Sunday, May 13, 2012

Heartbroken, J’ai pris conscience de la vie.

First things First!!

Happy Mother's Day!!! My mom is one of my best friends and is always the first person to call me whenever there is a problem.  She is amazing!!  I want to thank my mom for her continued love and support in all that I set out to do.

If I were there right now, I'd definitely be taking you out to cheese cake factory for dinner....
:-) Love you Mom!!

The rest of this post is a bit more personal than the lasts, but I feel like enough of you have asked me about the subject; I might as well post something. Along the same lines, I can only tell my side of the story as I understand it. There is, undoubtedly, more that I do not understand or know.

The toughest part of being a Peace Corps Volunteer in Burkina has definitely been managing my relationships with people back at home.  This includes family, friends, and of course Brittany. Everyone has been amazing and Britt has really done a great job of keeping everyone updated with news.  More than that, she kept me connected to all of you at home. And for that, I am grateful.

Unfortunately, Brittany can no longer be my rock.  This was not my decision but I support her and understand the strains of a long distance relationship. Although there have always been critics of our style/type of relationship while I’ve been here, her decision none the less caught me by surprise.  The End.

My Message to anyone back at home: 
            Out of respect for her, please do not bother her or ask her about news of me. This has already been a tough situation and 50 people asking her about it/me would not help either of us move forward.

Me: 
The last two weeks have really made me re-evaluate my life and job. Yes, I definitely seriously thought about going home, but I could not & would not back out of my commitment to the job here. Further, I’ve had to refocus my attention and have been able to develop closer relationships with people here; both other volunteers and Burkinabe. Although it feels like my home support system has been shattered, I am thankful for family and friends who have made themselves available to me. Thank You!!

Work:
IT NEVER ENDS!!! I have definitely been able to keep myself insanely busy. Although many of you know that sleep has not come easy, my workload has broken me down and I am usually in bed by 8pm. 

-This past week was spent in Fada participating in Malaria training. Fantastically well-done and organized, I feel that everyone benefited immensely and will be implementing great projects in their respective communities.
- The week before that consisted of me collecting and treating cow “crap/kaka”, dirt, and sand; in order to mix it all together and begin a small tree garden in my village. As of right now, two weeks later, there are 54 baby saplings growing nicely in my courtyard.  I will be meeting with the mayor later today to decide on where to plant them permanently.

- This week will be pretty busy with a polio vaccination campaign and meetings with local stake holders. The campaign consists of vaccinating every child under the age of 5. That is roughly 7000 children & infants. (I am exhausted after day 2)

-Next week I will be traveling across the country with two extremely dynamic youth leaders from my village. We will be participating in a youth leadership conference in the South of Burkina.  Yours truly will be facilitating two sessions on HIV/AIDS and community needs assessments. 

-After a week-long break I will be taking part in Peer-Support & Diversity Network (PSDN) training. PSDN is a group of volunteers who support the needs of the other volunteers in country. For lack of better words, we are “peer counselors mixed in with University Resident assistants.”

- After a week-long break, I will be taking part in a youth development committee meeting where we will be planning youth appreciation week in mid-August.

- After this, I will go directly into training my local women’s groups on how to produce tofu, soy milk, liquid soap, and organic mosquito repellant.  The groups will then sell the products and HOPEFULLY (fingers crossed) earn a profit.
(Yes, I’ve actually learned some useful things here.)

The next couple of weeks are busy, but I am really looking forward to being productive and hopefully succeeding. Please be sure to pray for and think of me as I move forward.  Thanks!

Random:
In the way of care packages, a lot of you have asked me for my address and things to send.  As I am pretty low on everything right now, I feel like this is a good time to ask for stuff! HELP!!! As much as I hate asking for help, I am getting pretty tired of simple rice and beans. 
I could use some of the following:
  • Cliff Bars
  • Powdered Gatorade
  • General Food Stuffs… especially seasonings. (ANYTHING!!)
  • Canned Chicken Breasts are amazingly delicious
  • Powdered cheese… or better yet… Velveeta
  • Candy for the kids.


You can mail stuff to
Patrick Williams
BP 27, Diapaga
Burkina Faso
West Africa


Be sure to write “Air Mail” on the package along with phrases such as “God Bless”, “Merci Dieu”, and “Jesus Loves”
Thank you for all of your love and support!

Feel free to shoot me a $0.25 cent text.  122677494392
Deuces!

Ps. Cannot believe I almost forgot this,

SPECIAL SHOUTOUT TO MY BROTHERS AT THE EPSILON MU CHAPTER OF ALPHA PHI OMEGA. Happy 65th Birthday! I am so happy to see all of you gathering and celebrating together in Leadership, Friendship, and Service.
Also, a special congrats to all of the graduating seniors (especially two of my littles).  Go out and set the world on fire!