No Power (apparently that's normal)

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Hello everyone!
It's already been an exciting morning here in Burkina Faso, and I've only just arrived at the office. Apparently the power in the guest house isn't working, so there was no electricity. Funny enough, I actually did my whole morning routine and didn't even notice! See there is no point to a hair dryer here since your hair dries in about 5 seconds anyway. So there you have it, no power. The office is running fine though, so that's good news otherwise I couldn't post this message to all of you!

Yesterday was a pretty good day here. Things seem to be happening so fast right now, it's crazy to think that I've been here only a few days. I woke up yesterday with some bug bites which apparently I had aquired during the night. Not good since my Malaria meds may not have kicked in yet... But since there's only one mosquito that transmits malaria from the dozens of bugs they have here, odds are everything is fine. I feel fine too and it's been a day or so, so I'm feeling reassured. I have asked about getting a mosquito net for the bed, and they're going to supply me with one, so Mom don't panic!

In the morning, I got my first hydrogeology lesson from one of the geologists here. Since I'm working a lot with installing wells and water points, its important that I understand how they work so when I'm looking at budgets and things, I know what they're talking about! The funny part is that the whole lesson took place in French. Not sure if you know already, but Burkina was a French colony, so the main language spoken here is French and that's the operating language of our company here. So everyone speaks French (including me). Still it was pretty crazy to be learning a whole new subject in my second language!

Last but not least, some exciting news on the work front. I spoke with my supervisor back in Canada, and he's agreed to sort of "let me loose" in the field for a few weeks to get to know the communities surrounding our projects. This is important because the main focus of my job here is to liaise between the communities and the company to make sure we are helping them out in meaningful ways and ensuring cooperation from all sides so the whole exploration phase goes easier for everyone. So I'm planning to go into the field (ie: rural areas where we have properties) and meet with local officials, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that operate locally, and other stakeholders to gain a better understanding of what their needs are, what kind of relationship they have with our company and how we can improve it. I am in charge of doing this research, and proposing meaningful projects to help the communties, first on a small scale then bigger projects. We'd start with things like buying desks for schools, putting in water wells, and end up doing bigger things like building a whole school or a medical facility or something. Anyway, the whole point is that we need to find out what people need in each specific case so we can have the greatest impact and meet their most urgent needs. So we'll see how it goes!

This trip hasn't been approved yet by the country manager here, so I have to wait for that before I can plan anything. I'm not sure how long I'll stay away yet either, since it depends if I concentrate my efforts on one village at a time, or many. So we'll see.

Ok, one last thing: there are two kinds of lizard here! Well, maybe more, but there are two kinds I've seen occupying the guest house. I'll try to take some pics and post them to show the difference. The first kind is a gecko or something like it. It's got the nobby fingertips and is kind of small and cute. They climb up the walls and just sort of hang out. The other kind are sort of bigger and meaner looking. They're about the size of a pigeon with a pointy tail that's thick at the base and really thin at the end. They're mostly sort of greenish-brownish. They also sort of jut about quickly, and really make you nervous when they dart out from a bush or something. They're a tricky bunch, those lizards!

Anyway, this is getting epic so I'm going to cut it off now. I tried to include a picture of the office here in Ouagadougou, but it doesn't want to load for some reason... I'll try again later in the day and hopefully it will work!

Hugs to all,
-Brownie

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Comments

[Hans/Frans]

crazy lizards
Hey Hans/Frans, I'm glad everything is going well for you and I enjoy the read...I especially liked the part about the lizards. reminds me of teh time i was in florida and teh same thing kep happening to me...well they were the cuter ones not the big scary ones. In a way i quess they are sorta liek Africa's squirrels, oh how i love squirrels...I have squire beside my bed...he is so beautiful! anywho, try and get some pics of those lizards for me. take care and I look forward to your next blog. Love you xoxo