Wende mii baala

In the local language (Moore) Wende mii baala

translates to .. God only knows.

That's referring to the picture above. We planted

one of the moringa trees for my next door 

neighbor. The ground is really hard and more

like clay and the moringa likes more of a 

sandy soil. People at the clinic said they've 

tried the moringa on the grounds before but 

with no success. Of course I asked a few 

questions and found out that they didn't 

protect the trees and the goats ate them.

So, as you can see there is chicken wire and

the little green at the bottom is the tree. I will

keep my eye on it but I am not too sure that

it's going to pan out. The mantra for a good

outcome regarding this tree is again ... Wende

mii bala.

Another school girl came to the health clinic

for family planning. That makes two so far 

from the group that we had the sex education

or really more like preventing teenage pregnancy

sessions. At least for the next three months 

there will be two girls who won't become 

pregnant. We talked a bit about condom use

and who knows ... maybe they are using them

too. 

As a volunteer it is encouraging to see positive

results of activities every so often. It keeps 

one wanting to continue to try and not to 

lose hope. The true results will come in time

with less school girls becoming pregnant. By this

time next year would be a good point as to

if the sessions really paid off.

In the category of first time see was a guy 

driving his motor scooter (like a Vespa /

Honda / Yamaha) with a cow tied to what 

looked like a wooden door. He somehow 

had the door attached to the passenger part

of the seat and the cow laying tied down

on top. It was a .... did I actually see a cow 

on the back of a motor scooter realization

moment. Took a double take and even on 

the second take the cow was still there.

We really miss these things in the developed

world ... don't we? Leads to the thought of 

what is real freedom. Putting a cow on the

back of your scooter without worrying seems

like should be on the list of what freedom is.

Well ... with school winding down so do the 

opportunities for activities so I am wondering

how the next months will be. I'll keep hunting

for the chances but I guess it's best stated

as to ... will there be anything to do ... again ...

Wende mii bala.

It's D light

That's what you're looking at in the picture.

Living without electricity has it's good and

bad aspects. The bad part is pretty obvious

with not having amenities, which at times 

wouldn't be bad ... no lie. So what could the

good part be? First no electric bills or stress

of having to keep up with technology. Second,

the stars are just abundant on a usual night.

An added benefit is that one is apt to spend

more time with people as a source of 

entertainment.

That's not to say having some electricity

is a bad thing. Ergo the solar light charger

in the photo. The brand is actually d.light solar.

So it is ... D light. It keeps me in business

as to the need to charge phones and a light

at night. It costs $30 USD at the Total gas

stations here in Burkina.

 

The past week was fun as with becoming 

a regular in the village seems to be making

people more open. Plus my local language

(Moore) has improved to the point that I can

inject some humor and they love it. I usually

leave them in a hail of laughter. It is the old

show biz addage ... end on a high note so 

they'll want an encore.

Let me see ... usual baby weighings a few 

days, lunch with the Ambassador on thursday

and another sex education class with an 

emphasis on preventing teenage pregnancy

this morning. 

There were exactly 40 girls from the 9th grade.

Here the ages are a little older for that class 

and they were between 15 to 18 years old.

The mid-wife does a great job and I do my 

part and together we make a fun presentation 

full of the information they need. Again the

girls had so many questions. 

It gives us a rewarding feeling when it's 

done. Will it stop teenage pregnancy with 

the girls we've talked to ... who knows. But

we do know they won't become pregnant 

through ignorance.

The lunch with the Ambassador was great. It

was another volunteer and (I or me) and him,

his wife and staff, which are really nice people.

Again, it sure added to the week.

The lunch was in the town I go to to get away

or need things. I always take my bicycle and 

it's about 23 km one way. I have a normal 

route that goes through the bush for 3km 

then comes onto a paved 2 lane main road.

This time I found out about a path that goes

12 km through the bush before arriving at the

above mentioned main road.

It is just a beautiful path that let's one really 

see the bush and the rural villages at their

best. Met a lot of people through asking 

directions. Going to guess I am close to the

first white person they've seen riding a bike

in their area who can speak a bit of their local

language. 

On that path is the best natural bonzai looking

trees I've ever seen. I will try and get a pic next 

time. 

Great path + lunch with Ambassador = good day.

Also passed out seeds of the Moringa tree 

(leaves are nutritional) with the angle of working

the nutrition front. Then prepared a few holes 

for planting Moringa at the health clinic. We 

talk about the tree but have nary a one to show.

I like having things to show when trying to 

convince. The normal way it should be.

That's about it for this week ... no complaints

of substance with this one.

Rainy season is beginning

Here in Burkina Faso there are two distinct

seasons ... dry and rainy. We are entering the

rainy season and it will be my first here in the

village. 

It is the time to begin to think of planting and 

as you can see in the photo above ... there are

a few saplings growing. These are trees called

moringa.  The leaves have nutritional content

of vitamin A and C, protein, calcium and 

potassium. A good supplement to add to 

the sauces that are a staple at meal time.

The problem is there aren't many of those

trees in the village so the plan is to pass out

a few seeds to each compound. If 10% actually

become full grown trees, I'll be satisfied.

The trees in the picture are actually a test. I 

received moringa seeds and passed a bunch 

out but in the best sense of project disaster ...

none of them sprouted. Oops, one of those 

things I should have tested before. So, this 

time I went to a nearby village and pulled the

seed pods off the tree myself. Now, 100% 

germination and a lesson re-learned.

We've been busy trying to get as many 

sensibilizations done before school ends

in a few weeks from now. We had another

35 girls come to the maternity to speak to

the mid-wives about sex education and 

it was an open session for any of their

questions. It went well and the underlying 

goal is to help prevent teenage pregnancy.

I also spoke with the boys and hopefully 

the message got through. I tried to emphasize

respecting the girl's right to sucessfully ask

a boy to use a condom. That was one of the

remarks the girls made in their session. It 

was like we girls want the boys to use a condom

but the boys don't want to. 

Again, hopefully the message got through.

Started working in another school and there

we had sessions on malaria prevention, HIV

and cleaning out cuts to prevent infections.

The oldest class seemed too young for the 

HIV talk. I asked the director about 6 times ...

are you sure they're not too young? He said

it's ok so talk we had.

It was funny when I took out the wooden penis 

I made (see last blog post). It was the kids

first time with even seeing a condom and it

was a session full of laughs and kids ducking

under their desks.

After we had the condom situated on the 

wooden penis the director started walking

down the rows of desks with it in his hand

and a condom on top.

The kids were just screaming and ducking 

under the desks and it was funny as heck.

I just love seeing these things I've never 

seen or experienced before. Despite the

laughing and ducking they have their first

step in sex education taken. Has to start

somewhere and sometime.

In the Peace Corps there is just about always

something you've never seen before like 

kids ducking under their desks during a 

condom demonstration, it's great stuff.

We also had a young French lady from the 

Basque region of France arrive and give an

9 hour workshop for the theatre group. It was

in three intense sessions and she worked 

theatre in Lyon France. She is now working

theatre here in Ougadougou and will be 

going to England as she has a new job 

beginning in theatre there also.

She was sensational and it's crazy to think

that we had a professional here with our 

theatre group. I just call it luck but it works.

That's been about it since the last blog post.

It's been a good stretch.

Doing what you gotta do

My work in health is focused on education.

The regular stuff like malaria prevention,

cleaning small cuts before infection, drinking

ample amount of water and HIV prevention

among other topics.

Last week during a session with a class of 

young girls we had to use a close to 7 ft pole

for a condom demonstration.

It worked but was cumbersome and not

practical to carry around when going out to

the villages. 

There was supposed to be a wooden penis

somewhere around but we couldn't find it.

It'll probably show up sooner or later.

So, easiest thing to do is make one, as you can

see the object in the center between the 

machete and the multi-purpose leatherman type

tool.

I cut one of the multi trunks coming from one

of the eucalyptus trees. I showed the piece of 

wood to one of the mid-wives and she told me

it wasn't thick enough. This eucalyptus tree 

has a tendency to dry out and shrink a bit.

Only thing to do was go back and cut a bigger

one. Used the machete to cut the trunk and

the knife on the multi-purpose tool to whittle

and voila ... wooden eucalyptus penis and 

we're in business. Now condom demonstrations

at the spur of the moment if neccessary.

I have done some wood working in the past

but no penis fabrications. It is another first

of many since living in different countries

and not having the Home Depots and 

anything available in minutes. It definitely

sparks the imagination and gives a decent

sense of accomplishment after having 

figured something out by using just what's

around.

By the way the mid-wife was right that shrunk

by almost 33% in a few days.