les femmes burkinbé

Burkinabé women are incredible. I am always amazed by their strength and beauty here. I don't think I've ever encountered people who work as hard as Burkinabe women in my life. I've done a lot of thinking about gender equity/equality since arriving in Burkina as the roles are very different than in the US and because the work I will be doing in the next 2 years surround the issues (girls education and empowerment). According to the UN, Burkina is ranked 2nd to last on the Gender Development Index (based on life expectancy, education and income). So, big challenges for women of Burkina but I have found a lot of hope in some of the women I've encountered that I would like to tell you about. (I'm leaving names out for safety/privacy sake)

My host family is amazing. I have been with them about a month now and I will stay with them until August 20th and they have been a large part of why I am enjoying Burkina. I have a dad, 2 sisters, a niece and then crazy amounts of cousins. My older sister is 32 and is incredible. She is my person that I go to for everything, that cooks for me, that talks with me (and makes me do french drills sometimes) and laughs a lot with me. She is pretty unique for the village and has only been there for a little over a year, before she was living in the 2nd largest city in Burkina. Her first husband (and father of her son who is 10) died 8 years ago and now the father of her daughter (who is 5) lives in Cote d'Ivoire, and gives no support to her. But she is incredibly intelligent, talented and hardworking so is doing pretty good for herself. She sells Sam Sam, a fried millet/bread treat, works as a secretary for a bank association and does other things in the community. She is currently saving up so she can be the first in the village to have a fridge and thus sell cold products (they just got electricity 2 months ago in the village). She has a lot of plans and I'm pretty sure she will succeed. She is also a great source of strength to me. I've been sick quite a bit these past couple weeks and she is always there for me, making me take medication or making me call the doctor, or just sitting with me. My dad also watches out for me too and makes sure that I get the right foods. My sister has also been sick quite a bit since my arrival, yet she always keeps working and keeps a positive attitude.

There is a girl who lives in my compound, a cousin, who is 14 and amazes me as well. Her whole family works incredibly hard and are genuinely good people. She is really smart and often serves as my translator (moore to french) but can also recall anything I tell her in english. She is still in school, and doing really good. There isn't a high school in village, and normally she lives in town during the school year, but her family needs her around to work. So next year she is going to have to bike each day (45 min. one way) to school and then come back in the evening to prepare dinner and other chores. I hope she continues. A nearby village is currently building a high school so hopefully after a year she can switch to that. Distance prevents a lot of people from continuing education, especially girls, because they are so needed at home for work (the girls have way more responsibilities around the home than boys). Travel is really dangerous sometimes as well. But her family seems to be very dedicated to educating all their children and just the fact that she has made it this far, I have hope that she will continue and maybe one day graduate.

My LCF (language culture facilitator aka my french professor who also lives in village with us) is one of the most incredible people I have ever met in my life. In a country with a literacy rate sitting around 25% and much less for women, she has managed to finish university and now works for peace corps for the training sessions and works for a NGO the other half of the year that does a lot of sensibilizations (information sessions/teaching skills) for villages. She is also hilarious and one of the most genuinely caring individuals I have ever met who is always providing us with encouragement and strength. My language group thus far consists of 3 trainees and her and while I can get really frustrated with language sometimes, I have an absolute blast most of the time and find myself looking forward to class, and a lot of this is due to the atmosphere she creates for us. She gives me hope because she has worked hard and has become incredibly successful in Burkina. And instead of working to serve herself, she gives back to her country, and works hard to make her dreams of a better world come true (and she dreams of this a lot and is succeeding).

There have been many inspiring people I have met in my short time here that have made my experience so valuable. All the Peace Corps staff has been incredibly supportive and helpful. It is also encouraging that all these talented and skilled Burkinabe are working for the Peace Corps because they believe in its mission and purpose.


In other news we spent a day in the capital city recently which was really exciting and a nice change of pace (and food, I had pizza!). At site I will have a counterpart that the Peace Corps choose to work with me, and we are meeting our counterparts this week and then on Wednesday we will go with them to visit our site for a few days. I'm definitely nervous (especially because I will be completely dependent on my french) but really excited to see the place I will be living for the next 2 years. We'll return here next weekend then continue training until August 25th after which I will become an actual volunteer and start my service.

Miss you all and take care!
Kim