Life in the Bisongo!

Classes in the bisongo started up on the 4th of November! It was exciting and exhausting for all involved. This post will be more photos than anything else, since I wrote a post early today and it deleted itself.

The teachers were nervous but did a really great job.

Christian has gotten much better at playing games with the kids outdoors and has become much more comfortable with his singing voice!

Sophie is a natural at all of this. She loves to sing and knows so many wonderful songs.

Mamounata is more quiet but has been great with all of the kids. She has her hands full with Setou on her back, but she is very good about helping the kids learn to count!

Catholic Relief Services donated some great outdoor equipment, kitchen materials and will also be bringing books and other great stuff!

It is great to have a place where the kids are healthy, safe and learning! They sure do know how to have fun!

A Literacy Project in Burkina Faso - Success Story from my Peace Corps Reporting Form

A Literacy Project in Burkina Faso

                Earlier this year, in January, three Peace Corps volunteers and I found ourselves in Ouagadougou, discussing small projects that we are doing at our sites. One volunteer brought up how he wanted to start collecting local stories, while another brought up that the volunteer that he had replaced had collected a few stories – he was attempting to put them into book form so he could read them to children in his village. I mentioned that while working with children in my village, I had come to realize that few of them had ever even held a book and that even those who attended school were baffled by the idea that written text could be transformed into spoken words; I had been sharing American magazines with the children, but as these were, of course, completely in English. Yet another volunteer had recently been assigned to work at a community-based preschool, with a class of one hundred and fifty students; while his preschool was relatively well supplied with playground equipment, it had almost nothing in terms of print or reading materials, and the idea of reading aloud to young children was completely foreign to the local counterparts. Both of these problems were aggravated by the fact that the resources that were available in Burkina were all in French – there was extremely minimal resources for children in their local languages. All of this made us remember the statistic we had heard time and time again, that Burkina Faso has the lowest literacy rate in the world. We realized we all wanted to find some way to bring affordable, language and culturally appropriate resources to schools, and maybe in the process convince our counterparts that reading aloud was not something only done by priests and imams. The four of us realized that our needs and wants were surprisingly synergistic; that we would be much more effective working as a group. This led inevitably to our creation of the Early Childhood and Community based Education and Literacy Working Group (ECCEL).

My neighbors, Deborah, Ali and Kabore (the two boys are twins), enjoying the books and drawing

                At our first official meeting we formed a plan to make ten storybooks from local stories in six months. We decided that, with this initial group of books, we would use primarily local and traditional stories; we wanted the books to be culturally and linguistically appropriate. After some work at site, we collected over fifteen stories and legends from our various communities. We narrowed this down to a final list of ten stories. For each story that we included in our final list, we wrote a list of ten post-reading questions, both comprehension questions as well as questions that hopefully would help the listener think critically about the story they had just been read. Once we had finalized our stories, we started searching for illustrators, and found several volunteers and two Burkinabe who were interested in illustrating. We we gave the illustrators our finalized stories and they began their incredibly creative and exhausting work.

An example of some of the wonderful illustrations that people did

                We scheduled a conference for the translation of these stories for the beginning of May. We had settled on four target languages for the stories: Fulfulde, Gourmantchema, Jula, and Moore, all of which are spoken in areas of Burkina with high concentrations of volunteers. We had found four Burkinabe translators (one each for each of the languages); with them, we sequestered ourselves in a conference room in the Peace Corps bureau, and, after much trial and tribulation, we emerged triumphantly four days later with each of the ten stories in the four local languages, as well as versions in French and English.

The only European story we did: Little Red Riding Hood. This version is in my village's local language: Moore

                All eight of us in ECCEL (as well as many other volunteers) have been using these storybooks in small groups with children across the country. The reaction from the children has been incredible: almost without exception, children in Burkina love to be read to and adults in our communities, once they became comfortable reading aloud and understood how important it is, love reading to children. The children (and the adults) all seem to learn from the books – both from the stories themselves and the post-reading questions. Many volunteers have said that kids don't just sit and listen but also ask questions. The books have been so popular with our communities that we've decided to start the process over again; we're in the initial stages of producing another set of books – this time focused on preschool aged children.

                We all look forward to having these storybooks available when the elementary schools and preschools start back up in October. We have found them invaluable in the effort to encourage children and adults to work to become literate. The importance of literacy in our communities will have a powerful impact on the development of our communities and on the future of Burkina Faso.

The Adult Literacy teachers - they teach teenagers and adults how to read and write in Moore (guy on the right is Abel, my counterpart)

Thanks for the Support!!

I have completed my first year in the Peace Corps in Burkina Faso! A lot of things about me have changed since I got here, the biggest one is that I've decided that my interest for my work life in the future is in literacy and early childhood education (I had thought I was going to be focused on sustainable agriculture). I am extremely happy in Silmidougou (my site) and so excited about all the work I'm doing with my community. My village and I have taken on a huge undertaking: to create a community-based preschool. This project is now getting support from my wonderful family and friends through the Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP)!

 I would like to give a little background of how this project came about and the real support the community has put in to see this preschool become a reality. The parents in my community have always tried their best to support their kids in school, but the kids still struggle the first few years because they are not prepared for elementary school. When I started working with the younger kids (ages three to six) their parents were supportive but nervous because they know I will leave and that the children wouldn't be getting the support anymore. After discussing the different options of how to prepare the children of Silmidougou they decided that starting a community-based preschool (called a bisongo here) would be the best thing for the kids and feasible in our community. Three community members quickly offered to teach at the bisongo. The community offered an old building (with two rooms: one for a classroom and one for storage), an old permanent hangar (which they will be making all the repairs to including a new roof and add a wall and door), and food for the first month of school. They have also created a community group (similar to a PTA) that will manage the school and inform the community of what is going on. The community will be partnering with Catholic Relief Services and Action Sociale (a branch of the Burkinabe government). CRS and AS have paid to train the three teachers (and myself) in a ten day workshop that we attended in September. CRS will also be bringing outdoor toys, classroom materials and feeding the preschoolers lunch every day.

 Now for the part that family and friends will be helping with, there are some things the community wants but cannot afford and are not a part of the budget of the partners we are working with. The old building is in need of repair before it can be used and while the community is in the process of fixing up the hangar, the funds for the old building seem unlikely to come from Silmidougou. It needs a roof, windows and some small repairs. The majority of the money will go into fixing up this building so that food and materials can be stored and there can be a large classroom for classes.

 The next largest section of the money will go to additional learning materials. After seeing other preschools, I've realized that even with the donations of CRS, educational materials are still lacking. There is a great handicap association that makes a variety of puzzles for a wide span of ages. I would like to get a large set of these so the children can work on the motor skills and critical thinking skills individually or in small groups. I'm working with a group of other Peace Corps Volunteers that have been collecting, translating and illustrating stories for kids. These books will allow the preschoolers to be introduced to books in a fun environment.

 This project is a really big undertaking by the community and I am so glad from the help my community has received! The development of Silmidougou could drastically change with children being better educated and giving the community the chance to put the education of their children into their own hands. All of your support has been greatly appreciated!

Quick update and life plans changed!

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!

Michael's Day by Day Impressions of Burkina Faso

I just had my first visitor stay with me for almost a month! These are his thoughts and experiences!

Day 1: Arriving in Ouaga, seeing the skies darken and an utter downpour commence then getting some precious pizza.

Day 2: Taking a camion (bush taxi) to village. Fortunately our camion was livestock free. At one point in the trip the camion broke down and the windshield wipers began moving on their own accord, which was dealt with by restraining them manually (the windshield wipers won) and lifting up the dashboard to twiddle with the rest of the wires there (which somehow worked). Also biking around Ouaga and almost dying a couple of times.

Day 3: Fish pasta, yum (yuck). Then dohlo, the local millet beer, more yum, then bunny slaughtering. Towards the end we didn't know what to do with the head and entrails, Katie suggested seeing if the neightbors want it. I brought it over and offered it to them. They took it and gave me back the pot completely empty. A man excitedly yelling, “I love you,” in a bad Burkinabe accent (he thought he was saying good afternoon).

Day 4: Formation in a smaller village and being treated like an honored guest simply because I am white, lots of photos. Playing some random hip banging game for woman with some random Burkinabe man who dragged me into it.

Day 5: Walking around in the sun and getting dehydrated then spending the afternoon in bed drinking Oral Re hydration Salts.

Day 6: Being offered wives, girlfriends, and fiances. A particularly unattractive and old Burkinabe woman missing several teeth telling me she would give me lots of babies.

Day 7: Big marche day, drinking dohlo, eating attieke with a large amount of rocks.

Day 8: Highway bandits stop and rob two buses (ten kilometers from Katie's site) one of which had a person who had gotten a lot of money digging gold individually. I fucking love Burkina.

Day 9: Sleeping outside lots, getting scared of the wind and running inside. Then being too hot to sleep because it is too hot inside. Weighing babies who peed and pooped everywhere. Working with kids, reading them stories in English (they do not even speak French) which they found utterly fascinating.

Day 10: Making tofu, dust and wind storm without rain. Lots of drinking, took three naps and guilt free.

Day 11: Went to Mane for a crazy marche day with so much stuff (in comparison to Katie's marche). Being abandoned for one and a half hours at a dohlo stand with Burkinabe who gesticulated at me lots. Drink three liters of dohlo. Lots of meetings. Having to ride on the back of a motorcycle while carrying my bike after getting a flat and feeling like I was going to die the entire way.

Day 12: Played with kids, threw a whistle ball. Met with lots of little chiefs but not 'the chief'.

Day 13: More tofu making and a pretend rain storm getting some sweet Burkinabe tailored pants.

Day 14: Quick trip to Ouaga, walking around the Grand Marche and then a long ass ride in a cramped bush taxi, that stopped for an hour (while still in Ouaga) because they didn't have enough money for gas.

Day 15: Travelling to Banzon alone and somehow not getting lost / killed even though I speak absolutely no French. Waiting for half an hour in a taxi while the driver argued with a gendarme (military) because he was parked illegally. Then riding in a bus that looks like it shouldn't be able to roll and having to get out to cross a stream to make sure the bus wouldn't fall over. Finally, meeting Tyler and spending a night in paradise.

Day 16: Thinking that I am in China with rice paddies. Seeing four hippos in the wild and eating mangoes straight off the tree. Meeting the Burkinabe Jack Sparrow.

Day 17: Having to run to not miss my bus, catching up on e-mails, eating tasteless fried things, drinking with Peace Corps volunteers and eating porc au four.

Day 18: More email and waiting a long time for an expensive dinner (as in nine dollars). Actually being able to use a toilet and a shower = winning

Day 19: Listening to a long repetitive argument with a jeweler, buying a daba (tool of all trades) partying with Peace Corps (which entailed drinking and getting a lap dance). Then going to a dance hall where you can only dance with yourself whilst looking a mirror. Stumbling back to bed and being woken up at 5am because the bus was supposed to leave at 4:30am. The bush taxi's early start was all for naught as we waited for two hours while a gruesome truck crash was cleared, walking to the bus right as the sky began to downpour. Then enjoying a nicely cramped ten hour drive back to Ouaga. Getting pizza again that tasted so much better after a couple of weeks in Burkina.

Day 21: Chillin' at the Peace Corps bureau, then getting Lebanese food at a swanky Burkinabe restaurant. Being accosted by a kid high on rubber cement who was asking for money then getting ice cream at a place that had way too many options.

Day 22: Heading back to Silmidougou on a uneventful bush taxi ride. Being greeted by people who actually knew me and speaking Moore which was nice. Then hunkering down for a rather impressive dust storm.

Day 23: Eating tasty millet and beans, playing with kids then listening to Katie talk to a chief. Then coming back and making our normal: macaroni with nido sauce.

Day 24: Heading back to Mane to get a wonderful t-shirt and complet, playing with kids and waiting for a chief for a while.

Day 25: Marche day and last day in village. Tofu and dohlo and putting up with drunk children (got to love Burkinabe parenting) seeing a pig strapped to the back of a bike and waiting all afternoon again for a chief. Then getting a kick ass boubou.

Day 26: Traveling to Ouaga solo, being overwhelmed by the artisan village and buying some Burkinabe crafts. Biking to a great interview and chilling at the transit house.

Day 27: Kaya, staying at a wonderful auberge run by orphans with air conditioning!! Drinking Nigerian Guiness (not bad) and and bad raisin wine and then going to a very legitimate club to look for Burkinabe dancing with themselves in the mirrors (but alas we were too early in the night). Getting lost in the marche and looking at lots of pagnes.

Day 28: More marche strolling and a final pizza dinner in Ouaga.

Day 29: Last day in Burkina! Having to leave to the airport ridiculously early to make sure I am on the flight.  

Marriages and Preschool

Good evening: Ne zabre!

How is your evening? Zabre kibare

It is fine. Yaa laafi

How is your family? Y zaka ramba?

They are fine. Yaa laafi

I have been terrible about keeping up my blog! I am so sorry. Luckily, that means that I am extremely busy (which Dad always thinks is funny).

Just to set the scene for you: it is about 115 to 120 degrees at around noon every day. Yes, it does cool down at night (thank you Sub-Saharan region!) and it is dry, but it is still quite toasty!Most people take a little 'pause' at 12 to 15 here to sleep and hide from the heat. Gardening projects are wrapping up. Gold miners are starting to look pretty rich. People say rainy season will start any day now (what they mean is in about two months). What is the fun in this season you ask? Well, it is also party season! All the funerals that took place in the past year get celebrated now. All the marriages happen now (I just went to my host brother's wedding yesterday).

So backing up, work wise, life is really good. I have not been working at the local health clinic since they have four full time interns (that are in different health programs to become nurses and midwives). It is hard not having that because it gave me a good morning routine, but now my morning involves mainly running and trying to get little things done at the house.

My big project now that I talked about in my last blog post as well is my critical thinking club! It looks like people in my village want to start up a preschool, which I think is awesome. So I am trying to focus on kids between three and seven (but others still come) and see what kind of things work for them. I have also been trying to find people to work with me to teach the kids – which has been a lot of fun. Did you know that 'if your happy and you know it clap your hands' is in French and Moore? How cool right? Also, when everyone starts saying that I am the 'mother of their children' and when they ask me how are my kids (which I then get irratited because everyone knows I do not have any, they now smile back and say, 'the children of Silmidougou are your children') it can be easy to get excited.

With other volunteers we have started a working group that focuses on early childhood education and childhood literacy. We have a big translation conference coming up to translate stories we collected at our sites to be put into four national languages. There will be ten stories in all the languages, which will then give us a good idea about what people want and what people like! I am super excited about it and people in Silmidougou are really excited to see the books. Our other projects look like they are going to be a book of games and activities, a book of how to make toys, recording songs and other fun things. This is my big project since my community is excited about it and so is Peace Corps. We will be having around ten preschool volunteers coming in June!

I'm still doing a little bit of agriculture – not very much though. I am working with some people on how to do rock lines (which are a very big tool here to reduce water erosion). I also have been working with people that have a big interest in growing soy (Sophie really wants to start making tofu). So that should be fun!

The reason that I am in Ouaga right now (AKA with internet) is because I was just at a conference on women's health and leadership. I brought a lady in my village named Sophie who is really involved in the community and works all the time. It was my first conference and it was awesome. The volunteers running it did a good job. Sophie and the other counterparts learned things about family planning, HIV/AIDS, malaria, leadership, woman’s rights, nutrition and hygiene. It was great and I see it being possible for us to bring back some of the information to Silmidougou.

I had a great visit on Saturday with my host family from training. It was a really good boost for me since they were so impressed with how much Moore I have learned (I did almost all my interactions in Moore) and how much they love me. One of my older host brothers got married which meant there was a good party – no dohlo (local beer) just zoom koom (flour water). We danced a lot. We ate a lot. The kids (who have gotten so much bigger) were so excited to have me back. We practiced writing and math while waiting at the pump for water. It was so wonderful and it was so nice to see them again. I am hoping that I will be able to see them a little more often now!

I had some really funny stories to share but I misplaced the paper, I think I just left it at home. I will look for that and hopefully next time I will be able to talk more about the people I live with in Silmidougou and what we get up to instead of just about work. I am so happy here and while there are a few tough and trying moments, overall without question I have been happy. I don't really know how I could be more happy without having all of you come live with me in Silmidougou (though most of you then wouldn't be too happy!).

Much love to all and hopefully next month I will have some pictures to add and better stories to tell!

The Holiday Season

Ne windiga! (Good afternoon!)

Windig kibare (How is your afternoon?)

Response: Laafi bala (It has been peaceful)

Y zaka ramba?

Response: Laafi (In health)

To those of you I have not communicated with since my last post, I hope the holidays were wonderful and that you are all doing well. Happy 2013!!

I have been overwhelmed with work and life in the past few months which has been terrific! I am busy almost everyday now. I work at the health clinic five mornings a week and have a critical thinking club that meets during the lunch break everyday. I am going running in the morning as well! By the afternoon comes around I am exhausted and happy to just hang out with people in my market.

Hamadou on the alphabet wall!

My new interest has been in early childhood education and critical thinking projects that can go along with that. This is all thanks to Mom sending me a Highlights magazine that is the most loved magazine known to mankind. It is very well-worn but I just received another package from Mom so I have my fingers crossed that there are some new ones in there!

Karim and Asseta having some fun drawing

I've also been collecting stories so that we can translate them into a variety of languages and then are some other people that will illustrating them. The stories though are always incredibly morbid. So far I have collected four from some teenage girls I know. Here is an example of one (it is the most extreme in how depressing it is, but I love it).

The Dangerous Family

By Ramata Ouedraogo, the daughter of Amado and Zenabo Ouedraogo, 15 years old, in 6eme

This is Ramata while she is at work

One morning, a man and a woman went into the wilderness to go look for honey. They left their children at the house. After a bit of time in the wilderness, they found a beehive. They decided that they did not have enough time to take the honey from the hive. So they took the entire beehive and headed home. When they arrived at their house, they gave the house key to the kids and told them, “lock us in the house and throw away the key.” The man and the woman went inside and the kids locked the door with the key and threw it away. After a few minutes, the children heard noises from inside the house. They started laughing because they thought that their parents were happy after eating so much honey. The children were wrong. Actually, the parents had opened up the beehive inside the house. The bees had come out of their hive and attacked the man and the woman. Eventually, the children realized that their parents were trying to get their attention. The children searched everywhere for the key but could not find it. The parents died in the house with the bees.

So now on to happier things, the holiday season!

Christmas was wonderful and spent in Silmidougou. With three pounds of pork tenderloin for four dollars on Christmas Eve we ate well and celebrated the holidays. On Christmas, my Uncle Boureima (who is Muslim) gave Zach and me a chicken. So Zach got to kill and gut a chicken while I washed dishes. It was a pretty quiet day, but it ended up being a three day long celebration with one day of every Christian in my village being very drunk. It was a lot of fun, but I really did miss Christmas with the family – my first one without Mom, Dad and Luke - so that was a little sad (guess I have officially left the nest).

A Merry Christmas meal!!!

Zach doing a great job cooking the pork!

New Years was a fun event in Kaya. I was with Zach and Jason where we ate some great chili from home (thanks Mom!) and drank an assortment of liquors. Thanks to those two boys, I stayed up until midnight, the villageois in me is unwilling to be up after sundown.

I then had a bunch of Peace Corps visits to my site. The first was to help Zach move out of his site and so I am now fostering his two cats (it looks like he will be PC/Burkina's first nursery school volunteer and still be in our region). The second was a very nice visit from my PC Medical Officer, Jean-Luc, who knows Mom and Dad well from when we lived in Tanzania so it was fun to catch up with him. Along with Jean-Luc came Dr. Barry Simon the director of PC Health Services from Washington, DC. We had a nice lunch in Kaya and got to show off my site. The third visit was from Siaka, the man that ran our cross-cultural and language sessions in PST, came for just an hour but it was not to chat with him and him to also get to see my village.

One of my foster kitties, her name is Probot

In case you have not heard, Burkina is going to the World Cup! I watched all the games in village and was the only girl in the crowd. I brought my Burkina flag to each game. Second in Africa!!

The chief's brother and me ready for the Africa Cup final!

The last holiday that has taken place is the biggest and most exciting: naaba fete! This holiday in celebration of my chief and all the former chiefs took place for over a week. He had all of the large government officials come to village, there were dance-offs, competing dance parties until 6am, animal sacrifices, traditional dancers, a man on stilts, and all kinds of fun things! It was a great time for me since I got to dress up a bit and gave one of my rabbits to the chief. He gave me two thumbs up, which for the regal man he is, was quite awesome! I really enjoyed it and I will hopefully be adding some more photos on facebook soon if you want to check them out!

Zach, my chief, and me

The traditional dancers

The last note for this post is a bunny update! I left you all hanging on a terribly sad note last time so I think it is good to give you some new information. I got back from in-service training to find myself with three new baby bunnies, two that are white and one that is almost all black. They are now almost as large as the adults! While this was a big plus there have been some failures since then. The first being that after another litter came to life, a few dogs broke in and ate my male and the new litter. I later found one of the new babies still alive but his leg is broken – I think more because he has an abusive mother than dogs attacking him. I then gave my white female to my chief as a present for his party, which was a big win. The next day, Zach got to kill his first bunny when I realized just how terrible this mother was being (she pulls out her babies' hairs and steals their food). While Zach was cleaning her up I gave myself a pedicure (thanks Grandma for the stones!) and sang, “Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead” (which is the only part of that song I know). She was delicious! The four bunnies that are still around have gotten much fatter since their mom is gone, so I'm thinking I am going to come up with a party right before rainy season to eat them all! I really want my garden!