Community Meeting, Planning for IST

16 March – Kossouka, 7:29pm

Kittens, kittens everywhere and into everything! Good thing they're cute, that's all I'm saying.

Today was good. Woke up, ate, lounged, headed over to the community meeting at 9am (it was supposed to start at 8, but guess what?) We started around 9:30 or so, not bad. I got to introduce myself (I did a pretty decent job, if I do say so myself) and we were done around 10:50ish. The women sat in the back but there were about equal numbers of men and women, although only one spoke up in the big assembly while a couple of men asked a lot of questions (I really wish I could have understood what they were asking). I shook more hands than I can count, than headed home to get water and stopped and chatted at the CSPS.

I was pretty proud of myself, actually – there was a guy from Seguenega sitting at the dispensaire and I managed to carry the conversation in Moore past the greetings! Granted, that was because he was asking me to be his wife and how many children we would have, but I was able to joke along and tell him that 10 would be fine with me if he had the money. I lost it after that and we switched to French, but it was pretty cool to get a little past the routine greeting. I didn't understand every word, but I got the gist well enough, kind of like how I get by in French. He said he was coming for lunch, but of course he didn't actually come despite my genuine acceptance of his self-invitation.

I used up my veggies in a big stew again. I really need to vary my meals, but I guess I'll keep doing this until I'm tired of it or until the veggies at the marche change. I should experiment with different spices, and I think it really needs some kind of carb – I was still craving something, like bread or pasta or oatmeal.

When I finally went to the library I felt rather productive getting to talk to Simon. I asked him about the CVD members, and if he could hook me up with an homologue, and if he would come meet Dr. Claude and Justin tomorrow morning when they come for my site visit, and about the history and traditions and commerce of Kossouka. He said he'd get back to me on the homologue and history, but we talked about the rest, and it was thoroughly helpful. I really wish he could be my homologue, but I feel like he's already quite busy and honestly not all that interested in health. I came home and sat around the CSPS for a while – met the cheif's son and learned a little Moore from Ken, one of our interns, told people that I have my boss coming tomorrow, and headed home to set up my tent, shower, and try to call people back. And here I am, with my tea, getting ready to get my radio and hear the update on the war in Libya, the nuclear reactor meltdown in post-tsunami Japan, and whatever else the news has brought.

In Burkina news, there are peaceful demonstrations planned in Ouaga, and standfast is lifted so that we can all go to IST, and even travel through Ouaga as long as we're not staying the night.

CVD Meeting, Mango Grove Sanctuary

15 March – Kossouka, 7:21pm

Here in village, life is calm. I woke up and went over to the CSPS to wait for Simon, who came around 8:15. We biked over to the cheif's concession, and the meeting started around 8:30 – not bad for Africa time. There's a village meeting tomorrow (8am at the mairie, but they explicitly told me 8am Africa time, so I'll go at 9:30) to tell people about all these new projects that are going to happen. I didn't quite figure out who all is paying for them, but we'll get there. I made a small speech about working together, but I figure I'll talk to Simon tomorrow to see about finding a good counterpart when I return my library book. After the meeting ended an hour later I went back to the CSPS and started making a list of things I need to do to finish my Etude, most of which involve asking questions of my CSPS staff or Simon, and then typing the whole thing up and translating it into French.

After lunch, Moussa showed up and we rode out to the mango trees. I have found heaven on earth, and it is in Kossouka (well, Napalgue) under a mango tree. The shade was thick, the conversation with Moussa and another teacher was interesting (politics of BF and Cote d'Ivoire, where Moussa is from), and I got to listen to my iPod and finish the chapter on the future tense and even use it a few times in our conversation. There were cows wandering around and one was licking the ears of another – the one being bathed looked so happy, just like the kittens when they're cleaning each other! It was adorable. It's maybe 1k from my house, so I'll absolutely be going back, and maybe find a way to take the kittens with me. Very relaxing and calm.

After I came home around 3:30 I got a bidon of water and sat with Sali at the maternity while she studied for her concours and I read my French children's book. Chatted briefly with Ilias, but he was the one to end the conversation tonight! What? Left around 6pm and came home to set up my tent and shower. Sitting outside under the half moon with two adorable kittens – life is good. I'm so glad that no matter what happens during my day, they almost always end happily in the calm of my courtyard.

NB – I've been here for 154 days. Only 650 days (give or take) left to go. Weird - I don't really know how I feel about it.

A day in the life

14 March – Kossouka, 7:38pm

I'm so glad the vaccination campaign is over! While it was amazing and energizing to see the sunrise again (I miss crew!), I loved waking up outside this morning as it got light out and then being able to roll over and go back to sleep for a little while. I sat outside listening to music, eating leftovers from dinner last night, and drinking many cups of coffee with sweetened condensed milk (sooo good and such a bad habit to develop). Dinner last night was every veggie I had (2 onions, 3 small eggplants, 4 small green peppers, 8 small tomatoes, 3 cloves of garlic) cut up and tossed in a pot with water, piemont (hot pepper), Maggie onion and spice, garlic pepper, Hawaiian seasoning salt, and the rest of a package of macaroni added at the end for good measure. A little overly salty, but delicious and it made enough for dinner last night as well as breakfast and lunch today. I was trying to read my book (All The Pretty Horses) but just couldn't get into it and listened to music instead. What a lovely way to wake up!

At 9 I finally corralled the cats and headed over to the CSPS to study and chat. Started on the future and conditional tenses in French. I will be ready for IST! (In Service Training, for language and technical skills) Came home, ate the rest of my veggie melange, went to the market for more vegetables, and got fish for the cats and munchies for me (gallettes and a gateau). Sarata came over a bit before 2, and we sat and chatted for a bit. When Ilia (my erstwhile tutor) showed up she tried to hide, then became really shy and reluctant to be around us – it might have been the subject, we were talking presidential politics and the protests, or it might have just been that she's a young teenager and he's a man. I worked hard to just listen and stay neutral in my own position (PC policy – we want to be able to work with everyone, so taking a political stand is a no-no), but it was still very interesting to explore the current situation here and in our neighboring countries. Sarata excused herself after a bit, but I told her to come back tomorrow.

Ilia left and I went back to the CSPS. I greeted everyone and started back on the French, but went to watch a birth with David and one of the interns. The mother was 17 years old, and at her last pre-natal consultation in February she weighed 107 lbs. I swear her stomach looked so small I was convinced the baby must be premature, but when David finally lifted him out into the world the baby was a healthy 3kg (6.6lbs) and hollered like crazy. The body can be pretty amazing!

Moussa showed up and we chatted for a while in our mix of French/English. Ilias (my petit african) walked by and said hello and it turns out they're brothers. Eh? How are they so totally different? The three of us had a nice conversation, and I found out that school is restarting the 28^th. In theory. We're hoping to avoid the annee blanche, so we'll see how it all turns out. An annee blanche is declared by the department of education when school has been delayed for over 2 months, and it essentially wipes the year out of memory – every student re-does that class the next year instead of continuing on. After Moussa left, Simon, my librarian, showed up to tell me about the meeting for the CVD (committee villagoise de development) tomorrow. Sweet! Maybe I can find someone who wants to be my homologue for our technical training in April! Crossing my fingers.

Left around 6:30pm, greeted my neighbors, then headed home to set up my tent and chill. I have now mastered the shower with half a bucket of water, a necessity when your water barrel is running low and you forgot to go to the tap before the solar power cuts around 4pm. Watched the sun set and drank my bissap and gingembre that I bought at the marche. I hear my major talking with the inspecter (head of the primary schools for our district) next door, but I love having my quite evenings of solitude, sitting under the half-moon while listening to music or reading while drinking my tea (which I have yet to make). I'm finding it easier and easier to go to bed early – there's just no reason to stay up and let the mosquitoes keep eating on me.

Vaccination Campaign, Visitor Kitty, Homesick

12 March – Kossouka, 9:03pm

It's been a difficult couple of days. A door to door polio vaccination campaign started on Thursday, meaning I'm getting up much to early to go biking around to other villages, and nationally things with the students are just getting worse. Sunyata came and visited for 8 Mars (well, actually it just happened to coincide that her being able to visit was on the holiday) and it was lovely to have the company and see the village through new eyes. Now I have an extra kitten, and unfortunately we got put on standfast exactly an hour after she got back to Ouaga. The plan was that she would go to an art festival in her old village near Fada, and instead of leaving Lion with friends in Ouaga she would stay here with Sophie and me, to be returned when I went into Ouaga for my VAC meeting that was supposed to be tomorrow but has since been postponed. So she's stuck in Ouaga and couldn't go to the art festival anyway, and I'm stuck here and can't return Lion. Oh well, at least she's good company and keeps Sophie running around!

It's finally starting to hit me just how homesick I am, constantly thinking about my friends and college and crew spring break and skiing and Denver and camping and dancing to music I actually like. They told us this would happen but somehow I didn't expect it to be like this. Ilias (the boy who wants to marry me when he becomes a doctor) was saying that now that I'm going to be Burkinabe and live here for the rest of my life I can just forget about the US, and I had to leave abruptly since I could feel tears threatening imminently. It's been very sudden and really depressing – I want to go home so badly it hurts. I know I need to find a family here, but frankly, having a family involves opening up and having obligations – things I've enjoyed not having to deal with since I got here. It's lonely, but I don't answer to anyone about my time. I didn't feel like leaving my house this afternoon after biking around all morning, so I didn't. I didn't have to tell anyone, or feel like I let someone down by not showing up, I just was able to sit and talk with people and read and take photos of the cats and set up my tent as the sun went down. It was so nice!

And, a week later, I'm convinced that both of the cats are boys. I'm going to keep calling him Sophie.

Sophie/Albert

4 March – Kossouka, 8:19pm

I think my kitten might not be a Sophie after all – she might be an Albert. While she's not exactly thrilled with me poking around her groin (in fact, she gets pretty annoyed) I honestly have no idea – I've never sexed a kitten, so I guess if in a few weeks it becomes more obvious, we'll revisit the issue of her/his name.

The NFL, Sophie

3 March – Kossouka 8:30pm

Dear America – eh?! I listen to the BBC World News Hour at night to find out what is going on in the world. This recently has been an hour about political issues and the civil wars going on in North Africa. Most “human interest” stories are short 30-second blurbs – i.e. Mazda is recalling a car prone to spider infestation (weird and terrifying) or environmental efforts in Spain. But the NFL dispute between owners and players who can't agree how to split 9 billion dollars in revenue got an extended 7 minute interview. I'm in my lovely little house in third-world Africa, without electricity, without running water, without internet or newspapers, but I know that if the NFL doesn't reach some decision by midnight there are concerns that the next season might be *gasp* delayed or even (don't even think it!) canceled. I agree with Obama – there are people in the US (let alone the rest of the world) who are struggling to pay their mortgage (or, you know, feed their children) and you can't agree on who deserves to be a billionaire vs a mere millionaire – you should really take a hard look at your priorities. I know everyone deserves to get paid for the work they do, but come on. Clearly I just don't appreciate the sport enough.

I'm enjoying having Sophie (the kitten) around. She's getting much friendlier and adventurous, and doesn't jump as much when loud or surprising noises happen. She still sleeps constantly, but that definitely fits me and my life. She has kind of a cute broken squeaky meow, ginger stripes with white patches on her shoulders, face, and paws, a bubble-gum pink nose, clear blue eyes that sometimes take on a gray tint, and a very loud purr. She likes to have her back rubbed, less so for her ears. She tolerates being picked up but doesn't like to be held for too long. Sometimes she wanders around the house meowing for no obvious reason. She likes to chase my feet as I walk (very dangerous!), play with crumpled paper, and chase a q-tip tied to a piece of dental floss. She clearly prefers fish, but I'm hoping to introduce other foods to her diet as well. Her first day she stayed hidden in a corner under my folded cot, but now her preferred place is under my reading chair, which is perfect because I can reach under and pick her up when I want to..

FESPACO, New Kitten!

1 March – 7:08am

Busy last few days! After a short week at site (summery: my major was sick in Seguenega for most of it, I did baby weighings, World Food Program rations, wondered what we're going to do with Leukman the 13 year old who weighs 11kilos, kept missing my bissap lady at the marche, found that Alimata the galette lady had been getting her teeth pulled in Kongoussi), I headed out again to Ouaga on Friday for FESPACO, the international African film festival held every 2 years. I was afraid I wasn't going to get to go because of the student riots here – we were getting texts to stay out of the center of towns and to call Congo if we were going to be in Ouaga. So I got his ok and headed in. There were demonstrations and marches in a couple of big cities, and schools across the country canceled school until today (tuesday), but when I got into town it seemed completely normal and everyone I talked to dismissed it as not a very big deal.

I showed up at the Transit House and said hello to everyone. We chatted, went to the bureau to get packages, and then dropped stuff off at the TH. Lunch was attcheke, a shaved manioc cous-cous served with veggies in a mayonaise sauce. It was really good, but I got quite sick after, so maybe I'll be avoiding it in the future. Sunyata and I watched the new Alice in Wonderland and played with her kitten, Lion, but I fell asleep during the movie so at some point I'll have to watch it again.

Woke up the next morning feeling much better and after a shower I went to use the internet and consolidate my packages. I made brownies, much to the delight of the other people in the house, and we planned what we were going to do that afternoon for the festival. We missed going to the opening ceremonies, so we made plans for a late movie as a group at the French Cultural Center. When we got there we noticed the art gallery, so of course we went in to take a look. We assumed that the artist was a Burkinabe painter, but were then informed that actually it was a Frenchman. The paintings were absolutely stunning – strong women, stoic men, abstract figures dancing – all of them were amazing and somehow very touching and moving. I fell asleep in the movie a few times – it was called Visages des Femmes, a 1985 film being shown in hommage to the Ivoirian director who had passed away last year. It was honestly a bit confusing and I couldn't really follow it, but it was interesting enough. After we got out it was pretty late, but some of us were still hungry so we caught a cab to Chez Simon and had a midnight dinner – delicious!

The next day when I was leaving Ouaga I had some bus confusion, but made it to Sabce to see Wendy. It was nice to see her, and hopefully nice for her to have company. We made a salad of potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and mayo – very tasty - and I started playing with the kittens. Although I was a bit hesitant, I went with the one we caught first, who was very calm and relaxed when I picked her up and held her, and although she's no Lion, I think of the two I made the right choice. The next day we waited for her homologue to show up to take us to meet people, but he kept putting it off so we toured a little bit, bought lunch for the girl who helps out around her house, made ourselves lunch of bread with mayo, mustard, VQR, and tomatoes, and played with the kitties.

Once I made my choice and boxed up my cute gingery kitten (who was NOT happy to be in the box but calmed pretty quickly), we went to wait for the bus. We waited. And we waited. We drew a crowd. They finally dispersed. We stopped the first bus but they said the one to Seguenega was coming. Two blew right past town, leaving me in a bit of a panic. I called Salamata, the midwife at my CSPS, and then my major called me back to tell me that the bus was in Malou, about 30 minutes away. I don't know why it was so late, but was incredibly grateful! I hopped onto the seriously overcrowded bus with my boxed kitten, and off we went.

She was so good! Once I opened the box flaps she could peek out and was much calmer – I petted her the entire way home. We got to Kossouka and when I took her out of her box she ran and hid! So I got her, put her back in the box after showing her food, water, and new litter box, and she went to sleep. We played and she slept off and on, and then we settled into bed to go to sleep around midnight. I was worried that she still hadn't peed, but she made it until about 6am when she woke me up to play. I put her in her litter box, she hopped out, we went back to bed, and then she snuggled up next to me so she could pee on me. How sweet. Now we've spent the morning playing and sleeping (well, not sleeping on my part), and now she's in my lap as I type this. She's not immediately as playful and friendly as Lion, but I think she's going to be a nice character to have around.