Demystified

Well, I got back from my demystification visit yesterday. For those who don't know, that just means we went in small groups to stay with a current volunteer to see how they live. My group, which consisted of our language teacher, myself, Kristy, Ilana (who went to W&M amazingly), and Annete, went to visit an older volunteer in the small village of Sala, about 113km southwest of Ouaga. She was such a great hostess to the five of us, and we definitely packed the days in.

To get there, we first took a bus from Ouahigouya to Ouaga in the early morning. Then we caught a bush taxi (imagine 25 people fitting into a van that seats 12, overloaded with baggage, bikes, motos and goats inside and on the roof, and breaking down every hour or so) from Ouaga to Sala. When we finally made it after several hours, our hostess greeted us and showed us her house and friends and neighbors. She has a really nice crib for PC standards, so she's quite lucky. She also has another volunteer only 2km up the road, so we got to meet him and check out his place too (also incredibly nice).

For the few days we were there, we definitely got to do a lot. We weighed babies at the local CSPS (health clinic), ate lunch with the village chief, saw her PC neighbor do a talk about pregnancy at a nearby school, helped in a talk about proper handwashing to three classes at another school, saw a soccer game, visited the dam, had language classes, met all the important village leaders, and visited the market in the next town over. I was amazed how she manages to get by with her spectacular mix of English and French. She does have a language tutor that goes with her everywhere and acts as her translator. It's still great to see how how much the community respects her and how she manages to thrive there with less-than-perfect language skills, but she has no fear to get up and talk in her Franglais to a room full of confused school children.

She also made some amazing food, and for that, she could have been speaking Chinese to those kids and I wouldn't have cared. We had mac and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese. Amazing! It was cool to see how PCVs can take local products and make some really good American-friendly meals. I've heard that pizza isn't too hard to make. That is first on my list once I get to my site.

All in all, the visit was great. I got to see what a volunteer actually does on a day-to-day basis, and it really made me happy. Seeing her in her community was a reaffirmation for myself. I can see myself in her shoes a year down the road and know I can definitely handle the path to come. Hope to post again soon and hope all is well in the States (we PCTs can't wait for the elections! I feel so disconnected.)

P.S. Don't get too excited, but I have pictures of the entire group. Unfortunately, the first was taken in Philadephia and not Burkina, but the second was taken in the PC van on the way from Ouaga to Ouahigouya. You might be able to see Burkina in the background if you squint. They are all amazingly cool individuals (nobody has left yet which is very rare for any PC group - that should tell you something). More pics from and of Burkina will come eventually. Enjoy this for now: