My first post from Burkina

June 19, 2011

Welcome to my first blog from Burkina Faso. I have been here for just over a week, and i’m currently enjoying a quiet morning at my homestay. While the family is at church I’ve decided to take some time to reflect upon my first week.

Upon meeting everyone for staging in Philadelphia I immediately noticed two things. The first was to be expected – on average, everyone is about 10-12 years younger than me, and the second – there are so many of us!!! Fifty in total, most of us are education volunteers, but some also work in the agricultural sector. Everyone is quite nice and I’ve already found several people that I find myself gravitating toward; people who I know will support me if/when needed.

While this experience has been radically different than my experience in Niger, so far it’s been pretty good. I feel extremely lucky to have my friends Vida and Lindsay, whom I served with in Niger, to help me through the process and really know what I’m going through.

For the last week we’ve been staying at a small retreat center in Ouagadougou (Wa-ga-doo-goo). There we had electricity, wifi and air conditioning – it was quite nice, but at the same time it didn’t feel like the West Africa I knew.

We came to the village of our Pre-Service Training on Friday afternoon, and I must admit to being utterly petrified. Living in a homestay situation is WAY outside my comfort zone! I just don’t like it! But alas, all of my fears have been relieved. My homestay family is drastically different than the one I was in in Niger. Where my first family was rather poor, with few resources, my current family has electricity, a refrigerator and a satellite dish. It’s crazy! My family consists of two very sweet parents, who laugh freely and show affection to each other and to the kids; there are three daughters, Arlette-12, Zuzelle-10, and Grace-24 months; and there are two sons, Abel (who they joking call my big brother at 18) and Ashille-14. Everyone is amazingly sweet and patient with me. I feel so very lucky!


July 7, 2011

I’m writing today from our training center outside of Ouaga. It’s been a trying and interesting couple of weeks, that has sadly brought the departure of 3 of my fellow stagiers. For multiple reasons, they decided that the US was the best place for them to be right now. While I wish them all well, we are certainly feeling the loss here.


July 9, 2011

Dark clouds are quickly rolling in, soon to be followed by a down-poor (I hope)!

The down-poor is here and it is wonderful! Several of my fellow stagiers and I are sitting around under a pavilion listen to the onslaught, staring with wonder at the rain.

It’s been a good day, lots of French, but it’s coming to me slowly and each day I get a little more confident. Our first language test is a week from today. It will decide if I continue to learn French for a few more weeks, or if I move on to learning the local language. I found out this week that I will be learning Moore, the language of the Mossi people. This coming Thursday I will find out where I will be living for the next two years, but based on the language, I am assuming that I will be living in the central area of the country.


July 11, 2011

Age is a funny thing. By most accounts I neither look, nor act like I’m thirty-five years old (however it is that we’re supposed to act), but at the same time, I feel the separation in age between myself and my cohorts on very nearly a daily basis. To start out with, not one of them has a decent appreciation for George Michael! As if that’s not inexcusable enough, most of my pop culture references fall on deaf ears. I actually had a friend tell me today that she didn’t like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off! As I ask myself what the world is coming to, I must also admit that I catch very few of their pop culture references - take from that what you’d like.

That being said, I really appreciate my cohorts and find it’s interesting how we can connect on many different levels. For example, while I may not have stories about being in college a few months ago; I am pleased to be able to play a part when the conversation turns to how much fun they had working with Habitat for Humanity during college. Many people were active with their campus chapters, while even more have made connections over Collegiate Challenge experiences. It’s amazing to me; how I could at once be so removed, while at the same time, have such a strong shared experience them. The day on which people were making connections to friends and family through Collegiate Challenge (“OMG! You went to New Orleans for Collegiate Challenge? So did my friend So-and-so!” “No way, you know So-and-so? We worked together every day on site!”), I must admit to feeling a certain amount of pride and accomplishment for the work I (and many, many others) have done to make Collegiate Challenge – and HFH Youth Programs, what they are today.

I love how while age can separate, it can also bring us together. Now I’m going to go pull out the crayons and color in one of the coloring books I brought for the kids until I can fall asleep! You’re never too old to color!

P.S. I have officially been in Burkina Faso for a month!