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Sunday, December 30, 2012

This is the way

we wash our clothes, wash our clothes, wash our clothes.





Monday, November 26, 2012

thanksgiving is not for the birds

This past week I attended my mid service conference. It's basically a 3 day conference in Ouaga where we share our feelings/project ideas and get medical/dental check ups. No cavities for me mom!!! Healthy as a 40 year old ox and all cried out from emotional over share, I finished the conference and strolled right into Thanksgiving! Since my whole stage was in town (Ouaga) we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving family style. Our Director of Programming and Training (Paul) invited us over to his pad for a tday pot luck. All of the decent volunteers prepared various dishes like stuffing, tofurkey (guess who made that one), green beans, and a poo load of desserts. Paul supplied 2 imported turkeys and other yummy eats. This turned out to be a surprisingly fun and happy day, we even played a bunch of Christmas music at the end of the night. I hope that everyone else had an amazing Thanksgiving.

Although I had a great time I would love to come home to the states for Christmas. I am excepting donations at www.flyjalysahome.please

facials while preparing dinner!

everyone grab a prop

Sunday, November 25, 2012

say it loud

10/17/2012

I've tried to ignore the way people here view themselves in terms of skin color. It is similar to people of color in the states (but less discrete). The deeply rooted self hatred is apparently universal. The other day my friend asked me if I use the same lotion on my face that I use on my arms. I told her yes, why do you ask? She then said that my face skin in prettier and clearer than my arms. Unlike my face my arms have zero acne so I know that it wasn't the texture that she was referring to. Clear in french here means lighter. This conversation reminded me of all the women here who use skin lightening lotions everyday and wear make up 3 shades lighter than their actual skin tone. Can you imagine what this kind of behavior can do to the psyche, not to mention the health risks involved. It is upsetting that our universal idea of beauty excludes so many kinds of people. Whenever I encounter someone who says "I can't stay in the sun, I'll get too black" or "You need to do something with your hair, its too nappy" I make an effort to show that I do not agree with those views. Despite this began to realize that some of those same feelings are inside of me. I am a product of my environment and when we're getting brain washed daily on what "beauty" is, its really hard to see past it. Everyday we are told that a certain standard is true beauty and you don't fit the mold.

Even other volunteers here do it. They will see a Burkinabe that is lighter or that has Arabic features and they will say wow she/he is so beautiful. My favorite is she's pretty for a/an African/ black person/ dark skinned girl/ Burkinabe. It's like they never thought an African  could be attractive. Ha it's really discouraging. Well forget that, I'm sick of defending the way that I look. I don't care if my skin blackens in the sun, that my hair is nappy, that my lips are luscious, that my nose is big, that my butt is bodacious.

I'm black and I'm proud.

new perspectives

10/08/2012
Because Bike Tour and Camp Glow I was out of site for a while. Although they both were great summer programs I never want to be out of site that long again. Being back after that long crazy summer is in a way refreshing. The guilt of being away is gone, it's nice to be back with friends at site,  and I'm back on my own schedule. I started MCAT prep again. Before I left my French was shaky at best, it's still shaky now but I am a lot more comfortable and confident with it. With this new found confidence I am more comfortable starting projects and speaking in front of large groups of people! I did a neem cream (cheap and easy to make anti mosquito repellent) demonstration the other day and it went well. I remember when I was so afraid to do any sort of public speaking. Despite this new found success I really do need to work on my local language. French is a lot easier to me than Moore (and I'm not even good at French.) The mid wife that works at my health clinic started selling neem cream to her patients on a regular basis. Now more people will be exposed to it and hopefully start using it. You can suck it malaria ridden mosquitos! There is a girl in my village who started selling tofu, yay! 1 point for nutrition and 1 point for my happy stomach. People here love tofu! It not like in the states where there is a unjustified stigma against any "healthy, vegetarian, vegan, non meat foods." It's amazing how effectively big business can infiltrate the minds of America.

10/15/2012
Today has been a strange day. This morning while I was feeing my dog I noticed that his skin was covered in ticks...hundreds of ticks. After leaving my courtyard I noticed that he was limping. After further examination I discovered a quarter sized hole on his inner thigh exposing his muscle. I began to take the ticks off outside of my health center with tweezers. While operating on my restless dog my best friend at site, Rouke walked up. She looked really sad and explained that her nephew's wife (Katy-my laundry lady) lost her brother and father last night. I asked how and she told me that a few days ago the uncle of Katy died in a car accident. Katy's father stricken with grief then took his own life by drinking insecticide. I was utterly shocked and wasn't sure how to respond. A few minutes later a lot of people started showing up at my health clinic, healthy people. As everyone stood around in silence looking sad I stood there confused and in the dark. I finally asked what was going on and someone told me that 2 children from my village died in a car accident.

Despite these tragedies it is refreshing to see so many non related community member come and support the family in need. To witness and somewhat be apart of the glue that bonds and strengthens this village, that solidifies the word neighbor, and expands the idea of family is an experience that I will always remember and cherish...gag (sappy I know but true)




Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Bike Tour Update

Hello my dear family and friends,

I would like to start this post off with a thank you to all of you lovely people who donated to the 2012 Burkina Faso Bike tour. This year we raised a $6,477.07, the extra 7 cents is what makes this figure extra special.

I spent the last month or so putting together a final report. It has detailed humorous accounts of everyday in our journey, loads or fun pictures, and statistical data about the tour (if you're into that kind of thing). I hope that you enjoy it.

Click our snazzy bike tour logo to read the report!



If you don't feel like reading the report in it's entirety I will post a few entries below.


Wednesday, August 29th (day 1)
Dedougou-Sono

Number of riders 9

Distance Biked 45km

Time on the road 3.5hrs

Hosts Lyndia M., Kate A., and Sami A.

Activity Mosquito Net activity/ Bike Race

Burkinabè participants 100+ spectators 22 racers

Weather Rainy, mostly cloudy

A little bit of rain never stopped a bike tour from starting; neither did a lot of rain. The first morning in Dedougou was gloomy. The rain held off long enough to have an amazing ceremony complete with a 22 women bike race; observed by hundreds of spectators and invitees, including the Mayor, Chief, and the Director of the Women’s Center.

After a ceremonial start to our tour and a brief wait for the heavy rain, we set out towards Sono. For the next 3.5 hrs we sang, dodged muddy streams, practiced bike tricks, wrote haikus, watched birds, and got to know each other (oh…and we biked.)

We finally arrived to Sono in good health and high spirits. If you want to feel like a celebrity, go to this village. We were greeted by a massive crowd, filmed, photographed, and followed. This lent a hand to the malaria awareness campaign and mosquito net relay race that followed the village tour. The crowd went wild! All and all the 1st day of the tour went swimmingly.

-Carrie J.

Friday, August 31st (day 3)
Koumbara-We (Oue)

Number of riders 12

Distance Biked 40km

Time on the road 2.5hrs

Host David G.

Activity Tofu and Neem Cream (anti mosquito repellent)

Burkinabè participants 15+ 100+spectators
Weather mostly cloudy

After about 7.5 hrs of sleep we crept out of Jason’s mud palace to start the third day of our journey. With the use of fancy spoon bowls we dumped bouillie (an enriched millet porridge) down out gullets. On the damp road to We, we encountered cowherds, lush forested swamps, and water logged fields or rice. Today’s ride proved to be very straight forward due to the fact that David lives 40ishkm down the road from Jason. About 15minutes outside of We there rests a buzzing village called Di. Di is home of the American funded Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), hungry hungry hippos, and one of the biggest markets in the Sourou valley. We stopped in Di for 30 minutes for a bread/water break.

We continued down the muddy road through valleys and dams to finally be greeted by David G in his usual vans skinny jeans combo. After biking through his village we reached his swanky bachelors pad, which resembled a quaint beach house (minus the beach). We immediately started making tofu from scratch with the aid of David’s dynamic counterparts. After gobbling down all of the tofu shish kabobs we departed for the local health clinic to check out the malaria situation. (Rainy season- increased malaria cases) We soon discovered that in the small village of We more than half of the population will fall ill with malaria. With this information we decided to do an activity on malaria in the local market. Under the watchful eyes of over 100 Burkinabe we demonstrated how to make an anti mosquito lotion repellent with local affordable ingredients. We ended the activity by giving out modest sample sizes. After a tour through the village we returned to David’s abode to enjoy a candle lit dinner and a ukulele sing along session with our very own Dan Sharon.

-Jalysa BS

Sunday, September 2nd (day5)

Tougan-Ouahigouyah

Number of riders 11

Distance Biked 100km

Time on the road 6hrs

Host Eric L.

Activity burying our dead

Burkinabè participants --

Weather night, then dawn, then overcast, then rain, then mud

-Anticipation-

We met at the school at 5am to begin our short journey arduous expedition deathcapade. The first half hour was spent interpreting suspicious shadows cast by the moonlight onto the dirt road. Within fifteen minutes, the carriage of Carrey’s bike rattled over a pothole and her toothpaste dislodged from her pack. It fell into the darkness. Like soldiers trained in stoic indifference, we left the toothpaste behind. We didn’t have time to recover any lost items today. Today, we were biking.

-Naivety-

As the minutes became hours, we thundered forward with the boldness of youth. Our spirits and bodies were high, thanks to the righteous power of banana bread. But all our vigor would prove to be an illusion, created by the same carefree spirit that we had believed to be our ally. By the time we reached Kimbara, a village nearly 50km into our route, we felt accomplished. There, we greeted the new volunteer Amelia and delivered to her some much-needed supplies from the big city. Brash from our successful morning, we set forth at a speed onlookers might have referred to as “ill-advised’.” We reached Zogore (70km) by 9am.

-The Eye of the Hurricane-

The kindly people of Zogore prepared for us magnificent tofu brochettes as we sprawled about on benches in anticipation/lactic acid therapy. It began to rain, to our delight. The refreshing reprise rolled forth on blooming silver clouds. Little did we know that all of that silver was but the lining—and the bulk of the metaphor was contained within.

-True Hell-


When we laughingly bounded upon our steel steeds, we were alarmingly reminded of our true physical state. Each revolution of the pedals lit the map of nerve endings in our legs like a city power grid. The road had become a quagmire of mud. If we tried to burst forth into a more familiar momentum, Mother Nature’s glue simply reminded us of her presence and called us down into her tar. 17km are passed thusly. 17km of Lucifer’s most cruelly-devised justice, reserved for only the emptiest of souls.

-Two Endings-

But hark! There was a light ahead. PCV Alex, aware of our coming, had gathered sweet juices and cold, filtered water for our arrival in Sissamba, her village located 8km away from our final destination. We recharged and viewed the remaining 8km as a home stretch. Soon, this distance would be conquered, but not before our young volunteers better came to understand the limits of their capabilities and the eager susceptibility to surrender that was their waning willpower.

-Aftermath-

Showers, naps and good food turned our bikers into respectable humans again. There was no organized activity; but as it took all of our force to do so much as stand, we saw that both Burkinabè and Americans will be better off with an evening of repose.

Later, the greatest trial of all befell the merry band when Eric, the leader and most beloved of the bikers, announced that tomorrow he will be returning to his site. Traumatized by the depressing news, the PCVs begged him to stay, saying that if Eric wouldn’t continue, neither would they. Everyone except for Eric cried. Verily, the entire bike tour was on the verge of disbanding; but in an eloquent display of wordsmanship, Eric persuaded them to press on, using the memory of his raw, motivational charisma to fuel the remainder of their adventure. Martyrdom.

-Anonymous


Saturday, September 15th

Nakaba-Linoghin

Number of riders 11

Distance Biked 120km

Time on the road 7hrs

Host Puja P.

Activity --

Burkinabè participants --

Weather sunny


We woke us at the extremely early (late night?) hour of 3am to the glorious tunes of Third Eye Blind (compliments of Dan). We headed out by 4am and could still see some lightning in the distance from the overnight rain. The first 10km were on a dark bush road and it took us nearly an hour to find the actual paved road! We took a break there waiting for Emily F….and waited…and waited. We saw her coming in the distance and bolted out of there hoping to make this long day as short as possible.

The paved road around Koupela was more like a “carpeted” road and we made good time to Zorgho (30km west of Koupela). We stopped here to eat a breakfast of omelet sandwiches and fried bread. This is where the problems began.

About 50km from Puja’s site Bridget R. thought she was going to throw up so she stopped on the side of the road and proceeded to evacuate her digestive system from all orifices. (No joke- I saw some vomit go up and out of her nose.) It then became evident that she was not going to continue biking. She nearly passed out so she was carried off to Ouaga to be treated for heatstroke. She make a quite recovery a day or so after the incident.

PCV Louba had a string of bad luck with 2 flat tires on the way. She stopped the Peace Corps car to take another bike. The bike that she took was Emily’s (she was riding in the car).We then figured out why Emily was biking so slow. It was her bad genes, the breaks on her bike were rubbing against the front tire making even the shortest ride excruciating.

We all finally made it to Puja’s site in one piece and chilled at her market for a while gorging ourselves on grilled corn, rice and sauce, sweet potatoes, and black eyed peas. We later went to Puja’s house made dinner and prepared ourselves for out 2nd 100+km day.

-Alicia K.

Monday, September 24th

Diourao-Gaoua

Number of riders 18

Distance Biked 65km

Time on the road 4hrs

Host Daniel N.

Activity Neem Cream+ closing ceremony

Burkinabè participants 200+ participants

Weather SUN SUN SUN!

Bruised, dirty, broken and saddle sore, we hit the dirt road just as the sun ascended in the sky. Making multiple stops along the way to dine on bread and tea, the tour took its time on the windy trail, as if to savor the last day after over 1,000 hard earned kilometers.

The city of Gaoua is a large sized metropolis perched on the green hills of the south. The scenery was beautiful, but the hills were brutal on the whole crew after such a long day. Daniel Neptune is nicknamed “Chief of Gaoua”, and lived up to this moniker during our two day stay, arranging arguably the best chicken in country, and personally made pizzas. We jam packed our two days with neem cream fabrications, tours of the city and the Lobi culture museum, and a large closing ceremony with the newspaper and radio there to celebrate our accomplishment with us. The tour closed out with 6 riders doing the full route, and over 30 volunteers participating. We learned so much about the country we serve, met tons of inspiring Burkinabe and got to see our fellow volunteers in all their glory.

Thank you to everyone that participated and a big shout out to Jalysa Boose-Sheppard who was the Chief of the tour, and did an amazing job keeping the team together, and making the bike tour a reality. Cheers to dollars raised, and the end of another amazing “Tour du Burkina”!

-Ashley P.

  If you want to read more check out the link above!

Monday, August 20, 2012

Burkina Bike Tour 2012

Hey guys, I've been planning this bike tour for the past few months. Read the letter below and visit the bike tour website to find out more info =]

Dear Family and Friends,


From August 29 until September 25, 2012, I will be joining Peace Corps volunteers from around Burkina Faso to participate in The Burkina Bike Tour,  the third annual country-wide bike tour to raise funds for volunteers’ Gender and Development projects.

Gender and Development (GAD) supports a large portion of volunteers in Burkina.  GAD projects include: girls and boys camps that promote self-esteem and learning; funding women’s or mixed gender organizations with income generating activities; and even Men As Partners, a week-long conference that educates Burkinabe men on how they can be advocates for equality.   These are of critical importance in Burkina Faso and represent a significant component of each volunteer’s work. 

Burkina Bike Tour is a month long tour made up of volunteers, staff and Burkinabe peoples from all over the country.  This year we’re biking over 1,400 kilometers (more than the distance between Seattle and San Francisco) and visiting 25 volunteer sites.  Not just a bike tour, volunteers at each site promote Peace Corps Burkina and perform some type of workshop or demonstration at each stop we make promoting: health, HIV/AIDS awareness, food security and gender related issues.

I have a personal stake in this fundraiser, as I aspire to continue working on Gender and Development projects in my Bukinabe home town of Nobili in upcoming months. Please help me reach my fundraising goal of $200 (and our greater goal of $6,000) by visiting the Bike Tour blog and making a donation:
http://pcburkina.org/GAD/bike-tour
Be certain to specify “GAD Bike Tour” in the comments section to make sure that your dollars go towards sponsoring the Bike Tour and funding Gender and Development.

In Burkina Faso, the average person makes less than $1.00 a day, so even the smallest contribution can make a huge difference.

Once you’ve donated, make sure to keep up with our progress and activities by visiting our website and blog at the address listed above! There you can find out more about projects funded in the past, maps of this year’s route, and a blog where volunteers will be sharing their experiences, pictures and good times.


Thanks for your support.

Warm regards,

S. Jalysa Boose-Sheppard
Peace Corps Volunteer, Burkina Faso

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Bouillie anyone

A few weeks ago I did my 1st official bouillie demonstration. What is bouillie you ask? Essentially it is enriched porridge made from cheap (in cost not quality) local foods like corn flour, sugar, moringa, fruits, fish. Basically anything that can contribute to a balanced diet for a child age 6-36 months. After I gathered all of the materials like a giant pot, utensils, and the food I asked both of the midwives who work at my maternity if they were interested in doing biweekly bouillie demos for the mothers and children that come in for consultations. They agreed and our 1st demonstration was born. The 1st demo actually went pretty well. All the mothers seemed very interested in learning how to prepare the porridge and most of the babies enjoyed eating it. I hope to do another one soon. 

small kitchen where we cooked the bouillie

mama and baby waiting to eat!

yay so many people showed up!
a mother helping cook while Nadine my mid wife instructs

Fati the other mid wife's  daughter Ami aka my fav baby
Fatimata (midwife/my neighbor)
nom nom nom
filling the bowls with bouillie
My favorite part about this activity is that both of the midwives at my maternity were so motivated to lead this demonstration. I barely had to do anything. I was literally behind the scenes helping whenever needed. Notice that I am not in any of the pictures. Now this is the kind of sustainable work that I want to continue doing.

A few days later I did a tofu demonstration for the staff at my local clinic. I chose to teach the staff how to make tofu because its a somewhat difficult procedure. Since they are educated I can easily teach them in french and they can then go and teach it to other people in local language (Moore) In my region soy beans are readily available and cheap so tofu making is a very practical skill. Because meat is so expensive and hard to come by I think that tofu is the perfect substitution. Not to mention the fact that homemade tofu is soooooooo good. This demonstration is not go as seamlessly as the other. Tofu is a little more difficult to make so halfway through the demonstration the staff got antsy/distracted so they started leaving and going to do other things. Come on people it was a Sunday what else did you have to do??? Long story short I did most of the work by myself. This was really discouraging because I purchased all of the materials with my own money to share this skill with them and they wouldn't even stay to watch. But when the tofu was ready the next day everyone wanted to taste it. Its like Miss Henny Penny all over again. It's hard to want to help people that do not want to help themselves. But I think that I will try the soy demo again but with people from a more village setting. The more educated Burkinabe can be snobs at times. Other than the lack of help the tofu turned out to be amazing! When I go back to the states I will def be making homemade tofu! 

In other news I am preparing for Camp G2LOW, a boys and girls camp in Leo. Every volunteer participating will bring students from there village and we will teach them  things from proper hygiene to self esteem building. I am leading sessions on soap making/hygiene, an interactive soccer activity that promotes HIV/AIDS awareness, and how to plan for the future. The camp is during the end of July to the first 2 weeks of August. I am very nervous to speak in front of a lot of people 1. because of my horrible french and 2. because public speaking is super scary. If I practice enough before the camp it should go well. Wish me luck =] 


Monday, May 14, 2012

things that I miss

about the US

While at site--saving lives and doing a plethora of selfless activities-- I made a list of the things that I miss about the states. Please humor me.

Things that I miss about the US list
  • Googling my wildest question on demand
  • inappropriately imitating sensitive quotes from the Color Purple at random times with my friends
  • Easy access to new music
  • Tofu
  • Driving while blasting music
  • Wearing make up and looking good
  • Dressing for winter (Boots)
  • Movies + movie nights with Sassafras
  • Family gatherings
  • Understanding the language/ being able to express myself completely
  • Trashy reality TV
  • Easy access to any kind of food
  • Full body mirrors
  • 24hr stores (wawa, fast food, etc)
  • Being cold
  • Not being sick all of the time
  • Homemade vegan pizza w/ Daiya "cheese"
  • Facebook stalking
  • Good beer
  • Snacks
  • Good customer service
  • Men who are discreet about their creepiness
  • Family gatherings
  • Clothes shopping
  • not having to sleep under a mosquito net
Burkina is great and all but sometimes I just miss home

where have my manners gone?

I love when select individuals here talk about me in from of my face like I don't understand most of what they are saying. Usually they are mocking me or repeating something that I've said in the past. Sometimes they even say my name or use nassara when they talk about me. I guess it's not much different than me talking about people in english in front of their faces. I need to stop doing that. The other day I was at the pool with some other volunteers and these people (who I assumed were Burkinabe bc they were speaking french) were learning how to swim. Their instructor was teaching them this weird jelly roll stroke that literally involved a lot of paddling and no progress. This woman was flailing around for a good 30 seconds and moved about 2 inches forward. Of course I found this hilarious so me and another volunteer started cracking jokes to one another. I don't know if they heard us but about 15 minutes later they come up to us and start speaking to us in english. They were from Nigeria. Oopsie. I need to stop that now before I go back to the states talking about people right in front of their faces thinking that they don't understand me. Sheesh I'm going to come back a strange woman.

It's officially hot season and next is rainy season but rainy season came a bit early. The only difference between the two seasons in that it rains. It is still hot as anything! In Ouaga the other day it was 123 degrees F sheesh!
it rained at my site!!!
lovely scorpion that I found in my house one morning
 I started my first mini project with a neighboring village. I started a tree nursery at the primary school! We only planted 60 seeds but its just my first time. I wanted to make sure that I did it correctly before I do more.
kids that helped me plant the trees + Ousman and Amidou

me and my counterpart Ousman

my measly 60 tree pods
I also sent the official invitations to the 8 students that I'm taking to camp g2low in August. My french and moore are getting better. I finally got a tutor. He is a teacher so he will be gone during summer break. Hopefully during the fall we and start our lessons again.

So I've started planning the 2012 Burkina Faso bike tour. The tour is hosted by the Gender and Development committee (a PC committee that I happen to be on). Basically the BF volunteers bike around the country and put on awareness building activities. I will post a blog on this event but just be ready to donate money to this amazing volunteer run fundraiser tour. The money goes to volunteer grants to do things like girl/boy camps, mural paintings, tree planting, income generating activities, the list goes on. Stay tuned for that =]

here is a link to the bike tour blog that they used last year. We will update it shortly.
Sur nos vélos, pour le Faso!


SHOUT OUTS:

Thank you Tiana and Sandra for the amazing care package ( I ate/used everything in like a day lol)
Thank you Aunt Leigh, Amber, and Jenai for the letters (I sent the responses out last week)
Thank you Lize for surprising me (again) with yet another package.
Thank you Mother for being on constant call whenever I need your advice/attention (I know these calls ain't cheap)

mobs, trains, and automobiles

2 weeks ago, the other African American/Black volunteers and I had a 3 day get together in one of the bigger cities in Burkina. Out of 170ish volunteers there are only 12 black volunteers; therefore me and another volunteer decided to have a weekend to celebrate our culture by sharing our different backgrounds and experiences. Although only half of the invitees showed up I had a very good time. We discussed politics/current events, swam, and shared fun personal stories. I want to have another one later in the year. Hopefully the attendance will be greater next time.

After a long day, I am on my taxi brusse heading back to my site. At about 4pm and 1hour away from my site we enter this town and we see hundreds of people running towards our moving vehicle. There are also other trucks and buses pulled to the side of the road. The driver pulls over with all of the other stopped cars. Apparently in that town a woman was killed in a car accident and the people decided to express their grief and frustration through striking. They would not let anyone pass in either direction. We all got out of the van and waited on the side of road. Cars that made the attempt to pass were stoned or the tires were set on fire. At this point I'm standing on the side of the road with the other passengers not sure if I should be scared or annoyed that we stopped. luckily there was this really nice Ghanian woman that explained things if my french comprehension failed me. We wait on the side of the road for about an hour before I call the PC saftey and security guy to see if I should be worried. He tells me to not do anything that makes me stand out and he says that things like this are usually not violent. After some more waiting the driver proposes that he try and go around the mob while the passengers walk through it. I think that this is a great idea other than the fact that its a 3mile walk with all of my bags. Despite this we end up walking/running the stupid 3 miles. While the driver cut around the mob on brusse the van got messed up somehow. So about 45minutes and a few outdoor urinations later we get moving. At this point its pitch black outside. I look out the window and see sparks flying! The guy on the road yells something through the window and the driver pulls over. The guy yells something again (in Moore) so of course I don't understand. After that, all of the sudden everyone jumps up and rushes for the door. People are pushing and shoving trying to get out. Of course I chose to sit in the back so if the van was about to blow up I would not have made it off. I was so afraid. When people start running I'm not going to stick around and observe. Luckily it was a false alarm. I'm still not sure what really happened, and why people started to freak out. I finally got home but that was one of the most stressful trips of my life.

 Long story short a 2hour journey took about 6hours. I still don't see what holding up traffic/ destroying other people's cars is going to do for your grief.



Monday, April 2, 2012

Spring has sprung!


Last month I went to the West African mask festival in Dedougou with some other volunteers. To get to Dedougou I had to take this god awful bus. The bus was your standard 50 year old broken down charter bus with no AC of course packed to the brim. I was expecting to see a bunch of facemasks and vendors, but when they say masks they mean full body costumes! The day show was very interesting because they had this teepee shaped costume that was dancing around then they would flip it over and no one would be inside. Not only do we get cool masks but magic too. I was definitely pleased. They also sacrificed a chicken and spilled its blood all over the giant mask, so culturally this was very exciting.


stuffed on the bus 
one of the really cool masks
no one was inside of this dancing mask!


Back at my site things are okay. I don’t feel that I am progressing as quickly as I should be with language or with project ideas. It has been really hard for me to find motivated Burkinabe to work with. A lot of people seem very interested in working with me at first but when I start to explain community health ideas to them I always get the same responses- either the glazed over eyes or “yea, that sounds like a great idea, YOU should def. do that.”  A lot of people in my village and in this country are used to NGOs coming and installing a pump or a library with out teaching them any sustainable tools. Because the Peace Corps focuses on facilitating development and rather than leading projects without country participation it has been hard finding Burkinabe that want to head projects. Some won't do a simple info session with students without getting paid. It can be really frustrating at times because at site they tell me how poor they are and how much they need help but a lot of people don’t seem to want to do anything that will lead to change. I told my program coordinator about this problem and he told me to keep trying. He also gave me this quote “Give a man a fish is to teach him to beg, teach him to fish is to feed him for all eternity”. I’ve heard variations of this quote a million time before but now it really hits home. I just hope that I can gain enough trust and build good relationships to actually achieve sustainable activities that will help someone.

It’s official! I passed my first 3 months at site mark. Me and my other stage mates had In service training (IST) in Koudougou where we learned things like how to make tofu to project planning with our actual counterparts. It was really nice seeing everybody from my stage again and I feel like I learned a lot. During IST we also went to this rehabilitation center for malnourished children to do enriched breakfast demonstrations. During my time there I met the cutest little baby. She wasn't malnourished but her older sister was. This is because her mother does not practice birth spacing so when the new baby was born the mom stopped breast feeding the older child. This happens a lot in this country, that's why I want to focus a lot of my energy on nutrition and family planning. I just hope that when I go back to site I can apply these things and find people to work with. The first thing that I want to do is a hearth model. It's basically a 12-day nutrition boot camp for moderately malnourished kids and their mothers. The women will meet every morning and learn how to make and enrich food that they feed their children. After the cooking portion there will be an activity or info session dealing with malaria, hygiene, HIV/AIDS, or any other topics of interest. During the second week of April I will take a counterpart with me to a volunteer run tree convention. We will learn how to successfully plant trees and maintain gardens. In July I am going to take 8 students and a counterpart to Camp Glow, which is a youth empowerment camp run by PC volunteers. Right now I am trying to find funding to transport the students to the actual camp, everything else like room/board and food is included.
learning to make tofu
me and my favorite burkina babe
ALEX!
IST after counterpart workshop
You all know that I have a lovely canine named Neuf. He is the apple of my eye, the sugar in my tea, the vegan whipped cream on my frozen vegan dessert... My village loves him, he’s low maintenance and he seems to recognize that I am his owner. Despite all of his amazing qualities he has developed a bad habit. In Burkina all of the domestic animals (cows chickens donkeys etc) roam around freely and somehow people are able to keep track of which animal belongs to whom. Neuf has taken a liking to chasing animals. When/if he catches them he stops and finds another victim. It looks like he is trying to kill them and it turns out that the owners of these animals do not like it when Neuf does this. Another volunteer's dog did the same thing and one day someone chopped it with a machete and that was his last chase. I do not know how to stop him from doing this. I find it hard to teach him to do simple tasks like a domesticated dog in the states. He also "allegedly" killed someone else’s adolescent chicken. I don’t know if it was Neuf who actually killed it because there was another dog around but everyone that was there thinks that Neuf did it. For the sake of Neuf and my reputation in my village does anyone have any advice or training tips to tame my rowdy pup? Note: I have to wait 7monthes before he old enough to get him neutered.

I would like to give a special thanks to all of the people that have sent me letters and care packages thus far. It honestly makes me so happy to receive your packages. Thank you Amber, Jenai, Lize, Biljana, Amanda, and my Rents!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Virtual Tour

Welcome to my humble abode


ps I put curtains up the other day so now just imagine what you just saw with maroon curtains!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

the simple life?


2/9/2012
Its crazy how much I miss my “old life”, whatever that was. I keep telling myself how I miss my old simple life. Its funny that I say simple because life here is really simple in some ways but the simplicities make things feel a lot more complicated. Life in America seemed simple because of all of the technologies but the simpler we try to make things, the more complex they get. I guess life anywhere can be easier and harder in different ways. It reminds me of this quote from the gods must be crazy.

“Only 600 miles to the south, there's a vast city. And here you find civilized man. Civilized man refused to adapt himself to his environment; instead, he adapted his environment to suit him. So he built cities, roads, vehicles, machinery, and he put up power lines to run his labour-saving devices. But somehow he didn't know where to stop. The more he improved his surroundings to make life easier, the more complicated he made it. So now his children are sentenced to 10-15 years of school, just to learn how to survive in this complex and hazardous habitat they were born into. And civilized man, who refused to adapt to his surroundings, now finds he has to adapt and re-adapt every hour of the day to his self-created environment.” (the gods must be crazy)

What I’m trying to say in this silly rant is that I am surprised that life here seems so simple but in reality it is so complex. I guess its just ignorant to think that smaller underdeveloped countries are too "3rd world" to face the day to day problems that  average Americans face.

Encounters with wild animals

1/24/2012

Last night I was in my latrine relieving myself. It was completely dark in my little outhouse besides my head lamp. I’m squatting there staring at the floor when I hear a rustle coming from the latrine hole. I look down and shine my light at the hole and a bat flies up at my nether regions! Aaahh How did a bad get into my latrine?! It sucks because it lives there now and I have no way of getting it out. Another volunteer told me that you’re not a true Burkina volunteer until a bat flies at your crotch from a latrine hole, so I guess I’m official now. 

breasts, beer, & bikes

1/18/2012
Most of the women in Burkina Faso breastfeed their children (which is great). But at what age do you think we should start weaning our children off of the teat? A lot of the time the women will stop breastfeeding when they have another kid and that child needs the milk. Today I saw this older child breastfeeding. I’m really bad at guessing the ages of children but this kid could walk and talk. When she was done with one breast she tucked in back into her mom’s shirt and pulls out the other one. It was actually pretty funny to watch because the mother was having a full blown conversation with the women around her while this was happening. I don't think that that child needs breast milk anymore.

As I stated before, I live in a mostly Muslim village so I rarely drink any type of alcoholic beverage at site. My Major (head nurse at local clinic) is Muslim as well and I thought that he didn’t drink. He invited me out for dinner with his friends one evening and usually when I order drinks with him he gives me the choice of fanta or coke. This time I was feeling ballsy so I told the waiter “I will have a beer please” and My Major flips out and says “Jalysa! You drink beer?!” So after I finish my beer and he finishes his coke he asks me if I want to split another beer with him. I am so happy that he drinks occasionally. Yay for rebel muslims! This next 2 years are starting to look up.


1/19/2012
This morning I visited one of my neighboring villages for a vaccination campaign. After biking a million k on a pathed we finally reach the village. My Major and another colleague rides to the village on their motorcycle as I pedal furiously through their dust. On the way back they take me on this sandy road en brusse. Mind you, it is very difficult to bike through sand. At this point they are driving behind me to make sure that I don’t fall or die or whatever. After a while they get bored and zoom up next to my bike. As they pass they ask in a very condescending tone “Jalyyssaaa are you tiirreedd?” I wanted to say of course I am, are you crazy, but instead I said “No but where is the road, this sand his difficult to ride through. After that they mumble something and speed off into the blazing sun.

The next day I visited the principal of the high school in my village. His English is really good! After all of the greetings he asks me if I brought a gift for the village. I told his that my work as a volunteer in this town will be my gift. He didn’t seem too pleased with that response and tells me that that is not a good gift. It made me somewhat frustrated because I’m devoting the next 2 years of my life to help out here and he made it seem like that wasn’t good enough. He them goes on to tell me that I am American so that means that I must be rich. I told him that I do not have any money, I’m a poor volunteer. It really annoyed me to see he just wanted a hand out and not my actual help. They are used to NGOs coming and dropping loads of money or buildings in a unsustainable manner.  Well the peace corps isn’t like that. I’m here to help people help themselves. I hope that I can accomplish sustainable work in my time here. Sheesh, this is going to be harder than I thought.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

random things about my site

Although I’m having a rough time at site, there are moments that are pretty magical. The sense of community here is outstanding. A lot of the people don’t have much but they still find ways to share with their friends and family. While I was sick these past few weeks the CSPS staff (whether I wanted them to or not) visited me throughout the day. The whole village knows that I’m sick too. I’ll walk up to someone that I barely know and they will say, “ Hey Jalysa, how is the diarrhea going?”, embarrassing yes, but definitely thoughtful.

I said before that my site is mostly Muslim but I actually found some Catholics the other day while taking Neuf for a walk!! I say that with exclamation points because that means DOLO!!!! Dolo is a drink made of fermented millet. It’s a very social alcoholic beverage; less alcohol content than beer. People usually sit down in circles and pass a calabash (bowl) filled with dolo around. It looks like one of those bowls Rafeki from the lion king mixed his magical herbs in. I really like the taste of dolo. It’s a bit zingy at the start with a nutty finish. Definitely an acquired taste.
lionking.org (I reference lion king way too much)

Sometimes I go to the pump and just watch people fill up their basins. I can’t communicate with them so I either say random things in Moore to them or they yell things at me and laugh. The other day I was at the pump with Neuf. Neuf was standing near some donkeys and he may or may not have been bothering them. The next thing I know, this big pregnant donkey is chasing my dog, trying to stomp him. I’ve never seen a pregnant animal move so quickly! Luckily Neuf was faster. After that he comes over and stands near me for protection. He slowly begins to wander away again and this little boy goes up to him, picks him up by his back leg and starts shaking him! Neuf is yelping at this point and I go over to the kid and yell at him in French. I think I said something like “No, that  is my dog, let go!” At least that’s what I wanted to say. The little boy lets go. It’s so weird here. Some of the kids are very mean to animals. I had to make Neuf a collar just so people would know that he belongs to me and not to abuse him. I’ve seen little kids try to stomp chickens and smack dogs and donkeys around. I wonder why they are so mean to their animals here. 

I just cannot wait to find all the gems in my site and make this place my home. I think building relationships with people here is going to be very rewarding. 

Bad trip

I have heard many horror stories about people falling ill when they visit foreign parts of the world, but for some reason it never occurred to me that one of those stories could become my reality. Maybe because of my youth or my hard head, I convinced myself that I would finish my two year sentence (I mean service) without getting sick. Mother nature had other plans for me.

About two weeks ago I noticed that I started getting the bubble guts (commonly known as diarrhea). I barely had an appetite and I always felt nauseous. This lasted for about a week or so then the symptoms went away.

The next week I took a trip to Ouaga, the capital, and hung out with some friends. We stayed at the transit house and went to this really fancy restaurant (American fancy not Burkinabe fancy). Me being the vegan that I am ordered the veggie platter. Most of the veggies were cooked except the tomatoes. Towards the end of the evening my stomach started to feel a little upset but I figured it was the usual I-ate-way-too-much-food-for-one-normal-sized-human-being feeling. I woke up the next morning at around 5am, rushed to the bathroom, and projectile vomited all of the dinner that I ate the previous night. For the remainder of the day I felt very fatigued, nauseous, and of course no Burkina sickness would be complete without diarrhea. I was bedridden for the whole day and night. I kept coming in and out of consciousness to either throw up or use the bathroom. I figured those raw tomatoes were to blame.

The next day I felt strong enough to go back to site. After I finished greeting all of the people in my site I realized how tired and ill I felt. I went to sleep and the next morning the vomiting and diarrhea started up again. My major (the nurse that works at my site) told me to call the PC doctor. The doc told me to take ciprofloxacin (an antibiotic) 2x a day,  to clear the bacteria out of my system and compazine 3x a day to stop the vomiting. For the first two days I followed these instructions but towards the end of the second day my jaw started to feel tight. I usually clench my jaw when I sleep so figured since I’ve been sleeping all day that must be the reason.

the culprits
 Some time goes by and my jaw is getting worse and worse. It starts to jut out like I have an underbite and cross over its self. It then begins to clench down really hard; so hard that I can feel bits of my teeth breaking off from the pressure. I start to lose control of my tongue too. It becomes really big and I get a lisp or it gets really pointy and hard and sticks out of my mouth. I call the PC doctor again and tell her my symptoms (she could barely understand me at this point). She then calls my major (who lives across the field from me) to come and check my vitals. Everything seems normal other than my spastic jaw and tongue muscles. We stay on the phone with the doctor and she tells me to take Benadryl and ibuprofen. I go to my major’s house so that he can keep an eye on me. Can you picture my face doing all of this weird stuff while my major and his family sits there trying to watch tv? He then gives me a shot of something that is supposed to make me sleep but it doesn’t work. At this point I am very scared and nervous. I begin pacing around and putting my fingers between my teeth to stop the clenching. The symptoms continue to get worst and I begin to lose control of my eyes! This is when I freak out for real! I tried to tell myself to look at the tv screen but my eyes just roll to the back of my head and cross over each other. I can still see but everything is blurred because my eyes are all crossed and twisted. The doctor calls back and tells me that this is a bad reaction from the antibiotics and the anti-nausea meds. Since I took all of the doses that day there was a lot of the drug in my system. It lists it as a rare side effect on the box called hyperreflexia. Just imagine losing control of all the muscles in your face and mouth. Finally she tells my major to give me an injection of Valium to knock me out.
                   
The next thing that I remember is waking up on a cot in my majors house at 5am. The doctor calls me again to ask how I’m doing and she tells me to come back to Ouaga for further inspection. When I get to her office my tongue and jaw start to go crazy again and she gives me a shot of Benadryl. Apparently this is a very rare reaction to the meds but it’s a side affect of both drugs. The doctor has only seen 2 people react this way during their whole practice. Since they were still in my system my body would go into episodes of the hyperreflexia. And that’s why I’m still in Ouaga now. The drugs should be all flushed out soon and I’ll be cleared to go back to my site. But man was that a scary night. I don’t think I would want to live in a permanent state of hyperreflexia. It’s so uncomfortable and a little painful. I just wanted to share that nightmare with all of you. I will be steering clear of Compazine and Ciprofloxacin.

Now that its all over it is kind of funny to imagine how crazy I must have looked that night on my major’s couch in front of his family. lol

Monday, January 9, 2012

Being black in Africa

...or should I say Americain noir

So far that has been the hardest part of my service. I feel that my skin color is a constant source of disappointment or confusion. A lot of Burkinabe think that all Americans are rich and white. When I arrived in village I think that they were expecting a white American to give their community some meaning. I say that so bitterly because I was expecting to be welcomed with open arms, because I am a foreigner, a visitor to this country. Instead when they see that I am just another black person they seem to be somewhat disappointed. It makes me feel bad..sheesh am I not good enough?

The confusion comes in when someone tries to speak to me in French or in Moore (the local lang). When I am slow to respond or do not understand, they ask “why don’t you know the language?” I tell them that I am American and English is my first language. They either look at me like I’m lying or they are totally surprised. I’m happy for the cultural exchange and to let people know that America is diverse, but I feel like it makes being alone here a lot harder. People expect me to know things that I don’t know yet. I knew this would be hard but I think that my service is going to hard in ways that I never expected.
Another thing that I found interesting is when I was talking to one of the doctors at another village; he asked me what my origin is. I asked “in the US? New Jersey.” He says “No, I mean from African, what is your ethnic group?” All I could say was I don’t know. He then thinks for a few seconds with a sad look on his face and then asks me why I don’t find out. I told him that it would be really difficult to do so and maybe not accurate. This is not the first time that I have contemplated this but it would be nice to trace my roots back to the motherland.

Most of the time people call me rasta and Americain noir. I get really offended when they call me that. “Rasta come here.” “Americain noir, how many do you want?”  etc. In the US people are taught not to openly classify others by their appearance but here its completely normal. You call the taxi driver taxi man; the president of an organization, president; a white person, blanche/nassara (white), and a fat woman, fat woman. I noticed that I am really sensitive to such titles. Its weird.

What do you guys think? Do I have a right to feel a little worried about my impact on this community? Was it stupid of me to expect a grand welcome just because I am from America. 

life thus far



You should know that I have officially signed the next two years of my life over to the US Peace Corps. My swear in was on the 15th of December and I left for my site on the 16th.
Marina me and Hilary 


the health (Sante) sector group 25


 So far its been very difficult. I have some problems with some of the people in my village. Also I did not get the warmest welcome. I have to admit that I cried for the first time since I’ve been in country on my second day at site. Although the tears have stopped, I find myself thinking about when I told my Uncle Greg about my intentions to join the Peace Corps. He just looks at me and says “Why?”. Well Uncle Greg I question those reasons that I gave you everyday lol. But other that the initial shock, things are getting better now. It’s happening very slowly though.

Right now, and for the next 3-6 months, I’ll be getting to know my community, and learning how to live alone in Burkina. Visiting people, the schools, the big cheeses of the village.

My house has two rooms, no running water or electricity, outside douche and latrine, and a little courtyard made of cement. It also comes equipped with people sitting outside of my bedroom window talking all day and night.

my bed/bug hut/ cot
My village is also mostly Muslim, which is great, besides the lack of alcohol consumption. During stage we went out for beers at least once a week and now I haven’t had an ounce of spirits at my site. It should be interesting. I also don’t want to offend anyone by drinking beer so I’ll have to feel things out before I do something that could jeopardize my position in community.
There is a lot that I could say in this post but I find myself trying to be politically correct and holding my tongue. So instead I’ll post a bunch of pictures. Yay!

Neuf (he's almost a dog grown) I hope you got the game of thrones reference

Ps I’m at the transit house right now (where volunteers stay when away from site) and I just watched lion king again. It was absolutely magical. I don’t know if it because I’ve been away from the glitz of American culture or because I’m in Africa right now but that movie seemed way better than before!

Oh yeah I also think that I forgot my book with all of your addresses written down. Can you email your addresses…or just send me a letter and I’ll write you one back. =]