Oh Yeah, There's the Work Factor

Thank goodness rainy season has come to an end. Now, I can start some big projects. As mentioned before, during rainy season everyone is cultivating so my village literally turns into a ghost town so it is kind of hard to hold community sensibilizations. That, and the fact that the rain makes satellite villages inaccessible (flooding). Lots of times planned sensibilizations have had to be postponed; however, there have been times where we sucked it up and made the muddy trek en brousse to the satellite village. During the months of July and part of August I thought I was going to die of boredom. I never thought that was ever possible but after this rainy season there is a good possibility that death by boredom is plausible. I was lucky to avoid this fate but I sure did come close. I asked my Ganga, my unofficially counterpart, what the previous volunteer did work-wise during the rainy season. He replied that she did not do any work. I tell him I refuse to believe she did not work during the three months of rainy season. He chuckles and tells me she did small causeries at the CSPS (clinic) on a variety of different of topic. “Great! That is what I am going to do then.” During rainy season you cannot really catch people at the market or even at their houses but you sure can catch them at the clinic or the maternity (before baby weighings or pre-natal consultations). So since the month of July I have been conducted weekly sensibilizations. Every month we will change the topic. So during July we talked about malnutrition, during August we talked about good weaning practices, and during September we talked about the importance of good hygiene and diarrhea. I have also held weekly sensibilizations on good pre-natal care. I also met with my women’s soap making group. Apparently, they are selling the soap at cost so they are not making any profit. I have tried to explain to them that in order to make a profit they need to sell the soap at a price higher than the at cost price but about 90% of them do not seem to understand this. They do not want to raise the price because they think no one would buy their soap and a price increase would make people go to their competitors. Oy. I have tried telling them they are selling the soap pretty much for free but they still want to make it…lol. I have also done a few HIV/AIDS sensibilizations and we are just starting a family planning campaign in a few days. Lastly, I am in the process of writing a grant for a moringa garden for a women’s group in a Yorko, a satellite village. So far the grant is 9 pages single spaced and I’ve spent the last two days slaving away to complete it. However, I did run across a lot of problems in writing it. Before coming to Ouaga to write the grant, I told Ganga he needed to find out not only all of the materials needed to construct the wells and the garden but also their prices. Luckily, when I came to Ouaga I talked to another volunteer about the garden. He had constructed a Moringa garden in his village. When he looked at my list, he started to laugh and told me it was like I was trying to build a car but only had tires. Lovely. So I think I have figured all of the materials needed and their prices; however, instead of the garden being $2,800 it is now $4,300. Ughh.

Rain, Rain, Go Away. Come Again Another Day.

Rainy season is finally coming to an end. I know before when I said I wish it would rain more but I had no idea how much rain would come. Now it rains at least every other day for hours—sometimes everyday. I like the rain but the rain makes it so humid and damp that anything relating to fabric or paper is turning musty and moldy. Books, clothes….you name it; it is probably damp, musty smelling, or growing some sort of green mold on it. The most likely scenario is that it probably is a combination of all three. Ick. I have to re-wash all of my clothes every so often just because of this. However, when I do wash my clothes and put them outside to dry, they never dry because the rain always comes back/no sun to dry them. Lol. Sometimes I will wash them on Monday, and they will not officially dry until Sunday. During early September there was such much rain it caused lots and lots of flooding. One time it rained almost two feet in a span of ten hours; this caused tens of thousands of people to be homeless in the capital and some people even died. Yikes. With the rains, come a host of other problems as well: malaria is running rampant in Burkina, my counterpart and my friend, the mayor Zabré, both caught typhoid fever so I guess that is going around too. Oh yeah, there is also Cholera. Wonderful. Luckily, I am vaccinated against the fever and take anti-malarial medication. Because it rains for hours at a time here---4,6,8 hours—you’re pretty much stuck in doors. This has given me an opportunity to catch up on my reading. There was a time where I read 5,000 pages during a two week time period….and no, that would not be a typo. 5,000. Hmmm…let’s see what else. Oh yes, I have a staph infection of the foot. About a week ago I must have gotten a cut on my left foot or something to that effect. Did not think too much of it. Smart move. Pretty soon I could not wear sandals (even Band-Aids!) because it hurt too much and I started to limp. I thought to myself, this is Burkina, I can deal with it and it will go away on its own. Nope. It was not until my foot swelled to twice it size. My foot would not fit into my sandal. It seriously looked like I had elephantitus of the foot. I then thought it might be a good idea to see the Peace Corps doctor. Right when she saw my foot she exclaimed, “Oh my God! How long has your foot been like this?!” She told me no, it was not elephantitus and I probably had a Staph infection. I am now taking antibiotics for this. Update: no change in the status of my foot. In other news around the world, Burkina has run out of cooking gas. About five weeks ago, I ran out of gas….have not cooked since. Every Zabré market day (every three days) when I would head into Zabré I would stop by the gas place and ask if they had gas. No. Okay, when is the gas coming I ask. The answer I would get would either be tonight or tomorrow. Great, I say. I shall be back. After having this same conversation with the same guy four different times, I tell the guy this: “Look, you keep telling me it is coming tonight or tomorrow. Do you actually know when it is coming?” He replies, no. I then thank him and tell him that’s all I wanted to know. Sooo….five weeks later. No gas. For lunch and dinner I eat things that don’t have to be cooked. Tomatoes, onions, cabbage—I am hoping it will be there when I arrive back home from the capital. Oh yeah…one other thing: the vaccination refrigerator at our clinic ran out of gas. Small crisis: all of the vaccinations were ruined. I think they have to go to the district capital to get vaccinations now (but they still administer them in Beka). I also did Karem for a little while. Muslims fast (called Karem) during the month of Ramadan. I thought to myself, “Hey, that might be fun. I think I will do that too.” To fast one can only eat at 5 in the morning and at 6:30 at night and they cannot even drink water. Here is summary of the first day of Karem:

5 AM: My alarm wakes me up. I sleepily shove food down my face and climb back into bed
6:30: I wake up for the day
8:30: My first hunger pains set in
9:30: The hunger pains increase. I try to think of happy thoughts. This would usually involve some sort of food. That really doesn’t help me.
12:30 I think to myself, “Oh my God! How can any choose to do this? This is torture!” The headache starts.
1:30: It is hot. I cannot drink water as part of my fasting. The headache has worsened.
2:30-6:00: More thoughts about food and water.
6:00: I make dinner.
6:10: Dinner is finished and ready to eat.
6:10-6:30: I stare at my plate of food longingly for a good twenty minutes.
6:30 on the dot: There is food going into my mouth.

As the week progressed, the days got easier and the hunger pains were not really there anymore. Then I came to Ouaga. The temptation of good food made me jump off the band wagon. Okay, I admit it..I am not a strong person…however, I have a small excuse: I have no gas to cook. Therefore, I think God would understand my predicament and have pity on me. However, having no gas has not been all that awful. For dinner most nights of the week I will go eat at my friend’s house. Another interesting happening during late August, early September: my bike’s tiring tubing tore. Therefore, my bike was out of commission. This kind of would present a problem if you have to bike 10 kilometers to the next town to buy food. Well for those two weeks that I was waiting on Peace Corps to send me my tubing I would have to walk 10 km to the market and 10 km back. I texted Peace Corps and they were very responsive sending the tubing by transport that very day. However, when I walked the 10km to the bush-taxi station to pick it up, it was not there. They had no idea where it was. So for two weeks (every three days) I would have to walk 20 km to get food. Finally, I get word that the tubing is at the Gendarmerie (national police/guard station). Hmmm…let’s see what else. Oh! I attended Laura’s village Chief’s party. It was quite interesting with traditional dancing and music. There was also a large procession en brousse to a place where the Chief sacrificed several chickens. Watching him was kind of like seeing a car crash: it is disturbing to watch but yet, somehow you cannot take your eyes off it. Nonetheless, it was very fun to watch. I even got chicken blood squirted on me when the little kids would fight over who could keep the chicken after it was killed or for most of time in the process of dying. I guess I have now been christened. Okay, kids. Until the next time!