...What?

Today's topic- the bizarre.

Put on your aluminum foil helmets folks- doesn't hurt to stay protected. Especially when there's clearly alien activity happening in your neighborhood. Or just reaaaally weird religious practices. I... I just can't explain what's going on!

So, around the corner from my house is a crossroads of sorts, formed by two dirt roads. Sometimes I can find the most odd collection of items assembled in the middle of the intersection. For example, today there was a nest-shaped collection of dried parsley surrounded by a shattered pot. The other day, there was a large shell with an egg lying in side of it. Before that there was a ring of chicken feathers on the ground. 10 Mattbucks to whoever can come up with some sort of commonality between the three! And believe me, Mattbucks are in high demand.

Secondly, today I found out that last night, Monday night, the Federal Government declared no school for the rest of the week in order to prepare for the upcoming election day on Sunday. They closed school. For a week. With no notice. For an election which doesn't affect the kids. They can't even vote! I don't understand!!! All that that accomplished is messing with my travel schedule. I was supposed to give my final trimester test today and leave for Ouaga tomorrow, but... I couldn't give the test since no one showed up. This is going to be interesting... The school will administer the test, send the tests on a bus to me in Ouaga for me to grade, then I will calculate the averages for the trimester and send it back. Phew.

Finally, here's a little excerpt that my friend in another town shared with me. It comes from a pamphlet used in schools to teach English through difficult questions and scenarios. This questioned is labeled "Are Men and Women Equal?" What follows is the content of that pamphlet:

-- Equality between men and women is a topical subject. Men claim to be different from women and even more important than women who are always dependant. Women claim to be equal to men because without them, life would not be possible. So it is what we call feminism. That is true because in many African countries, women work.

[MEN AND WOMEN ARE EQUAL]
-Biologically they are the same creatures
-Both are created by God
-Both have the ability to think, to work, and to do anything else
-Women are as educated as men
-They are enrolled in the building of society
[MEN AND WOMEN ARE NOT EQUAL]
-Women give beautiful babies to men and take care of their household
-Men are stroner than women. Men are the image of God but women are created to be a help of men
-Men are more courageous than women
-Naturally, women are very weak than men
-Women speak a lot of and can't keep a secret for a long time.

In conclusion, we can say that the equality between men and women should not be debated, because every women knows that man is head of the family. Woman is consider as second responsible of the family. Instead of talking about the equality between men and women, isn't it good to talk about complementary life? --

This... is crazy... I mean the 2nd and 4th points for the con  argument are basically the same!
No, in all seriousness, woah. I like how the marker of equality is the ability to not tell a secret. So I guess Benedict Arnold was a girl according to whoever wrote this. My friend here says that it was sold to the school by a private businessman and many teachers and students simply bought these before they could read them. However, unfortunately, this does reflect many mindsets here in Burkina Faso (and some mindsets in the US still!) That's why one of the top 5 goals here, the High 5 if you will, is to promote the equality of girls. So desperately needed...

And that concludes are voyage into the bizarre. Tune in next time!

(Note: You'll feel like an idiot if you ever try to translate a rap song into another language. Trust me.)

Let's talk turkey.

Ok. This is what my December looks like.

I have three days of classes left at my school, giving a test on Tuesday and Wednesday. Immediately after the Wednesday exam, I leave to start my trek to Ouaga for a crazy period of formations. First, my camp GLOW training complete with breakfast at the director's house. Then, on December 1st, the first wave of volunteers from my group will arrive for our 2-week training on how to implement projects, teach sensibilizations, etc. During this time period, I'm correcting my 175 tests and I have a 3-day IT committee meeting. Also, I'm hoping to win our Ouaga poker showcase at least once. It's my time. Finally after that, I want to see the new group of volunteers swear in and meet my new site-neighbor.

Now, after that I return to my site for one week of school meetings and then it's vacation! No one will be wanting to do any work. Plus, other volunteers may be coming down to visit my site. So I'm pretty much done with this year! Hopefully, I'll be able to help put my association together in time... That's right. Some really motivated people in my community heard I wanted to do sensibilizations and decided to simply petition to create an organization to do the health trainings with the town. Good going guys!

I continue to meet new people each day. Somebody from the Mayor's office is going to start teaching me the local language Jula when I return from my formations. Plans are in the works to create a garden at my school and plant trees all along the border. An English club just started and maaaaybe I'll get involved. Wasn't quite in the loop about that. But! I'm excited.

I need to get ready and join up with the nurses from my local hospital for another day of rounding up random kids in the market and giving them polio vaccines, vitamin A, and measles vaccines. You know how it is. So! I'll write soon,

Formations

Camp G²LOW is a program put on throughout many Peace Corps countries. It stands for Girls and Guys Leading Our World. Here in sunny Burkina Faso, the upcoming summer will host the third round of these excellent opportunities for the youth to come and be empowered. This is kind of my thing. Thus, I’ll be financial director for this week-long camp taking place in my regional capital. Good thing I’ve had a bit of experience with managing donations and file-keeping! (Shout out to Prattsville, NY here. I hope you all weathered Sandy…)

Each volunteer in the region works with their village to send 5-6 + kids to this camp. I think at ours, we would like to host 70 all-together. It’s necessary to provide lodging and food for the students during this time. During the camp, we put on sensibilizations, teach songs, play sports, and do all that good, old-fashioned campy stuff. Really, the main focus is promoting the girls to be more confident and engaged in their community. Burkina Faso has made it a priority to change long-standing attitudes and ideas about women that keeps them from reaching their full potential. Also, we teach the guys to accept and promote the girls in their village as well. It is crucial for the men to be involved in this process if there will, indeed, be a change.

I will be at a formation for planning this camp, a formation for my IT committee, and a 2-week training for my group of new volunteers all in December. Goodbye site- I’ll miss you... Basically, December gone be CRAY. Of course, after that I’ll be submitting grades (yeah, my students basically get a 2 week reprieve from Math class) and then celebrating Christmas with my community and New Years with the Americans. Hopefully I’ll be able to host some other volunteers who will be passing through during winter break to visit!
We shall see.

Things which are normal for me now…

                Eating sauce with my hands
                Goats and pigs on my porch
                Abandoning all thought of the absolutely complex idea of queuing
                Speaking only in French for weeks at a time
                Being given babies to hold in my lap because there’s not enough space in the van to fit everyone
                Taking 4 hours to prepare afternoon tea
                Clicking my tongue to signal affirmation
                Being able to tell random kids to do errands for me whenever I want
                … and so much more! I just can’t remember what is bizarre for Americans right now…

Triumverates

It's time to start doing projects. I suppose. Today I will be meeting with my homologue and a nurse at the hospital to talk about our plan for helping my ville's hygiene. I'm running a little bit late to get back to town after working in my regional capital a bit though... oh well! C'est la vie. Anywho, I'm trying to set up point people for different projects in different sectors. For example, a group of me and two Burkinabé to work on the promotion of girls in the community, planting trees, health sensibilizations, and income generating activities. Basically, I'm forming triumverates. Should not have read Julius Caesar so much...

What would you all like to know about now? I just gave my first test to my students this past week. Unfortunately, I have not had the time to grade them. Here, a passing grade is a 10 out of 20. And they try to make the test average for the class be about an 11. Thus, things are a bit difficult. One of the major goals here is to encourage critical thinking. Often in primary school, the students are taught only to strictly follow directions and not think outside the box. The culture as a whole does not really align itself with critical thinking. I heard one story this weekend that when a section of forest was cleared out for a future road, the villagers continued to follow the old path- even though it twisted and turned in the now cleared field, the people twisted and turned along with it, declining to simply walk a new path. It serves the people well enough, but, of course, I'd like to help my students achieve their full potential. I'm excited to see who solved my critical thinking problems correctly.

Big news! There is a small village next to mine which is getting a new volunteer. Sadly, the two years has come to an end for the current volunteer... Bon voyage Lyndsay! Thus, the new volunteer will, for all intents and purposes, be my site mate for my remaining time here. After all, I've got the best marketplace around! Hopefully we can collaborate a bit on projects.

Anywho, I'm done eating my papaya and I'm frankly exhausted from this weekend's activities. If you have anything specific you would like to hear more about, let me know! I am but your humble servant, here to cater to your every literary craving. Or something like that. Will write soon! Promise.

La Grève

Ok. It's been some time, no? Let's cut to the brass tacks.

Strikes. If you all know me as well as I think you may or may not know me, you would know that I don't know how I feel about strikes. Did you all follow that? Good. I admire when people take a stand to combat injustices and, to quote Holden Caulfield (shudder), I really do. However, I'm not a fan if innocents get hurt in the process. But let us move forward objectively.

Here, if something happens that gains national notoriety, from time to time the students from university level down to junior high will go on strike. This involves simply not going to school for two days. Yesterday, I was teaching one class when suddenly the class exploded into yelling and people trying to look outside the classroom. I was surprised- this particular class was normally very well behaved. Eventually I was told to let the class out into the courtyard and that I should just hang out with the other teachers and have some coffee. Apparently, some students from another school showed up and got some of our students to simply leave. Eventually an official representative of a university came to explain to the students the reason for the strike, classes were canceled, and everyone went home.

Nothing else is done during the strike- no protests, etc. Somehow the idea got out that the best way of combating injustice was to limit one's education. And that's what I'll say about that.