The Commencement of Peace Corps Year 2

So, I know I haven’t written a blog in a while. I’d like to say it’s because I’ve been incredibly busy and I haven’t had the time, but actually it’s because Africa got my electronics. Not only my computer, but my camera broke at the same time. Thankfully, my computer just needed cleaning (the inside was completely full of dust and dirt. The technician said it was the dirtiest computer he’d ever seen ha.), but my camera’s still down for the count, so for the time being, no more pictures :)

The first thing I want to say is THANK YOU! My library project was funded in less than 2 weeks! I was nervous that it wouldn’t get funded or it would take too long that I wouldn’t be able to finish it before I left this country, but thanks to all my family and friends out there, it was completely funded in record timing! I’ve received a list of donors for my project, and I’d like to say a special thanks to these people:

Becky D… or should I say Rebecca Lowe 
Amy & Jeff Burroughs
Ben Morton
Verena Koller
Tim Coull
MSE
Bob Schiltz & Jean Bigger

I literally would not have been able to do this project without you! I’m happy to say that yesterday I received the money, so the project will be able to start today! I know other people sent in donations, but they weren’t received in time, so thank you everyone else who donated! Your money will go towards funding other Peace Corps’ volunteer projects.

Next big topic: the fair. As many of you know (… or maybe you don’t ha), in September, we organized a big fair to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps, and the 50th anniversary of Burkina Faso, which happened to fall on the same year. Each volunteer in the country (now there are about 150!) came together to showcase our work across the country. It was interesting to see all of the work that other volunteers are doing. There was everything from traditional fabric to dancing to jewelry and clothes to nutritious plants… anything you could think of, it was there! (I’d also like to mention that I spent a significant amount of time shopping for presents, so a lot of you will be receiving a nice little present in the mail.)

I brought a jeweler from Orodara that I’ve been working with. He handcrafts silver jewelry. It was really fun because I was able to help him figure out how to market his jewelry to tourists and visitors. I also taught him about bookkeeping and accounting. Although I really know nothing about money and only took Business 101 at the university, I was able to teach him an incredible amount about money management. As Americans, we learn things and pick up information throughout our lives that we never even realize, and probably take for granted. At the fair, he was able to meet the 1st lady of Burkina, the prime minister, and the Ambassador to America, and not to mention, we were on TV a few times as well. This is a pretty big deal to a small town artisan who has never attended school a day in his life.

As I’m sure many of you have assumed this, but another school year has started. We started school at the beginning of October. This year, I cut down the number of hours I am teaching so that I can focus on other projects. I am only teaching 10 hours (which is actually the new Peace Corps maximum for education volunteers) of English. I have 2 sections of the same grade… a grade roughly equivalent to 7th grade. Teaching this year is going much smoother than last year. I restructured the curriculum (because the old one didn’t make sense), and came up with new ways to motivate the students. Also, my French has improved significantly, which makes everything easier.

That’s all the updates for now. Hopefully, I can figure out what’s wrong with my camera and repair that so pictures will come soon.