It's GLOW Time!

Hey everyone! I'm here at our Camp G2LOW host school, an hour before the start of our Training of Trainers. Classrooms are swept, mosquito nets are hung, the water's hot for coffee, and Mr. Hiney's busy writing our camp goals on a blackboard. Fresh batteries in the camera, welcome packets made up, and now.... we pump ourselves up and prepare our lessons for the coming week. We'll have around 60 students more or less with about 23 counselors/ helpers so things are about to get a bit crazy on Friday.

Again, this camp stands for Girls and Guys Leading Our World. We want to promote cooperation between the genders as well as teach the students about topics they might not get enough exposure to: malaria, sexual education, how to plan for a goal, actions and consequences, and how to deal with violence. We hope that not only the campers can take something away from the lessons but also us the counselors. I'm really excited to be hosting several former Camp GLOW students as counselors this year! After participating in the past, they've been actively involved in their communities, making them excellent role models for the current campers.

Wish us luck this coming week! It all goes off the 19th and we start packing up on the 26th. Let's make it count, yeah?

Special thanks to all the Burkinabé who have volunteered their time for this experience as well as the volunteers coming from all over the southwest. 

Excuse me while I cough out all the dust from my lungs from sweeping yesterday... Gack...

New Volunteers! (Brief)

So the new group of volunteers have arrived and I have been spending this first week with them here in  Burkina Faso. We need to prepare them for homestays, teach them where to find minutes for their phones, give advice, encouragement, and fear to the new trainees. It's been a good time! But now I'm being eaten alive by mosquitoes so you will hear more another day. Oh man, this is uncomfortable! A long post coming soon! - Matt

Malaria- An Anecdote

I woke up naturally at around 6 AM. Throwing back the cover, I felt around the floor for my sandals; I had no interest in going barefoot until I had swept. Besides, the spider was most likely in here from the night before. Some people enjoy killing bugs. I am not some people.

I unlocked the screen, and then the metal door, taking my first off-balance steps into the daylight. Clearly, once again, I was the last one up. My father was nowhere to be seen, my mom making noises from inside the house. But, like clockwork, there was my sister washing plates by the kitchen. And if she was over there, that meant hot water.

The courtyard was wet and a bit muddy from the rain last night. Here it always seemed to rain at night. I’m not quite sure why that might be- maybe it takes a full day and only a full day of intense sunlight to evaporate enough water for a heavy rain. Whatever the case may be, I stepped across carefully with my bucket and towel, dipping the squash shell into the big metal pot over the fire. Taking a bit of hot, clean water, I took a few more scoops of water from the big clay pot in the shadow of the wall. Feeling the water, I decided to add a few more shell-fulls. Because I’m spoiled.

I cannot possibly describe what it’s like to shower outside on a cool morning. Some of my most awe-inspiring moments have been here. Looking back at my time here, I can’t imagine how it would feel with cold water. The warm bucket baths may have single handedly ensured my continuous high spirits during the first three months. Now, when I run into an actual shower from time to time, if it doesn’t boast hot water, I’m not having it. Again, like I said, I’m slightly spoiled!

Everything this morning was going well until I saw my four-year old host sister throwing up in the middle of the courtyard. She started crying uncontrollably, squatting in her pool of vomit. My mom came out of the house and started speaking hurriedly to my sisters who also came out to calm their younger sister’s cries. As I left for my day’s trainings, I still did not know what was going on. But I had a feeling…

It was confirmed that night. My dad came back from work and explained that they had taken my sister to the hospital to be tested for malaria. Sure enough, she had gotten bitten by an Anopheles mosquito, carrying the malaria parasite from a previously infected host. Since my family was not sleeping with their treated mosquito nets, it really was only a matter of time.

The Burkinabé love the rainy season since it’s good for the crops! However, the April showers bring malaria. The heat dies down a bit, and the mosquitos are able to breed easily in the pools of water that form from any heavy rains during the rainy season. My sister could have been infected by the parasite for weeks before her symptoms started. One can never know. However, for children under 5 years of age, their immune systems are not as developed as in adults. Malaria can be especially dangerous in these cases.  Fortunately, my host family had some money and went right away to the health center. She was able to receive treatment and recover.

However, my family continued to not use mosquito nets and my father fell ill as well. Maybe it was due to the same mosquito which bit my sister. Maybe it came from a neighboring village. Whatever the case, my family was becoming like the millions of others worldwide which are affected by malaria.

Around 700,000 people die from Malaria each year, the vast majority coming from Africa. Fortunately, we can work to end this epidemic. When the international community is educated, resources are donated, and the people become motivated we have the power to take the steps to eradicate malaria forever. Thus, many initiatives have been undertaken towards this goal. Stomping Out Malaria in Africa is one such Peace Corps initiative that uses strategic partnerships, targeted training Volunteers and intelligent use of information technology to support the local malaria prevention efforts of over 3,000 Volunteers in sub-Saharan Africa. Please, take fifteen minutes to check out the website at stompoutmalaria.org/bamm2013 or follow Stomp activities at http://www.facebook.com/StompOutMalaria.

My family was lucky to avoid the deaths which are all too common. Others are not so lucky. Through this initiative and others like it, we hope to bring a change here to Africa. A brighter tomorrow. And just maybe, we can replace the malaria with some May flowers.

-Matt 

End of Trimester

If there's one thing I absolutely love about life here in Burkina Faso, it's the end of trimester meetings. Well, not so much the meetings but what comes AFTER. Half chicken, french bread, and a couple drinks of my choice? Yes please! This absolutely separates the functionaires (government employees) from the villageoise. No one living in the bush outside the town center will ever eat like we do here today. Currently, I'm sitting in the "teacher's lounge", the salle de prof, and waiting for the meeting to start. We basically review each class's performance for the trimester, starting with the young'ns. Two students from each class come in, a pair at a time, to explain behavior issues or disperse information to the rest of their classmates. It can take anywhere between two and 5 hours to do this. BUT! At the end? Chicken. Yes.

Looks like I'm a-travellin on this week. Not much notice to get my affairs in order (read: laundry) but that's alright. Ok, meeting's about to go off. We can chat later.

Reboot

Well! 

Life in my village has been quiiiiite interesting recently. Unfortunately, I shouldn't go into details too much. I can say that we've had quite a few unplanned vacations in the middle of the academic trimester and now we have a bit of an epidemic of what might be some type of somatoform disorder at my high school. I'll be working with the school to develop an action plan to help suppress it and to help give appropriate care to the girls it is affecting. I can also say that it has been one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. Here's to hoping this can end or fade away soon! (Apparently, there's been similar hysteria epidemics throughout the southwest of the country.)

However, despite this taking up quite a bit of my time and energy, I'm back into the swing of things, being more active in searching out potential partners and projects. The ICT committee I'm on is doing some frankly impressive stuff with filming local artisans/ craftsmen and recording stories and legends passed  down for generations throughout the country. They're recording radio spots to help fight malaria and managing water and sanitation project grant money. Me? I'm learning how to tinker with the website. pcburkina.org. Check it. 

I feel like this is somewhat of a reboot for me at site. I feel energized. I feel extremely comfortable with where I am and the social currents of life here. I'm making progress with the local language Dioula, although I'm far from a conversational level. I can understand, but not respond very well yet. Eh, I'll get there. And, of course, my girlfriend's showing me up every chance she can with her meetings and sensibilizations at her site. So the motivation is there.

Hopefully, again, the craziness at my school will end soon and I can get going! The mayor has been chosen officially now and I'm sure he'll be wanting to get on board and get some garbage cans all up in this place! Or at least help clean up the marché. The hospital is itching to try and diminish the number of cases of diarrhea around here. So, although I'm a formal education volunteer, my focus is going to be increasingly health-related. (Although MAN I'm looking forward to working with my mini super-group clubs at my lycee! Preparing future Camp GLOW counselors what-what!) 

Until next time.

Camp! Please Read!

So! Camp G2LOW! There's some really exciting stuff going on in my neck of the woods and I want you guys to be able to get involved! Please take a few minutes to read a letter I've crafted explaining some aspects of the camp I will be co-directing this July. (We're halfway to our goal!!)

            I write to you from the future site of Camp G²LOW Banfora, here in Burkina Faso. If you are having difficulties placing us on the map, Burkina Faso is located between Mali and Ghana in Western Africa. It is a small country, only the size of Colorado, with a population of around sixteen million. The country is not well known in the United States and that is why, among countless other reasons, I am proud to live here as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

                

             However, what is Camp G²LOW? It stands for Guys and Girls Leading Our World. In this developing nation, it is vital that the youth take an active role in its future success and direction. Thus, we feel that boys and girls should learn how to foster self-confidence and knowledge of their own abilities and worth. Despite efforts of the government to redress gender inequality, there remains a great divide between the opportunities for boys and girls. We believe whole-heartedly that the girls deserve a chance to shine and to be encouraged. Of course, to change this, we need to teach both guys and girls to work together.

Our camp will be filled with activities and lessons designed to promoting knowledge, confidence, and cooperation.  Whether they are racing to spell health vocab words, experiencing a day in the other gender’s shoes, testing a condom’s strength, or forming an action plan for a life goal, we trust that the sixty 13-15 year-old students at our camp will learn valuable lessons about themselves and the world around them. Some sessions we will be hosting cover topics such as:

Avoiding Malaria                                                                  The Work of Men and Women
Family Planning                                                                    Friendship Between Boys and Girls
The Ability to Listen                                                            Decision-Making Strategies
The Reproductive System and Puberty                               HIV and STI Awareness
Making a Goal a Reality                                                       Violence and How to Stop It

However, this camp cannot function without your help! We need to find the funds to feed all students and counselors, pay for materials, hire cooks and a guard, and purchase educational materials. Currently, we are planning on having the villages and communities involved provide 54% of the total budget.

Thus, we have $2,690 left to raise! We ask that if you are sympathetic to our goals with this camp that you consider a small donation to give these students a chance to learn, but also to really just be kids at the same time. Each dollar provides dinner to a student. Of course 100% of all donations go directly to financing the camp activities and, better yet in time for tax season, each donation is tax-deductible! Simply go to our website www.donate.peacecorps.gov , search Camp G2LOW, and choose the option under our director’s name, Jess Aceves, or go directly here: https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=13-686-011.

Myself, the students, and the counselors involved cannot fully express our appreciation.

Sincerely,

Matt Sakow
Financial Director
Camp G²LOW Banfora, Peace Corps Burkina Faso
matt.sakow@gmail.com

So, yeah! Please consider donating even five dollars to this potentially life-changing opportunity for these students! There is more information available via the link. Trust me, I will be posting photos to show just how awesome this camp is!      .

Babytalk

It has been some time since I've last written… Well, there’s no excuse really, other than I've been busy during the day and tired at night.

For example, on Mondays, I teach for three hours in the morning, do some lesson planning afterwards, go home to eat, do some errands, go back to school for my tutoring group for two hours, come back home to shower, and then I have my Jula lessons for 2 hours! If I don’t have anything interesting to do after that I’m often completely beat by 9:00 at night. But, man, I guess that’s a bit normal now. I’m getting old…

Right! Jula lessons! Jula is the commercial language most widely spoken in my region of the country. It has a ton of variants in many different West African countries (think American versus Britannic English). Thus, even though more people in Burkina Faso as a whole speak Mooré, Jula’s a bit more practical. Not that I’ll be busting it out back in the states…

It’s… tough.  I’m learning Jula in French. Fortunately, I’m adequately comfortable with French by now that I get by, but the nuances of language-learning can be lost on me at times. I’m also lucky that my Jula teacher speaks a bit of English. But that means we get sidetracked by him trying to speak in English occasionally. Hey, I can’t complain. So far, I’m able to go to my marché, ask people how they are doing, inquire about their families, and chiefly, buy my veggies. The ladies selling the tomatoes, carrots, onions, etc. get quite a kick out of me talking with them, no matter how briefly. So, I chat, I flash that charming, roguish smile of mine, and I often get gifted an extra pepper or tomato or so at checkout. And by checkout I mean the lady putting the vegetables in a sachet for me.

I’d like to mention briefly how grateful I am that there are carrots and cabbages here now. I had found some rice paper that the previous volunteer had left behind but, being the novice chef that I am, I had no idea how to use it! After shattering a circle or so, I deduced through absolutely brilliant intuition that I could soften it with water. It has completely changed my life. Fry up some rice with make-shift chicken broth and spices, add soy sauce and vegetables, boil some cabbage leaves, throw it all on top of a prepared sheet of rice paper, and VOILA! Spring rolls! My former life as Wrap Master at the grill of my college campus prepared me well for this. Next up to make: homemade bagels and chicken pot pie.

Look at me go, talking about languages and food (I'VE MADE APPLE PIE HERE), when I’ve been neglecting what’s really important: football. Yeah, yeah, I heard the results of our Super Bowl back home. (Good job Flacc-attack. I always believed in you, especially since I saw you in that Dave and Buster’s in Philly that one time…) The real event, seeing as the Jets hadn’t made the playoffs, was the Coupe d’Afrique, the African soccer tournament. Burkina Faso finally made its mark on the international football stage when it made the finals for the first time ever this past Sunday versus Nigeria. I told my fellow teachers that when one examines the evidence, the national team only made the finals after I arrived in country… Coincidence? Probably. In any case, we lost 1-0… I’m not stupid enough to take credit for that…

Also, of note, our first string goalie had gotten a red card during one match only to find out afterwards that his father had died in a car crash not far from where I am. It must have been a HORRIBLE day for him. Today, as I entered Banfora, my taxi brousse had to pull over to allow the funeral party to pass. They had waited for the goalie to return from South Africa to have the burial. Maybe a thousand people (a ton of kids) were running down the road, riding bikes, motos, or cars, while wearing tons of Burkina Faso colors and fancy hats, glasses, etc. I got to see Souleyman, the goalie as he passed, standing in the back of a car. It was a pretty surreal moment.

Anyways, I’m still plugging along, getting ready for the impending hot season. I’m pretty busy each weekend for the next month from meetings in Bobo, committee meetings in Ouaga, and plans to canoe with some hippopotami. Safely, of course. In the meantime, I’m hosting some visitors down my way, administering some tests to my classes, grading said tests, and planning for my camps in July and September. I’ll be writing a post shortly to tell you all about Camp G²LOW Banfora! The best camp ever that needs your support! But that will be in another post shortly. Seriously, stay tuned. It’s pretty cool.

Uhmmm…. So yeah…. Until the next time?