Hello friends and family and everyone,
It's been a while for me contacting most of you all, my once a month internet access doesn't ever seem to be sufficient.
Anyways, I've been in Burkina now for a year which is kinda of crazy to think about. When I look back at when we all first arrived in Burkina, it doesn't seem like such a long time ago, but when I reflect on all that I've done and experienced, a year doesn't seem like it was long enough to include all that.
I don't think I could justly summarize my year here so far. It's been a roller coaster ride in many ways, ups and downs and surprises, but for the most part I am enjoying the ride. But some thoughts and updates:
School finished up this past month, so it's rainy and cultivating season until october. The school system here is very different and it's been frustrating trying to find ways to help or contribute or even get involved. I've had a lot of disappointments but a lot of beautiful moments as well. I've been working really closely with the girls in CM2 (6th grade, last year of primary school) as they have a huge test they need to pass in order to get into the CEG (jr high). A lot of the girls had taken it once before already and if they fail multiple times they can't continue with school, and a lot are getting too old (girls are 12-18yrs in this class). We did revision nights, after playing soccer, every week and I got to know the girls really well, about 40 of them. Well, if you look at the passing rates, it wasn't too great overall. But it was much better than we expected, and my girls did really good overall. Almost all the schools in the district, the boys got a way higher percentage of passing than the girls, but not Bilanga, the girls did better than the boys. I was really proud of them, but there were definitely those who did not pass and it's hard to look at them and tell them it will all be okay, when they've worked so hard, and honestly I don't know if it will be okay. But as we say here, ca va aller, it'll be okay.
My favorite project has been soap making I would say. We learn how to make liquid soap during training and a lot of volunteers introduce it to their villages as an income generating project. I've been involved with this group of jr high girls through the church which we meet every week or two, with a couple lady teachers in the village. We'd been talking about teaching them different things to make money, as often the girls don't have any and then can't take care of themselves properly (like health issues) or go to boys to find money. So we did soap making, and it was a huge success and blast. Liquid soap is a pretty rare thing in Burkina if it's not in Ouagadougou, so it was pretty hilarious to see people's reactions as we put in a few drops and the whole bucket foams up. It was a bonding experience for us all, and the soap sold, fast! We ended up doing it 4 times and now people are demanding for more, but ran out of materials for the moment. It was a blast and I'm hoping to work with the same group next year and make it a regular thing.
Currently made a bike trip into Fada, my regional capital 76k away, with another volunteer in the region, who will be leaving next month. All the volunteers who came before my group are heading out this summer or early fall, so it will be pretty different, but we're getting 75 new ones, who just arrived this past week! I'll be up in Ouahigouya (where I did training) for a couple weeks during the summer to help with training so that should be fun. Other than that I don't have a lot going on the next couple months, except maybe working on a field of peanuts. Hopefully my host brother and I are going to plant some peanuts together and see how it goes, we'll see.
I hope you all are doing well. I miss you and think of you all often. I'm impatiently waiting the arrival of my parents in October and some friends in December. which is pretty incredible. My village has recently gained electricity which has been exciting to see the development it brings (no I won't have it in my house) which has brought talk from a friend of mine of internet, so we'll see!
If you get a chance and I haven't heard from you in a while, please send me a quick e-mail of your updates, even if I don't have time to write back for a while, I'd love to hear about what's going on over there.
Thanks and take care!
peace,
Kim
Monday, June 28, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
more pics
here are a few more
1st - front of my house, I can't get the pics off my camera with a better picture, but this will have to do for now
2nd - my spare bedroom, my house consists of a salon and 2 rooms
3rd - my little bandit cat who likes to steal from the neighbors, but I love him anyways
4th - my "kitchen". we have gas stoves for cooking
pics
some pictures for your viewing pleasure. camera was broken for a long time so just started again.
1st picture is inside my house. you'll notice yellow bidon on the floor, that's how I go and get water, attach to my bike fill up and bring back. the white jar on top of my shelves is my filter. the sac on my wall is basically attached to me.
2nd - my shower, quite lucky I've got an insider place for bathing
3rd - my bedroom, clothes and what not. my "bed" is outside in this photo, but I sleep inside when it's not crazy hot.
4th - one of my brothers, david, cooking for me on women's day (see previous post)
5th - my hangar, when I hang out to stay out of the sun, basically live there actually, you can see my bed and bike in the back, where I sleep too.
6th - me with the crew of 100 girls from women's day, the girls that I was responsible for in the parade
7th and 8th - my girls marching in the parade!
9th - one of my students braided my hair for women's day
10th - kassiom my other brother is the one sitting down
Thursday, April 1, 2010
une journee pour la femme
8 Mars, in case you didn't know (march 8) is international women's day, and a large holiday in burkina faso. wasn't really aware of the day before coming here, heard of it but didn't think much about it, but in Bilanga, you better believe we're celebrating.
first off, let me say, it ranks up there as one of the most exhausting days of my life, but also up there on best days too
wake up around 6, get ready for the bike race. they say assemble at 7, which means it starts at 8. david gets my tires freshly pumped, I run around getting my skirt tailored correctly (everyone gets the same material for the day and makes something with it) and pass by the gare to see if the women have started heading to the dam (starting point) and am met with some cheers by the women of the gare who are rooting for me in the bike race. one of them told me to get over to where they were starting so I headed over to the dam and waited with our group of 30 women who were starting the day off!
so, little history, women's day is celebrated all over burkina, but not in all the villages yet, it takes someone to start organizing it all and making it happen. It started 3 or 4 years ago in Bilanga, and it's pretty typical in burkina to start the day with a women's bike race. this year, they decided to nearly double the distance of the race!
and the distance doesn't normally seem that long, but when you're going as fast as possible and the dust is like nothing you've ever experienced and you can't breath, all you can think about is, when is this over!
I came in third, which I was really excited about, my brothers wanted first, but most of the village seemed to think third was a good thing.
I was rushed over to a crowd and chairs and heat and confusion and the most incredible thirst and pain in my throat and nose I could imagine. All the dust from the race entered my system and I kid you not, I sneezed close to 100 times that day.
I'm getting concerned as I am responsible for the 100 girls who are starting to line up to march in this parade thing and I need to get back and changed and blow my nose and I don't know what is going on as this crowd stands around the 10 of up who came in first from the race. I some how gracefully excuse myself, race home, bucket bath, change, grab tissue and am back at the school grounds.
so every year they have this parade, march thing, with different women in the village and other groups who want to participate. somehow, I get the girls organized for it this year, all the girls in CM2 and CM1 which amounts to around 100. We had 2 days of practice with the gendarme (mix between military and police who are in bilanga) which were equally exhausting but exciting. I had no idea what I was doing, but luckily the girls knew how to do it already, they just needed to practice with the music.
anyways, they did wonderfully, and I was super proud of them, and super tired of the sun.
we all rush over to the ceremony which I think would've been really interesting if I knew what was going on. the microphone wasn't working, but they were saying a lot of really great things about women's rights. there was also a lot of dancing, yes I got roped into that too, and music and presenting prizes and everything.
repose time, thank goodness. I crawl home and fortunately my brothers are there and agree to cook for me, as they all say this is the one day of the entire year where the men cook for the women. it wasn't exactly the most delicious food ever, but it worked and it was really great that they thought enough to do it. sleep a little then get ready to go again.
soccer game time! the women against the vieux (old men of the village), yes it was as hilarious as you can imagine. our team consisted of a bright and energetic group of random women in the village, mostly who've never really played soccer before, except myself. and the men were old expect for the 2 gendarmes they threw in and the mayor who was a ridiculously good goalie. after some falls and hand balls and trick moves, we made a victorious end, 2 to 1.
and then we got in a circle and danced and danced and it was beautiful.
the evening was pretty calm with some hanging out and music and such. like I said, overall completely exhausting, but amazing. so glad I got to be a part of this wonderful day in bilanga and looking forward to next year!
first off, let me say, it ranks up there as one of the most exhausting days of my life, but also up there on best days too
wake up around 6, get ready for the bike race. they say assemble at 7, which means it starts at 8. david gets my tires freshly pumped, I run around getting my skirt tailored correctly (everyone gets the same material for the day and makes something with it) and pass by the gare to see if the women have started heading to the dam (starting point) and am met with some cheers by the women of the gare who are rooting for me in the bike race. one of them told me to get over to where they were starting so I headed over to the dam and waited with our group of 30 women who were starting the day off!
so, little history, women's day is celebrated all over burkina, but not in all the villages yet, it takes someone to start organizing it all and making it happen. It started 3 or 4 years ago in Bilanga, and it's pretty typical in burkina to start the day with a women's bike race. this year, they decided to nearly double the distance of the race!
and the distance doesn't normally seem that long, but when you're going as fast as possible and the dust is like nothing you've ever experienced and you can't breath, all you can think about is, when is this over!
I came in third, which I was really excited about, my brothers wanted first, but most of the village seemed to think third was a good thing.
I was rushed over to a crowd and chairs and heat and confusion and the most incredible thirst and pain in my throat and nose I could imagine. All the dust from the race entered my system and I kid you not, I sneezed close to 100 times that day.
I'm getting concerned as I am responsible for the 100 girls who are starting to line up to march in this parade thing and I need to get back and changed and blow my nose and I don't know what is going on as this crowd stands around the 10 of up who came in first from the race. I some how gracefully excuse myself, race home, bucket bath, change, grab tissue and am back at the school grounds.
so every year they have this parade, march thing, with different women in the village and other groups who want to participate. somehow, I get the girls organized for it this year, all the girls in CM2 and CM1 which amounts to around 100. We had 2 days of practice with the gendarme (mix between military and police who are in bilanga) which were equally exhausting but exciting. I had no idea what I was doing, but luckily the girls knew how to do it already, they just needed to practice with the music.
anyways, they did wonderfully, and I was super proud of them, and super tired of the sun.
we all rush over to the ceremony which I think would've been really interesting if I knew what was going on. the microphone wasn't working, but they were saying a lot of really great things about women's rights. there was also a lot of dancing, yes I got roped into that too, and music and presenting prizes and everything.
repose time, thank goodness. I crawl home and fortunately my brothers are there and agree to cook for me, as they all say this is the one day of the entire year where the men cook for the women. it wasn't exactly the most delicious food ever, but it worked and it was really great that they thought enough to do it. sleep a little then get ready to go again.
soccer game time! the women against the vieux (old men of the village), yes it was as hilarious as you can imagine. our team consisted of a bright and energetic group of random women in the village, mostly who've never really played soccer before, except myself. and the men were old expect for the 2 gendarmes they threw in and the mayor who was a ridiculously good goalie. after some falls and hand balls and trick moves, we made a victorious end, 2 to 1.
and then we got in a circle and danced and danced and it was beautiful.
the evening was pretty calm with some hanging out and music and such. like I said, overall completely exhausting, but amazing. so glad I got to be a part of this wonderful day in bilanga and looking forward to next year!
Friday, February 26, 2010
being neighborly
I was lying down outside my house trying to “repose” when my 4 little neighbor kids came and sat down next to me, started yelling and banging on things and basically driving my crazy, as they often do, which gave me the idea to write about my neighbors and “quartier.”
For starters, kids run rampant. In the neighborhood, the 4 before mentioned kids range form age 3 to 5, I think, and I'm not sure if I've ever seen then with an adult. You know that saying “it takes a village to raise a kid” well that's definitely how it work in Bilanga. And, it's not at all an issue of neglect, I don't think anyone can say a child is neglected here, at least not in the way we consider the word in the States. But it's just you don't have the same worries because everyone knows your kids and will make sure they don't do anything too horrible, make sure they don't get hurt too badly, and that they get some water and what not. There's also a hierarchy of age here. Kids have an unusual respect for adults, or anyone older, so they generally listen. Unfortunately that doesn't always work in my case. Language is a huge part of it, and the fact that I sometimes play with the kids, basically has given certain kids the green light to drive me crazy and never listen.
Ca va aller.
Kids included or not, neighbors are very important here. People generally live in courtyards, usually with family, but not always. There are different houses grouped together, often surrounded by a wall. The people in your courtyard are essential and so are people in surrounding courtyards. You live in such close proximity that you can't help but have your lives intermingle. Neighbors here are people that you can generally go to for anything. You want to borrow a knife, my pot, my broom, no problem. The extras always go to neighbors too. If I have too many tomatoes or onions that are going to spoil I give them to one of the people in my courtyard, and vice versa.
Essentially you share everything. Literally when I step out of my door in the morning the first thing I do is say good morning to my neighbors. Then I cross the 15 ft between my house and my neighbor's to borrow her broom and sweep off my terrace. I don't think a single day passes without someone using something of mine or me using something of another person's. And while the privacy is lacking, I love the sense of community. Also, in some ways I am not as independent, but I also don't need to have as much for just myself, instead of stressing out about getting my own rope and wood to hang up laundry, I use my neighbor's line. And while admittedly, I still struggle with sharing some aspects of my possessions, or food, of life, I'm learning and have grown a lot in that area. I remember there were a couple times my neighbor boys/brothers asked me to do some cooking and things for them and clean up and I was rather annoyed, but then later that day then cooked for me and are continuously helping me in various ways. Everyone helps everyone and it all sorts itself out. It's quite beautiful actually, you don't worry about giving or getting, it just all falls into place, everyone takes care of each other, genuinely.
My courtyard family consists of some pretty great people:
Mariam is an incredible woman who is one of the strongest, independent women I've met in Burkina and is probably also one of the kindest as well. Everyone in village loves and respects her, including me, and while we often do our own thing, if I ever need anything, or just want to chat some, I know she is there. My stove broke a while back and I wasn't sure how I was going to get another one, or pay for another, and she went to another village asked her sister for her old one, brought it back, cleaned it up and gave it to me, sans problem. Unfortunately, it didn't work too well either, so now she takes my old one and goes to find her friend who ends up fixing it for me. It was a bit of work, but since I didn't really know what to do, she took care of everything for me. And in the mean time, she either let me borrow her stove or cooked for me.
David is a student at the CEG (jr high but older) and is responsible for the upkeep of the courtyard and is also my brother (which is kinda funny as my real brother's name is david as well). From day one, he's been helping me out with various things. He's the one that kills the chickens when we get them, or brought me all those fish, or takes me out of the village to go see the extended family. He also has an incredibly caring soul. There's been a few times where I've been really stressed out about something or worried and just ended up explaining my feelings to him and he listened and gave me some great advice.
Kassiom is another brother and one of my best friends. Kassiom is around my age and works for his brother buying and trading different produce, like peanuts or sesame. Also a cultivator and my running partner. I probably fight with Kassiom more than other people, which I believe is a good sign of our friendship, because I feel comfortable enough with him to really tell him what I think. Usually it's over stupid things like what time to get up in the morning to go running (he wants to finish before the sun even starts to come out, and I want to sleep/see the road). My 2 brothers have made a huge difference in my life here, we celebrate together, argue and laugh constantly.
Luuta and Mifaliba are a young couple who live behind my house who are always fun to be around. Luuta is Burkinabe but grew up in the Ivory Coast and just moved to Bilanga a few years ago, so in some ways we can relate to each other really well. There are both around my age as well and whenever they decide to have babies they will probably be the most beautiful kids ever. Their french is more limited but it all works and we laugh a lot with my limited Gulmantche or when Luuta tries to teach me how to make To (the traditional food they eat with everything here).
There was a teacher living in the courtyard as well, with her baby and a girl, but she recently moved to be closer to the school. So, we will be gaining a new member to our random family sometime soon, which is exciting.
But living here has definitely given me a new sense of community, and has taught me a lot about sharing and giving. And while it's not always easy living so closely and intimately with others, I sure wouldn't ever choose to change my situation.
For starters, kids run rampant. In the neighborhood, the 4 before mentioned kids range form age 3 to 5, I think, and I'm not sure if I've ever seen then with an adult. You know that saying “it takes a village to raise a kid” well that's definitely how it work in Bilanga. And, it's not at all an issue of neglect, I don't think anyone can say a child is neglected here, at least not in the way we consider the word in the States. But it's just you don't have the same worries because everyone knows your kids and will make sure they don't do anything too horrible, make sure they don't get hurt too badly, and that they get some water and what not. There's also a hierarchy of age here. Kids have an unusual respect for adults, or anyone older, so they generally listen. Unfortunately that doesn't always work in my case. Language is a huge part of it, and the fact that I sometimes play with the kids, basically has given certain kids the green light to drive me crazy and never listen.
Ca va aller.
Kids included or not, neighbors are very important here. People generally live in courtyards, usually with family, but not always. There are different houses grouped together, often surrounded by a wall. The people in your courtyard are essential and so are people in surrounding courtyards. You live in such close proximity that you can't help but have your lives intermingle. Neighbors here are people that you can generally go to for anything. You want to borrow a knife, my pot, my broom, no problem. The extras always go to neighbors too. If I have too many tomatoes or onions that are going to spoil I give them to one of the people in my courtyard, and vice versa.
Essentially you share everything. Literally when I step out of my door in the morning the first thing I do is say good morning to my neighbors. Then I cross the 15 ft between my house and my neighbor's to borrow her broom and sweep off my terrace. I don't think a single day passes without someone using something of mine or me using something of another person's. And while the privacy is lacking, I love the sense of community. Also, in some ways I am not as independent, but I also don't need to have as much for just myself, instead of stressing out about getting my own rope and wood to hang up laundry, I use my neighbor's line. And while admittedly, I still struggle with sharing some aspects of my possessions, or food, of life, I'm learning and have grown a lot in that area. I remember there were a couple times my neighbor boys/brothers asked me to do some cooking and things for them and clean up and I was rather annoyed, but then later that day then cooked for me and are continuously helping me in various ways. Everyone helps everyone and it all sorts itself out. It's quite beautiful actually, you don't worry about giving or getting, it just all falls into place, everyone takes care of each other, genuinely.
My courtyard family consists of some pretty great people:
Mariam is an incredible woman who is one of the strongest, independent women I've met in Burkina and is probably also one of the kindest as well. Everyone in village loves and respects her, including me, and while we often do our own thing, if I ever need anything, or just want to chat some, I know she is there. My stove broke a while back and I wasn't sure how I was going to get another one, or pay for another, and she went to another village asked her sister for her old one, brought it back, cleaned it up and gave it to me, sans problem. Unfortunately, it didn't work too well either, so now she takes my old one and goes to find her friend who ends up fixing it for me. It was a bit of work, but since I didn't really know what to do, she took care of everything for me. And in the mean time, she either let me borrow her stove or cooked for me.
David is a student at the CEG (jr high but older) and is responsible for the upkeep of the courtyard and is also my brother (which is kinda funny as my real brother's name is david as well). From day one, he's been helping me out with various things. He's the one that kills the chickens when we get them, or brought me all those fish, or takes me out of the village to go see the extended family. He also has an incredibly caring soul. There's been a few times where I've been really stressed out about something or worried and just ended up explaining my feelings to him and he listened and gave me some great advice.
Kassiom is another brother and one of my best friends. Kassiom is around my age and works for his brother buying and trading different produce, like peanuts or sesame. Also a cultivator and my running partner. I probably fight with Kassiom more than other people, which I believe is a good sign of our friendship, because I feel comfortable enough with him to really tell him what I think. Usually it's over stupid things like what time to get up in the morning to go running (he wants to finish before the sun even starts to come out, and I want to sleep/see the road). My 2 brothers have made a huge difference in my life here, we celebrate together, argue and laugh constantly.
Luuta and Mifaliba are a young couple who live behind my house who are always fun to be around. Luuta is Burkinabe but grew up in the Ivory Coast and just moved to Bilanga a few years ago, so in some ways we can relate to each other really well. There are both around my age as well and whenever they decide to have babies they will probably be the most beautiful kids ever. Their french is more limited but it all works and we laugh a lot with my limited Gulmantche or when Luuta tries to teach me how to make To (the traditional food they eat with everything here).
There was a teacher living in the courtyard as well, with her baby and a girl, but she recently moved to be closer to the school. So, we will be gaining a new member to our random family sometime soon, which is exciting.
But living here has definitely given me a new sense of community, and has taught me a lot about sharing and giving. And while it's not always easy living so closely and intimately with others, I sure wouldn't ever choose to change my situation.
Friday, January 29, 2010
holidays in burkina
So, a little late but I thought it would be fun to write about how I spent my holidays here.
It definitely didn't quite seem like Christmas time when I looked around me and saw all the dust and felt the sun beating down, but it turned out to be a fantastic time.
While Burkina is a majority Muslim country, Bilanga has a majority Christian population and have basically been talking up Christmas for the couple months leading up.
The celebration started some the night before mostly with people hanging out even later than normal, kids singing at the church, a few going out for a drink.
Next morning, get up and everyone heads over to a church. So for big celebrations here, Christmas, marriages, March 8th (women's day), independence day, you get matching pagnes (material) and make an outfit. For Christmas you get one through your church. Even if you don't get the pagne, you are going to get all decked out in your fanciest clothes. All the girls, from age 2 to 50, the week before get their hair done and then cover it up with a scarf until Christmas morning. Some friends were joking that you need to wait to pick a girl to marry until a few months after Christmas, because at Christmas, every girl is pretty.
Church was a blast. All the choirs were decked out and had been practicing for a while for the day. The kids choir, young adults, and 2 women choirs (it was combined service) all took their turns. The best of when the women started singing and others started dancing. People just seemed more alive and excited this particular morning. While I generally didn't understand what was going on (local language) I felt the energy all around.
Now that church is over, it is time to start cooking and eating and eating and eating. I spent most of the day with my “family” of 2 brothers (my neighbor boys), a friend of theirs, and one of my favorite girls Awa. Kassiom (one brother) brought me a chicken so I cooked the first round of food for us, and the others that were constantly stopping by.
I made a stop by a friend's house whose son got baptized, so it was an even bigger party, and enjoyed some more food and dancing and singing. Came back to find more people and more food that was brought over (you don't give gifts, you give food).
The going out and visiting or receiving friends continued for a while. Each time I left and went into village I was greeted by more people wishing me a “bonne fete” and smiles.
While eating spaghetti, macaroni and having a coke or beer might not seem like a big deal for us, for my brothers, it's something they never do, like never. Yet for Christmas my brothers and friend all put in some money went out a bought lots of pasta and sauce and all sorts of goodies. Kassiom went out and got the 5 of us drinks and then I realized how serious they all were about making the day special, making it a real celebration.
It all continued into the night and ended with me and Awa biking around trying to find dancing, didn't find any, but laughed the whole way around as I sat on the back of the bike rack and she pedaled us all over Bilanga under the moon light sky.
It wasn't quite Christmas like I expected, but it was a day full of friends and joy and I really enjoyed it.
I spent New Year's in Ouagadougou, the capital, with almost everyone from my training group. It including some good food, crazy fireworks that were exploding everywhere, and lots of dancing. Another successful holiday to say the least.
Came back to village the 2nd and school started back up the 5th. I've got a few programs up and running which are going fairly well, depends on the day, but so far so good.
Hope you all are well and have begun 2010 well.
Monday, December 21, 2009
6 months in
Hey friends and family,
So it's been a while, thought I'd send out a liitle update along with a request. I hope you are all doing well and finding some time to relax and enjoy yourself amongst the craziness of the holiday season. While it definitely doesn't seem like Christmas and New Year's are around the corner, I am greatly looking forward to celebrating with my new community here and taking some time to just relax. I just spent the last week in Ouagadougou (the capital) for In-Service Training (IST). It was the first time my group had been together since swearing in on August 25th, so it was an exciting reunion full of stories. The first three months at site were designated for learning, adaptation and needs assessment, then we come together for a short training and after wards (really after the holidays) we are supposed to start some projects.
So it's been 6 months in Burkina and I'm starting to feel like it's home, at least home for the next couple years. My community, Bilanga, is fantastic and full of incredible people and while I still struggle sometimes, I wouldn't choose to be any where else in the world right now. The past 3+ months have been a great learning experience and I've enjoyed getting to know my community, and also myself in the process and I'm looking forward to the next 21 months here.
I do have a favor to ask all of you who are interested. I'm trying to work on a project with some of the schools here to provide some more resources for learning, but I need your help. It was inspired by a class I sat in at the CEG (jr high) where the teacher was trying to explain a glacier. Schools here do not really have books yet students are expected to understand and use information given to them about things in which they have never been exposed, and often times the teacher has never been exposed to as well. In this particular class, the students needed to learn formations in nature for a test they will take in order to pass the class. In the example of the glacier, this can be very difficult. None of the students have seen an ocean, or a mountain and many of them have never even seen ice. Now they need to imagine a mountain of ice that floats on the ocean! Not easy. So I thought that it would be cool if I could get pictures of all sorts of things that they might learn about that we can hang in classrooms or make books with or lots of other things. The pictures can be almost anything, because the same problem exists in the primary schools as they are trying to learn basic french words about regular house hold items. However, gaining these images is not easy here. I had a couple other ideas but they aren't going to work out. But then someone gave me the idea of calendars.
So my request is that your send me your old calendars.
Maybe you can even ask a few of your friends for their calendars. I figure they are fairly light weight and easy to send, and often have fantastic pictures. Now, maybe you don't have any or don't really care to send them, and that is totally fine, no worries, but if you have some old ones lying around, or know someone who does, and feel like making a trip to the post (and maybe spending a dollar or two) I would sure appreciate it. It will also be a great way to reuse/recycle for all you environmentalists out there :) This will be a longer on-going project so even if it doesn't happen right away, I would still appreciate it a few months down the road. Thanks so much!
My address has remained the same:
Kimberly Hover, PCV
S/c Corps de la Paix
01 B.P. 6031
Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso
I would also like to wish you all Happy Holidays and I genuinely hope you all enjoy the time and are well. I appreciate all teh support so many of you have given me and while it may be more difficult, please let me know if there is anything I can ever do for you.
peace,
kim
So it's been a while, thought I'd send out a liitle update along with a request. I hope you are all doing well and finding some time to relax and enjoy yourself amongst the craziness of the holiday season. While it definitely doesn't seem like Christmas and New Year's are around the corner, I am greatly looking forward to celebrating with my new community here and taking some time to just relax. I just spent the last week in Ouagadougou (the capital) for In-Service Training (IST). It was the first time my group had been together since swearing in on August 25th, so it was an exciting reunion full of stories. The first three months at site were designated for learning, adaptation and needs assessment, then we come together for a short training and after wards (really after the holidays) we are supposed to start some projects.
So it's been 6 months in Burkina and I'm starting to feel like it's home, at least home for the next couple years. My community, Bilanga, is fantastic and full of incredible people and while I still struggle sometimes, I wouldn't choose to be any where else in the world right now. The past 3+ months have been a great learning experience and I've enjoyed getting to know my community, and also myself in the process and I'm looking forward to the next 21 months here.
I do have a favor to ask all of you who are interested. I'm trying to work on a project with some of the schools here to provide some more resources for learning, but I need your help. It was inspired by a class I sat in at the CEG (jr high) where the teacher was trying to explain a glacier. Schools here do not really have books yet students are expected to understand and use information given to them about things in which they have never been exposed, and often times the teacher has never been exposed to as well. In this particular class, the students needed to learn formations in nature for a test they will take in order to pass the class. In the example of the glacier, this can be very difficult. None of the students have seen an ocean, or a mountain and many of them have never even seen ice. Now they need to imagine a mountain of ice that floats on the ocean! Not easy. So I thought that it would be cool if I could get pictures of all sorts of things that they might learn about that we can hang in classrooms or make books with or lots of other things. The pictures can be almost anything, because the same problem exists in the primary schools as they are trying to learn basic french words about regular house hold items. However, gaining these images is not easy here. I had a couple other ideas but they aren't going to work out. But then someone gave me the idea of calendars.
So my request is that your send me your old calendars.
Maybe you can even ask a few of your friends for their calendars. I figure they are fairly light weight and easy to send, and often have fantastic pictures. Now, maybe you don't have any or don't really care to send them, and that is totally fine, no worries, but if you have some old ones lying around, or know someone who does, and feel like making a trip to the post (and maybe spending a dollar or two) I would sure appreciate it. It will also be a great way to reuse/recycle for all you environmentalists out there :) This will be a longer on-going project so even if it doesn't happen right away, I would still appreciate it a few months down the road. Thanks so much!
My address has remained the same:
Kimberly Hover, PCV
S/c Corps de la Paix
01 B.P. 6031
Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso
I would also like to wish you all Happy Holidays and I genuinely hope you all enjoy the time and are well. I appreciate all teh support so many of you have given me and while it may be more difficult, please let me know if there is anything I can ever do for you.
peace,
kim
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