Site Announcements

This week we found out where we’re going to live for the next two years! I have been placed in Tougouri, a medium sized village in the north of Burkina Faso. Tougouri is directly on a paved road (yay!) about midway between Kaya and Dori, two larger cities. Kaya is my regional capital, but Dori to the north, is apparently famous for its traditional blankets that are required for the week-long cold season. Being on a paved road will make transport very easy; instead of biking for kilometers or taxing a very bumpy bush taxi ride, I can just hop on a bus for an easy ride to the cities. Tougouri is almost in Sahel, which is the beginning of the Sahara desert and therefore, will be very hot hot hot. I have a feeling that Tougouri will be very different from the green and lush south, but I asked to be placed where the PC needs me, so I am very happy. However, life will be at the mercy of the rain, which I am already coming to cherish here. Droughts often affect the food availability, and the nice local Tougouri marche has onions all year round and tomatoes most of the year. So I will be eating very well indeed. I will be teaching at the Lycee de Tougouri, which has about 900 students and the local language spoken is Moore, so the little Moore I know will be helpful when I visit my site next week with my counterpart.