Initiation: Burkina Style

Well it’s about time for my first blog post from Africa.  Unfortunately internet has been hard to come by since I left Ouagadougou (pronounced Wah-gah-doo-goo or Wahgah when shortened), the capital city of  Burkina Faso, for my training stage in Leo, a regional capital in the south of the country which is approximately 20 km from the Ghana border.

Our time in Ouaga was hardly an experience in the real Burkina Faso.  We stayed in a nice hotel with running water, electricity, and air conditioning. Arriving Monday afternoon after more than 24 hours of travel, we  stayed at the hotel until Friday afternoon, engaging in language testing, skills interviews, and of course…..immunizations.  Since there is no immunization for Malaria, we are required to take prophylaxis, which essentially builds up the body’s Malaria antibodies before a mosquito with the disease actually bites you.  The pills are big, but we only take them once a week.  One of the legendary side effects of the drugs is extremely vivid dreaming, which many experienced, but I have yet to.

Peace Corps requires us to stay with host families for the duration of training to force a complete cultural immersion and facilitate language learning.  We discovered that we were to be split up amongst three villages around Leo: Sanga, Zoro, and Kayero.  As we boarded the buses departing Ouaga for Leo, the reality of the next couple years began to hit home for all of us.  That night was the last in air conditioning for a while, which is worrisome when the weather is supposed to be cooling off  and it still hits 95-100 consistently in the afternoon hours.  Up until Friday, it had been like a college freshman orientation, meeting like minded people in a comfortable setting and discussing the upcoming years with optimism.

As each group was dropped off in their respective villages, we participated in a brief pairing ceremony, after which the family patriarch showed us our home for the next two months.  The “house” set up in Burkina villages varies, but generally follow the same pattern in the southern region of the country. Anywhere from three to ten small mud brick buildings are centered around a courtyard, which functions as a common space for the family to eat, work, and play as well as a storage area for the family’s valuables.  In rural Burkina, “valuables” are the family’s animals, which almost always include cows, chickens, roosters, and donkeys.  With slightly less frequency families will also keep sheep and goats.  As you can imagine, sleeping past 5 in the morning is virtually impossible with Noah’s Ark right outside your window

My first night in Sanga was a rude awakening as to what I can expect for the next two years.  My room is a 10x10 meter mud brick building with a tin roof, a small metal locker, and a bed with a mosquito net.  The floor of my room is cement, and covered with a permanent layer of dirt.  During the day, the sun heats my room to blistering temperatures, especially because I close and lock the door while I’m at training.  That night the temperature in my room never dropped below 80 and was closer to 90 until 12am.  I slept a fitful three hours and spent the rest of the night reading.  Contrary to popular belief, roosters do not wait until dawn to start kackadoodledoodling.  I heard some as early as 3am, while the  two in my  courtyard  politely waited until 5am to sound the wake up call.

  

Today was a long day of training.  We discussed homestay experiences, which were extremely similar across the board.  The most common difficulties were the language barrier (most members of Sanga families, except for important males, speak a regional dialect and lack the ability to speak beyond basic French), the heat (cannot be emphasized enough how terrible it is…..especially for the girls that were told by host families that they must close and lock their metal door), and feelings of isolation.  The second half of the day consisted of lunch at a local restaurant and a bike tour of Leos.  We’re expected to bike to and from training in Leos every day (about 12 km each way on a dirt road) which I’m fairly certain I will enjoy.  Leos is a bustling city by Burkina standards, with several bus stations, a Gran Marche (big market) an internet café, and a hotel with a pool.

Anyhow, I’ve managed to avoid any serious illness so far, which is more than can be said for our fellow Peace Corps Trainee Chris, who took ill in Ouaga and hasn’t made it out to Leos yet.  A girl who also happened to be from Los Angeles dropped out of training today.  I was not surprised.  She checked 3 heavy bags that she couldn’t even carry herself, partially because she was barely 5’ and partially because of “back problems.”  She wore heels the entirety of the time she was in Burkina and we were all wondering why she thought she could handle living in the developing world for two years.  Did I mention she’s a Trojan?  GO BRUINS!  Ha but seriously there’s still another Trojan in my training class who is an awesome, determined women and I can’t imagine her dropping anytime soon.  In fact, the ration of women to men in my training class is about 5:2, which is pretty common.

Don’t come to Africa if you hate bugs.

Until next time,

Todd

10/14 Update:  Sleeping outside in my bug hut was amazing.....between the beautiful starry sky and the blissfully cool temperature, I slept like a baby.  The dog still growls and barks at me every time I move in bed. Not sure how to  win him over.