Friday, February 24, 2012

Project Updates



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:
  1.  I weigh/screen babies for malnutrition on Tuesdays. (200-300 children)
  2.  We hand out food to the severely malnourished children/families each Wednesday (50 children)
  3. We hand out food to the moderately malnourished on each Friday and Saturday.(100 children)
  4. Sitting in on medical consults and some basic operations. (circumcisions)
  5.  I have given nutrition and healthy eating sensibilizations (demonstrations/lessons) to three English classes. (Class sizes between 80-150)
  6. Participated in the training of our new community health organization
  7. Participated in a training on malnutrition put on by Action Contre La Faim. http://www.actioncontrelafaim.org/
  8. 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)
  9. 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).
  10.  Playing soccer with little kids while trying to teach the concept of team-work and passing.

Some future events and projects taking place:
  1. 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.
    1.    http://pcburkina.org/PSDN
  2.   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!
    1.      http://pcburkina.org/CHAT/coach
  3. 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) 
    1. http://pcburkina.org/content/donate-camp-g2low-today

Some project ideas that I want to do in the future:
  1.  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.
  2. 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.
  3.   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.




Monday, February 13, 2012

Pictures!

Here are some more pictures from Burkina Faso!  

--Britt

Pat's hammock in his house!

Pat's bug hut which encloses his cot.  Terp pride!!

Down the road from Pat's house-- check out the tree!

Patrick's home sweet home

The bike that helps him get around & a few backpacks for transport.  Hats decorate each of the doorways.



BF has GORGEOUS sunsets!

And another :)

Pat getting his placement

Another view of one of the HUGE turkeys that they cooked in the ground

Yummy pies for the Thanksgiving celebration

Typical BF scene

Beautiful trees to look up into...

Something Pat stumbled across when he went exploring.  Perhaps a  shrine


Host familyyy

Pat's host brother rocking Pat's other Fedora!

Pat's host mom and host sisters

Drummers at the swear-in ceremony

Celebratory cakes after swear-in!



Thursday, February 2, 2012

Update

I think its about time to have an update on here.  I was hoping that Pat would get internet soon, but there have been a number of delays, so he asked me to update the blog and include pictures.  
--Britt

Pat is really settling into his new place.  This week was a very productive one!  He taught an english class on nutrition and planned an entire lesson for 80+ kids.  And its not even the number of kids that is most impressive, its the lesson itself!  It was more than complete with Jeopardy questions, free cookies as incentive to answer questions, and building human bridges to show the importance of eating foods from ALL the food groups. Looks like his RA knowledge on ice breakers and the sort is being put to good use!  In BF, "to" (pronounced "toe") is a very popular dish despite having little nutritional value; thus Pat wanted to teach the importance of a balanced diet. The absolute best part of this week was the excitement in his voice!  He is really having a blast!

Pat has also been playing soccer with the local kids a lot.  His cooking endeavors continue as he accumulates an impressive amount of international food options into his repertoire (he didn't mention that his first meal at his new home in BF was mexican spiced macaroni and cheese). Yesterday he went around with another worker as she did sensibilizations in the village and surrounding areas.  This allowed him to meet many people and watch someone else give lessons.  He continues to screen babies and children for malnutrition (a big concern over there given limited food options).

Another exciting thing that Patrick is working on is building a garden in front of the CSPS (health center/clinic) that he works at.  This is a challenge simply because fencing is expensive and the whole thing takes a lot of planning, but I know that he is equal to the task.  He recently has been working on his Plan of Action and report to submit for review by PC.  In this document, he is to analyze the needs of the community and detail his plans for his remaining time as a PCV.

Pat has gotten very close with some local youths and they hang out in his spare time listening to music or just talking about life in general.  Rihanna is very popular over there (something Patrick can relate to).  Eminem, Lupe, and Akon have also extended their fan base into Burkina Faso.  Pat has a hammock that he often relaxes in after work.

He has been on a quest for internet, but it has proven unsuccessful a number of times for one reason or another.  Issues include ATM running out of money and lack of internet keys/car batteries.  It seems acquiring internet is about as difficult as you would imagine in the rural areas of a developing country.  That being said, Pat is very thankful for his close proximity to the marche or marketplace.  This ensures that he is able to get food on a regular basis as it is needed.  However, since the harvest this year was not ideal, there is potential for a food shortage.  Let us hope and pray that does not happen!

The next couple months will be super busy for Pat!  He will be doing more volunteer training during which his stage will be reunited!  He is pretty excited to see the people he swore in with after such a long time apart.  He also has a committee meeting.  He has joined the Youth Development committee which meets about every 3 months.  Additionally, the volunteers are planning a visit to a village in BF where there is going  to be a huge festival that only happens every other year.  Pat is pretty excited for that as well!

Below are some pictures from BF taken from facebook for those of you who might not have seen them yet. I have included Pat's captions as well.

Great tree to watch the sunset on. sit right there in the nook


I wake up to life in the BF. My courtyard with my host family. Far left is the oven and dishwashing on top. what looks like a rug is actually seeds from harvest. and the bottom center is usually a fire where food is prepared. the Jugs all around are filled with Dolo, a local beer that my family makes and sells from millet. (They popular people)
[This was where Patrick lived during training, this is not where he currently resides]


Mah house [on left] The kids, and my host mom, sleep in the round hut. :-( gender inequality

My host family and i communicate through dance 

One of my lil Host Sisters. May just be one of the sweetest kids I've ever met. She stares at me while i eat breakfast every morning and dances in the evenings with me. Although you cannot see it here, she has one of the purest smiles you could ever imagine. There have been many of dark days where her smile brings light. :-)

Our boss donated three turkeys and one oven to our thanksgiving cause.
So we dug a hole, filled it with hot coals, and cooked turkeys in it. Earth Oven. TrueLife, I cooked a 15lb Turkey in an Earth Oven.


Success!

PCTs chillin

Right before the electric slide


MONEY!!!

the day after Thanksgiving, we did condom and family planning demonstrations for 8th graders. FANTASTIC!!!
  

Presenting a certificate to my Counterpart after counterpart workshops.
  
Conference finale with Homologues, Supervisors, Trainers, PCVFs, and PCTs

G25!
[aka: Pat and his stage!  They swore in on December 15, 2011]

The east!

Right now, things are going very well for Patrick.  Please keep the prayers, good wishes, packages and letters coming in his direction!