Busy busy busy,
“The toughest job that I will ever love”
What the ads, recruiters, and other blogs all say is
completely true. My new life is actually, without a doubt, the toughest job
that I will ever love.
Work:
So I’ve been busy and have a lot of things coming up but
first things first. 10 things I’m proud of:
- I weigh/screen babies for malnutrition on Tuesdays. (200-300 children)
- We hand out food to the severely malnourished children/families each Wednesday (50 children)
- We hand out food to the moderately malnourished on each Friday and Saturday.(100 children)
- Sitting in on medical consults and some basic operations. (circumcisions)
- I have given nutrition and healthy eating sensibilizations (demonstrations/lessons) to three English classes. (Class sizes between 80-150)
- Participated in the training of our new community health organization
- Participated in a training on malnutrition put on by Action Contre La Faim. http://www.actioncontrelafaim.org/
- Participated in a 5-day screening of all of the babies/children for malnutrition in 5 satellite villages. (That is roughly between 200-500 children each day)
- This past week I have been in FADA working on my language skills. Gulmancema is a tough language with very little rules of structure. Even more difficult, learning a third language (Gulmancema) in a second language (French).
- Playing soccer with little kids while trying to teach the concept of team-work and passing.
Some future events and projects taking place:
- I have applied to work with the Peer Support and Diversity Network. This committee of volunteers works towards supporting the emotional and mental needs of volunteers in Burkina.
- I have also applied to participate in a program that uses the best sport in the world, SOCCER, to teach HIV and AIDS information to villagers. AWESOME! I am most excited for this one!
- I will be working as a Camp G2LOW Counselor. This is a summer camp dedicated to empowering young boys and girls to be positive deviants in their communities. We still need donations for this one, so feel free to donate. (100% tax deductable)
Some project ideas that I want to do in the future:
- A regularly meeting guys cooking club. I figure that the best way to change eating habits is to educate future decision makers and stakeholders. In this culture, they are the men. We’ve had two meetings so far but I would like to expand and put together a set schedule.
- Started working on putting together a garden for my CSPS. They want to grow vegetables but I would like to grow trees. Right now, we are working on securing fencing and getting started.
- I would also potentially like to hold cooking and food demonstrations for my community. These demonstrations would focus on good hygiene and well balanced meals on a village budget. My closest neighbor is a dietician and maybe I can bribe her to help me out. It would be pretty cool.
So
yes, things are busy and very hectic. I am usually exhausted by the end of the
day but I take Sundays off and usually go shopping at the huge market or
relaxing in my hammock. There is never a dull moment.
Culture:
Part of the reason why I originally applied to the Peace
Corps was because I wanted to experience something exotic. Something out of the
ordinary! As I reflect on my intentions and actions, I now realize that I most
definitely bit off more than I can possibly hope to chew. In fact, I bit into something completely
unexpected. Life in Burkina Faso is definitely exotic and extraordinary, but
not at all in the ways that I expected. I was prepared for exotic locations, sights,
and dress; but I truthfully have not experienced too much of this. When you
look at Peace Corps brochures they show you exotic mountains, traditional
dress, and truly breathtaking sights. Unfortunately, Burkina Faso is not
usually/ever featured in PC brochures or pamphlets. Burkina Faso is, for the
most part, a westernized country with a flat and desert like landscape.
What is exotic, and can never be captured in a brochure or
picture, is the population. The Burkinabe are exotic in their thinking and
child-like innocence. Most people in the world have never heard of Burkina Faso,
but chances are, most Burkinabe have never heard of them either (Unless it’s
France or United States). It’s truly endearing while still a bit un-nerving. How can there possibly be so many people that
have never heard of fried-chicken, oatmeal, or Wikipedia? Ok I digress, but
seriously disasters in Haiti and Japan, the majority of world news, and fast food
are completely unheard of here. Although… is that necessarily a bad thing? I do
not know yet. The people, for the most part, are simple. One could argue that life is pure here. The
majority of the population is farmers/cultivators. (Dang, a huge bat just flew
over my head as I’m typing this outside. Everything is bigger here). Everything revolves around the family. People
marry as young as 16 and immediately begin having children. Families with 10 or 15 children is completely
normal here and the elderly are the most important people in the community. I
know that our culture de-values all of the above but is marrying young and
having a lot of children necessarily a bad thing? Is dropping out of school in
order to take care of family a bad thing?
This is exotic to me. The people are happy and really do not
worry about too much beyond whether or not it will rain. They cultivate and survive.
Live is simple and easily understand. Chez moi, everythning is complicated and we
worry about every little thing. Sure we have a lot of amenities and luxuries,
but living here helps me realize that these things are not actually necessary
to be happy. Living here gives me a new view/spin on the essentials of life. This lifestyle is exotic and special because
it is simple.
Family and providing for the family are the most important
things in the world and they are the only things that matter.
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