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Published: November 24th 2006
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Artisanal Mining 1
Here's some artisanal miners, right into what they're doing. They know it's illegal for them to be there, but they're pretty set up, as you can see! Hello everyone
I hope you're all having a super day so far. I'm pleased at the moment because it's FRIDAY and that means tomorrow I can only work HALF THE DAY and watch RUGBY on TV! Woot! The Springboks are playing England tomorrow, and I will definitely be hoping the Boks give 'em hell. Anyone but the English, right? Sorry, Stue! 😊
Other than looking forward to rugby, things are going well. I've been swept up again in the whirlwind that is my job, and so I haven't had much time to sit around feeling sorry for myself. As a result, I'm feeling much better about being here and generally less resentful. Whew! It would have made for a long 6 months otherwise! I took a trip out into the field on Wednesday to continue the well project we started in Sept (don't get me started, I am so pissed off that this is dragging...). While I was there, the managing geologist mentioned he's still having problems with the artisanal miners in the area, a problem that is getting rather serious for us. In two cases, the villagers are mining directly on the ore body, which not only reduces the
Artisanal Mining 2
Here you see another local mining hole. It's all dug out by hand, incredibly. The garbage bag is there to trap the wind and funnel it down the hole so they get enough oxygen. amount of gold in the ground for us to study, but also impedes access for our trucks and drill rigs. Our interests aside, artisanal mining is illegal in this context and also extremely dangerous. There are tons of cave-ins that kill people, and now we suspect they're using dynamite which is even more dangerous. Also, since the tunnels are very small, it's quite often children that they send down there to dig, so if there's a cave-in it's often children who die. Not a nice picture. Because of all the dust, people in this line of work often suffer from terrible lung diseases, too.
The sad truth of it is these people don't have many more appealing options. With the rainy season lasting only a few months, they only have a short time to grow enough crops to live on for an entire year. If the rain comes late, or the crops have a bad year, there is almost always famine that results. Burkina Faso is one of the most food-insecure regions in the world, and living here it's not hard to see why.
Arg... too much thinking for a Friday...
In better news, we've got a
Artisanal Mining 3
More of the same... cocktail hour tonight so that should be fun. Apparently there will be many industry folk there so it's a good time to mingle. We've got analysts arriving tonight also with some of our Ottawa contingent, so the weekend will be full of work dinners and general schmoozing. Could be worse, I guess. It's always funny to have people here for the first time; they ask SO many questions! Our new Business Development Manager is coming over for the first time and he's sent me so many e-mails full of questions that I told him he's starting to seem co-dependent (joking, of course!). But seriously, did I ask that many questions before I first came here??? Yikes... I guess it's just funny to see how people handle the unknown. I've suggested that we prepare some kind of "First Trip to Burkina Guide" for our employees so they have an idea what they're getting into, and to answer some of the simple questions for them. My boss says he prefers to just toss people into the lion's den, and if they can hack it, they can stay! Those geos are a cruel bunch, I tell you.
As for me, I'm spending
Broken Well
Just to prevent this being a spotlight on artisanal mining... here's one of the broken wells we're hoping to rehabilitate. You can see the young girl here using the foot pump to get water. my spare time (I use the term loosely) looking at grad schools. I'm still set on going to Australia for my Masters, and think I've finally found my dream program. Yippee! Now I promise to stop changing my mind, I swear! Best of all, although it's in Victoria (which is apprently a non-rugby union province generally) the area does have 4 women's rugby union teams. So I'll still be a rugger! Don't worry, ladies, I'll show 'em how we ruck, Canadian Style. 😊 Anyway, I've been pouring over the immigration information and WOW, it's confusing. I think you need a Masters degree just to figure out how the heck to get over there! It turns out I might not be able to head over as soon as I'd hoped, though, because you actually need to be ACCEPTED to the university BEFORE you can apply for a student visa. And since the turn around time from when I'll have my final marks in from Canada and when I'd need to get over there to make 2nd semester is very short... Well, it's not looking promising. So I'd have to wait until the following semester. Drat.
On the bright side it MAY mean that I'd be home for another summer with the Scottish! 😊
Anyway, I should wrap things up here. I'm still sleeping a lot and can't seem to figure out why. Going to bed before 9pm and barely crawling out of bed at 6 doesn't really seem right... Any ideas out there?
Much love to all, and hang tight. I'll be back soon to drink some Christmas Cosmos!
xo
-Brownie
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Gail
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Jet Lag
If you could get your hands on some seratonin it would help you, but I doubt you can, so drink lots of juice, and eat light before bedtime, preferably carbs, so it help get you to sleep, but isn't too heavy so that you sleep undisturbed. Hope you feel better soon.