Hi family and friends,
The last year in Burkina Faso has been
a whirlwind! From three months of training, to doing three months of
doing my community study, to four months of 130 degree weather, and
then two visits from people in the states! There is now liquid soap
and tofu in my market every three days now. They sell out and my
auntie who makes it is making great money and her kids are gaining
some weight!
Grandpa Wirth is here visiting me for
two weeks right now and while he has learned that he may not be as
young as he used to be, we have been really enjoying ourselves. He
visited my site for a few days and after struggling the first two
days came to the same conclusion I did: the kids in my village are
amazing. From everything from finding him lost wandering the village
because he couldn't find his way back to my huts to teaching them how
to whistle he had a great time. I am now having my first 'vacation'
experience with staying in some very nice hotels (what a different
side of Burkina than the one I have been living for the last year).
I have actually planned my first real
vacation since I have gotten here: a trip to Morocco! I will be going
with Zach and a wonderful friend from home, Alex (female). We will be
traveling all over for the last two weeks of September. I'm excited
about seeing the coast, deserts, non-Burkinabe food, and having a
little break from life here.
The 'New Katie' with an education focus
So as some of you have heard and gotten
a whiff of in my other blog posts, I have been getting very
interested in early childhood education. My plan is now to go get my
masters in early childhood education / literacy / curriculum
development. It is a huge shift from where I was last year at this
time (with my life revolving around food security) but I think it is
a much better fit. I'm thinking that I am likely to want to go into working with community based education programs (from community based preschools –
which is my main project and interest at site – to community based
education programs for adults and to literacy programs with
elementary school children) and helping elementary school cirriculums be more student centered and include more critical thinking and cultural activities.
The community-based preschool (called a
bissongo here) is officially happening! The community of Silmidougou
has offered a huge old granary (two rooms – one for classroom and
one for storage) and a big permanent hangar to help. The three future
teachers, two women and one man, will be going off to a two to three
week training next month with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and
Action Sociale (a branch of the government responsible for social
programs and human services) they will be paid by the community every
month. The buildings need a lot of repair and the community is taking
full responsibility over repairing the hangar and making it meet the
requirements of CRS. The granary doesn't have a roof and will be very
expensive so I am writing my first grant to ask for money to help
with the repairs and also get some extra materials for the classroom
(storybooks in local language, puzzles and paint for murals). It is a
lot of work but I am hoping that I will be able to get the project
funded and then Silmidougou can save some money for future needs of
the bissongo.
Well, I will try to be better about
posting. Much love to you all!
