Ne zabre!
So I haven’t talked too much about the projects I see myself
being able to do in Silimidougou so I think I will do a little update on that.
As most of you know, I am a rural development agent volunteer which is under
the DABA program here. My work is supposed to entail mainly agriculture
projects while also doing projects that are environmental based and entrepreneurial
based. All volunteers in Burkina are also supposed to do some youth development
projects and health projects. So as Dad said, “You can do anything and it will
count as a Peace Corps project.”
My agriculture projects I think will be pretty vast. I am
supposed to be getting a model garden once the gardening season starts (probably
in November). I think this year it will be mainly a tool for people to see new
techniques since that is what they said that they wanted. I may be setting up a
compost pile there, cover cropping, intercropping and pest protection since
those are all activities people have seemed interested in. I’m also working one
on one with some farmers right now. Dominique is a great subsistence farmer
that has four generations of his family in the fields. He grows millet, corn
and has started planting mango trees to have a harvest at another part of the
year. He’s a really sweet man and his son is really competent and hard working.
It was his ‘brother’ that gave me my bunny – who is now dead (don’t worry I got
two more that will hopefully have offspring soon). Omar is my farmer who is
actually a businessman in Ouaga but is from my village so he continues to have
a field that he cultivates. Two years ago he made half of his land a plantation
of bananas and papayas – luckily for me I get a good share of this when I visit
so no scurvy for me! So far, everyone has a keen interest in composting and
water sources. The composting projects I’m already really excited about because
people have a real understanding that their land is tired and needs to have a
better soil quality to continue to be productive. Composting seems like a
pretty great project that fruit farmers are interested in but also subsistence
farmers so can be used with everyone to different levels. On the water front, I
did not have a lot of feasible ideas – my thoughts always go to drip irrigation
but the problem here is water availability, not water efficacy. Luckily for me,
the agriculture agent that lives ten kilometers from me has a very interesting
program for building miniature lake-esque that also receives a little bit of
government funding so I think the water projects are also pretty possible.
As of right now, the environmental projects are the ones
that are not materializing as quickly, very few people see planting trees as a
top priority in the community. So I hope to be learning more about the needs
and wants of the community before I get too stressed about this. I’ve met a lot
of plantation farmers for tree planting – I guess that will count to some
extent or another.
On the enterprise side, there is of course a lot of interest
in the community. The challenge that I started with a lot is that people
believe that the way to business development is to be handed money to start
their business. So for a while the discussion was on starting small to build up
their capacity themselves. I think there are a lot of people that are really
excited to hear from someone that they can actually take the reins and create a
profitable business. The word profitable is not a word here that they use very
much. Everyone wants to make money but very rarely are people thinking about
profits in their business or even breaking even. I have not met anyone in my
community that does accounting but people seem interested in the idea of
profits and inventory control. So far it seems like it will mainly be with
younger men (I’ll be talking a lot more about them in the youth development
section) and a few little boutique owners (male and female!). I’m hoping that
once my Moore gets better I will be able to have a better relationship with the
ladies that work in the marche and then I will be able to work with them too!
The health projects that I can be working on easily are
HIV/AIDS projects, sanitation projects and malnutrition projects. An HIV/AIDS
project would not be a project that would be at the top of the community’s
needs. This is because thankfully Burkina has a relatively low HIV/AIDS rate
and my village seems to have an even lower rate. A sanitation project at this
moment I think would be because I am disgusted with human feces, not because
the community wants it. So I plan on holding off on it for now – though watching
people of all ages poop on the soccer field I play on each evening grosses me
out and smelling human feces almost every evening is not what I call
delightful. Malnutrition, as of right now, seems to be the most important
community need when it comes to health. Babies, children, young adults, and the
elderly all seem to be in dire need for nutritional attention. I have been
invited to work at my community health center every Thursday morning to weigh
babies, measure their heights, write it down for the health center (called a
CSPS) and the mothers’ personal records, and then help with immunizations
afterwards. It is really overwhelming but everyone puts in the time and effort
to record all the information so it is doing something! The program could
really expand though since right now there is no feedback to the mother of
whether or not her baby is in good health. There is also, from what I can tell,
a lack of information for the mothers if they are looking to get information
about nutrition or other infant health information if they wanted it. I am
really excited about being invited to do this and I really think it will be a
great opportunity to get the next generation in great health!
The youth development aspect I think will be a great source
of entertainment, opportunity but also frustration. The ‘youth’ here actually
is defined as 20-35 year olds which then equates to solely 20-35 year old
males. Let’s just say the first meeting I sat in on was a bit of a surprise but
it does open new doors. About fifty percent of the male youth here ends up
doing gold mining – the majority work independently and create their own mines.
They are by far the youth with the most money but it is an extremely dangerous
job. Most of the youth really want to start businesses and help strengthen
their community. I am really looking forward to working with them but it will
be a challenge as a young girl that in their minds is marriageable (I’ve been
told I’m a bit old but still in the right range) I know there will be some
barriers but I’m optimistic all will go well!
I am really excited about all the things I may be able to
do. It is nice being in a community that is so motivated in so many directions!
I am really happy and cannot imagine doing anything else right now or being
anywhere else – though I do miss my friends, family, and food with true sustenance!
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