Happy New Year! I posting this update from Lome, Togo where I will be on vacation with friends for the next few days. About two hours ago, I got off an awesome (NOT) sixteen hour bus ride on which I could not sit back on my seat without one of the two guys next to me leaning forward. I haven't sleep very much at all in the past week as I've been biking, hiking, traveling and site- seeing with a fantastic group of PCV and non-PCV friends. Buddies Julie, Megan and Sean made the long trip from America to West Africa just to see Burkina, Togo, Ghana and me. :) Thanks, friends!
Read on only if you're interested in a general update about the past few months...
July/August/September
A family of American missionaries returned to Belehede. Yes, returned. I knew that a family had lived there for a time, a few years ago... but the details were fuzzy. Now I know that three American children actually grew up in my village! Their parents worked to promote literacy and translate the Bible into Koranfe throughout the 1990s. Upon arrival, they built a house in Belehede - including tables, chairs, beds, solar panel electricity, a refrigerator, a stove, an oven... - and lived in it full time for years!They are great and I've learned a lot from them since they returned to Burkina to live full-time in Ouaga.
I gave up on Fulfulde. To be honest, I had stopped trying around April but it was hard to admit defeat. The people in my village are Korumba. They speak Fulfulde but their native tounge is Koranfe and they work hard to preserve and protect their (dying) language. Once I met the Belehede missionary father - who has devoted his life work to God and Koranfe - I finally made the decision to switch. I started getting tutoring in Koranfe at the end of September and so far I'm really happy about it.
I finished up the rainy season English club with an optional oral exam on the vocabulary we covered. I hope to do this club again next year but with a stronger focus on junior high and high school kids who are back home on school break. Kids learn English from junior high onward in Burkina.
I also started to work on the Peace Corps World Map Project. In September I got support from the local parents association to paint a map of the world on the outside school wall. We informed all appropriate members of the community and agreed to split the costs. Afterwards, I was able to raise money from the American Embassy to fund the entire project and can now reimburse my community members who paid for cement.
October/November/December
In October we cemented the outside school wall with a rectangle of 4 by 2 meters. After the start of school around mid-month, I began working with 6th grade students everyday to draw the map of the world. Eventually, I had 5th grade students draw some too.
In November we finished the pencil outline of the world.
I left site for a good chunk of time to celebrate Thanksgiving with a fun group of volunteers gathered chez my friend Yaneth in Dori, to assist with another training in Ouaga and to attend the Volunteer Action Committee meetings. I also starting looking into the possibility of extending my service for a third year.
Upon returning to site in December, I had 10 days to organize the painting of the World before I would leave for Christmas vacation. Upon arrival I worked to mobilize the community to paint the world map. I wanted a combination of women, men, girls and boys working side by side and in the end I got it. But I was very lucky - the American Ambassador paid us a visit the second day of painting the map. Without going into all the details right now, this attracted at least 50 participants (painters) and over 200 spectators to a World Map Painting/ American Embassador event! The Ambassador herself painted the majority of the United States including her home state of Wyoming. She also invited me to add my home so this map of the world will have all the major countries of the world, the village of Belehede, Burkina Faso, the state of Wyoming and the state of New Jersey. Ha!
Christmas was great here and I hope your holidays were festive and lovely too. I promise the few next posts will be stories... so I'll go ahead and start reflecting/ thinking now....
A bientot...
I left site for a good chunk of time to celebrate Thanksgiving with a fun group of volunteers gathered chez my friend Yaneth in Dori, to assist with another training in Ouaga and to attend the Volunteer Action Committee meetings. I also starting looking into the possibility of extending my service for a third year.
Upon returning to site in December, I had 10 days to organize the painting of the World before I would leave for Christmas vacation. Upon arrival I worked to mobilize the community to paint the world map. I wanted a combination of women, men, girls and boys working side by side and in the end I got it. But I was very lucky - the American Ambassador paid us a visit the second day of painting the map. Without going into all the details right now, this attracted at least 50 participants (painters) and over 200 spectators to a World Map Painting/ American Embassador event! The Ambassador herself painted the majority of the United States including her home state of Wyoming. She also invited me to add my home so this map of the world will have all the major countries of the world, the village of Belehede, Burkina Faso, the state of Wyoming and the state of New Jersey. Ha!
Christmas was great here and I hope your holidays were festive and lovely too. I promise the few next posts will be stories... so I'll go ahead and start reflecting/ thinking now....
A bientot...
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