My Living Conditions in Village

Following an email I just received from Dad, I will explain my current living conditions. These are mostly answers to his questions.

Despite the fact that my host family village is only a few kilometers from the city, I would still describe my home as completely remote. As you bike on the main (paved) road through the city center, the city eventually stops and the bush begins. When I write bush that means dusty, expansive, chalky-red, wide-open, African space. There are some trees, very few small hills, scattered bushes, scattered people, and lots of dust. After traveling for about 20 minutes on this road (it's biking, remember) you eventually turn left. Literally, you just turn off into the bush and off-road into the dust for another fifteen minutes.

Once you reach the beginning on my town there is a sign (which serves no purpose at this point) and two or three clusters of huts/ courtyards/ families. The chief lives there, the first volunteer lives immediately to the left, the next two volunteers live off a little ways to the right relatively near each other, and I (the last volunteer) live another ten-minute, windy, bike ride into the bush. So far, I have had an escort... lol!

I have my own hut with a thatched roof. I do not have electricity and for the first two nights I could not get either of my flashlights to work. The headlamp wouldn't open and the maglight was actually in my other bag stored at the training sight. (Haha.. sorry, Mom!) Last night a friend lent me his flashlight but it hasn't been a big deal because I have a kerosene lamp (provided by the Burkinabé). I also have two small windows, trash bags lining the thatching of the roof inside (to prevent water from dripping), a bed with posts to hang my mosquito net, a wood shelf-thing on the floor to put stuff on, and a tin trunk to lock things in if I so choose to. I have a front door and screen door which both lock and the front, tin door has a key.

I do not have plumbing or running water. But I do have my own bucket-bath space (open-air but enclosed) and my own latrine (also open-air but enclosed obviously). These are directly next to my hut. I will try to get pictures up at some point. At least almost wherever I am, I can see the sky and the stars!!

The family is great, the food is great also - although they serve me way too much. I do not finish it and then they give it to other people in the family.

The people are Peul (or Fulani) and speak Fulfuldé. Three people in my family speak French and I am slowly trying to learn their language. Following this particular homestay, I will most likely be assigned to serve in the North. That would mean I would serve in the Sahel -- this is where the desert meets the savannah in this part of Africa.

With nine minutes left on my internet connection... thank you for reading my post!