Blogs from Centre, Burkina Faso, Africa

Burkina Faso. Not an obvious destination. Not a country that ever hits the headlines, good or bad. Neighbouring Ghana gets the good-news stories, the headline-grabbing presidential and royal visits, the glowing reviews as ‘easy’ Africa. Ghana speaks English, things work (comparatively), and, if not always a paragon of western democracy, it’s at least been free of civil war and third party altercations for much of its sixty years of independence. Nearby Mali and Nigeria get the bad-news stories, the kidnappings, the terrorism, the desecration of history. Burkina Faso is one of those countries in the middle, in every sense. Landlocked, unremarkable, unremarked. Most people needed a map when I mentioned it. And/or looked worriedly at me, wondering aloud or inwardly, “is it safe?”. In terms of pre-trip homework, there was remarkably little. Bradt’s country guide hasn’t ... read more

It's World Malaria Month! Do you know what that means? Volunteers throughout Africa are competing to do the most amount of trainings/projects/activities/anything you can think of in their villages to raise awareness of malaria and to promote prevention methods and early treatment seeking habits. In Burkina Faso, volunteers are painting murals at their local health clinics, incorporating malaria discussions into their teaching curriculum, or sitting in their markets fixing holes in nets. For me, I have a whole week planned of events. Next week, I will be working with the CM1 and CM2 (5th and 6th grade) students and talking with them about everything malaria-related. Starting off each session, we will be playing Bed Nets & Mosquitoes. You start off with two ends called the "bed nets." Two students stand in the middle and act as ... read more

Happy Holidays! I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday season. I spent Christmas with three other volunteers and some Franciscan Sisters at one of the volunteer’s sites. We spent the day singing in French, English, and Moore, eating tons of food, and enjoying the company of some very wonderful people. While it was difficult to be away from family, we more than made up for it by talking about our own family traditions and talking with family on the phone. Two of the Sisters are from America and we were easily able to share stories and reminisce about life back home. But more importantly, we talked about how grateful we were to be able to experience the culture and holidays here. After stuffing our faces with the Sisters, we went back to one volunteer’s ... read more

It's been 3 months since I've gotten to site and I already feel more than comfortable at home. I got a puppy a couple weeks after getting there, and he helped me get through two of the roughest months one can face as a Volunteer. Unfortuntately, my dear Bruno passed away last week. Along with each puppy from his litter and several dogs in my neighborhood, he contracted some sort of parasite the veterinarian could not get rid of. With in the same week, a new family moved into my courtyard, a nurse at the CSPS with 3 children all under 10. I couldn't be happier to have such a wonderful family to share my evenings with. I also work with the nurse at the CSPS, which makes feeling comfortable there all that much easier. Thanksgiving ... read more

Last night a few volunteers went to the Burkina Faso v. Central African Republic soccer game here in Ouaga. And let me just tell you that it was unlike any other sporting game I've been to. It was AWESOME! We got our tickets earlier that day, got to the stadium, stood in three different lines because they weren't letting people in the doors anymore, finally found an open door and ran through it, got ushered down to the front by some Burkinabe's to sit with them, crammed into the "bleachers" like sardines, and had the best time of our lives! CAR scored within the first couple minutes, but Burkina quickly caught up, winnning 3-1. This was a qualifying game for the African Cup and Burkina did it! The people we were sitting around are probably what ... read more