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So, we’ve moved for the 5th time since being in this country. It’s getting a little tiring living out of a bag, so I was happy when we finally moved to our current training site. I also received my new host family, which for the count is my 4th host family in West Africa. Like my site, I lucked out. Because there are 80 people in my stage, it was difficult to find 80 new host families in a week. So we’re living with another stagiare for the rest of home stay. Luckily, I got a good roommate!
My new host mom works as a health agent, which I think is kind of like a nurse, and my host dad does the budget for the mayor’s office. They have 2 younger children and 2 extended family members who live here as well. In Burkina, it’s normal for extended family to live together. It is often time younger girls who will do the work for the family, like cleaning, cooking, and laundry. This is especially common in families where the mom works.
Our first night here, the family turned on the TV and started flipping through the channels. Then, they stopped at MTV and watched “Run’s House”. I couldn’t believe it! Then they flipped over to CNN so we could watch the news. At the same time, my host dad was surfing the internet… here, in the house! This never happens! I think we have stepped out of Peace Corps and are now in Posh Corps!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
“The Place of Excellent Fruit”
One of the most exciting times of stage is site announcement, which is when you find out your home for the next two years. The trainers drew a huge map of Burkina on the ground with stars marking our future sites. I stood there blind-folded imagining what type of site I will have, and I couldn’t help but think of my little village in Guinea. For those of you who don’t remember, I lived in an extremely small village in a mud hut without electricity or running water. This was pretty much the stereotypical Peace Corps experience. The life there was easy, but I was really hoping to get some amenities in my new site.
So, back to the Burkina map. The trainers led us one by one to our future sites, still blind folded. I was trying to determine how far I walked to guess where my site would be, and peak out the side of my blind fold to see who my future neighbors would be. Then, the grand reveal! My future site is …
“The Place of Excellent Fruit”!
At this point I would tell you the name of my town, but because of security reasons, we are not allowed to publish this. But, my new site could not be more different (in a good way) from my site in Guinea. I live in a decent size town, and will have 2 sitemates (other Peace Corps volunteers in the same town as me). I live in the part of the country where it rains a lot, so the climate is much cooler and everything is green. Also, as the name would suggest, there is fruit everyday, for the entire year… oranges, bananas, mangoes! Yum! And exciting news, I not only have electricity, but running water! I have an entire bathroom, including a working toilet and shower! Yayy! When you walk into my house, there is a large salon (like a living room and kitchen combined). Then, there is my room and a guest room (Mom & Dad get ready!)
In my town, there is everything I could need. I have a small daily market, and a huge market every Saturday. There are boutiques that sell everything from cold drinks to yogurt to toilet paper. Like I said, everything I need haha.
When I was there, an older woman adopted me as her child then fed me dinner. She brought out catepillars and rice... welcome to Burkina haha.
There are 3 high schools in my town. I will be working at the Lycee Municipal, which is the small high school for students who live in my town. Unfortunately, because it’s smaller, there are less resources available. I will be teaching biology, math and english. My sitemate will be teaching at the other high school, Lycee Provinicial, which is a huge school for students who live in surrounding areas. His school just got a grant to purchase their first 10 computers, so he will be teaching IT there.
In the region that my site is in, there are also a lot of great things. There are waterfalls, lakes with hippo tours, and huge mountains for hiking. And, I only live one hour from a huge city. So, all in all, I think I got a great site! I’m so excited about living there.
A small side note: This is not related to my site, but is really exciting. Burkina has the largest elephant population in West Africa! One of the volunteers in my group is living down in the eastern part of the country, which is literally on a wildlife preserve. He was in a taxi driving to his site, when the taxi stopped and he didn’t know why. He looked up and there was a herd of elephants crossing the road!
So, back to the Burkina map. The trainers led us one by one to our future sites, still blind folded. I was trying to determine how far I walked to guess where my site would be, and peak out the side of my blind fold to see who my future neighbors would be. Then, the grand reveal! My future site is …
“The Place of Excellent Fruit”!
At this point I would tell you the name of my town, but because of security reasons, we are not allowed to publish this. But, my new site could not be more different (in a good way) from my site in Guinea. I live in a decent size town, and will have 2 sitemates (other Peace Corps volunteers in the same town as me). I live in the part of the country where it rains a lot, so the climate is much cooler and everything is green. Also, as the name would suggest, there is fruit everyday, for the entire year… oranges, bananas, mangoes! Yum! And exciting news, I not only have electricity, but running water! I have an entire bathroom, including a working toilet and shower! Yayy! When you walk into my house, there is a large salon (like a living room and kitchen combined). Then, there is my room and a guest room (Mom & Dad get ready!)
In my town, there is everything I could need. I have a small daily market, and a huge market every Saturday. There are boutiques that sell everything from cold drinks to yogurt to toilet paper. Like I said, everything I need haha.
When I was there, an older woman adopted me as her child then fed me dinner. She brought out catepillars and rice... welcome to Burkina haha.
There are 3 high schools in my town. I will be working at the Lycee Municipal, which is the small high school for students who live in my town. Unfortunately, because it’s smaller, there are less resources available. I will be teaching biology, math and english. My sitemate will be teaching at the other high school, Lycee Provinicial, which is a huge school for students who live in surrounding areas. His school just got a grant to purchase their first 10 computers, so he will be teaching IT there.
In the region that my site is in, there are also a lot of great things. There are waterfalls, lakes with hippo tours, and huge mountains for hiking. And, I only live one hour from a huge city. So, all in all, I think I got a great site! I’m so excited about living there.
A small side note: This is not related to my site, but is really exciting. Burkina has the largest elephant population in West Africa! One of the volunteers in my group is living down in the eastern part of the country, which is literally on a wildlife preserve. He was in a taxi driving to his site, when the taxi stopped and he didn’t know why. He looked up and there was a herd of elephants crossing the road!
Friday, July 9, 2010
New Contact Info
So for the time being, I have cell phone reception, and would really love phone calls :) I know it's rather expensive to call Africa haha, but I believe skype is rather cheap. Talk to my parents to find out how to use it! Anyway, here's my new info:
Phone Number: (226- Country Code) 74 29 03 18
Skype: sara.burroughs1
I'm 4 hours ahead (of PA time).
Phone Number: (226- Country Code) 74 29 03 18
Skype: sara.burroughs1
I'm 4 hours ahead (of PA time).
Sunday, July 4, 2010
An All Too Familiar Situation…
Training in Ouahigouya was going along pretty well. We were in the process of peer teaching and learning French. I was supposed to begin my local language training, Jula, this week. Then… I found myself in an all too familiar situation.
We (all the stagiares) were called to a community meeting, which normally would not be alarming, but in this case, they started off taking roll… of all 100 people. Then, the Safety & Security Officer of Peace Corps/Burkina Faso walked in and said he had an important announcement. I knew nothing good was coming. They announced that a warden message from the state department was issued for Burkina. You can read the message below:
U.S. Embassy Ouagadougou issued the following Warden Message on June 7:
The U.S. Embassy in Ouagadougou is issuing this Warden Message to update U.S. citizens resident in Burkina Faso on the security situation in northern Burkina Faso. This is a further update to the information relayed on June 5, 2010.
The U.S. Embassy has information that Al Qa’ida in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) plans to kidnap an unspecified group of U.S. citizens working on a humanitarian project in a village located in northeastern Burkina Faso near the Mali-Niger-Burkina Faso borders. In addition, the U.S. Embassy has declared the area north of the road stretching from Djibo to Dori off limits to official government travelers unless prior authorization for such travel is expressly given. U.S. citizens are strongly urged to avoid travel to this region.
They continued on to say that we would be evacuated from Ouahigouya to the capital, Ouagadougou immediately. EVACUATED?!?!?!? Again?? Yes! I know! This is a little too much for me (and Ali & Zach, the other Guinea evacuee’s who are with me here) to handle. We all started crying. This says a lot considering that all three of us went through this once before and never cried. It sucks.
We were locked down in a secure place in Ouahigouya for the night… without any of our things. We left straight from training so the most useful (… or useless) thing I had with me was my French Dictionary and a bottle of sunscreen. Damn. So for the next four days I (nor none of the other stagiares) had deodorant, soap, or a toothbrush. It was a long … and smelly 3 hour bus ride to the capital. The Peace Corps drivers were supposed to go around to all of our houses to collect our belongings. I hoped all my things would make it to me, but was prepared for nothing to make it. I’m happy to announce that all my things made it!
I am now living safely and comfortably in a hotel in Ouagadougou for an unknown amount of time. They say that we will continue our training here this week, which looks hopeful for the stagiares. The Peace Corps/Burkina Faso staff and Country Director are highly qualified and competant. They are devoted to our safety and I feel secure in placing my security in their hands. This threat only affects a small region of Burkina Faso, which, obviously, is off limits to all Peace Corps volunteers. I’m hoping this will only be a small bump in the road, and we will be able to continue training as scheduled.
On a brighter note… the staff is throwing us a 4th of July party tomorrow! There will be swimming, hamburgers and cake… a real American holiday hahah. I am looking forward to this!
In other news, this whole situation, obviously, reminded me of Guinea. So, I would like to announce that they, peacefully, held their primary presidential elections yesterday. There were 2 front runners chosen and the main elections are scheduled for a month from now. Hopefully these continue without any problems… inshallah.
We (all the stagiares) were called to a community meeting, which normally would not be alarming, but in this case, they started off taking roll… of all 100 people. Then, the Safety & Security Officer of Peace Corps/Burkina Faso walked in and said he had an important announcement. I knew nothing good was coming. They announced that a warden message from the state department was issued for Burkina. You can read the message below:
U.S. Embassy Ouagadougou issued the following Warden Message on June 7:
The U.S. Embassy in Ouagadougou is issuing this Warden Message to update U.S. citizens resident in Burkina Faso on the security situation in northern Burkina Faso. This is a further update to the information relayed on June 5, 2010.
The U.S. Embassy has information that Al Qa’ida in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) plans to kidnap an unspecified group of U.S. citizens working on a humanitarian project in a village located in northeastern Burkina Faso near the Mali-Niger-Burkina Faso borders. In addition, the U.S. Embassy has declared the area north of the road stretching from Djibo to Dori off limits to official government travelers unless prior authorization for such travel is expressly given. U.S. citizens are strongly urged to avoid travel to this region.
They continued on to say that we would be evacuated from Ouahigouya to the capital, Ouagadougou immediately. EVACUATED?!?!?!? Again?? Yes! I know! This is a little too much for me (and Ali & Zach, the other Guinea evacuee’s who are with me here) to handle. We all started crying. This says a lot considering that all three of us went through this once before and never cried. It sucks.
We were locked down in a secure place in Ouahigouya for the night… without any of our things. We left straight from training so the most useful (… or useless) thing I had with me was my French Dictionary and a bottle of sunscreen. Damn. So for the next four days I (nor none of the other stagiares) had deodorant, soap, or a toothbrush. It was a long … and smelly 3 hour bus ride to the capital. The Peace Corps drivers were supposed to go around to all of our houses to collect our belongings. I hoped all my things would make it to me, but was prepared for nothing to make it. I’m happy to announce that all my things made it!
I am now living safely and comfortably in a hotel in Ouagadougou for an unknown amount of time. They say that we will continue our training here this week, which looks hopeful for the stagiares. The Peace Corps/Burkina Faso staff and Country Director are highly qualified and competant. They are devoted to our safety and I feel secure in placing my security in their hands. This threat only affects a small region of Burkina Faso, which, obviously, is off limits to all Peace Corps volunteers. I’m hoping this will only be a small bump in the road, and we will be able to continue training as scheduled.
On a brighter note… the staff is throwing us a 4th of July party tomorrow! There will be swimming, hamburgers and cake… a real American holiday hahah. I am looking forward to this!
In other news, this whole situation, obviously, reminded me of Guinea. So, I would like to announce that they, peacefully, held their primary presidential elections yesterday. There were 2 front runners chosen and the main elections are scheduled for a month from now. Hopefully these continue without any problems… inshallah.
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