Posts
As a Peace Corps volunteer in Burkina, I ride my bike… a lot. We go through a few sessions of bike maintenance and bike safety. The most important things are always wear your helmet, and always signal when turning. Since I haven’t been on a bike since I was about 12 when I had a purple sparkly bike, I made sure to always follow the rules and pay attention when I’m biking. After about 2 months here, biking around on dirt roads, I was getting pretty confident on my bike and becoming a pretty good biker. Or so I thought…
A few days ago, after a long day of teaching and classes, I left the school and headed towards a nearby restaurant to celebrate the birthday of a fellow trainee. (Let me preface this by saying that as a part of our training, we have to give a 15 minute presentation in French about a cultural aspect here. I chose to give my presentation on traditional medicine vs. modern medicine in Burkina. After interviewing a few people, I found out that people who practice tradition medicine mainly treat using different parts of plants. Being a biology major, I was really excited about learning about the different types of plants here and what their uses are.) So back to me biking down the road, I was riding near a part of town where there are a lot of trees and plants, and so I was looking at the plants and thinking about what their possible uses are, and trying to remember what they looked like so I could look them up in my traditional medicine book when I got home. I was approaching the turn to the restaurant and signaled like a good biker… or at least I thought I did. So I’m turning left when a moto swerves around me and WHAM! I’m hit! My bike flew to the right, and I flew to the left. I hopped up really quick, made sure my glasses weren’t broken, and then checked out the rest of me. I had some nice scratches on my knees and my hand, but nothing was bleeding too badly. I decided I was ok, and after convincing the other trainees who witnessed my mini accident that I was ok, we continued to the restaurant for the birthday.
I’m there for about an hour or so, and realize that my elbow really hurts and is starting to swell. I decide its time to head home. I ice it and wrap it for the night hoping it would be better in the morning. Well, I woke up in the middle of night with it really hurting and couldn’t fall back asleep. The next morning, my elbow still swollen and in pain, I realized I should call the doctor. Luckily, he happened to be at our training site that day. He takes one look and it and says I need an x-ray immediately. Crap. All I can think about is the other trainee who was recently medically evacuated to South Africa for a similar incident involving his elbow and a bike. I don’t want to be evacuated. I want to swear in with the other trainees.
I head off to Ouagadougou, the capital, with our doctor to get my x-ray. I walk into the Peace Corps med unit when I hear, “Holy crap, Sara!” Who do I know here? I look over, and it’s Phil and Dylan (my fellow volunteers from Guinea)! They were coincidentally in the med unit at the same time as I was! This was a nice little surprise and comfort to see people I know. After quickly saying hi, I was off to the radiologist for my x-ray. I went by myself, which I was a little nervous about. But, I successfully got an x-ray and received the results from the doctor… all in French! This whole thing took about 45 minutes, and I found out that my elbow is fine. I have to wrap it and wear a sling for a few days (so embarrassing!), but after that, I’ll be good as new! Yay!
When I get back to the med unit, I meet back up with Phil and Dylan, who I think felt bad for me, and took me out for some pizza! So, all in all, I got a nice little vacation away from training, some pizza, and got to see my old friends… getting hit by a moto wasn’t so bad after all.
I learned a few lessons from this whole experience. One, there is a reason I haven’t done one physical activity or sport in my 24 years of life… because the one time I do, I get hit my a moto. Two, I now know how to wrap my left arm with only one hand. And three, sometimes signaling just isn’t enough.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Sabou & the Sacred Crocodiles
The last few weeks are the most intense part of our training, practice school. We teach for a few hours each day at a summer school. I have been teaching math and biology. Friday was our last day of practice school! Woohoo! Normally, we have 4 hours of language class on Saturdays, but yesterday, they decided to take us on a little field trip to celebrate our hard work and the end of practice school. They announced that we were going to feed crocodiles…
I really didn’t know what to expect from this. I’ve been to the zoo and paid a quarter to feed the ducks or an occasional camel, but crocodiles were on a whole different level. We arrive at the crocodile place, which was basically a huge lake surrounded by some marshy wetlands and trees. There was a place to eat lunch, and naturally, the touristy shops. The first thing I noticed when stepping off of the bus was that all the workers there had some type of deformity or handicap in their feet. Of course, the first thing I think is that they were attacked by the crocs. This makes me a little nervous, but I follow the group down to the lake.
Now, if this were America (if only I had a dime for every time I said that phrase), there would be a clear separation between us and the crocs, but we walked right up to the edge of the water. I’m looking into this lake when all of a sudden, about 10 feet away from me, I see a croc peak it’s head and eyes up out of the water. It was like something you would see on a movie… a horror movie haha. Now, I’m still a little wary of these crocs, so I step back… behind the rest of the trainees ha. Next thing I know, the man in charge of the crocs heads out into the middle of the lake with a dead chicken died to a string. He starts swinging it around in the water until a croc gets close enough that he can grab it. Yes, I said grab it. A wild croc. With his bare hands. He gets a hold of the tail and starts dragging it out of the water towards us. He puts the croc down in front of us, and announces that we can go touch it now. It started with our brave trainers, and then slowly progressed to some of the trainees. For most of the time, the crocodile would just sit there while all us took our turn touching it. The man in charge of the croc would swing the chicken near its face, presumably to distract it from the thought of eating us haha. Everyone few minutes, the croc would get angry and snap towards someone, or try to head back into the water.
After the novelty and this croc wore off, one of the kids in my group asked jokingly if he could sit on top of a crocodile and ride it. We all laughed, when to our surprise, the man in charge says yes, he can arrange that. He’ll go catch “le vieux” aka “the old one”. We were all shocked as we watched him put the first croc back into the water, then head back into the crocodile infested lake, with the chicken in hand, to catch the old crocodile. A few minutes later, sure enough, he’s dragging out a much larger, older crocodile. He plops it down in front of us, and says we can sit on it. Once again, I’m thinking hell no. All I can picture is me trying to sit on the croc, and that’s the end of my right hand.
After about an hour of so of poking and sitting on the poor crocs, we’re finished and we head up to eat lunch. At this point, the man in charge of the crocodiles tells us their story. First, let me start off my saying that there’s a common joke among Burkinabe that, “50% of them are Muslim, 50% are Christian, but 100% are Animists.” Obviously, the numbers are a little off, but the point is that most people here are animists. Ok, so the croc story. So along time ago, the crocodiles lived about 5 kilometers away from their current town. One day, the founder of the town where the crocodiles currently live, Sabou, caught on fire. Luckily, the crocodiles were around and they saved his life by putting out the fire. After that, the crocs were moved to Sabou, and have lived in the same lake for over 100 years. He said there is a relationship between the crocodiles and the humans. The crocodiles saved the founder’s life, so now the people of the town care for the crocodiles. Every year, they make a sacrifice to the crocodiles to keep them happy. He didn’t say what the sacrifice was, but I would think that it would be a chicken, or other small animal. He said it’s ok to go swimming in the crocodile lake because the crocodiles and humans are friends. (There are 100+ crocs in the lake… this is not a theory I would want to test out!). He also said that during the dry season, the crocodiles will leave the lake and venture out into the town. If you happen to find a crocodile in your house, which apparently is common, you feed it a chicken and it’s good luck for the family.
Later that night, when I return home to my host family, I ask them about the sacred crocodiles. They assured me that the crocodiles and humans in Sabou live peacefully together. But they also said that the crocodiles know the difference between “good people” and “bad people”, and they only eat the bad people. This led me to believe, that at some point, the crocodiles have in fact attacked a human… or two.
I really didn’t know what to expect from this. I’ve been to the zoo and paid a quarter to feed the ducks or an occasional camel, but crocodiles were on a whole different level. We arrive at the crocodile place, which was basically a huge lake surrounded by some marshy wetlands and trees. There was a place to eat lunch, and naturally, the touristy shops. The first thing I noticed when stepping off of the bus was that all the workers there had some type of deformity or handicap in their feet. Of course, the first thing I think is that they were attacked by the crocs. This makes me a little nervous, but I follow the group down to the lake.
Now, if this were America (if only I had a dime for every time I said that phrase), there would be a clear separation between us and the crocs, but we walked right up to the edge of the water. I’m looking into this lake when all of a sudden, about 10 feet away from me, I see a croc peak it’s head and eyes up out of the water. It was like something you would see on a movie… a horror movie haha. Now, I’m still a little wary of these crocs, so I step back… behind the rest of the trainees ha. Next thing I know, the man in charge of the crocs heads out into the middle of the lake with a dead chicken died to a string. He starts swinging it around in the water until a croc gets close enough that he can grab it. Yes, I said grab it. A wild croc. With his bare hands. He gets a hold of the tail and starts dragging it out of the water towards us. He puts the croc down in front of us, and announces that we can go touch it now. It started with our brave trainers, and then slowly progressed to some of the trainees. For most of the time, the crocodile would just sit there while all us took our turn touching it. The man in charge of the croc would swing the chicken near its face, presumably to distract it from the thought of eating us haha. Everyone few minutes, the croc would get angry and snap towards someone, or try to head back into the water.
After the novelty and this croc wore off, one of the kids in my group asked jokingly if he could sit on top of a crocodile and ride it. We all laughed, when to our surprise, the man in charge says yes, he can arrange that. He’ll go catch “le vieux” aka “the old one”. We were all shocked as we watched him put the first croc back into the water, then head back into the crocodile infested lake, with the chicken in hand, to catch the old crocodile. A few minutes later, sure enough, he’s dragging out a much larger, older crocodile. He plops it down in front of us, and says we can sit on it. Once again, I’m thinking hell no. All I can picture is me trying to sit on the croc, and that’s the end of my right hand.
After about an hour of so of poking and sitting on the poor crocs, we’re finished and we head up to eat lunch. At this point, the man in charge of the crocodiles tells us their story. First, let me start off my saying that there’s a common joke among Burkinabe that, “50% of them are Muslim, 50% are Christian, but 100% are Animists.” Obviously, the numbers are a little off, but the point is that most people here are animists. Ok, so the croc story. So along time ago, the crocodiles lived about 5 kilometers away from their current town. One day, the founder of the town where the crocodiles currently live, Sabou, caught on fire. Luckily, the crocodiles were around and they saved his life by putting out the fire. After that, the crocs were moved to Sabou, and have lived in the same lake for over 100 years. He said there is a relationship between the crocodiles and the humans. The crocodiles saved the founder’s life, so now the people of the town care for the crocodiles. Every year, they make a sacrifice to the crocodiles to keep them happy. He didn’t say what the sacrifice was, but I would think that it would be a chicken, or other small animal. He said it’s ok to go swimming in the crocodile lake because the crocodiles and humans are friends. (There are 100+ crocs in the lake… this is not a theory I would want to test out!). He also said that during the dry season, the crocodiles will leave the lake and venture out into the town. If you happen to find a crocodile in your house, which apparently is common, you feed it a chicken and it’s good luck for the family.
Later that night, when I return home to my host family, I ask them about the sacred crocodiles. They assured me that the crocodiles and humans in Sabou live peacefully together. But they also said that the crocodiles know the difference between “good people” and “bad people”, and they only eat the bad people. This led me to believe, that at some point, the crocodiles have in fact attacked a human… or two.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Burkina Faso’s 50th Anniversary (8/5/2010)
Today was the 50th Anniversary of Burkina Faso’s independence (Burkina’s 4th of July). Interestingly enough, they do not celebrate the anniversary today, but in December… December 11th to be exact. Why, you ask? Good question. The calendar of everything in Burkina, as most West African countries, is based on the seasonal calendar. They only have 2 seasons here- the rainy season and the dry season. During the rainy season, people do not go to school, they do not work at regular jobs, they do not attend meetings… all they do is work in the fields. The school year, which runs October through May, occurs during the dry season. When the rains come, it’s all hands on deck. Their independence day falls in the middle of the rainy season, so they designated a new day, in the dry season, to celebrate their independence each year. Anyway, today, in honor of this, we had a small session on the culture of Burkina, and then all of our LCF’s (Language & Cultural Facilitators), sang the national anthem of Burkina.
For those of you who are curious, here is a small summary of the history of Burkina Faso. In 1895, the country, known at that time as Upper Volta, was attached to the French West African colonies, Afrique Occidentale Franҫaise. In 1932, a decree suppressed the territory and divided it between Niger, Mali, and the Ivory Coast. In 1958, a new constitution was adopted and Maurice Yaméogo became the first Chairman of the Republic. In 1960, he signed an agreement to end colonization in Upper Volta, and on August 5th, there was a proclamation of their independence. Between the years of 1960 and today, the republic experienced all types of government systems, including democracy, dictatorship and autocracy. In 1966, the people of Upper Volta were displeased with Yaméogo’s rule, and he, peacefully, dismissed himself. After this, General Sangoulé Lamizana took power, and ruled until 1980 when there was a coup d’etat. Colonel Saye Zerbo seized power with the help of young army officers. In 1982, there was another coup d’etat, conducted by Thomas Sankara who was previously the Minister of Information. Commandant Dr. Jean Baptiste Ouédraogo was in power from 1982-1983. He currently owns a medical practice in the capital, Ouagadougou. The government had Thomas Sankara arrested because of “difference of opinions.” He was released shortly after with the help of Blaise Compaoré. In 1983, through (yet another) coup d’etat, Thomas Sankara and his newly created National Council of the Revolution took power of the country. In 1984, Sankara changed the name of the country, the national anthem, the flag, and anything else associated with the French colonization. Upper Volta became Burkina Faso (translated to “Country of the Upright People”), and their new moto became, “Fatherland and death, we’ll overcome.” In 1987, Thomas Sankara was murdered and Blaise Compaoré came to power. He was then reelected in 1991, 1998, 2005, and (probably)November 2010.
For those of you who are curious, here is a small summary of the history of Burkina Faso. In 1895, the country, known at that time as Upper Volta, was attached to the French West African colonies, Afrique Occidentale Franҫaise. In 1932, a decree suppressed the territory and divided it between Niger, Mali, and the Ivory Coast. In 1958, a new constitution was adopted and Maurice Yaméogo became the first Chairman of the Republic. In 1960, he signed an agreement to end colonization in Upper Volta, and on August 5th, there was a proclamation of their independence. Between the years of 1960 and today, the republic experienced all types of government systems, including democracy, dictatorship and autocracy. In 1966, the people of Upper Volta were displeased with Yaméogo’s rule, and he, peacefully, dismissed himself. After this, General Sangoulé Lamizana took power, and ruled until 1980 when there was a coup d’etat. Colonel Saye Zerbo seized power with the help of young army officers. In 1982, there was another coup d’etat, conducted by Thomas Sankara who was previously the Minister of Information. Commandant Dr. Jean Baptiste Ouédraogo was in power from 1982-1983. He currently owns a medical practice in the capital, Ouagadougou. The government had Thomas Sankara arrested because of “difference of opinions.” He was released shortly after with the help of Blaise Compaoré. In 1983, through (yet another) coup d’etat, Thomas Sankara and his newly created National Council of the Revolution took power of the country. In 1984, Sankara changed the name of the country, the national anthem, the flag, and anything else associated with the French colonization. Upper Volta became Burkina Faso (translated to “Country of the Upright People”), and their new moto became, “Fatherland and death, we’ll overcome.” In 1987, Thomas Sankara was murdered and Blaise Compaoré came to power. He was then reelected in 1991, 1998, 2005, and (probably)November 2010.
“Le Bissap” (8/1/2010)
One of my most favorite things about West Africa is Bissap. I’ve written about this drink a few times in various blogs and letters, but I’m not sure if I ever took the time to really describe it. The Bissap in Guinea, like most things, was not as good as it is in Burkina. In Guinea, I liked it, but didn’t drink it often. In Burkina, my host mom prepares it for me daily! It’s a great summer drink (or if you’re in Burkina, a year round drink), and really good frozen too! This past weekend, I asked my host mom if she could show me how to prepare it. She was really excited and rushed off to the market to buy the ingredients. I found out that all the ingredients used to make Bissap are available in the US, so I figured I would share my host mom’s recipe (which is much better than most!). Here’s a little taste of Burkina:
Ingredients
1 ½ cups dried hibiscus leaves
A few sprigs of fresh mint leaves
1 liter water
¼ kg of sugar
½ tsp pineapple extract
Directions
Combine water, hibiscus and mint. Boil for 10 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes. Strain. Strain again. Add sugar and mix well. Add pineapple extract. Serve chilled or over ice.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
(PS… sorry about the metric measurements)
Ingredients
1 ½ cups dried hibiscus leaves
A few sprigs of fresh mint leaves
1 liter water
¼ kg of sugar
½ tsp pineapple extract
Directions
Combine water, hibiscus and mint. Boil for 10 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes. Strain. Strain again. Add sugar and mix well. Add pineapple extract. Serve chilled or over ice.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
(PS… sorry about the metric measurements)
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Posh Corps
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!
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!
“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).
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