Update - 9 August 2008

June was a transition month. School ended, the fonctionnaires moved out, the community waited for rain, and once it had come, they went to the fields to work. July was a busy month! And August is shaping up to be very busy too... So I hope you are all enjoying the summer in the USA, and elsewhere. I'm thinking of you! Thank you for checking out my blog.

June
School officially ends on June 15 but, in reality, slows down to a stop one or two months before that. In April the teachers complained that it was too hot to teach, in May they claimed that the school-year was over. By the middle of May the teachers and students had thrown in the towel. I left village around May 24 for a "Training of Trainers" in Ouahigouya. When I came back at the beginning of June, all the teachers had left. The school director stayed to coordinate the end-of-elementary school exam on June 10-12. This year Belehede was selected to become a testing center. The village was very proud to be hosting the exam. Out of the 15 of our students who took this exam, however, only 6 passed. Only 1 of the 6 is a girl. That means that the 5 girls and 10 boys who failed the exam will either drop out of school or repeat 6th grade. Some of them have already repeated this grade or another one. The 6 students who passed the exam may or may not go on to junior high school. This depends on many things: whether or not the student's family has relatives in a town with a junior high school - the closest schools are 40, 50, and 70 kilometers away; whether or not the family can afford to pay the school fees and the costs of transportation for the child; whether or not the patriarch is actually committed to sending this child on for more school, etc. I'll let you know what happens with these children.

With all the teachers gone, the summer in Belehede is a different place. Volleyball transitioned from an all-fonctionnaire to an all-villager game and then ended for the year. Once it begins raining, Burkinabe farmers spend ALL day, every day working the fields. High noon in Belehede at the beginning of the rainy season (before everything becomes really green) is like the Wild, Wild West after the gold ran out. Completely deserted. Man, woman, and child are all out in the fields tilling land, pulling up old growth and weeds, planting seeds, carrying food out to family members, supervising work animals, fetching water, etc.

Basically, some people left town, and all the rest started getting really busy. Luckily I already had a lot planned for myself: 2 weeks of working at Pre-Service Training in July, 3 weeks of girls' camps in July and August, VAC* meetings in July and September, and the swearing-in ceremony of the new volunteers at the end of August. I also had a few guests (fellow volunteers) in June which was really fun. We made cookies, village pizza, goat stew, tuna burgers; traded stories; slept outside under the stars... all lined up on thin mattresses on my porch... anyway it was a nice couple of days with my June guests.

I started one new project upon the request of some enthusiastic village friends: Friday night English club. So far so good, we've had 6 meetings with about 15 people each time. Before the first meeting I told my guy friends that I would start this English club on this condition: "You bring a notebook, a pen, and a women." I told them I was not interested in starting any dudes-only activities, obviously, so I sent them out to find interested, motivated femmes. We've got at least 5, so, not bad.

July
At the beginning of July, I spent two weeks in Ouahigouya working as a Peace Corps Volunteer Facilitator, (PCVF). A new group of trainees arrived in country on June 11 and settled into the same training city and host villages as we did one year ago. It was great meeting these people. They are an enthusiastic and fun group. It was also great to facilitate and finally be one among the experienced volunteers. Still, I tried not to tell them this is how it is because every volunteer's experience is honestly so different. As PCVFs we shared experiences, answered questions, and of course, facilitated technical training sessions. "How to incorporate theater and radio broadcast into your service," "How to start a girls' club," or "How to use Participatory Analysis for Community Action, (PACA)" are some examples of GEE technical training topics. We also sat in on medical, security, and cross-cultural sessions to share what we cook in village, how we deal with stress and harassment, and what we've learned through our cross-cultural experiences.

On July 4th, the trainees threw a kick-@$ party with great food and traditional Burkinabe music. We ate, danced, and celebrated American Independence. The downside to the fantastic meal was that more than half of the trainees subsequently got really sick. Ha! Since about 30 people helped prepare the food...who knows what did it? Bottom line, they all got better and no one quit. No harm done! ;)

I spent one night with my former host family in Komsiliga which was wonderful. It had been one full year since I had seen them or been reminded of their immense warmth and uniqueness as a family. Upon my arrival, every female member of the family, including the very old grandmother, came literally running up to me to throw her arms around me and say hello, welcome back. I saw baby Megan. Do you all remember how I named a baby? Well, I really, really did. Megan Tall is on the child's birth certificate and they all call the baby by her American (Irish-American) name. Megan McSherry and Meaghan Griffith you are the namesakes for a beautiful girl! She is healthy, sweet as anything, not afraid of white people, lovable, and beautiful like her mother. My camera was not working at the time but the trainee staying with the family this time around took pictures and promised to send them to me.

The next two weeks were a whirlwind. I collaborated with two other volunteers to host the first two of three one-week girls' camps we're organizing this summer. The first camp was in Belehede with 25 girls. The second was in Tongomayel (David's site) with 16. We organized three major blocks of activity per day: 8:00-10:00 for life skills training; 10:30-12:15 for theater; and 3:00-5:00 for sports, music, or art. In Belehede, the girls arrived at 7:30 for a half hour of warm-ups/ organizing for the day and went home for lunch but we gave them a snack during the morning break. For both camps we held opening and closing ceremonies with the parents at the beginning and end of the week. In between the ceremonies were 5 full days of activities that were scheduled as described above. In Belehede we wound up adding two more mornings of theater practice, at the request of the girls, before their final performances in front of their parents at the closing ceremony. Before each individual activity we also tried to incorporate an icebreaker or warm-up to keep it interesting.

Basically, this project was awesome. It was by far and away my favorite initiative as a Peace Corps Volunteer so far. We talked about self-esteem and assertiveness, role models, HIV/AIDS, and income generating activities. We introduced the girls to kickboxing and yoga, had them create collages from magazine cutouts, and taught them a little bit about music with the help of a guitar and battery-operated keyboard. But best of all - from my perspective - was our experience with theater. These girls who started the week loathe to raise their heads above their desks from beneath their arms and hands to answer a question... created, practiced, perfected, and performed three mini-plays. Then they showed up to the closing and actually performed before their parents and neighbors! It was almost unbelievable... to see them have comedic timing, remember not to turn their backs to the audience, speak loud and clear enough for the audience to hear, support and help each other get it right, engage completely in their productions... It was awesome. For now, I will leave it at that. This is just an update, in any case. Next time I blog though, I will tell a story with less information and more detail.

August
Finally, in August, I am here in Ouaga finishing up my Mid-Service Conference. We have been here for over a year! As you can see, things are still going very well. But I love, love, hearing from you so thank you for commenting on the blog, emailing, mailing, and calling me. You guys are so great.

Miss you all and hope to hear from you soon. Much love....


*Volunteer Action Committee