Mooré 201: 15 Credits

So I have begun taking Mooré ¨classes¨ this week, racking in a total of twelve hours.  Unfortunately for me, it is not at all an ideal situation for me to learn the language, despite what all my fellow villagers tell me.  Allow me to break it down for you.  I have gone every day Monday through Friday for three hours to a class known as ¨alphabetization,¨ which is another big (French?) word for a school for Mooré-speaking women to learn how to read and write Mooré.  Thus, my class has about 30 women and me, the only one who doesn't speak Mooré.  There is no French spoken, so I don't have the benefit of having translations of what is written, and I honestly have learned practically nothing. 

Yet people continue to tell me that if I go, i will pick up the language eventually.  Ha!  I think I have studied enough languages to know that it is impossible for me to learn this way.  But I have continued to go because at least I get to interact with the community more, and it should help my integration.  But I am still on the look out for someone who speaks French in my village who can tutor me for an hour or two a week (with pay of course).  Even the women in my class think I am doing a great job because when it's my turn, I can stand up and read what the teacher has written on the board, despite not understanding a single word of it.  The only useful day was when they were learning how to write the numbers and do simple math problems because I was able to work on my Mooré numbers a bit.  But once they found, I could do four math problems in about a minute, everyone now tries to cheat off me!  Whenever our teacher gives us problems or an excercise to work on, I have women in every direction trying to see what I've written down.  One woman even passed me a blank sheet of paper so I could do the work for her!  

But at least it's something to do, and people seem impressed by the way I can fake some Mooré.  But faking is not helpful to me in the long run.  I can't be as useful as I could be to these people if I can't communicate.  And while most volunteers seem to rely on other people to translate for them, I would really like to master the local language as much as possible.  I think when my boss (my APCD) comes to visit soon, I will talk to he about the tutor and maybe she can help me figure something out.

Other things that have happened this week:

• I was sick for a day and a half.  I don't know if it was something I ate or dehydration but whatever it was, I didn't feel good.  I will spare you the details, but I will just say I slept very close to my friend, Mr. Bucket.  I am 100% better now, so don't worry.
• Some PCV friends came out to my village to lunch and we visited the crocodiles again.  We saw maybe four or five.  The dam is drying up, so I think they are getting a bit more nervous.
• We had vaccination campaigns in my village and the surrounding villages, which meant biking in crazy amounts of wind.  It literally feels like some gusts are of tropical storm force, blowing dust everywhere.  One morning it felt like I was biking through water it was so strong.  But at least we vaccinated 100 plus babies against polio, measles, yellow fever, and other illnesses. 
• They are suppose to finish my latrine and shower today, so I will finally have one to call my own.  It is kind of embarassing having to walk all the way across my compound, passing by all the other people sitting around, to my major's toilet with my toilet paper in hand.  I might as well announce it: ¨Attention everybody, just FYI, yes, I am going to the bathroom now.  If you were wondering where i was going with this toilet paper, yes, I am going to the bathroom.¨

Gettin' Busy

Things have started to pick up lately, as my Etude de Milieu (first three months at site) begin to wind down. I have just about one month left before I am to return with my fellow health volunteers for three additional weeks of training. After returning from that at the beginning of April, I will be able to actually start planning projects and working more. These past couple of weeks have been packed with activities.

I have been helping out with our vaccination campaign here in Aorema, writing down names and dates for the different vaccinations inside each person's carnet, a booklet that keeps a record of all their medical histories. Most of our vaccines are for young babies under 11 months and include the likes of polio, measles, yellow fever. We also give vaccines to pregnant women. All these are subsidized by the government and are given free of charge to the population. We begin this week to do vaccinations in the three neighboring villages.

I have also participated in two sensibilizations this past week. This is just just a fancy (French?) word that means giving a presentation or demonstration to tach about a certain health topic, like when dental hygienists or nurses go to elementary schools with a giant toothbrush and a set of large plastic teeth to show the kids how to properly brush. This is a key aspect of my job here - to organize and perform sensibilizations. Both of these I attended, one led by my major and the other by the midwife, were focused on going to the CSPS for vaccinations, prenatal consultations and childbirth. I saw a lot of things that I can work on to improve. For one, they lasted about 3 hours each, way way to long for busy moms who ended up talking, sleeping, or walking out half-way through. They need to be shorter, more dynamic, with a much more focused topic. At least there was a fair number of women who turned out, about 50 or so at each.

I begin Mooré ¨class¨ tomorrow, so I am looking forward to that. It isn't actually a tutor like I wanted but rather a group of illiterate women who go to learn how to read Mooré. SO I don't think I will learn specific vocabular and grammar like I had hoped, but at least I will have the exposure with the language more.

So that's about all the exciting news about my job. At some point in the next four weeks, I need to gather all the info for my Etude de Milieu, write it up, and type it up to turn in to my APCD, the boss. This report is basically a mixture of demographic, geographic, and health-related information as it pertains to Aorema and is due when I go for training in March. I also plan to make a trip to Ouaga the capital to attend FESPACO at the end of February, Africa's largest and most famous film festival that takes place here every other year, as well as to pick up a box that has finally arrived that was sent from the US in November! Until next time. Wend na kod nidaare!

How Do You Measure A Day?

Yesterday, I measured the day in kilometers, 52 kilometers to be exact. I biked these 52 km, roughly 32 miles, with a group of volunteers to visit the village of Zogoré, where a fellow PCV from my training group lives. They had a huge celebration there as a way to raise awareness of AIDS, with traditional dance troops and even an all-female bicycle race. We each chose a different women to root for, and out of the twenty or so racing, I actually picked the winner. I think I should head to the racetrack when I get back to the States. While there, I met a volunteer from Japan working out of the Ouahigouya area. I was able to practice my crumbling fragments of Japanese on her. It was a lot of fun, and I actually enjoyed the 30 plus miles it took to get there and back. Now let's hope I have the energy to get back to my own village today. I certainly don't have any left to continue this post.