THE close of service conference

NOTE: This is in a village near Ouagadougou where they do weaving... They make some GREAT stuff!

Well folks it is time to wrap things up, can you believe it? We just had our close of service conference where we talked about THE FUTURE and life after Peace Corps, which is often hard to believe exists…
During the conference we talked about everything from grad school options, jobs, interviews, networking, resumes, administrative junk (what we have to turn into the Peace Corps, when we are leaving and the medical process that goes with it!!), how to say good-bye to village and how to adjust back in to life in America. Overall it was a really good conference… exhausting, thought provoking, and scary.

I have less then 4 months left and I am still working on wrapping up projects and planning new ones. That being said I also have one foot out the door already. I am working on my resume and thinking about jobs when I get back and therefore I am thinking about WHAT kind of job I will be looking for and where I will be looking for it. My mind continues to stay busy and often it works overtime and interrupts my sleep… but it is exciting to think about the future. I am hoping it is a bright one but for that to happen I need to work hard and continue taking risks.

Work at site my last final ‘big’ project is a hand washing stations at the schools. We will be making 17 and they will be placed in and around the community of Toeghin. I hope the project moves along quickly because soon it will be rainy season and everyone will be out in their fields.

That brings be to the weather…. Hot season. It’s hot but at night things are not unbearable… I am not sure if that is due to the fact that I am now in my second year so I have adjusted or because simply the weather is less extreme. Either way I am glad that I am able to sleep at night.

Also it was recently Easter… what did I do you may ask… I didn’t eat hardboiled eggs if that is what you think…. At this moment eggs are out of season. I made a riz gras and killed a chicken. On of my neighbors, Kady, she came over to help me prepare it was really nice to hang out with her… Here’s a photo…. She is just SO tiny!! I love her she is great.

I am not sure how many more blogs I will be posting… not sure if this will make my priority list so I will only promises one more before I leave… Wish me luck folks I will be home before you all know it!!

Finally here is the open ceremony for the youth center!!

Long over due

Well, this has been, as the title put it, long over due but I am finally writing again.

What has happened...well, I am sure most of you know that I recently was home for the holidays. But I h

ave made it back and I am SURE you all want to know what I have been up to.

Cold season is coming to an end and to be honest so is my service. I am feeling pulled in two different directions...I am wanting to continue my work here but at the same time I want to start figuring out my life... Well that is enough about my feelings... I bet you want to know what I have been up too after my mom's visit and after coming back from America.

HARD SOAP. We did a hard soap training. The women really like the training and they have already started selling it and gave samples to the authority figures in my village.

I also was able to visit a new site when I got back. I saw a great talk about excision and we visited a pre-school SO here is a picture is the cuties!

Well we got our funding for the Maison Des Jeunes so we finally had a small ceremony to give the stuff to the community. I had to speak and that always scares me but I did it and it can only get easier from here.

LASTLY, it is funeral season again! :)

Okay readers I am not sure how much I will be writing on here but I am going to try!

The Double V - Vicki Visits!

Well I am not even sure where to start.... the last month has been a complete blur.... My Peace Corps Project has finished and we had a small ceremony to celebrate the completion of the project

As all of you know, I was lucky enough to receive a vis

iter from America... That's right...

Vicki made a visit to Burkina...

It was a long week that went by way too fast! It started with my mom's plane arriving on time which I was completely surprised about. The first day in Burkina we hit up the tailor and she got an outfit made... here is the final product... I think

she was really happy with it!

Our time including eating some traditional Burkinabe foods and one dish in particular she had to try was To. It's the staple dish here in Burkina. She had the chance to see the life that I have created here, my friends, some of my work, and a little bit of Burkina. The next few pictures are from the week she spent in my village and around Burkina including Po where we got to see an ELEPHANT in the WILD!

When mom left I continued to work on my world map project so the week afterwards I finished drawing the map and then two volunteers that live near me came and helped me paint... all i have left now is to write the names and label things...

Okay lastly I am sorry this post is not at all organized... i didn't have time but I wanted to add some other photos but i couldn't. Everything is going well here... just busy. missing you all.

Oh the wonders of traveling in the BF.

What have I been up to!?!? Well I have been doing a little cooking hosting visitors and making visits, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps and surviving a HELLISH ride into Ouagadougou.

Well lets start with my new culinary expertise:

Here are a few pictures of me in action with the help of my friend! Monique. You might ask yourself... is that grass... well no, it's not. It is actually leaves from bean plants.

The steps:

1. Send children to pick bean leaves

2. Remove stems and wash and dry leaves

3. Crush leaves

4. Wash about 1/2kg of rice pick out rocks and back pieces of rice.

5. Crush rice

6. Mix potassium and water together

7. Mix all together and form into balls

8. Steam

Here I used a Marmite (a large cooking pot). Monique put sticks onthe bottom so that there was a free space where water would be put. After adding the water we added large thick grass strips. The balls were placed on the grass and put on the stove and steamed VOLIA !!

I also made peanut butter SO EASY!! and NATURAL!!

Next, I had another visiter. Her name is Erika Marshall and is also a health volunteer. She got to know my site and we had a good time. She has a training so she had to leave the day before me. Which leads me to my next topic the HELLISH ride into Ouaga.

It starts off as a beatiful day in my village I go out to where I can normally catch a bush taxi none come... I am feeling a bit discouraged BUT I have to go to Ouaga because we are putting on a fair for the 50th Annersary of Peace Corps and all Volunteers have to be there. I then see this large truck... Everyone is like sure you can use that... so well I did because I have to get to Ouaga. They asked if I am pressed I said NO as long as I can get to Ouaga by 13... well that didn't happen.



We were picking up the seeds used to make shea butter... and that took FOREVER! Then when we finally got going 2 tires go flat... we only have one spare... we have to wait for another tire to come from Ouaga. Well after hours of waiting... I arrive in Ouaga at 18.... I left my village at 9:30... do the Math.

I was tired but at this point I can no longer get mad... It is just so rediculous that all I can do is laugh about it.

THE FAIR: Was long and the people who organized it did a rediculous amount of work but I think lots of people in Burkina Faso know about the Peace Corps and the goals of the Peace Corps so I think it was a success.

I then continuted on to the BOBO with Erika and Marina and went to her site... SHE loves her site and her site love her.

It was my first time visiting someone NOT close to me. The landscape and everything is just so different and it was interesting to someone else in their community in their element. It was intimidating, inspiring, and great.

PS this lady was REALLY drunk.

Weeding.Feting.Blisters.Babies

Hi everyone, can you all believe it I am on the downward slope. Work is picking up and I am feeling productive and have direction. Here is a picture of one of the projects I did in village with my women's association. I did a Neem Cream training. Neem Cream can be made with local products and is inexpensive. It is also a misquito repellant and therefore hopefully will help decrease the amount of malaria in Burkina Faso and also the women can make some money to support their families. We also talked about Moringa which is a tree here in Burkina. The leaves contain a LOT of vitamins which are often hard to get here. Almost everyone got a tree!

So rainy season might be coming to an end however that doesn't mean that the storms are getting weaker... Infact I think they might have gotten stronger and I am not the only one who has suffered from these last few BIG storms. Houses have fallen, businesses flooded and the market distroyed. I had only minor damage with my hanger falling. And It has already been put back up again.

PEANUT UPDATE:

Well, first I did all the weeding myself. My field is pretty large so I have to admit I am proud that I did it myself. And it made me think of grandma M still out in her garden weeding and all I can say is wow..

As for the actual cultivating, I tried to do it myself... but it was too much to do and I needed to go to Ouagadougou because of a meeting... hence my POST. So I bought some beans and rice and two women came and helped me and we after afterwards.

In on of my last posts I mentioned that the holy month of Kareem started. Well it has now finished so we celebrated the Fete of Ramadan. It was similar to last year however this will be my last time celebrating it in my village. This year I got an outfit made and went to the morning prayer. Simply, I wanted to see what everyone does. When I was there watching many people where like... come and pray. I don't know the movements so I was a little scared HOWEVER I have since talked to my Major who is muslim.
I asked if he would be willing to explain how they pray SO hopefully one Friday I will go and pray at the mosque before I leave. I also got henna done for the fete. My Majors wife's sister did it. She did a really good job and everyone commented on how pretty it was.

Lastly I have some BIG news. So nine months ago I asked for a cat... and I asked for a male cat. Then one day a friend of my said that my cat looks like she is pregnant... I said NO... it's a boy it's not pregnant. I then had my neighborhood vet come over and he was like.. YUP it's a girl. And now I have 3 adorable kittens! Mom is doing great and being a great mom to her kittens!

'I'm talking about HARD Work'

Hi everyone!! So I just finished up Mid-Service Conference which is mostly medical and even included a dental cleaning and x-rays. I still can't believe how time has flowing by... one year down and one to go. I know it's not just me Colin and my mom have both said that the year has flown by... I will be back before you all know it... I just hope that I can accomplish all that

I want to before I leave.

So what is going on here in Burkina Faso....you all know because of my last post that it is rainy season here however I hasn't been raining as much as it should .... so I know a lot of people are worried... normally their fields are their livelihoods. I am just hoping that it is going to rain soon.

Speaking of farming...everyone is in the fields SO I have decided to plant a field of peanuts. I had a lot of help because well frankly... I have never planted peanuts let alone have a field of my own. However everyone seems to think that I will get a good product and they are happy that I am planting and cultivating... It is a HUGE part of their culture and I get to experience that on a small scale, needless to say I am excited about my field and will keep you all updated on my experience. :)

What do you plant... the peanuts you eat. Side note: shelling that many peanuts is NOT easy and hurts your thumbs... again... someone, my friend Monique helped me.

What to do next!

What does a peanut plant look like?

Other news, Ramadan started Friday. This is a time of fasting for Muslims... They don't eat or drink during the day however I believe children and pregnant women can eat during the day. I was downtown when the Friday prayer was happening... (Friday's at 1pm is when everyone goes to the mosque to pray). It was so beautiful. They closed off some of the street because there were so many men. The devotion is what's beautiful.

OH and I biked to Ouaga with my friend Katie. It was about 60 km. It went relatively smooth so I thought it was a success.

WORK:

We opened the new maternity and I planted 4 Moringa trees there.

I also made NEEM cream with my friend to practice because I am going to do a small training with a women's group in my village and the surrounding villages. Neem c

ream is made from the leaves of the neem tree.

It is used as a mosquito repellant and hopefully will help women with their small commerce and help prevent Malaria too. :) It was rescheduled but it will happen when I go back to site.

Lastly, another thing I am working on is trying to find out if people are interested in hand washing stations and trying to decrease the amount of standing water because that is were mosquitos breed.

Okay and a I want to send out a special THANK YOU to all how contributed to the PCPP. I am waiting for the money to be put in my account so we can go ahead and buy the door and windows! THANK YOU for all your help!! Everyone is REALLY excited and I was able to announce that we received the money at the end of the school year ceremony.

How many times can a wall fall... at least twice.

Okay FIRST I would like to apoligize for talking about the same thing in the two previous postes. On a similar note: we had another polio campaigne but vitamin A was also given out.

Next, on a work related matter. I gave me first talk about family planning in Moore! Over all it went really well and it felt really good to get it 'over with.' Personally it was a big hurdle...I feel self concious about my language skills but I think for my work it was best thing I could have done. I will continue to feel awkward speaking the local language for some time but it can only get better. I am planning an other at the end of the month.

I went into Ouagadougou to help with the Project Plan Review and when I returned I brought back a friend... her name is Halley.. It was both fun and stressful to have a visiter it was just two nights. BUT when we pulled up in the bush taxi I was ready to be like "HALLEY, there's my house isn't it cute?!" Then I did a double take... I feel like my courtyard is missing a wall...

I was shocked... sad... and shocked again.

SO while Halley was in my village I didn't have a wall however people were tell me that I should get a wall ASAP. Halley left on a Friday... Saturday the mud bricks came... Sunday morning I went out on another polio campaigne and when I came back my wall was almost finished. The workers finished up and left... I was feeling happy. I HAVE MY PRIVACY BACK... I started to relax and I was so exhausted from Halley's visit I decided to take a nap inside... As I am about to dose off... CRASH... My initial thought... you have got to be kidding... lets hope it wasn't the whole wall...

Well is was... I call some people and the same guy came back with this friend and the repaired my wall AGAIN. Here is the finished product... it wasn't easy. After my wall was finished later the Sunday evening my friend Katie came for a visit. I think my village really like having my visiters. It made me feel good.

SO one thing that did cause me a little bit of stress was the fact that I am growing trees in my courtyard and a fallen wall means that any animal can come in... Luckly my trees survived.

I am planting a Morina garden at my CSPS... Moringa is a type of tree that has a CRAZY amount of vitamins and minerals in its leaves. It is a great thing for peole here to use because they already use leaves in many of their sauces and also my region of Burkina Faso is very food insecure (for example during this time of year I can only find onions in my village and it is the end of mango season).