Adventures with CORN!

Hi! I am eating lots of CORN – the species that, in the states, we consider ‘inedible’ and give to animals!
CORN is hugely popular in my area, and all you need is a small funnel-shaped charcoal ‘grill’ (there is no actual grill wire, just a vessel for the charcoal), some friends, some CORN, and at least an hour to kill. The preferred method of CORN here in village is, you put the CORN on the charcoal for about 10 minutes, rotate said CORN periodically, make sure a minimum of 3/4 of the kernels become thoroughly charred, and then eat the blackened supposedly for-animals-only CORN by stripping off individual kernels with your thumb (I got a blister because it was hot).
You can also play cards while making CORN, some game that vaguely reminds of pinochle but which involves a ‘presidente’ and lots of vocabulary in Moore that I don’t understand. Also of interest – the suit of ‘Hearts’ is translated here as ‘Tomato’, this most likely related to the complete lack symbology surrounding the ‘heart’ in Burkina Faso. Romance as we westerners know it is not really a big thing here in village.

This time of year is totally awesome because everyone is giving away food, including CORN. I currently have a dozen ears in my house, along with several pounds of local eggplant, three western-style eggplants, a small sack of okra, and many chili peppers. I was also given three tomatoes yesterday, which were an absolute treat. While the rainy season didn’t start off all that well (the first decent rains by me were in July, whereas people start itching to plant in early – mid June), September has been good to us and crops seem to be finishing in a good way (knock on wood, please, everyone).
Interestingly I didn’t have this explosive gifting of CORN and other local edibles last year, which leads me to believe either I’ve been in the right places at the right times this month, or maybe people like me more in 2010 than they did in 2009. Either way, I need y’all to come over here and help me eat. Thanks!

In other news, my kitty is pregnant! I’m once again an expecting father (not biologically, thank you). It’s really kind of cute how lazy kitties get when their pregnant, and the way my feline in particular chooses the compost pile as the coziest place to curl up for myriad naps. Hopefully she’ll contribute nourishing matter.

In other other news, the grant proposal is off to a very solid start. In less than a week after sending off my missive to y’all, we are up 700 dollars (there is no dollar sign on this french keyboard)! I am _extremely_ grateful to any and all who have contributed – I don’t actually get a real-time list of who has donated, but I will be informed once the grant is fully funded, and able to send out thank you’s. And please note than any contributers will receive a fancy artistic Burkina Faso postcard, made fresh in Burkina! Very pretty, and great for showing off to your friends and displaying your command of the place-name ‘Ouagadougou’!
I am still looking for people to help spread the word among their friends, colleagues, co-workers, religious groups, etc to help see this grant through to fruition. I am aiming (very optimistically) to have all the funding by mid October, which leaves me enough time to oversee the purchasing of the stereo equipment and the beginnings of the theater tour. Please get in touch with me as soon as possible if you can lend a hand – I already have a couple blurbs worked up explaining the project and its goals (although your own eloquence is just as good).

I will leave off with another installment of Aaron’s Schedule of Strangeness, in which I defy Peace Corps intentions by constantly being called out of village:

Sept 27 – 30 : Preparation for incoming volunteer training
Oct 7 – 9 : Possible trip to Niamey (Niger) to play ….. softball ….. (obviously)
Oct 15 : Visit by Peace Corps Regional Director of Africa to my village (woah)
Oct 16 – 23 : Training of new volunteers in the city of Koudougou
Oct 22 : Brief run to Ouaga to pick up old roomate from Cambridge (woohoo!)
Oct 23 – 30 : Possible continued training of volunteers, unless a miracle happens and other PCVs agree to help out with the training
Nov 5 – 6 : Trip to Ouaga for the largest international arts festival in Africa
Nov 22 – Dec 5 : More training of new volunteers
Dec 9 or 10 : Leave Sabce
Dec 15 : Leave Burkina Faso

…. with lots of CORN mixed in

Best
Aa

Grant Proposal!!!!!!

See how many exclamation points are in the subject line???? This MUST be amazing!!!!!!!
This e-mail comes in two parts:
1- Straight-to-the-point description of a grant I put together through Peace Corps, and for which I am starting a fundraising campaign.
2- Longer-winded description of how this grant came into being, who I am working with to make it happen, and why it’s awesome.

(Testimonial pictures and video to follow soon!)

***PART 1***
I am happy to report that my grant proposal for an educational theater tour has been accepted by the Washington DC Peace Corps office.

The goal of this grant is twofold:
1.) Conduct a series of interactive theater forums in 30 rural villages comprising the greater community of Sabce. This tour will be led by a nationally recognized theater troupe – based in Sabce – and encourage positive behavior changes related to health, education, women’s empowerment, and the environment.
2.) Supply the community of Sabce with the following stereo equipment, for use during community and municipal events, including the 30 village tour:
– Poweful high-end speakers with subwoofers (2)
– Hands-free (2) and hand-held (2) microphones
– Sound mixer with cassette and CD decks (1)
– 275watt Electric generator (1)
– Megaphones (2)

The theater troupe and greater Sabce community will contribute over $3000 of their time and materials for this project. The Peace Corps grant I have filed will support the activities materially, to the tune of $4667.66, which is where you/we come in:
Peace Corps grants are funded by individuals!

The grant briefing has been posted on the following site, and it is now up to us to contribute (tax-deductible) and spread the word until our goal of $4667.66 is reached.

Theater Equipment for Health Education

I am hoping to gather not only donations (anything from $1 on up!) but a couple of people who are willing to help drum up support from others in their social / work / religious / etc circles to get behind the cause. If you think you are game to get on board, please let me know and I will write up a motivational pitch for you to distribute.
Thank you a million times over.

Note – I will have exact brands/catalogue numbers for all equipment; the info is back at my village, and I’ll update you soon as I can.

***PART 2***
(The rest of the story. . . . )

There is a man in my village named Gregoire Ouedraogo, and he is truly a force.

I’ll be perfectly honest from the get-go – sometimes Gregoire kind of annoys me. He annoys me because he is so dedicated to his community that the moment we have finished one project, he is immediately proposing two more. I was just discussing with my parents (thanks for visiting!!!!) how I should be / am thrilled to have him as a working partner, even if it makes things a little strange socially. There are only so many times when I appreciate someone saying, “Ok Aaron, you should go rest because you’re tired”. That may be true, but not for the reasons you are thinking…

In Peace Corps, we are highly encouraged to seek out ‘motivated counterparts’ with which to work, meaning community members who are not only willing, but are actively seeking to go above and beyond in the name of development. After a solid year and half of working with Gregoire in various aspects, I can honestly say he exemplifies these qualities. He is the founder and president of a nationally-ranked theater troupe, president of the local Village Development Committee (Committe de Developement Villageois), and is a key player in organizing projects with Sabce’s sister city in France. He recently organized a morning of tree planting (over 500 neem trees) on one of our market days, spearheaded the plantation of about 6 acres of sesame – a good cash crop in Burkina – in order to help fund future community events, and (grand finale!) single-handedly rehearsed two theater skits with 24 rambunctious kids without any written script and using chalk-paste for make-up. The performance, as my parents can attest to, was incredible.

. . . . Did I mention this is the second batch of kids Gregoire has worked with?

THEREFORE- Based on my history of successful collaboration with Gregoire, his prominent place in the community, and our mutual love of / respect for educational theater, we are planning a 30-village educational theater tour using some brand new yet-to-be-acquired stereo equipment. In order to achieve these wonderful things, I have put together a grant proposal via Peace Corps Washington, which was accepted the very first go around (yay!).
Here’s how it works:
– Peace Corps Washington posts the grant here:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=686-135
– People like you and I click on the link and contribute money in a tax-deductible and totally secure manner
– We spread the word so that lots and lots and lots of people arrive at that link and contribute money, until we have reached our goal of $4667.66.
– Washington writes me a check for that amount, and I very carefully and transparently show how it is used to buy stereo equipment
– The theater tour begins!!!!

Note that, when the theater tour begins, I might be out of the picture; My time in village is quickly waning. Therefore I will be working closely both with the mayor’s office of Sabce and with the volunteer who will be replacing me, to ensure that all the t’s are crossed and all the i’s are dotted during the 30-village tour. At this point in my service, I can very honestly say that I am totally comfortable doing this because I feel I have vetted all the principal parties involved. There is a lot of negative feedback concerning corruption and ‘bouffiing’ (French for ‘wasting/mis-using’) in Burkina and in West Africa in general. I wouldn’t consider attempting a nearly $5000 grant (jumps to $8000 with the community contribution) were I not sure about the people with whom I am working.
Can I guarantee that every cent will be used exactly as Gregoire and I have proposed it be used? No… and I suspect that many of you who’ve worked with grants know that wielding large amounts of money is a strange and difficult task. But I can vouge for the intentions and the motivation of the people who will be involved in this grant, and our commitment to making this theater tour a success.

In closing, I leave you with the following one liner you can pitch to friends, co-workers, school and religiuos groups, and all others who might lend a hand, in hopes that we can get this project off the ground ASAP.

“IN STEREO seeks to harness the educational power of theater, and provide crucial information regarding health and human rights to a largely illiterate population.”

Best-
Aaron Buchsbaum
PCV Burkina Faso, 2008 – 2010
Community Health