Hippos, Niansigoni ruins, and a Girls' Camp in Sobara

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Southern Burkina is still holding out for rain. Now and then the wind picks up, dust swirls in the air, and a mass of dark clouds forms in the distance. Then the clouds blow past us and it gets sunny and hot again. Village farmers who normally start planting in mid-May are still waiting for enough rain to soften the ground.

In Bobo one weekend I experienced my first dust storm. The wind picked up as if it were about to rain one afternoon, swirling fiercely through the city. People rushed out of the streets as the wind lifted dust from the ground and whipped it through the air. The swirling continued until the afternoon sky glowed orange with lifted dust.

We did get one real rainstorm in Satiri. Under my tin roof even a sprinkle sounds like a raging storm, and in a real storm the noise was deafening. I spent an evening listening to the roar of the rain on my roof and watching my dusty courtyard turn to mud. When I went to bed the temperature in my house had dropped to a pleasantly cool 85 degrees.

The school year is over now and I’m on break. National exams are scheduled for June 14, and there are some students working very hard to prepare for them. The students asked me to hold review sessions, so I ended up going to school for a few hours each morning to help them with problems from past exams. Fifteen or so showed up regularly; the other 60 seem to have given up.

A few weeks ago was my birthday and I splurged on an $8 hammock. I put it up in the shade of my hangar and spent the better part of a week laying in it. Great investment.


BANFORA SIGHTSEEING

Now I am on my way back from a trip south to the Banfora region. I left the village on Sunday and biked in to Bobo where I met up with some other volunteers. The next morning we reserved spots on the first bus to Banfora. We had some time to kill so we got breakfast at the nicest boulangerie (bakery) in Bobo. When my friend tore open a piece of baguette, she found a whole, large cricket baked inside.

We got to Banfora that afternoon and went to the cascades. The area was greener than it was when I visited in April, but since the rainy season is late the falls themselves hadn’t changed much. But we had fun climbing on the rocks, taking pictures, and chewing on some sour orange fruits that grow everywhere but no one seems to know the name for.

On the wan back from the cascades we stopped at a small hotel that advertised pizza. Our dinner was served hot from a wood oven - with a cricket baked into the crust.

The next morning four other volunteers and I hired a taxi to take us southwest on rutted dirt roads to the village of Niansigoni. We left early in the morning and made a stop at a lake to see hippos. We each paid two dollars to board a leaky wooden canoe steered by a guide with a bamboo pole. We were given tin cans so we could continuously bail water out of the boat. We crossed the lake and came as close as 30 m from half dozen sleeping hippos.

When we got tired of bailing we returned to shore and got back into our taxi. As we headed further southwest the landscape became greener and more three-dimensional. Most of Burkina is perfectly flat savannah, but here there were rocky mountains and cliffs that rose sharply out of the plain.

We arrived in Niansigoni around midday and were met by a guide who led us on a steep path up a mountainside. It was a clear, sunny day and we could see to both Mali and Cote d’Ivoire.

At the top of the mountain in Niansigoni stand the mud-and-clay ruins of a Senoufo village from the 14th century. The people retreated to the mountaintop to escape tribal wars. Built into the cliffs at the top of the mountain were dozens of clay granaries, perfectly intact. Each was a five-to-eight-foot tall mound with a square window for loading and extracting grain. The Senoufo built their granaries shaped like a mother’s breasts, for they feed the village as a mother’s milk feeds her child.

Circles of mud bricks marked where huts once stood, and some walls were still standing. A few metal artifacts could be found - dishes, a dented trumpet used for signaling villagers in the event of an attack.

Smaller versions of the granaries were built high on the cliffs and decorated with intricate patterns. We were told they once housed the village chief’s treasure. The chief’s hut still stands as well - a round mound no more than 10 ft in diameter, with a square opening no larger than 3ft by 3ft for a door. Half of the hut was a mud platform that resembled a bed.

One area of the ruins was roped off and we were not allowed to enter. The area is still sacred to the local Senoufo and is used only for ritual sacrifices. As in many local cultures, animals are sacrificed to the spirits by people seeking aid or guidance from the ancestors.

On the trip back we made a brief stop in Loumana to visit another PCV and then continued to Sindou Peaks. Near the village of Sindou is an area of sandstone towers and cliffs carved out by ancient ocean waters. From among the rock formations we had a lovely view of the surrounding plains. Much of this area is off-limits as well, for it is highly sacred. To enter and talk to the spirits, one must sacrifice at least one cow, one goat or sheep, and several smaller animals.



DOING SOME WORK, TOO

After my days of sightseeing, PCV Erica and I caught a bush taxi to Niankorodougou to help PCV Meghann with her girls’ camp. Meghann organized the camp for fifteen girls from the local middle school to educate them about health issues, encourage them to stay in school, and to help build their confidence. Following Peace Corps resources, she presented sessions about HIV/AIDS, youth pregnancy, confident behavior, study skills, and job opportunities for women. She said the girls were shy and timid at first, but things became more relaxed after the AIDS session in which each was made to practice putting a condom on a wooden phallus (standard issue for PCVs).

Erica and I were there for the last few days of the camp to help with sessions on job opportunities and planning for the future. The highlight of the sessions was a presentation from the Prefet of Loumana, a neighboring prefecture. The village girls had never had close contact with a woman who worked in such a high government position, and they were intrigued by her accomplishments and status. Not only was she educated and employed (successful in a modern sense), but she was married with healthy children (successful in a traditional sense). She was a kind and inspirational speaker and was very encouraging of the girls.

Our other task was to help the girls prepare skits about what they had learned and to present them at the closing ceremony of the camp. The girls really liked doing theater and had a lot of fun with their roles. The skits were in French but they added a song in Jula about AIDS prevention. About forty people, including their families and some important members of the community, attended the closing ceremony to see their theater pieces. Each girl was presented with a certificate of participation and a meal of rice and chicken was served. Overall, it went well - nice work, Meghann!

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Comments

[Jaim]

Hey there buddy!
Hey there Rosie! I was doing some cleaning of my email box and I deleted all signs/links to access this blog thingy! So I was unable to send you a happy birthday message! Thanks for sending a new blog so I could contact you once again. I hope you had an extra special day! Sounds like you made a good purchase with that hammock! Way to go Cuz! Take care and I miss you! ~~Love, Jaim