Slaying the September Sorrows

I have not really been doing all that much, other than relaxing, reading, napping, and getting to know people and Tougouri. Although there are no English speakers here, I believe that my French has deteriorated a little bit in the past few weeks. Because almost none of the functionaries are here yet and most of the village people only speak local languages, I have not been able to use my French all that much. However, my Moore has definitely improved! So, I have begun doing exercises out of a French workbook to continue learning French. Also, JZ, the Burkina PC language coordinator visited me yesterday and he said I was on the right track with French, I just have to go out and talk to people.

September 15^th was the first school administrative meeting of the year. So my Proviseur (principal), Censeur (Vice Principal), Interdit (Bursar), and Surveillant (in charge of discipline) all arrived in Tougouri on the 14^th. Not quite understanding that the meeting was only for the administration and not the teachers, I showed up at 8am on the 15^th ready for a meeting, only to find out more than an hour later (after waiting for the Proviseur to arrive) that I could go home. However, I did talk to the Proviseur about my teaching schedule and it sounds like I will be teaching SVT (biology/geology) and possibly mathematics. However, nothing can be finalized until the other teachers arrive, which may not be until very close to October 1^st, which is the first day of school. So I cannot lesson plan yet, which I had planned on doing during September, but I guess I should be valuing my time off. Because I know that once school starts, I will be very busy lesson planning and working on my French. However, I am ready for school to start, or at least have a planned schedule. I am glad that I am an education volunteer with a regular schedule, because it would be very hard for me to construct my own schedule, such as volunteers in other sectors in Burkina do. I say this now, before school actually starts though, I might have a change of heart…But at the moment, I am ready for a schedule again, perhaps not the grueling schedule of stage, but something more moderate to fill my days.

Thanks to my parents, I recently received a shortwave radio in the mail for my birthday. So now I am no longer disconnected from the rest of the world. Being in village feels a little bit like my short stint at sea, when I sailed from Massachusetts to Trinidad in 6 weeks, with no form of direct communication to the outside world. (We still did hear that the Red Sox won the world series). Many things could happen and I would not know about it. Of course now that everyone has cell phones, word does spread a lot faster than it did only 5 years ago, and the Peace Corps does keep its volunteers well informed of any sort of security issue (such as flooding a few weeks ago). So I am not completely cut off. But sometimes it does feel like it. And that is when I text a friend. Oh the joys of cell phones…Now all I need is electricity and running water and I could be in America!

And now a few pictures

My "toilet"

Bedroom, with newly painted yellow walls. What you cannot see is that only 2 of the walls got painted, because I ran out of paint. Also there is a nice white strip at the top of the walls because I could not reach the top.

Cooking corner

Living/dining room

My humble abode

My courtyard, with my house on the right

Eloise and her kittens

New (Same) Address

Because I have been getting questions about my mailing address here in Burkina and whether it is going to change now that I am a volunteer, I wanted to let you know that it is the same, but with "PCV" after my name instead of "PCT."

So it is:
Emma Prasher, PCV
s/c Corps de la Paix
01 B.P. 6031
Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso
West Africa

So I will be looking forward to a bunch of letters at my new/old address! hahaha.

One Week In

I have been at site exactly one week from today. It has been different that I expected but it definitely started off well because I did not run after the PC vehicle to come get me right after it dropped me off. Affectation was pretty low-key and I was very ready to be on my own. I spent the first few days completely cleaning my house, which involved moving everything inside outside, sweeping, and mopping the house, before replacing everything to get rid of bugs and dirt. I have also bug bombed my house two times already, as I do not like insects, especially large crawling ones, inside my house. And I have already killed my fair share of cockroackes (be proud Papa, I didn’t even scream when one crawled across my foot). After getting myself situated in my house, I went out and greeted my neighbors and some of the important people in town. It was pretty awkward, as I didn’t know what to say other than hello, my name, and what I am doing here. As I am the 3rd SE volunteer in Tougouri, most people understand what I am doing here and have been expecting me, which is actually very comforting.

Now, about my house; I live in a courtyard with 6 other houses, called a celebratarium. My house, only a year old, is made of concrete (better than mud- fewer bugs) with a tin roof (I wear ear plugs when it rains because it is so loud) with 2 rooms: a bedroom and a kitchen/dining room, with an outdoor latrine and shower area. My house is small, but it is all mine (which I share with my cat Eloise-more on her later) and I really do not need much space at all. Already, I have found that I spend the majority of my time outside on the porch anyway. Currently, there is only one other inhabited house in the courtyard- a new family moved in the day after I did, but they are in Ouaga at the moment. The people who live in the other houses will move in closer to October, as it is still vacation and Tougouri is not their home village.

So I must admit that it is a bit lonely at the moment. However, I have been making an effort to leave my courtyard at least once a day to go to the marche, buy bread, or go greet people. Yesterday I had lunch with the nuns in Tougs and I like them already. Still, I am awkward at chatting with people, one because of language barriers, and two because I am not good at small talk, even in English. So after saying hello to people, I usually sit there I silence, because I do not have anything to say. I am sure (or I hope) that in time I will feel more comfortable, but it takes just that, time. And time is what I seem to have a lot of at the moment. My school’s director is not here yet, so I have not set up my teaching schedule and therefore cannot lesson plan yet. Instead, I have been reading a lot and taking lots of naps. Also, because the sun sets before 7pm and I have no electricity and nothing really urgent to do, I have been going to bed around 7/730pm every night. This means that I have been waking up around 5am with the roosters and donkeys. Nevertheless, I am definitely getting my beauty sleep. It has been raining a lot, thankfully keeping the temperature down, so I have been sleeping inside more nights than not. I’m sure that will change when the rains stop and the temperature heats up again, but I am enjoying it while it lasts! However, the storms 3 days ago caused a lot of flooding in the area, and all over Burkina, washing out many roads and leaving thousands homeless. It is hard to remember that when I am enjoying my cool night’s sleep, others are watching their homes get washed away. I am definitely thankful for what I have!
Speaking of having things, I also now have 2 kittens! The pregnant cat, Eloise, who I inherited from Becca, the volunteer I replaced, is no longer pregnant and is instead the proud mother of two. The kittens are too young to play with at moment, but I am hoping they will emerge from under my bed soon (Eloise’s ‘den’). Right now I just hear lots of little “mewing” noises.

So that is about it for my first week at site. Admittedly, I did not think I would be going to the internet already, but another volunteer, Mike, suggested that we meet up in Kaya (our regional capital) for the day. So here I am! And I am glad I took him up on the suggestion, as I am going a little stir crazy in my empty courtyard. So until next time, take care!

September 4, 2009
I have been at site exactly one week from today. It has been different that I expected but it definitely started off well because I did not run after the PC vehicle to come get me right after it dropped me off. Affectation was pretty low-key and I was very ready to be on my own. I spent the first few days completely cleaning my house, which involved moving everything inside outside, sweeping, and mopping the house, before replacing everything to get rid of bugs and dirt. I have also bug bombed my house two times already, as I do not like insects, especially large crawling ones, inside my house. And I have already killed my fair share of cockroackes (be proud Papa, I didn’t even scream when one crawled across my foot). After getting myself situated in my house, I went out and greeted my neighbors and some of the important people in town. It was pretty awkward, as I didn’t know what to say other than hello, my name, and what I am doing here. As I am the 3rd SE volunteer in Tougouri, most people understand what I am doing here and have been expecting me, which is actually very comforting.
Now, about my house; I live in a courtyard with 6 other houses, called a celebratarium. My house, only a year old, is made of concrete (better than mud- fewer bugs) with a tin roof (I wear ear plugs when it rains because it is so loud) with 2 rooms: a bedroom and a kitchen/dining room, with an outdoor latrine and shower area. My house is small, but it is all mine (which I share with my cat Eloise-more on her later) and I really do not need much space at all. Already, I have found that I spend the majority of my time outside on the porch anyway. Currently, there is only one other inhabited house in the courtyard- a new family moved in the day after I did, but they are in Ouaga at the moment. The people who live in the other houses will move in closer to October, as it is still vacation and Tougouri is not their home village.
So I must admit that it is a bit lonely at the moment. However, I have been making an effort to leave my courtyard at least once a day to go to the marche, buy bread, or go greet people. Yesterday I had lunch with the nuns in Tougs and I like them already. Still, I am awkward at chatting with people, one because of language barriers, and two because I am not good at small talk, even in English. So after saying hello to people, I usually sit there I silence, because I do not have anything to say. I am sure (or I hope) that in time I will feel more comfortable, but it takes just that, time. And time is what I seem to have a lot of at the moment. My school’s director is not here yet, so I have not set up my teaching schedule and therefore cannot lesson plan yet. Instead, I have been reading a lot and taking lots of naps. Also, because the sun sets before 7pm and I have no electricity and nothing really urgent to do, I have been going to bed around 7/730pm every night. This means that I have been waking up around 5am with the roosters and donkeys. Nevertheless, I am definitely getting my beauty sleep. It has been raining a lot, thankfully keeping the temperature down, so I have been sleeping inside more nights than not. I’m sure that will change when the rains stop and the temperature heats up again, but I am enjoying it while it lasts! However, the storms 3 days ago caused a lot of flooding in the area, and all over Burkina, washing out many roads and leaving thousands homeless. It is hard to remember that when I am enjoying my cool night’s sleep, others are watching their homes get washed away. I am definitely thankful for what I have!
Speaking of having things, I also now have 2 kittens! The pregnant cat, Eloise, who I inherited from Becca, the volunteer I replaced, is no longer pregnant and is instead the proud mother of two. The kittens are too young to play with at moment, but I am hoping they will emerge from under my bed soon (Eloise’s ‘den’). Right now I just hear lots of little “mewing” noises.

So that is about it for my first week at site. Admittedly, I did not think I would be going to the internet already, but another volunteer, Mike, suggested that we meet up in Kaya (our regional capital) for the day. So here I am! And I am glad I took him up on the suggestion, as I am going a little stir crazy in my empty courtyard. So until next time, take care!

Swear-In Ceremony

I am now an official Peace Corps Volunteer, as of last night, August 25, 2009. I am also a year older, as of August 24, 2009 (thanks for all the birthday wishes!). The swear-in ceremony was last night at the ambassador’s residence, at which 32 of the initial 32 people who started training in June got sworn-in as official PCVs. So all of us have made it through training! The past few days in Ouaga have been glorious, mostly due to the feasting of wonderful food that has been occurring. I chose a great time to be born, because in Ouaga I have been able to eat pizza, ice cream, and hamburgers. Other than eating a lot, I have been spending my time shopping for site. Because I am a replacement site, I get life pretty easy because I will inherit many things from previous volunteers at my site, such as a stove, bed, furniture, and mattress. Because I am inheriting a basically furnished house, I do not have to buy many items for moving to site, unlike volunteers who are at new sites, who have to furnish their houses from scratch. Therefore, I have spent a majority of my move-in allowance on food for site, such as olive oil and oatmeal, purchased at one of the two grocery stores in Burkina. I also bought a thin mattress for a cot, which apparently a lot of volunteers prefer over a bed for sleeping, due to the heat. Right now, I am very glad that I am a replacement site, because things are very easy for me this week, while other volunteers have been stressing out about getting everything for site. However, once at site, I might wish I was at a new site, because I very easily might be compared to the previous volunteers for months. So we will see….

The swear-in ceremony was last night and many people got affectated to their sites this morning. It was very sad to leave the people who have become my best friends in the last few months. It is especially difficult because these people have become my family and due to living in completely different parts of the country, I may not see some of them for months. Although most people left for site this morning, I am staying in Ouaga with several other volunteers until Friday, when Peace Corps transport will take me to my site.

I must admit that now that swear-in is over, I am getting more nervous about getting to site and being all alone. I contacted my counterpart (my advisor at site who is a teacher at my school) this morning and found out that she will not be at site when I arrive on Friday. So I am a little anxious about getting to site and not knowing anybody and having to go around and greet all of the people in town by myself. However, many people (functionaries) will not be in village until at least half-way through September because it is still vacances, during which functionaries travel to their home villages or to Ouaga. So I am hoping that my counterpart arrives in Tougouri before too long. I also hope that my school director comes to site soon, because I would like to get my teaching schedule straight and begin lesson planning, which I know is going to take some time. However, I have been told not to expect my director before September 15^th which means no lesson planning for at least two weeks, therefore I am going to have TONS of free time. To keep myself busy and not go crazy while not speaking to any Americans for a whole month, I plan on giving my house a thorough cleaning and of course bug bombing my house, painting my bedroom yellow (I bought paint and paintbrushes today), reading a bunch of books (I borrowed 10 books from the transit house library today), getting back onto a running schedule, and of course getting to know my village and community I will be living in for the next two years. So I know it seems as if I will be busy for the next month, I have a feeling that there will be a lot of down time and I will be taking many naps, which I am not complaining about. Also, because I am leaving for site, I will not have internet access at site, so I am not sure when I will be updating next. In order to use the internet, I have to come into a larger city, either my regional capital or Ouaga. I do not see myself wanting to go that long without internet and contact with the rest of the world, but volunteers are discouraged from leaving site for the first three months, because those months are very important for integration. However, that being said, I do not plan on leaving site all that often, but I have a feeling I will be going stir-crazy before too long. So we will see how long it is before I need to get away. Therefore, do not be alarmed if I do not update until next month, I am fine, but am just busy integrating!

The whole group

Those of us in the Northeast of Burkina

One Week Until Swear-In!

I have only one week until swear-in! Yay! I have been doing pretty much the same thing this past week: model school in the mornings and language and cross-cultural classes in the afternoons. Today I gave my second test, which was a little silly after only having a week of classes. However, we need to learn how to calculate grades, which is difficult to do with only one test. So everyone had to administer another test this week. For the rest of the week I have a pretty light workload, as tomorrow is test corrections and Friday is a party for the last day of model school. Then we leave for Ouaga this weekend to become real volunteers!

The highlight of last week was the cooking session, where we learned about cooking Burkina style. Each person was given 1000 CFA (the equivalent of 2 US dollars) and we had to prepare a full meal. My group decided to make banana bread, creamy garlic mashed potatoes, salad, and crepes for dessert. I was full and actually satisfied after that meal for the first time in weeks!

Bovard is very happy with our creations

Trying the banana bread batter that we put in our crepes with honey

Gwen and I finally meet!

Our very large and delicious salad!

The Salle de Profs at model school, as you can see everyone is working hard aka playing cards

I am ready for stage to be done, but as the days to swear-in get closer, I get a little more scared day by day to be all alone at site, but I think I can do it! I am ready!

A Rough Week

Model school has been going well, but I have been having a little bit of issues dealing with cultural differences. Here, women are considered lower than the men; men are allowed to eat first, talk first, basically do everything first. Women do basically all of the work around the house, which is one reason why boys continue in school while girls drop out to do housework. However, times are changing, especially in the more urban areas. Nevertheless, girls still do most, if not all, of the chores. Last week we did an activity with the students, in which the girls and boys were broken into two different groups and were asked to write out a daily calendar of activities for both boys and girls. It was very clear when both groups came together that the girls were awake more hours than the boys and in that time spent many more hours working, while the boys played soccer and hung out with friends. And these are mostly children of educated functionaries (civil servants).

Also, there is a hierarchy within the family, the father first, then either the mother or the sons, and then the daughters. It sometimes seems that I have been more integrated into my host family than I wanted. Not that I am asked to spend all of my free hours cooking or cleaning or getting water, but it seems sometimes that my parents assume that what is mine is also theres, as if I really was a member of their family. I do thank them so much for taking me into their family and for caring for me, but I am not a rich American (despite what many Burkinabe think about all Americans) and do not have that much stuff here. The other day I spent more money than I should have to buy ingredients to make no-bake cookies (I was craving something sweet). So I came home and made the cookies, with the ingredients that I bought, and shared them with my family. I then told my mother than I wanted to save the rest to give away tomorrow. But then when I wake up in the morning, my mother has eaten them. I was not very happy, but let it go. So yesterday I made some more cookies and again asked my mom to not eat them because I wanted them for tomorrow. And then I went looking for them this morning and they were gone and my mother wouldn’t really answer me about what happened to them. So that was a little frustrating. Then, my mother had requested last weekend that I cook lunch today, which I am more than happy to do. However, as I was leaving for the marche, she asked if I was paying and I said no, because I do not have much money, and she did not seem very happy with my answer. It is just trying at times because I know my family is getting paid a fair amount of money to feed me and then they want me to buy food to feed the whole family? I do not really understand it and therefore I feel as if there is some tension at home at the moment and I do not want there to be. But at the same time, I do not really know what to do to fix it and to prove that not all Americans are rich and my things are not my families (aka it is not polite to demand candy when I get a care package). But I am working through this…I hope.

Anyway, I think this is a time for a shout-out. I would really like to say thank you to everyone who has been keeping in touch with me. It really means so much to me! So thank you parents for calling me every weekend- you have no idea how I look forward to those phone calls. And of course thanks for sending me those things that I left at home (I wish we had a better packing list). Thanks to Cate and Mother Burgess for sending me monthly care packages. I just got the second one and almost cried I was so happy! And thanks to everyone who has been commenting on my blog and facebook and to those who have been emailing me. I’ve also had some great conversations chatting on the computer with Theresa and Sarah. And Kentai even called me last week!!! Woot woot!!!! These simple things matter so much, so if you have time to write me a quick letter and send me a line, I would really appreciate it (and you might get a pretty sweet card from Africa in return). I also want to say sorry to my friends (and sister) who have gone abroad and I failed to email, call, or send a letter to you. I now know how it feels to be cut off from family and friends and it is hard! (or maybe I am just a homebody who needs her friends around at all times, haha). I really just do not want to lose contact with those I care about in the U.S., but it is a little challenging at times to be the one initiating contact from a third world country. So thanks to everyone I have heard from and I look forward to hearing from everyone else! Miss you guys.