Burkina Faso and the Horrendous Space Kablooey
Once upon a time, there was an island-country called Iceland. And on this island-country was a volcano who’s name no one could reasonably pronounce. And in this volcano was a lot of very hot things that were interested in exploding. And then one day, they did explode. And the explosion was probably very loud and disorienting, and triggered the latent Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome of many many dinosaurs.
Once upon the same time in question, there was a stupidly hot land-locked country called Burkina Faso. And in this stupidly hot land-locked country was a lot of sky filled with sun that liked to cause excessive skin rashes and make things smell like burning. And then one day the sun went away because international trade winds blew all the likewise stupid island-country-exploded-crap across the Equator and slightly to the right. It became very hard to see and breathe, and a confused white guy with a Burkina visa bought some shea butter and left it in the local boutique for people to put up their noses. Then a giant windstorm came at 4am the following morning and blew all the exploded-crap away, and even made it cool.
The confused white guy then answered questions about where all the exploded-crap came from in second and third languages, at which point the explanation only mentioned a very large fire in the land of other weird white people, who’s smoke eventually got blown over West Africa. And, secretly, the confused white guy had no idea if he was actually correct in his hypothesis, but people believed him anyway. Plus he got to point out Iceland on a map and pronounce it’s name with a silly psuedo-french accent.
The end.
**Complete change of subject**
I am attaching to this e-mail an article I wrote on the subject of ‘Loneliness’ for PCVs in Burkina Faso. T’were written for our Peer Support group letter, as several of our members have been getting calls (and this is nothing new) regarding a lack of romantic or truly strong relationships over a very loooong period, and the fear that (in brief) standards may be sliding. I do hope some/all of you will open it up and check it out. The perspective will be slightly odd, given that it grapples with our (i.e. volunteers) specific situation as isolated among different cultures and languages, BUT that’s exactly what might make it interesting even to you. So enjoy.
**And Last but Not Least**
Someday I will again have the time and energy to send out real e-mails describing all the exciting and odd things that are PCV life in Burkina. But I have been doing strangely obscene amounts of work the past month, and my eyes hurt abominably from time in front of the computer over the past 3 days. Let me just give you a taste of my recent and future schedule:
April 14-15 – meeting with BF health ministry leaders/workers to discuss PC community health objectives
April 27-29 – Maternal and Child health training with two village counterparts
May 1-3 – Peer Support group meeting and newsletter layout
May 10 – Meeting with PC Burkina health director to discuss upcoming training of new volunteers
May 17-21 – First formal staff/volunteer meeting to organize training of new volunteers
May 24-26 – Women’s Rights training with two middle-school girls
June 1-5 – Second formal staff/volunteer meeting to organize training of new volunteers
June 6-10 – GET MY BUTT TO MALI FOR SOME VACATION!
June 22- July 20 – Training of new volunteers. I semi-applied for and, definitely got singled out to train them during their first four weeks in Burkina
July 21-23 – My ‘Close of Service’ conference, which is happening rather early due to some strange logistics involved in the Small Enterprise sector. Note that the conference has little to do with the actual ending of my contractual obligations in BF, but is just a way to get people prepped for life back in the states.
I remember times where I used to stay in village for a month at a time. Which is highly encouraged in PC life. And which is really the one unique and excellent thing PC does. And which currently I am not doing. Although all this other running around is cool and important and may actually bode well for some activities in Sabce, I can’t help but know there’s some backlash to be had from not being in my house and among my community. Hmm….
At the same time, I am thinking about extending my service for anywhere from a few months to a full year. Despite knowing that I would be vastly more comfortable and ‘warm’ at home. You’ll be kept posted on this as it develops.
Cheers and Loves
Aaron
