As
any (honest) Peace Corps Volunteer will admit, a significant amount of things
happen in your village without you knowing about them in advance, especially if
you’ve been gone for any period of time. But even when you are at site, sometimes
things just happen without you. From a
development perspective, this is encouraging.
If Burkinabe in your community are taking the initiative to address
their needs and set up things without you, they are proving that they are
capable of utilizing resources already available in the community to accomplish
their goals. If the national government
has intervened in your community, it shows that (at least to some extent) the
Burkinabe in charge of things are actually working to address the numerous
economic and health issues faced by the largely rural, poor population of the
country.
On
the other hand, foreign entities can also have an impact on your
community. These NGOs often intervene in
communities without first consulting the local population. An NGO might intervene to address an issue
that they view as a hindrance to development, but if the community does not
share that view, the project will not achieve any real change. An NGO might fund a series of health
education events, providing resources that wouldn’t otherwise be available in
the community. They accomplish their
goal of x number of education events or spend all of the funds allocated to the
project. Then they leave. While x number of community members were
“educated,” this approach is completely unsustainable. When the funding runs
out and the NGO leaves, no one continues their work. An NGO might fund the construction of a water
pump in a community to improve water access. But when the pump breaks (as
everything in Burkina does), community members won’t be able to or won’t
consider it their responsibility to repair it.
As
Peace Corps Volunteers, our role is supposed to be different, as we are charged
with the task of improving our community’s capacity to address their own needs. If our communities demonstrate this ability,
it should be considered success. In
theory, our projects are supposed to empower host country nationals and give
them ownership of the project, ensuring sustainability. However, this is an
extremely difficult goal to accomplish. So when things happen without us, our
suspicions are aroused. In the past
month, there have been a number of these types of suspicious happenings in my
community.
Ibrahim’s Theater Presentations
The
day after I returned to site in October, I caught up with my community
counterpart, Ibrahim. He informed me
that the next day he had organized a theater performance in the village and
would like for me to come.
Some
background:
Since
I arrived at site last December, Ibrahim has been working on a project based
out of Banfora (15km away) organized by OXFAM Canada and an NGO called the One
Drop Foundation. The goal of the project
is to improve sanitation and hygeine in the region through theater performances,
latrine building, and waste management.
Throughout
the months of January, February, and March, October, and November Ibrahim was a
member of the project’s theater troupe, which traveled to many of the villages
in the region. They traveled with a
stage, sound system, lights, and a generator provided by the project. The performance was the same every time, with
a plot concerning a village that had polluted their water supply and had to
deal with the consequences. The
performance was extremely impressive and drew relatively large crowds for each
performance.
In
January, Ibrahim organized a community trash pickup and a theater performance
for the primary school kids in Takaledougou.
For at least two weeks of each of the months April-September Ibrahim
attended trainings in Banfora (regional capital 15km away) on various topics
related to theater and performance, paid for by the project. In August, four latrines were installed in
the main area of my village. In
September, four trash cans with the Oxfam logo were also installed.
Back
to the present:
As
far as I knew, Ibrahim hadn’t organized a theater performance in village since
the larger performances ended in March.
This particular theater performance was held in the central area of
Takaledougou during the day. The whole
play was basically an argument between two couples about where the proper place
to shit is (a lot of yelling in Jula).
After the performance, Ibrahim called up individuals from the audience
to put on the clothes of certain characters and ask them what they what they
would have done instead. It was a great
way to encourage the audience to analyze what they had seen and evaluate
whether they had learned anything. However, as with most of the Burkinabe
theater performances I’ve seen, people immediately started leaving once they
realized the performance was over and they were going to be asked questions.
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| Ibrahim working the crowd |
Clearly
it was a really impressive event to set up in village, so after the
performance I congratulated Ibrahim. We talked for a while and he explained
that he wanted to invite me to another theater performance in a satellite
village, but it had been canceled. When I asked why, he said that the project
didn’t have the funds available yet so they were postponing the
performance. He then dropped the bomb
that each theater performance costs this organization 60,000 CFA ($120) when
you add transport, a sound system, oil for 4 hours of the generator (most
performances are done in villages without
electricity), and payment for actors/employees. To put this in perspective, entire Burkinabe
families live on less than 1,000 CFA ($2) per day. I get paid about 140,000 CFA ($280) per
month, which most Burkinabe would consider a massive amount of money (cue
laughter from my gainfully employed friends).
 |
| Proof that Burkinabe love theater performances |
Obviously
this project has done some great things for the people in my community. It has
given Ibrahim countless hours of theater training, built four latrines near the
main part of my village, as well as encouraged Ibrahim to set up trash pickups
and theater sensibilizations. Not to
mention the project has temporarily employed a few members of my community and
paid them handsomely for their work.
However, this NGO has also complicated my work in village. First of all, my main village counterpart is
almost always busy working for this organization, making it difficult to work
with him on other projects. This is especially frustrating because he is an
amazing counterpart and I haven’t found any other community members that
actually have the time or desire to work with me on health education projects.
The
organization has also temporarily provided Ibrahim and the rest of the theater
troupe with resources they would not otherwise have easy access too, such as a
stage, a sound system, and a generator.
Now Ibrahim is of the opinion that he needs a sound system for every
theater performance that he does in the future, which is simply not true. This
has made it extremely difficult to work with him on any theater related
projects because the resources Ibrahim thinks he needs don’t exist in the
community.
The Mystery of the Sign
Three
days after returning to site in October, I woke up to find that this giant sign
had been installed next to the highway that passes by my village.
This
translates to “Development Project of Agriculture Financed by the American
People.” The sign carries the logo of
the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an initiative of the American government
that assists developing countries in reaching the “Millennium Challenge” goals
of the United Nations.
The
chief of the village happened to drinking coffee at the same place as me, so I
decided to ask him where the sign had come from. He explained that some people had showed up
the day before with the sign and the manpower/tools to install it. They had tried to put the sign next to the
highway in one location, but he had told them it wasn’t possible because it
blocked a pathway next to road. So they
ended up installing the sign a little bit further down the highway. The chief of the village had no idea what
“Development Project” the sign was referring to and suggested that it was
probably something in Banfora (15 km away).
After some research it has become apparent that no one in my community
knows what the sign refers to. It was
probably installed there because cars have to slow down for the toll booth next
to my village.
Cinomade
Four
days after returning to site, a Burkinabe organization called Cinomade came to
my community. I’d never heard of the
organization before, but it was actually really impressive. They set up screenings of HIV/AIDS
educational videos that were filmed and edited by Burkinabe in the southwest
region of Burkina. They spent the day
before the screening walking around my community interviewing people about
HIV/AIDS. For the screening, they set up a large projection screen at the primary
school complete with a sound system and a generator.
They
played back some of the footage of the interviews during the day and the
Burkinabe loved it. Then they showed the
first of 3 of the videos they had made called “War of the Sexes.” The entire
film was composed of interviews with over 40 individuals asking their opinions
on what members of the opposite sex look for in a sexual partner and who is to
blame for the spread of STDs. Married
women generally agreed that they can’t control the actions of their husbands
and that unfaithful men were to blame.
Young women said they look for men who have the means to support a
family, but pointed out that a husband with money can do whatever he wants
after marriage. Young men said that
women won’t pay attention to them if they don’t have money and that promiscuous
women in search of money were responsible for the spread of STDs. Older men said they actively sought out
younger sexual partners to reduce the risk of getting STDs.
After
the film, the facilitator asked audience members to get up and offer their
opinions on the questions posed in the film.
This resulted in a lot of young men standing up and speaking into the microphone. I was extremely impressed that a woman had
gotten up in front of everyone to argue with the men, but I realized that this
woman was from Cinomade. After nearly 45
minutes of heated argument concerning who’s to blame for the spread of STDs, I
grew pretty skeptical of the value of the discussion. Finally the director of the
primary school got up and made an important point.
It
doesn’t matter whose fault it is that STDs spread, it is the responsibility of
both sexes to be educated and take measures to protect themselves. A couple minutes later, the generator ran
out of gas the event came to a grinding halt.
I
left the event with mixed feelings. The
organization was successful at getting people to talk about sex and HIV/AIDS,
which are very sensitive issues in Burkina Faso, but their focus on the “War of
the Sexes” seemed counterproductive. It’s valuable to acknowledge different
perceptions of sex between genders, but it’s hard to imagine that anyone walked
away from the event understanding the importance of what the primary school
director said. The event was also poorly
planned, with the generator shutting off in the middle of a speech by the head
nurse of the CSPS. In typical Burkina
fashion they started the substantive part of the event 1.5 hours late. Therefore, they weren’t able to show or discuss
the other two films the organization had made, which may have tied together the
loose ends left by the “War of the Sexes” video.
Interestingly
enough, parents in my community didn’t care if their kids were present for
these conversations regarding sex and HIV/AIDS, including a condom
demonstration. Whether they actually
wanted their kids exposed to it, they figured their kids wouldn’t understand
most of it, or they acknowledged their inability to keep hordes of kids away
from a giant movie screen is a mystery to me.
Conclusion
While
I’m happy that these projects (with the exception of that sign) are benefitting
the people of my community without my involvement, each project is frustrating
in its own way.
Ibrahim
is an incredible Burkinabe, but I haven’t been able to work with him on
projects for months now because he doesn’t have time and I can’t provide the
resources that the project in Banfora provides, namely sound equipment and a
stipend.
The
project funded by Oxfam Canada and the One Drop Foundation is the perfect
example of a project that doesn’t assess community needs before intervening. The organization is focused on the public
health issues of sanitation, hygiene, and waste management. No doubt these are problems everywhere in the
developing world, but if the community doesn’t view these as public health
issues, they will not change their behaviors.
No
one in the community thinks the plastic bags strewn about on the ground are a
problem. They are going to continue littering even when trash cans are
installed and a theater performance tells them not to. The main message of the regional theater
troupe’s performance was to avoid contaminating the water supply. Not once was hand washing, the core component
of hygiene health education, mentioned in any of the theater performances. The four latrines that have been built in the
community are clustered together in a central “marche” area that isn’t
residential. It is highly unlikely that
someone not using a latrine before would hike to the central area of town
before taking a crap.
And
that sign. I could go on for days about
that sign, but let’s just say it’s hard to be seen as a legitimate
representative of the American people when I can’t even explain what that giant
sign is referring to.
Alas,
my vacation to Ghana was canceled at the last minute due to injuries my good
friend sustained during his travels, but all is well. I’ll be spending Thanksgiving
in Ouaga with my entire training group (G27).
We’ll be eating turkey and drinking awesome home brewed beer!
Let
me explain. At an “Oktoberfest” event last month I met an embassy employee,
Chris, who brews his own beer. I sampled
his Imperial IPA at the event and immediately fell in love. I’ve considered brewing in Burkina, but
concluded that it was impossible largely due to the fact that most beers need
to ferment for 1-2 weeks in the low 70’s.
In Burkina, the temperature fluctuates between 90-120. When I asked him about this, he admitted that
he has a room in his house dedicated to fermenting beer and he keeps the air
conditioning on full blast 24/7. I
cringed a little at this revelation, but decided to forgive him because he
brews great beer and he’s super nice.
The guy offered to brew us beer whenever we wanted as long as we gave
him advance notice. For Thanksgiving,
he’s brewing us a vanilla coffee porter and some girly fruity beer (that I’m
going to publically proclaim is way better than the porter). Unfortunately, he’s already married.
I
also met the new US Ambassador at this “Oktoberfest” event, mistook him for
a Burkinabe, told him his English was
really good and asked him what his job was.
Apparently my friend Amber was giving me all sorts of non-verbal cues
that we were talking to the Ambassador. I
never learned to speak non-verbal female, which I had considered advantageous
until that moment. The new ambassador
actually worked for Peace Corps in several African countries. He’s the first African to immigrate to the
US, become naturalized, and return to Africa as a US ambassador. Needless to say, Peace Corps Burkina is
enjoying a lot more attention from the embassy now. The “Swear-in” ceremony of the new stage will
even take place at the US Embassy in Ouaga!
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| At "Ouagktoberfest" with the US Ambassador to Burkina |
To
recap, these projects are frustrating, but at least things are happening. Except for that sign. Ibrahim is done with the Banfora project for
now, theoretically freeing him up to help me with the Grassroots Soccer
programs I want to get off the ground.
We’re working on translating the English manuals to French. I met the only person in Burkina who brews
good beer and fell in love. The US
Ambassador probably thinks I’m
a) an
idiot
b) a
drunk
c) a
clown
d) all
of the above
And
lastly….Happy Thanksgiving! It’s times
like these that I miss my family and friends the most, but I’m surrounding
myself with friends, beer, and food which will hopefully dull the pain. I can’t even begin to describe how thankful I
am to have grown up with where I did and with the people I did. Sending love from Burkina……might take a couple months to get
stateside.
