Transport Stories

So transportation can be pretty rough in the BF. I think I have mentioned before that I live approximately 100k from a paved road and 40k from my district capital. (Random note: There are three of us out here and we are all required to check in with our security coordinator once a week to get security updates and to let them know we are still alive.) In order to go anywhere I usually have to make it to a market 10k away and pray that there is a working bus available. That bus usually leaves at 6:30 in the morning; which means that I have to leave my house at 5:00am, bike the 10k and then get there early enough to reserve a spot.  In the event that there are no spots or the bus is not running that day, the latter is much more likely, I have to bike the 40k to the district capital.  Fun right?

Returning to site from Ouaga, I usually have to catch a 7:00am bus and take it to my district capital. If I am lucky the bus will continue on to the large market near my site, but this does not usually happen and I therefore spend the night in the district capital with another volunteer before continuing to my site in the morning. (40k bike ride)

Because transportation is so much fun in this country, I am dedicating this post to some stories about transportation in the BF. (#s 5 and 6 are gems)

1. 1.       Returning to site one day, our bus was routed off the road by a huge accident. A huge tanker had apparently collided with another bus. 11 people died and the tanker spewed what seemed to be thousands of gallons of oil all over the area. I would later find out that this was one of the worst accidents in recent history.

1. 2.       Heading to Ouaga with 2 other volunteers, our bus stopped on the side of the road to pick up a couple of people. (This is normal in BF. There are very few bus stops and buses usually pick up anyone on the side of the road.) Two men get on but there were a couple of interesting things about these men and each one of the volunteers traveling with me noticed something different.

a.       The female in our group noticed that one man had a very nice Valentine’s Day shirt on. It was a pink and blue button down that said “Je T’aime”(I love you). She also noticed that for some reason, that same man had a bike pump attached to his hip

b.      The other male volunteer noticed that the two men were handcuffed to each other.

c.       I noticed that one man was extremely dirty while the other had a large hand gun on his hip.

Apparently, the police and Gendarme use public transportation to transport prisoners. The man in the pretty Valentine ’s Day shirt was probably a gendarme who had just caught a prisoner. He was indeed wearing a gun on his hip, not a bike pump as one party previously thought, and the two men were handcuffed to each other.  The two men were surprisingly polite to each other and didn’t cause a problem. 

It ended up being us who caused the problem. There was a disagreement over price so the bus staff stopped the bus and tried to kick us off….

1. 3.       The second leg of the above mentioned voyage to Ouaga consisted of us standing on the side of the road waiting for another bus to come by. After waiting unsuccessfully for some time, we decide to hitch hike and flag down a car. This turned out to be a fantastic turn of luck because the man gave us a free ride to Ouaga and happened to be in the same line of business as the two volunteers I was traveling with (buying and selling Sesame).  The three of them started making phone calls to their respective organizations and a great deal was worked out for all involved.  The good samaritan was involved with both Chinese and Indian buyers so trying to speak French was a struggle. In the end, everything turned out okay and we ended up in Ouaga without further incident.

1. 4.       Heading into Ouaga, my site mate and I decided to try to catch the bus from our big market. This bus leaves at 6:30 am, but we of course want to be there by 6:00 in order to get tickets. This means that we have to leave our homes by 5:30 and bike the 10k to the market.  Luckily, the bus was running that day and we were able to get spots without a problem. ( Although after we took off, we noticed he was drinking a beer and seemed a bit hung-over.)The bus took us(volunteer and Burkinabe passengers) about 100k to the paved road, but then the driver decided that he did not want to go any further so he called a friend and ordered him to take us all to Ouaga. This is Normal. Our new driver was great! He drove fast and had not been drinking the night before, although, when we made it to our regional capital, 200k, he too became tired and did not want to continue. So we switched again, traveled 100k, and then had the SAME PROBLEM! So we switched again and finally made it to Ouaga at about 6:30 in the evening.  We departed our market at 6:30am and finally arrived in Ouaga at 6:30 in the EVENING! A voyage that usually takes about 8-9 hours ended up taking 12. Needless to say, we were exhausted.  Bon arrivee!

1. 5.       Returning to site oner day, our bus pulled off to the side of the road to pick up a group of men on the side of the road. These 4 men started exchanging words with the bus staff and things got heated. (My Moore/Gulmancema/French is not good enough to know what the fight was about. They were switching languages tooo quickly for me.) They came to blows and it seemed like the bus staff was going to lose….. that is, until the driver ran to the front of the bus and grabbed a gun. All the other passengers ducked down as the driver ran to the door at the back of the bus…. (Where I was sitting and always sit.)  Surprisingly, I did not duck down or freak out. I may have just been in shock at what was going on. Even now, I ask myself, did that really happen?  But the situation did not escalate because the site of a gun tends to calm people down pretty quickly. 3 of the 4 men boarded the bus while one was left on the side of the road. The three men that boarded turned out to be Ghanaian and may have been associated with some shady stuff. They all had large packets of cash in 3-4 currencies (yes American Dollars were one of them) and they soon got off the bus on the Niger boarder.

1. 6.       Last but certainly not least, during my most recent return to site I was biking to the bus station in Ouaga with another volunteer when two men on a moto sped by me and decided to punch me in my back as they went by. Me being completely blindsided had no time to react and could only struggle to maintain my balance on my bike as they sped by cursing me out. We were, and continue to be, completely perplexed as to why they were so angry and decided to punch me.  It hurt.

Continuing to the bus station, we were able to board the bus and travel the majority of the route without incident. The other volunteer got off the bus about 2 hours later and I continued on for the next 7 hours without a problem. That is, until the bus broke down on one of the most isolated stretches of dirt road in Burkina.  We are the only bus that usually travels this road and we are completely stranded as it is getting dark.  After about two hours, a minivan/bush taxi arrives to pick us up.  Our original, now broken down bus, was about the size of a greyhound bus.  This taxi is the size of a minivan…. But somehow, everyone and everything fit inside, outside, on the side, and on the back of the bus (We’re talking 30 people, bikes, luggage, chickens, goats, and rice sacks). I started this last leg by holding on to the back of the minivan but then moved inside after the other passengers became worried for my safety.  I am pleased to report that we then made it safely to our destination, district capital, without further incident. In the morning, I biked the 40k home.

I hope these stories have shed some light on why I hate traveling to and from site. Hopefully other volunteers will read this and stop asking me why I do not like to travel. Its tough, its hot, its crowded, its unreliable, it sucks. We get leaked on, peed on, and occasionally “faux tipped” (con-artist trying to work magic). Along the same lines though, I enjoy the new experience and the stories that I take away from each voyage. The most revealing thing to me is the Burkinabe spirit. They experience the same things and still remain positive and cheerful. We travel together, the volunteers and Burkinabe, and we experience the same things.  Yes it is tough, but we always arrive at our destination in one piece. And for that, we are all thankful!