Blogs from Burkina Faso, Africa

The irrepressible moto-tricycle driver Abu would invariably reach our evening’s campsite before us, and, punters distracted by tea and coffee and the prospect of ‘ablutions’, he and the guides would put up our generous-sized lightweight tents, clipping the fabric to the poles so that the tents could be moved around as required. I hate to think how hard it would have been to try and bang a tent peg or two into this hard unforgiving ground. Usually the flysheets would be left to one side – anything to reduce the temperature in the tents by a degree or two – but one evening, cautious of the amount of lightning that had been flickering in the far distance all evening, we put them on. And only just in time. My recollection is that it then rained pretty ... read more

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

I went to visit my host family in Sapone to see how they are doing and wow, are things different! My host mom is going to have a baby! My host dad gave me a chicken to help celebrate the New Year, which I am eagerly awaiting to kill for dinner tonight. We visited Valerie at her maquis, and didn’t really want to leave. She cooked every day for us during stage and is the little piece of Sapone that we all wanted to bring to our sites. She was so excited to see us. It felt a little strange to be back there after being away for four months, but we fell right back into the swing of things. Now, we’re back in the capital getting ready for New Year’s. In the mean time, I’ll ... read more

We had In-Service Training the first two weeks of December and now my stage is off and running with great momentum! In-Service Training (IST) is a training program for each stage three months after swear-in and going to site. During those three months, we assess our sites by interviewing community members about general culture norms and basic needs of the community. I spent a lot of time at the hospital (CSPS) and the high school (lycee) and primary school. During IST, my counterpart (homologue) and I made our Plan d'Action for establishing a library at the lycee! And, with the help of family and friends of a previous volunteer, we will be working very closely with Friends of African Village Libraries (FAVL), an organization based in Ouaga that helps start libraries in rural villages. I could ... read more