Always dynamic

I'm still in Ouagadougou with another day left before returning

to the village. Tomorrow morning it will be out on the road 

pedaling at 5:30 a.m. before the big city wakes up. It takes 

about 45 minutes or so to get from where I am staying to the 

road that leads to the village. I will bike back and it's about 

a 6 hour total excursion with water and social stops along the way. 

As a volunteer in a village the work is always not quite so 

defined or constant. Thinking back over this first year ...

it was a pretty lucky time on the project front. 

There were girls soccer, English club, sports and a theater

group active at our village college (middle school) during

the last scholastic year. This year there is none of that

because none of that exists. The reasons being that the 

theater teacher has transferred to another school. The sports

teacher, also girls soccer coach, is in limbo at the moment 

as to whether he will be transferred to another school or not.

The English club teacher has received new responsibilities 

and that has a chance to maybe be restarted but it's a not sure.

And that's why it's always a dynamic situation as a volunteer.

It's that feast or famine syndrome.

The picture was taken at the last year's theater performance.

The girl in the back is named Zalissa and she was in

the performing group and also the goalie for our girls  

soccer team. Now, she's married and living here in 

Ouagadougou somewhere.

The girl in the front is a spectator. And the timing of

the picture was about an hour before the performance.

So, what was going on is not and it's about having the

dynamic mind and imagination and searching for 

other openings. 

It's the sex education/teenage pregnancy activity that's 

taking the main billing on work. 

Again, it's always dynamic and being patient. That's

the nature of this gig.

Half way

I am now in the capital Ouagadougou for what is called in
acronym speak ... MSC or in words, mid service conference.

Yup, we're half way there and as the line at the intro of the
soapy 'Days of our lives' go or went ... like sands through the
hour glass, so are the days of our lives. Can say that's
been true so far.

Last Monday I went to the college (middle school) to
organize the sensibilization for the 4ieme B boys. As
written in the last blog post ... the Thursday before we
were able to have the 4ieme girls come in to the maternity.
So it was that we needed to get the boys up to speed.
When I went in the class to schedule a time, I was
surprised to hear that the boys wanted it that day.
Made we wonder what was on their minds!
So at 3 in the afternoon it was held.

Talking to the boys is different of course than that of the
girls but the main emphasis was condom use. The statement
made time and time again by the girls were that it was the
boys that were the problem ... as far as condom use is
concerned. So now they know the girls' opinion on it and
I asked them if they are the new young Africa ... then get
with it on the condom use.

You can see the Flag of Burkina above ...
That's the new flag we have flying at the health clinic.
We didn't have one so I got a hold of one for $ 3 USD.
Cut a eucalyptus trunk for the pole (maybe around 20ft long)
and in a matter of minutes we were looking spiffy.
The eucalyptus is a very handy tree and so far it's served
as the wood for the wooden penises I've whittled for use
in the condom demonstrations and now a flag pole.
It actually took about 30 minutes total from cutting it
with my machete to stripping the bark, placing the flag
and then raising the pole, with flag.
That was a lot of fun as when people saw the pole with
the flag on it before it was raised, they all came running over.
They took over and in 5 minutes ... voila ... as it was a mildly
windy day ... the flag flew regally as a bunch of
smiling faces were looking up.

It is a minor activity but it has value in moving the mind.
Brighten things up, make people smile and showing a
let's wake this place up energy which may pay off with
it being easier to motivate and participate.

The political situation has settled quite a bit and so far ...
to the Burkinabes' credit ... they've made what seems to
be a good transition. Of course there's always the
disclaimer 'as of now'.

This next upcoming week entails a few days of meetings
and the ride back to the village on Thursday. It is 80 km
or about 50 miles but I haven't traveled that route for a
bit so it'll give me a chance to stop in at the network of
boutiques (variety stores) which act as water stops along
the way. It's really a nice practice and it couldn't be
done in a social way if one takes the big mini-buses
(big mini? or midi).
It's just taking time for people .

With being in the capital comes different food other than
rice and sauce. So ... I'm out de door to grab the
opportunity for a schwarma (spelt something like that).
Going without makes the appreciation felt as that first bite
melts in the mouth, just a little bit sweeter.

Back at it

Now that the political situation in Ouagadougou

(Burkina Faso's capital) is on a stable path, life

is getting back to normal. So it's back to project

activities.

Last Thursday we had the sex education sensibilization

that was originally planned for the first Saturday

of this month but was cancelled due to the 

demonstrations against the ex-president.

We had the local college's (middle school) 4ieme B

girls (35) over to the maternity building at our 

health clinic for the activity.

With the girls there were 3 sage-femmes (midwives)

plus yours truly. It was actually the 4th time we've

held the sensibilization but for 2 of the sage-femmes

it was their first time.

The past 3 sessions went well but with the new 

sage-femmes I wasn't sure as to what degree they

would be into it. Always want the activity to go well

so I had a little concern as to how it would pan out.

The concern was just a waste of energy as it went

surprisingly better than I had expected. One of the

kind of 'rough at the edges' sage-femme was just

totally into it and actually excited. Also, she asked

when the next group will be coming. Personally, 

her reaction kind of gave me a pleasantly shocked

feeling. 

There has been a problem with teenage pregnancy

in schools. With the main reason being a tendency

of not talking about sex between parents and their

children. In schools the teachers are not comfortable

with subject as of yet.

Ergo ... the opening for a sex education/teenage

pregnancy problem project.

The issues for the girls who become pregnant are

that it would probably end their studies, though they

have the right to continue. The boy or man who 

pregnated them is also most probably going to run

without any repercussions. The family may even

boot her out of the house and at this point ... no

man or boy will marry her. 

She has a lot to lose.

So, with our project we give all the info they need

to protect themselves and we found that it was

the lack of knowledge which was the root of it all.

The emphasis is on abstinence and condom use

but the girls are free to choose any family planning

method but are counselled as to all the pros and cons.

Key to the project is the sage-femmes.

Being that they are Burkinabe women they know

how to speak to the girls and also will be the ones

the girls go to if they decide on family planning.

My part is the condom demonstration person using

my hand whittled eucalyptis wooden penis.

There is a lot of shyness and embarrassment

that the girls have to overcome and developing

a rapport with the sage-femmes may be less

intimidating for them if they want to come in.

There was a newspaper article of 102 girls in two

high schools becoming pregnant. Don't know the

total amount of students in both schools. In one

school we are going to in December there were two

around 15 or 16 year old girls who gave birth 4 

hours apart on the same day. Guess what ... there

was one boy as the common denominator father.

Of course he booked out.

So there's work to do.

We are also beginning to get interest from schools as

far as 40 miles away. Hopefully we can get out 

there and show them our project.

How much success ... don't know.

Just trying to save some of these girls' future ...

makes coming to Burkina Faso, all worth it.

The 'mo'

As in momentum seems to be a key factor in

a volunteer's quest for activities. 

Just when it seems like there will be a go on 

a project or even a simple sensibilization, there

is some unforseen or equally forseen variables

that stops it dead in it's tracks.

The teenage (school based) pregnancy eradication

project being the most recent. 

The first Saturday of this month was scheduled to

begin the project again and everything was planned

and ready. Of course there had to be something 

like demonstrations and the booting out of the

president to make that Saturday, a project not 

happening day. 

But in the spirit of persistence or too dumb to 

know when to quit we try again this Thursday.

With gesting aside this activity has been one of

the most successful I've been involved with to date.

This week alone 3 more female students arrived

to protect themselves from pregnancy. So far

it's a total if 11 and there are less girls at the middle

school of 500 students whom are pregnant at this

time. Of course it's early and I am sure there will be more.

So, we got to either kick the 'mo' in the bum or ourselves

to keep going. But when the 'mo' of a project is

in effect ... well ... it's a beautiful thing. When not ...

it's back to the house for a nap. Definitely it lives in

that ying/yang circle.

But some events that require 'mo' are in our own 

hands or in this case ... legs. With the new bicycle

tires I've been an example of one of Newton's laws.

The one that states it takes less energy to keep

something moving than to begin from a dead stop.

I've been biking, some out of work relation some 

out of just plain having fun relation. I am really 

getting to meet people in the rural villages and

it's great to be able to get back to prioritizing

people in daily life.

On a more serious side ... the gov here is still in

some form of flux but to the people's credit they

are taking a wait and see posture. Hopefully anyone
making decisions don't take it as a sheepism 

thing. They'd be making a mistake.

Also, kind of a boring week with not having an

ex-president running for his safety through our

village like last week.

It's a Sunday morning and it's an habitual washing

clothes day here in the village. Having the 'mo' 

that running water, electricity and a washing 

machine would bring would be ok. But washing 

clothes by hand ... as crazy as it sounds is really

a mindfulness exercise. You know, I am washing

the clothes to wash the clothes. 

So, now I need to gather up the motivation to

go to the pump to get water to wash the clothes 

in mindfulness and so on.

Guess the 'mo' may start when I get up off my 

Sunday morning lazy rearend.

This week

Another week has passed and it's been interesting.

More like on one hand it has and not so on the other.

It's been all over the news that the ex president

has stepped down after 27 years and some serious

demonstrations in the capital, Ouagadougou.

It's still an ongoing process as I am posting but 

the hope is that they can resolve it without further

unrest. Cross your fingers for Burkina.

I am a bit away from the capital and there hasn't

been any problems. 

Which doesn't mean that there hasn't been drama

or activity. 

It seems the ex president's motorcade passed 

through our village on his way out of here. I wasn't

by the road at the time but a few of the villagers

gave me the info.

I guess that was sometime in the early afternoon

and at around 5:30 in the evening a military 

helicopter circled the surrounding area on an 

apparent search pattern.

All this led to speculation of the helicopter landing 

about 3 miles away to take the ex prez away.

With another being he stopped up the road a bit

and jumped into an ambulance and made believe

he was a patient and left the country that way.

Truth is ... who knows but it makes for some fun 

and interesting conversations.

On a personal note it brought the projects to a halt

until ... again ... who knows.

(This is the not so interesting part of the week.)

School has been out and without that it's just 

small daily activities. Also there's no word as to

when things will be back to normal.

I can state that daily activities go on as usual here at

the village level but with more talk and a lot of radio

listening by the locals.

 I've been here about a year and have gotten used

to the energy.

It has been a strange and erie vibe the last two days.

The village's energy just wasn't there and easy to

understand why.

Burkina Faso isn't a bad country at all and I am

hoping and praying that things will get settled

soon so it can move on.