and sat down. That's funny, I thought, he didn't ask me what my name was for the ticket. Then I look down and seeing it glaring back up at me: Nassara, written quite neatly in the nom line right next to the date and time of departure. I generally don't have a problem with people calling me Nassara because I am white and I tend to be the only white person around unless I'm in Ouaga, etc. So sometimes it's just easier than to get into a big conversation with someone about why they shouldn't call me whitey. This bothered me though because I've talked to this guy before, he asked my name before, why not today? People who know me in village call me by my name, Madame, or Tante (aunty in french). This is nice. This makes me feel like they don't think of me quite as much of an outsider. It's a little bit more welcoming that "hey whitey, what's goin' on?"

Being an outsider extends beyond people calling me Nassara and talking about whether or not I understand Moore, in Moore, while I'm standing right next to them (the longest conversation like this was twenty minutes long in my bush taxi a couple weeks ago-I didn't say anything. I'd like to think I get the last laugh on that one-what kind of a jerk talks about you for twenty minutes while you're sitting there? How rude! It was more funny for me than anything else anyway :) ) In the beginning the villagers were curious about what vegetables I bought at the market and asked me what kind of food I ate. I even told my neighbor that I eat Nasar-riibu (Nassara food) because she doesn't speak French and that's pretty much what they call everything that isn't to, or they use the french names.

At the end of the day, to survive the name calling and stereotyping it just takes a sense of humor and the realization that most people here say things like that because they are honestly curious. 99.9% of the time it's a mixture of ignorance and curiosity, it's not malicious at all. Ahh...ignorance and curiosity...those two words at times describe the encounters I have with villagers but that's also why you should care about Burkina. Those two words say it all. It not only describes people's reaction to me here, but also the reaction of my friends and family to my experiences here. So the next time I'm walking down the street in Ouaga or my regional capital and someone yells out at me: Nassara Bonjour! I think I'll just wave, say hi, and keep on walking. Or maybe I'll even get to have a conversation with them about America and what I do here as a Peace Corps volunteer. That is what Peace Corps is all about anyway, reaching out to someone on the other side of the world and showing them that we're not that different, and (cheesy as it may sound) if we work together maybe the world can be just a little bit better than it is now (sorry again for the feel good factor, but hey, I was idealistic enough to join PC, so what did you expect?).

Bonne Annee

2008-01-11T20:31:00.000Z

First of all thanks to the surprising number of people who have sent me amazing mail for the holidays. I’m always delighted to hear what’s going on back in the US, and the snacks don’t hurt either. And now to make up for my lack of blogging last fall, I, Lara Kohler, bring to you, readers of Lara in Burkina, a special three part blog entry.

Du The

Burkinabes spend a lot more time talking to each other face to face than Americans do. Perhaps the abundance of computers has made the majority of our socializing become virtual. But when you live somewhere where you don’t have a personal computer, and you’re lucky to have electricity even for part of the day, using Facebook and Myspace to keep up with all of the gossip doesn’t work very well. In Burkina Faso when people are looking for a reason to sit around and talk (or echanger as they say in French here-literally to exchange) they make tea. One person is usually responsible for preparing the tea, which is not your average Lipton in a bag. It’s loose leaf tea that you can buy practically anywhere and you make using one or two tiny teapots. First you boil the water and tea leaves for maybe half an hour or forty five minutes during which the tea is poured back and forth several times between the two tea pots or between the tea pot and a large glass. This mixes it and helps extract the maximum flavor from the leaves (each person has a slightly different method and everyone always argues about which way is the correct way so just bare with me). Then you add milk and sugar, mix some more, and serve in shot glass sized glasses. Burkinabes always slurp their tea when they drink it, but I haven’t figured out why yet, maybe just because it’s hot? The first round (the premiere en francais) is the strongest and most caffeinated (if I drink it I won’t sleep for days). Then they keep repeating the process with the same tea leaves three or even four times, until there is nothing left in them.

Because the cultural gender gap in Burkina is still quite large, you will usually only find men doing this. Women are so busy cleaning, cooking, and taking care of their children that they wouldn’t have a four hour block of time to spare. Moreover, drinking tea is usually just considered more of a guy’s past time. However, I sometimes join my colleagues for tea in village which seems to be okay since I’m not Burkinabe. It gives me a chance to catch up on what’s going on.

Money Money Money

While I was drinking tea with some people during the school break, we stumbled into a really interesting discussion about money. I thought that I was the only person with a problem when I went to the post to take money out of my bank account and the other customers always pushed in front of me, didn’t form a line, and stood right next to me as I counted my money, counting it along with me. To my relief, it wasn’t just another aspect of my no integration…apparently the Burkinabe don’t like it either. But let me explain more clearly…

First of all, as I said, Peace Corps Volunteers in Burkina do their banking at the national post office system, which also doubles at a bank. This is how PC gives us money to eat and live while we’re at site. Just before swear-in each person receives a check book that they use to write checks to themselves each time they want to withdraw money from their accounts. So, when you’re in your regional capital, you show up at the post, write your check out, and then go up to the glass window that says something like “withdrawals” under the list of services. You hand the guy your id and check and he gives you the money. But if there are other people at the post, you will likely have to shove your way to the window, or prevent others from shoving in front of you. Then once you have the guy’s attention, you covertly hand him the check, but your efforts are in vain because he will either inadvertently flash the sum of your withdrawal to all of the customers huddled around you, and/or read the amount out loud if he calls for permission (as they do at my regional capital). So pretty much everyone will know exactly how much money you’re leaving with that day. Then when he hands you the stack of bills there’s still all of the people right next to you who watch you count every last CFA before you make a feeble attempt to stash it in your bag. Then you walk out hoping that nothing will happen to whatever you’re just withdrawn.

I would like to say though, that aside from a few incidents of people cutting me, I usually don’t have this much of a problem because I go to my poste when it’s not very busy. Also, incidences of people straight out robbing you in front of others are pretty rare in Burkina, even for foreigners. People are fairly good about sticking up for others if they get hassled in a public place.

The funniest part of this conversation was about people’s apparent lack of confidence in the banking system here (I have absolutely no grounds to either deny or support this statement). One of the people we were sitting with started describing how the merchants usually keep a lot of cash on their person while traveling because they only like to use the banks in regional capitals. He described a man who he saw walk into a poste and proceed to take off four boubous (yes four!) underneath each of which he had stashed a large pile of bills. And he was apparently wearing multiple turbans too, also hiding money. Yes, this is just as hilarious sounding to the Burkinabe as it is to you.

Bonne Annee 2008!

Happy New Year everyone! New Year’s is a pretty big deal in Burkina, and celebrated somewhat like it is in the United States, but with some interesting twists. This year I decided to stay at my site for New Years (have to save those vacation days for the Kohler Reidi wedding-March 2008!). A few of my coworkers invited me to go dancing at a maquis in my village, why not? I thought. The party was already in fun swing when I met them there. Everyone was out, I even saw some of my students dancing right next to me. They didn’t do the countdown like they normally do in the US. I’m not sure if this is standard, but counting down the seconds didn’t seem to matter as much to the Burkinabe. But when midnight has come they start doing a greeting with each other that lasts for days afterward where you wish each of your friends joy, prosperity, success, and happiness in the new year (those are just examples, you can be as original as you’d like). While you do this you shake the person’s hand and touch the side of the head or give fake kisses on the cheek. You do this four times, and each time you switch sides, you say a new thing that you hope the other gets in the new year. After way too much dancing to all of the local favorites we headed home at about 2 AM, but the rest of the village was still out. Normally they turn the electricity off at 11 PM, but they kept it on all night so the party could continue. Now that’s good leadership!

On New Year’s day it is traditional, if you don’t have a family of your own, to stop by the home(s) of your friends/family the do. If you don’t show up it can be considered very impolite. Also, if no one comes to your house it is a sign that you’re a bad or unsociable person. So, for New Year’s day I went to the home of one of my colleagues, whose wife served us a delicious plate of chicken and delightful zoom koom (tamarind flavored drink) which she prepared herself. There were a bunch of other people eating in their living room, all of whom were men because all of the women in the village were at home cooking…ah the moments of the female PCV where total integration is just impossible…

Anyway, I’d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. And as we say here, I hope that the New Year is full of joy, success, prosperity, love, money, and happiness for all (sounds cheesy, but that’s what they say…I’m starting to think it’s kind of nice…).

What Exactly Does Lara DO in Village?

2007-12-16T14:07:00.000Z

Now that the pictures have been posted it's time to answer that age-old question, "But what exactly do you do as a Peace Corps volunteer?" Ahh, yes...this is much easier for me to asnwer than most because I am a math/science teacher. So first and foremost, I teach 15 hours at the lycee in my village. Only 15 hours you say? I teach four different courses, two biology, one physical science, and one math. Since everything is in French and I didn't go to school in Burkina (absolutely shocking!), it takes a while to prep lessons everyday. Also grading hundreds of papers takes a while too. Now that I've been at site for a few months I'm ready to take on some secondary projects. Perhaps a poetry/drawing contest for women's day and a science club. Aside from that, it's sort of just like living in the US in that you go to work, go home, hang out with your friends, etc. It's just all in French and occassionally involves swearving so you don't hit the mouton while biking to work in the morning. Here's what a typical day in village usually looks like:

5:30-wake up to the call to prayer from the mosque next to my house, eat, get dressed, etc.

6:45-bike to school

7:00-start teaching

9:45-morning break, usually go to the teacher's room and greet my collegues-always entertaining to listen to them joke around. Maybe eat some gateau for a snack.

10:10-morning break ends, back in the classroom...

11:00 or 12:00- go home, sit down, drink water after talking for so long.

12:00-3:00-officially known as the repo in Burkina. The time when everything shuts down and people eat their lunch and take a nap. Usually I make lunch, read, grade papers, or take a nap. But if it's a market day then prime time to hit up the vegetable stand.

3:00-5:00 or 6:00-return to work, grading, lesson planning, go to school, or hang out with villagers.

6:00-? Come home, take a bath, make dinner, listen to BBC, sleep

Wow...my life in Burkina looks a lot less interesting than it actually is. There's usually something weird that happens to me everyday though sandwiched somewhere in there...running into someone, someone coming to my house, ugh...I can't even write most of the stuff here...it's just too weird...

Bad Blogger

2007-12-16T08:10:00.000Z

Wow! Long time, no blog! Sorry to everyone for being such a bad blogger for the last two months. I wonder if there's even anyone who still checks my site. Anyway, to make up for the lack of posting I'm going to try to put up some pictures because as they say, a pciture is worth a thousand words. Hopefully some photos of training, model school, and swear-in. My villagers don't know that I have a camera yet, as I'm trying not to bring too much technology out into the open too fast, so I don't have any good photos from site. But don't worry...they're coming. Okay...here we go with the upload. I'll write more later. I know you really all just want me to "send some pictures!!!!"

Alright blog readers, here is a brief description starting from top left:

Crossing the flooded out road during site visit (I took a dug out canoe with my bike, but note that in the photo most of locals are wading through. One guy even did it on his moto...)

Fried caterpillars that my host dad absolutely loves. He made them for me on my last night of home stay. Garlicy, a little spicy, and crunchier than I thought they'd be.

Human pyramid during stage talent show. Nuff said.

Some of the guys in their swear in outfits (left to right: Marty, Adlay, Clay, and Pete).

Some of the girls in their swear in outfits (left to right: Katherine, Cassandra, Beth, Yours Truly, Yanneth, Christina, Julia, and An).

My lovely host parents and I just before swear-in.

End of model school ceremony with our training group and all of the model school students.

Julia, Caleb, Cassandra, and part of Marty's head. Hanging out in the teacher's room at model school.

Still Alive...And Loving the Village Life

2007-10-05T13:58:00.000Z

Hello, Hello, I'm back after a tour de force of setting up everything at my site and meeting all of the people in my village. My first couple weeks I spent just basically going around and greeting everyone. I even met the chief! We sat outside the "royal compound" and talked. I brought him a bag of kola nuts and he told me to come back when my moore was better. All of the people in my village are really nice so far. Everyone has been very helpful and welcoming. The kids are really curious about me though because I am the first volunteer at my site. There were even kids climbing a tree the other day to try to see into my courtyard to watch me. When I asked them if they watch Burkinabes like that they of course said no, and after I explained that I didn't like that either they left. Village is strange because everyone views you as an oddity so everyone wants to watch you or talk to you all the time. I am really excited about teaching though. I gave my first classes yesterday and the kids seemed to be really nice. It will be hard though to teach over 100 students. All of my classes are large like that so its harder to play games and do group activities.

Wow, I don't even know what to write right now, there's too much to say and I'm exhausted. The transport in Burkina is doable but challenging sometimes. This morning to get out of my village I took a bush taxi to my regional capital, which got two flat tires on the way. The first time they had a spare, but the second time one of the drivers hitched a ride on a passing moto to the next village, got a tire, came back and changed it all within 45 minutes. Then I took a bus to the capital where I am right now.

Peace Corps volunteers have sort of a strange experience in country because when we come into the capital its almost like being in the United States. There are most of the things that you can find at home. But being in village, where there often isn't electricity and most people don't even go to secondary school is a completely different story. The other day for instance my neighbor asked me if it rains in the US. I never realized how much going to school helps form how you think. Its not even that my neighbor is unintelligent, in fact I would say that she is one of the smarter people that I know in village, and she is well respected by the community. It's just that she has no access, for the most part to the outside world. There is no internet, only maybe a few tvs, and no public library. The amount of information that Americans have access to is astounding; you just don't realize it.

For the remainder of my service I will probably send letters to my sister to update my blog because its hard for me to get to good internet to update. So, if you don't hear from me for a while, it's just that I'm in my village. On another note, one of Petra's friends, Heather, is going to have a baby/had a baby, so congratulations to you!

Almost there...

2007-08-20T11:52:00.000Z

Hello, hello, from Burkina Faso! Swear in is at the end of this week, during which we will finally become volunteers! The PC has a big ceremony where we all dress up in traditional outfits and our host families come, and everyone just has an all around good time (or so I'm told, seeing that I haven't actually done this yet). I just picked up my outfit from the tailor last week, so I'm all ready to get fully suited out in Burkinabe garb. This week we have a lot of down time to prepare for going to site and to move out of our home stay houses.

Last week model school ended and they had a big ceremony for the students. Burkinabe really like to have ceremonies to celebrate things, with speeches and performances (if its a kids activity). The kids here really like to lip synch pop songs and dance. So, a representative from each class did just that. It fun to see the students having such a good time. The top three students in each class also got prizes. They received a pencil bow with a ruler, compass, eraser, etc. and a cahier (a notebook) or textbook. It was really exciting to see some of the students getting these materials because they are expensive to buy and not everyone can afford a nice new pencil box, and moreover, they had studied hard.

Other than that I've just been taking it easy for the past few days, attending a few sessions and language classes (Moore just isn't going to learn itself), and other than that just enjoying the laid back lifestyle of Burkina Faso. Also, not to have too much of an MTV moment here, but shout out to Petra for sending me an awesome box full of America (yes that sentence is grammatically correct), including the fantastic new Harry Potter book (yeah HP!) which I have already finished after not leaving the house yesterday. I had to explain the whole HP phenomenone to my host family though; they were a little bit confused as to why I wanted to read an 800 page book in two days.

And Mom, thanks for the great question about how people get water here in Burkina. This is something that I've been wanting to write about for a while. So, most people get their water from pumps or wells. In the cities some families might have a tap in their coutryard if they are lucky enough. My host family happens to have a well. They use the well water for washing clothes and other things which don't require potable water. For clean drinking water they have a guy who comes to the house with a huge barrel thing on wheels full of water (sorry the name of it is in French, so just saying what it's actually called does't really give the full image). They keep this water in a clean, giant plastic garbage can like thing out in the shed next to their house. This is the water that they drink so they don't get sick. My host Mom says that it comes from a tap in the city. (I filter all of the water they give me because my system is still extra sensitive to any diseases and parasites here, and because the PC tells me to and gave me the filter... there's basically no reason not to and with all of the diseases I could catch, I rather enjoy doing it). Right now is the rainy season so water is plentiful once again, but during the dry season it can often be difficult to find water, especially in the northern part of the country where wells and pumps will run dry. This gets back to my mom's original question, which was if they had any containers to collect rain water. I haven't seen anything like this yet, but I also haven't spent a lot of time in the villages. Mostly people just use the water that is replenished in their wells and pumps (groundwater in this case). Sometimes my host mom might stick a bucket underneath the runoff of the tin roof to catch a little bit of extra water for laundry or other household tasks.

As the global climate continues to change, water will become an increasingly important issue in Sahelian Burkina Faso. I've even heard some talk that many people expect the desert to extend down further South into Burkina. In the US most people don't think about water scarcity because they just turn on their tap and it's just there, but in Burkina, water matters to everyone, all the time. Some days when I first arrived here, at the end of the dry season, it was harder for my host mom to find water. She would have to go out and search the neighborhood for the guy who brings water to our house. Even for people in the cities it's possible to run out if all of the wells and pumps go dry. Ironically Burkinabe probably use way less water than Americans do. Bathing out of a bucket instead of taking a shower considerably cuts down on usage. Also there are no washing machines or dishwashers or lawns to water.

Writing this has made me really thirsty. I'm going to find a refreshingly cold drink (one of my last before I go to village-no electricity=no fridges=no ice cold drinks). And one last things, thanks to all of you who have been reading my blog, Mom, Petra, Toni, and everyone else! And thanks Mrs. Cromwell for the beautiful card that you sent me!

More Model School

2007-08-08T17:31:00.000Z

I'm going to try to update this site a few more times before I go to my site at the end of August. After that I will probably only be able to get to the internet once a month maximum because there is no cybercafe in my village, in fact there is only electricity (for the lucky few who have it, which does not at the moment include me) between certain hours of the day-in the early morning and at night.

This week we changed classes in model school. I am now teaching two classes of 5eme SVT (biology). Yesterday and today my students were not respecting me, so I told them that I would kick the next person out of class who talked. Then the next person who did talk looked surprised when I asked him to leave. I really don't like yelling at students, but I had to to get this particular student to leave-yes that's right he actually feigned refusing to leave the room when I told him to. Anyway, this situation is included to demonstrate how different gender roles are in Burkina Faso. Most of my colleagues would agree with the suggestion that if I were male I would not have as many intial problems with discipline. Most male students don't even know how to respond to a female authority figure because there are so few female teachers here. That's not to say that male teachers don't have their share of problems.

This week we've been talking a lot about how to equalize the playing field for girls in Burkina. At my future site there will probably be less than 5 girls in the highest level class. There are so many problems causing girls lack of school attendance. Today one of our female trainers told us that the only reason her father let her go to school was because the family did not yet have a son to send. By the time she did have a brother she was so far along that they let her keep going, and she also received scholarships. Buying books and paying school fees is expensive, so for families who live in the village (as PCVs like to say-or in rural areas), sometimes they can only send one child, if any children at all. This causes an imbalance among the genders, especially at the high school level.

The other program training with us (Girls Education and Empowerment) is working to increase the enrollment of girls in primary school. But it is also part of our project plan to encourage girls in the classroom. For me, just being there as a female science teacher will (hopefully) challenge people's perceptions because they are extremely rare here. Some of the girls, even in model school, greatly lack self esteem and confidence. Getting a secondary education should help them obtain these things. Okay, okay, before I run away with my idealism I will say that it is not always easy to change minds. I am nervous about the reaction of the villagers to my presence.

In other news we had a gigantic rainstorm last weekend. It rained for 12 hours straight, and both my courtyard and street were flooded. Let me just say that going out to the latrine in the middle of a downpour is not my favorite thing.

Wishlist

2007-08-03T13:20:00.000Z

There comes a time in every Peace Corps volunteer's (or still trainee's service in my case) where they start to think about the things they loved best back in America. Some of these things can be recreated in Burkina Faso, and some of them cannot. So family and friends, if you haven't yet, but perhaps have considered sending me a package, I bring to you the official, Lara in Burkina wishlist. (Some people have also simply asked what they heck they should send me here). It will appear as a sidebar on my blog, and I will update it periodically. So, check it out!

Also, if you are in the next training group coming to Burkina, here's some handy tips on what to bring:

Most useful things:
screen tent
sleeping mat
long pants that are dark brown (don't show dirt as easily)
water bottle

Things they have here (really, you will be able and have time to get these things):
toilet paper
bar soap to use in the shower
toothbrushes

Random Burkinabe Thoughts

2007-07-27T12:32:00.000Z

Bonjour or shall I say ne y windiga (moore for good day). Training continues to go well in lovely Burkina Faso. I did realize as I was riding my bike to model school this morning that I still haven't written about some of the everyday different things that happen here. For starters, when I ride my bike down the road, I don't really look like I'm from around here, if you know what I mean, so kids like to yell la blanche and nassara (moore for white person) at me. It's not really that threatening (most of the time), they just like to acknowledge that I'm not from around here. But I don't think anyone really needed to clarify that. Also, greetings are really important. If you forget to greet someone properly you might as well not be their friend anymore. Good greeting is the key to any social interaction. It includes not only hi, how are you, but also questions about one's family, house, and health. Some volunteers get sick of greeting people all the time because it's so different from what we experience in the US, but I kind of like it. Burkinabe who have casual/friendly relationships with each other also do a handshake where they snap each others' fingers. This is probably the best part about greeting someone here, because if you can do the handshake, you no longer seem as much of an outsider.

Another thing that threw me off was how culturally acceptable to ask children to do things (like buy a bar of soap or get you something) for you. Let me be more clear. If you wanted for instance a bar of soap from the boutique down the street, you could simply ask a kid from the neighborhood to go get it for you (after giving them the money of course). They would come back with your bar of soap and change in 5 minutes. I'm still not totally comfortable with this system, but it's merely part of the culture of respecting your elders, which is nice because everyone in a community takes care of their older people. Students even do a curtesy type thing when they come up to me to ask for permission to leave the class. That's not to say that children are always respectful, but it is different from the United States. Children definitely have more responsibility here in general. Many of them work the fields with their families and help herd and raise livestock. Girls also do an extraordinary amount of work helping to cook and wash all of the clothes. This also makes going to school harder because children don't have as much, if any, free time.

Speaking of model school, today I gave my first test. Doing discipline in English is hard enough, but in French, ridiculous. So I figured everyone knows what cheating is by the time they get to secondary school, and everyone knows when they're cheating. I told my class exactly that and then made them all get up and switch desks from their normal places. This was of course followed by a communal groan, which means that it was probably a good idea. Then I stood in the back of the room for two hours and watched them until they finished. I think they did fairly well on the exam, though I have to finish grading them tonight. And those papers are not going to grade themselves...

Model School

2007-07-24T12:42:00.000Z

Probably the most important thing that happens during Peace Corps training in Burkina Faso for teachers, besides language training, is model school. It's an opportunity for us to practice teaching to real students while being observed by staff members and (possibly) Burkinabe teachers. The school happens at a nearby local high school and is offered as a summer camp type activity where students come to take our math and science classes. It's a good way for many of them to review for their exams, especially because it's more common in Burkina than the US to fail a grade and repeat it.

Because it's so different from the US, a brief description of the educational system is warranted at this point. If you're familiar with the French system, skip to the next paragraph because they are very similar. Although there are some private kindergartens and preschools in larger cities, most children start in primary school. This is like elementary school in the US. To finish primary school they must pass a national exam called the CEP. Once you have the CEP you can move on to secondary school, which is broken down into two cycles. The second cycle is done first (the numbering goes opposite of the American system), from 6eme to 3eme. After 3eme students take the BEPC, and must pass to move to the first cycle, which is completed when students pass the BAC exam. Students are also graded every year and can only repeat a grade one time in a cycle before going to another school. The idea behind the toughness of the Burkinabe educational system is so that students are always encouraged to work harder and know more. It's extremely rare to see a student receive a perfect score on anything.

So far, model school is going well. I am teaching 4eme PC everyday this week and next. Today we discussed condensation of water. The students didn't know before the lesson why water pools underneath a cold fanta bottle, so it was good to teach them something. I was also happy that students participated in my class and would volunteer answers. I'm working on trying to get a demo or experiment together for later this week. I also want to the kids to think about why things are happening the way they are, and not just to spit back definitions. Critical thinking is hard to teach to this age group in the US too though. I thought that discipline would be really hard, but it's actually okay. A lot of students came in late today, so I told them that tomorrow I would make them sit outside. They seemed to get the message. I also confiscated two cell phones yesterday (they're starting to take off here, especially in the city where we are). I'm not a fan of being overly mean to be mean, I just want them to behave themselves so they can learn. Hopefully discipline won't be a problem when I go to my site and start serving.

Site Visit

2007-07-17T17:39:00.000Z

Last week we went to our counterpart workshop in the capital city, I ate pizza and ice cream and shopped in a supermarket. It was like being in America. Now I am having America withdrawal. Oh well, I'll get over it. We started by taking public transportation from our training city to the capital. Because both are large, we were able to take a bus run by a big company here in Burkina. We then spent three days in Ouagadougou (the capital of BF in case you were wondering, and quite possibly the coolest sounding capital city anywhere). We had a conference at our hotel where we met our counterparts and discussed the details of our sites and what should be expected of us. My counterpart is another PC (stands for the French equivalent of physics and chemistry) teacher at my school. He will be my first line resource to learn about my community and how to do my job properly. After being in the capital I traveled to my site.

Now for an aside, just because people keep asking me. As much as I would love to name the location on this webpage, you'll notice that I will almost never give the names of places where I or other volunteers are in BF. This is mainly a safety and security issue with the PC, and with me too. You never know who is reading your blog, so I've chosen to omit that information.

I will say that I had quite the bush taxi ride to get there. But what is a bush taxi and how exactly does it operate? (Good question Mom!) Bush taxis are typically passenger vans that run between smaller cities and villages. They are typically operated by a single owner. They tend to keep regular hours, or as timely as you can get in the village (which can actually be very punctual or very late, just like the US it depends on the person), and they operate on specific days, sometimes everyday, or maybe only on market days. When discussing bush taxis the most interesting thing that comes up is the cargo. Anything goes. Goats, chickens, other people's babies sitting on your lap, people handcuffed to the backseat by the gendarme sitting in the front (as happened in my bush taxi last week, but which is very rare...in fact I'm still not quite sure what was going on with that). The goats can be really annoying because they usually tie their legs together so they don't run around on the roof, which causes them to moan for the whole ride. I've also heard stories of them peeing on people's heads, but I don't know of anyone who this has happened to.

Once at my site I went around my village and met all of the public officials and took a tour of my school. I'll be teaching at a lycee (a high school), with over 800 students. They just added upper grade levels and will administer the BAC for the first time next year. There is also a new science lab, which is essentially an empty room at the moment because they have not yet equipped it, however I did not get to see inside, so I don't know what it's really like. I also saw the house I'll be living in. It has two bedrooms, a living room, and a big courtyard. It also has a latrine and shower area outside. I don't have electricity right now, but my village does have it at certain hours of the day, so I may get it during my two years of service.

After visiting my village for one night I went to stay with another volunteer which involved biking 30 km and almost passing out from heat stroke, Africa is HOT! After two days I returned to our training village. I'd like to be more detailed here, but unfortunately my hour is about to run out at the internet cafe. I will say that model school started this week, and it seems like it will be a lot of fun. More on that next time.

Fairing Lessives

2007-07-06T12:31:00.001Z

After about a month in country languages start to mix in a trainees mind. Suddenly one finds themselves reaching in the back of their brain for that once oh so familiar english word only to come out with the equivalent french word. This has caused our training group to develop our own special style of communication where we insert french and local language words into our discussions. (It's a frenglish thing). We don't do laundry anymore here in Burkina, we faire our lessives, which is the anglophone version of the expression to wash one's clothing.

In case you hadn't thought about it, there aren't any washing machines, dryers, or laundry mats with those things in them here. People wash their cloths by hand, and as PC volunteers we do as the locals do, so we wash our cloths by hand out of a bucket. I thought I would devote an entire entry to this practice because it's become such a foreign idea to so many (okay almost all) Americans. It starts by asking my host sister if there is enough water that day to wash cloths (water runs short here during the dry season which is just ending and at my house if the water man doesn't show up when he's supposed to, which is most of the time, there is no fairing of the lessives). If she says yes, she will go to the well in our courtyard and draw water for me. Then I use a bar soap for washing cloths (about 50 cents a bar at the boutique by my house) and soap and wring everything twice before rinsing. Then everything gets put out on the clothesline in my courtyard. Why soap twice you ask? (I asked the same question) Because it is so dusty here that the water will still turn brown on the second soaping. Things just don't get clean if you don't do it.

This of course all takes place while your Burkinabe neighbors laugh at how you wash cloths. But then again, it is kind of funny to think of someone who has never washed cloths before, or that's how it seems anyway after a month here. Machines to do it for you? Why? Washing cloths is one of the best ways for me to socialize with the rest of my courtyard because it breaks the ice. Why have it any other way?

Village

2007-06-30T13:49:00.000Z

Hello faithful blog readers. Thanks to those of you who have been reading my blog and sorry for not updating recently. Things have been getting busier and busier here. Last weekend I stayed at the house of one of my friends who is in the girls empowerment and education program. Because they primarily work with small villages during their service, they train in outlying villages, while we stay in the city. We rode our bikes for about 45 minutes along a dirt road (literally in the middle of nowhere) to get there. The only other people we saw along the way were also on bicycles or had a donkey/cart (the latter is surprisingly popular here, it's sort of the Burkinabe version of a pickup truck for most people). The sky was very cloudy when we left the city, and we were lucky to make it inside my friend's mud hut (in her host family's compound) just as it started to rain. We greeted her many host family members (and onlookers from the rest of the village).

Greeting is very important in Burkina. It sort of reminds me of the friendliness of the Midwest, but even more so. Not only do you say hi, how are you, but also you typically ask about the status of one's health, home, and family. Even if someone is very sick they will say that they are in good health because people try to maintain an optimistic attitude about the future.

After eating dinner we sat outside (with some of stagaires who had come to visit the village) and watched the heat lightning as it had stopped raining. Whenever one of the PC people would turn on a flashlight the locals would tell us that we would be struck by lightning. I'm not sure what the rationale for this is, but maybe they know that a lightning blot forms from the sky and the earth and then meets in between. When it started to rain again we went back inside my friend's mud hut to sleep. The one good thing about the rainy season here is that when it rains it actually cools down, thus sleeping inside wasn't too bad. Normally sleeping inside here is a very hot proposition. Although other stagaires typically sleep outside in their family's courtyards, my family shares a courtyard with two other families, so I don't feel as comfortable doing that. Aside from the goat who was pushing on the screen door trying to get out of the rain and my friend getting sick in the middle of the night (luckily she made it outside to throw up-thanks Yaneth!), sleeping on the floor wasn't too bad. I had brought my sleeping pad with me, which has been very useful so far. (If any future PC volunteers are reading this trying to decide what to bring to West Africa, I definitely recommend a sleeping pad for staying with other volunteers and sleeping outside in your courtyard.)

The next morning we woke up at 6 and ate breakfast with Yaneth's host dad. He speaks Fulefulde, French, some English, and Moore. We talked with him in French about Burkina, the US, farming, and other things. He was shocked that I only wanted to drink water with my breakfast, not taking tea or coffee.

After breakfast we came back to the city to go to the pool, although I went to the market and did my laundry instead (the latter I'll save for another entry).

Training: Week Two

2007-06-18T13:25:00.000Z

Yesterday was my two week anniversary of starting PC training. YAY! Two weeks out of 27 months isn't bad right? The best thing about training is definitely our bicycles. The PC gave us each Trek bikes complete with repair kit, and instructions on how to repair everything. I was not a serious biker before I came here, in fact I had to practice riding one before I came so I wouldn't fall off. I really love my bike. I cannot emphasize how much I love my bike. It's such a great mode of transportation.

The other night there was a big rainstorm here. When it storms here there will be a strong gust of wind, at which point all of the locals immediately run inside, with good reason. The gust then gets even stronger, and dust blows everywhere; I couldn't even keep it from getting through the shutters in my room. Then the downpour starts. This went on for about an hour, with the rain beating on all sides of the house. And then suddenly, it stopped. It reminded me of the storms that they get during the summer time in Wisconsin. When you hear the crack of thunder, you know it's time to get inside.

My goal for the next few weeks is to find some traditional Burkinabe clothing. Women here typically wear a long wrap skirt called a pagne. People use them for other things too, for instance as towels. It seems tricky to keep them on though, but women seem to have a special strategy for tucking them so they don't come loose. Perhaps my host mom would know...

Homestay

2007-06-14T09:56:00.000Z

Since I've been receiving a lot of e-mails with questions about my host family I decided to answer them on the blog. As I said before they are fairly moderne by Burkinabe standards. The father is a teacher at a local primary school and they have two children, an older daughter and a two year old son. The two year old is very typical of a child that age. He walks around around the house speaking a combination of French and Moore. I love watching him help his parents. Last night his dad asked him to get his leather briefcase from the bedroom and to bring it out to the porch where the dad was sitting. The son immediately comes back with it in his hands, even though it was half the size of his body.

Most days I wake up around 6 or 6:30 and arrive at the training center by 8. I take a bucket bath before I leave the house and eat some bread for breakfast. Its so hot here right now that I like to take a bucket bath in the morning before I leave and again when I return from class. We have sessions all day, with a focus on language learning classes. My French is coming along well considering that I only took two semesters in college. I am able to communicate with my host family in French. In the evening, after I take my bucket bath upon arrival, I usually just hang out with my family until dinner. Although its more traditional here for people to eat only with their own gender my family all eats together because they're less traditional. Its a good time for us to talk, and my mom is a great cook and has been wonderful about following the PCs guidelines for prearing food so I don't get sick. But because we have sessions all day, I don't spend very much time there.

That's all for now because we have another class in a few minutes, but if anyone wants to send me a care package, gatorade would be great. (Its hot and I have been drinking about 5-6 liters of water per day.)

Bonjour!

2007-06-11T12:16:00.000Z

Bonjour from Burkina Faso! We've been here for about a week now after a few days of initial training in Philadelphia. Today was the official start of our training classes. We spent several days in the capital and are now at our training site in a different city. We each met our host families for the training period last night. My host family is a young couple with a small child. They maintain a fairly modern lifestyle in contrast to Burkinabe who live in more rural areas. I practiced my french with them, took my first bucket bath, and tried a popular local tea, which people drink to socialize (it's really strong). I also met some of their neighbors who live in the same courtyard. Everyone was very welcoming and kind; it almost reminded me of hanging out in Madison. I haven't gotten sick yet...yet...but I was really dehydrated yesterday. It has been extremely hot here because the rainy season has not arrived. When I say hot I mean over 100 degrees in the shade. The Peace Corps has been fantastic in taking care of us; they give you pretty much everything that you need. Yesterday we received our bikes, so everyone is now mobile (we were finally able to make it to the internet cafe). This entry is really jumbled, but there's just too much to describe. I'll try to post something more cohesive next week, but I'm alive and doing well.

And I'm Off!

2007-06-03T05:44:00.000Z

Tomorrow I will (finally!) travel to my staging in Philadelphia. After packing, shopping, shopping, repacking, and picking up some last minute items, everything is ready to go. And by everything I mean everything one could possibly pack. Carrying my bags through the airport will be interesting...I didn't even want to put a packing list up here because it's almost embarrassing. But, I think that my bags will comply with the PC regulations (under 80 lbs total, less than 107 inches combined dimensions). Many thanks to everyone who has helped me get to this point, especially Mom, and Petra. My sister has been kind enough to store some of my belongings and let me stay at her house for the past week and a half. We went to see Mama Mia tonight at the Overture Center downtown, which was fantastic. A great last night in Madison. Well everyone, the next time you hear from me I'll probably (hopefully) be in Burkina Faso. See you next time from the other side of the world.

What Exactly is the Peace Corps and How Does it Work?

2007-05-14T03:05:00.000Z

This entry is for my friends and family members who have recently heard that I'm going to West Africa with the Peace Corps, but who may not know exactly what the Peace Corps does and how it operates. The Peace Corps is a United States government agency, founded in 1961 to "promote world peace and friendship through the service of American volunteers abroad". Volunteers work in a variety of fields including agriculture, health, community development, information technology, and education. I'll be serving as a secondary science teacher. The Peace Corps tries to operate in relatively stable countries and will evacuate volunteers in the event of civil unrest or violence. Only countries who want Peace Corps programs have them, and each country requests what types of volunteers it would like. There is a science and math teaching program (among others) in Burkina Faso because there are not enough qualified Burkinabe teachers to fill all teaching positions.

Responding to a country's needs for specialized skills is only one of the three goals of the Peace Corps. They are:
"1) To help people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women
2) To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served
3) To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans."

Hopefully this website will help me fulfill the third goal of the Peace Corps once I actually get to Burkina Faso and begin writing about my experiences there.

Here is the time line for volunteers:

1) Apply (average application takes 9-12 months, mine only took 5 months, but married couples can take over a year!): The application is no small feat. It requires an interview, multiple medical examinations, two essays, pages and pages and pages of forms, and lots of patience.

2) Staging: This is a two or three day orientation to the Peace Corps which takes place in the United States. Volunteers receive vaccinations and begin anti-malaria medication if they are headed to a malaria zone. Because volunteers train with a cohort, it gives everyone to meet the people in their training class. The rest of the time is spent learning the details of Peace Corps policies and regulations.

3) Training: A three month period in the country of service when volunteers learn the local language(s), adapt to new cultural practices, and learn whatever technical skills they will need for their job. Most volunteers live with host families during this period to aid in their assimilation. I will do this in Burkina Faso. Volunteers live with separate host families, but everyone with the same job trains together. The other volunteers with me are my "training class".

4) Service: Volunteers serve for two years at a different site than their training. Volunteers typically live alone at their sites, without other volunteers in the same village. The Peace Corps says that this helps volunteers establish closer connections with their communities. I'll spend most of my time teaching during my service, but I'll also work with my community on so-called "secondary projects". These could consist of almost anything that the community needs, for example creating a library at school, updating computers, free English classes/clubs, microfinance groups for women, and many other things.

That's the Peace Corps in a nutshell. For more information visit the official Peace Corps website (in the links to the right). There's even an interactive map of countries where volunteers serve which provided hours of fun for this Peace Corps applicant. Quoted material in this post was taken from the official Peace Corps Volunteer Handbook.

Getting Ready to Leave the Country for Two Years (AKA Ahhh!)

2007-05-08T02:05:00.000Z

I hope not to have too many pointless entries on this site, as I want the main focus to be on the Peace Corps experience and Burkina Faso itself. However, I do feel entitled to write this entry about getting ready to leave because it is quite a daunting task. Not only does one spend hours upon hours contemplating their packing list (how do you pack for two years anyway?), but there's also moving, selling furniture, and in my case, graduating from college.

After going back and forth on many items in my packing list, I've come to the point where I accept the fact that everything I bring might get lost, stolen, or broken. Even more than that, I'll be able to buy things in Burkina; HCN's (that's host country nationals for those of you not up on your Peace Corps lingo) survive there without a lot of the things that we have in the United States, so I should be able to do it too. Right now my packing list has been whittled down quite a bit. Other than clothes, everything else is pretty much a luxury item because the Peace Corps gives volunteers many of the items that they need anyway (sunscreen, water filter, mosquito net, etc). I've found backpacking that you really don't need much to survive. Many things are nice to have, but in the end it's all just stuff.

There's just not enough time to worry about packing every last item that I might need and probably won't end up actually using. Luckily I have sublet my apartment for the rest of the summer and found buyers for all of my furniture. I renewed my driver's license too. The only things left to do are move out of this place, cancel my cell phone contract, and say bye to Madison. Even though I'll miss the city and the university a lot, I think that it's time for a new adventure. It's just hard to know what to expect at this point. Most volunteers say that the best way to approach your Peace Corps experience is to have no expectations, but how could you not spend hours upon hours mindlessly pondering what it will be like, who you will meet, and even what diseases you might catch? At any rate, I guess I'm about to find out.

(Just a note that the Peace Corps does provide extensive medical care. All volunteers receive a lengthy series of every imaginable vaccine as well as anti-malarial medications, all for free. So if I do catch something nasty they will take care of me.)

Welcome to my Peace Corps blog!

2007-05-01T03:33:00.000Z

Welcome to my Peace Corps blog! I will use this site to share my experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in Burkina Faso. Usually at this point in the conversation people ask me where Burkina Faso is. Get out your atlases ladies and gentlemen and begin searching for a small (slightly larger than Colorado) country in West Africa. What will I be doing there? I'll be teaching science in French of course! This is the job description that I received from the Peace Corps:

"As a volunteer in this project, you will work for the Ministry of Secondary and Higher Education, and Scientific Research. Your primary responsibilities will be as follows: 1) provide quality science instruction to students, develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and promote girls' education 2) collaborate with colleagues/counterparts and where possible influence their teaching styles and their attitudes towards gender roles 3) conduct outreach activities to communities and surrounding schools by identifying critical needs and potential resources necessary for their development and by implementing Gender and Development activities."

I'll be leaving the first week of June, only two weeks after I graduate from UW-Madison. Then I will train for three months in Burkina and serve for two years as a volunteer. Check out the links for more information on Burkina Faso.