Weather in Burkina
Faso
We arrived in
Burkina Faso at the beginning of rainy season.
For the first two months here, the temperature on non-rainy days was
almost always in the 90-100 degree Fahrenheit range with ranging humidity. I
grew up in Northern California, so I know hot summers. But, it's a dry hot. And
I could escape after 2 hours of soccer practice to the comfort of an air
conditioned car and house. Nothing could prepare me for the amount of sweat I
would produce on my first week in West Africa, alone. It's not that it's hot
and I'm not used to humidity. There is absolutely no hiding from the heat.
After about a week of being here I just stopped noticing my constant sweating.
In the US, after sweating, we have this immediate desire to clean ourselves
before we can meet people or be professional. I had to get over that real fast
because if I practiced that here, I'd just never leave the shower room. I'm in
a constant state of sweat. Electricity is incredibly expensive, so I'm very
fortunate that my host dad brought a fan into my room my first night.
Sometimes, it makes a world of a difference to help me sleep through the heat
in my 90-degree room. Sometimes, it just blows warm air.
I have never
appreciated rain as much as I appreciate it here. It cools the temperature at
least 10 degrees and sometimes the new cool temperature lasts for the rest of
the day. I'll never forget the first day it rained here in Léo. After a
session, it was time for language class and I saw the group of language
instructors walk over. Half of them were wearing layered coats with fur-trimmed
hoods. It was probably 75 degrees, at the lowest. I was happy to stop sweating.
They put on their jackets because they were cold.
There was a storm
Friday morning morning. After it ended and I biked through the mud to teach my
final lesson of model school, I passed a group of moms, with babies strapped to
their backs, on their bikes heading to the market. I like to pretend these are
the running stroller moms of Burkina Faso. Voilà groups of moms chatting while
going somewhere; some things are just universal. Anyway, Friday morning, all of
the babies had beanies on their heads and extra blankets around them. It was
probably 75 degrees. This will never get old, it's too funny to me!
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| This is how women strap their babies to their back! I'm convinced this is why I rarely hear babies cry in Burkina...they have constant contact with their mothers and/or sisters! |
Last week we had a
series of days where it rained at least every single day or night. We had a few
days in a row of 75-80 degree weather. It was beautiful. On one of the days, it
was a little bit cooler than usual when the rain started again. I had just come
home from a long day of sessions and a sweaty bike ride. My host dad told my
mom to make sure she heated the water for my bucket bath and closed the back
door because it was letting too much cold air in. I jumped up immediately and
insisted that the back door was completely fine the way it was. The house could
finally cool off! Every time it rains, I explain to my host family that this is
the temperature in San Diego year-round. Well, that's cold to them. We always
laugh it off. I'm happy when it's room temperature here and they're cold.
However, yesterday I
actually got A CHILL during a rainstorm and put on a SWEATSHIRT after my
nightly bucket bath. It was only 73 degrees. 10 weeks must be the mark for me
to adjust to constant heat. Still can't believe I put a sweatshirt on. No, I'm
not sick. ;)
Free Range Animals
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| A bunch of piglets live near the middle school and freely roam all over the grass between the buildings |
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| Sheep cross the road. No herder in sight! |
Burkina Faso hosts
what is the definition of free range: sheep, goats, pigs, donkeys, chickens,
you name it. They roam freely about the town in search of greens to graze or
grub to devour in trash piles. And when I say free range, I mean free range. At
the Peace Corps center, we'll be having a session under the hangar and then a
chicken will casually walk through the legs of chairs in search of food goods.
Sheep, goats, chickens and chicks and roosters will freely walk into my host
family's courtyard in search of my family's donkey's lunch or the beautiful
flowering bushes. My host mom gets pissed and shoos them away with a loud
"ssss." I tried the "sss" once and it didn't work so well.
I tried it again with an arm thrust pointing to the exit and they immediately
left. So much pride. Another cultural gesture down.
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| A herding path outside of a hotel in my regional capital, Yako |
Probably the
funniest free range encounter was an evening last week. I don't know why these
things always happen when I'm leaving the latrine to walk back to the house.
But, I walk out in the pitch black darkness to find two, yes TWO, donkeys
staring at me. WHAT the heck is going on! Where did you come from!?! I only had
the mini light from my phone to see my path, so seeing those giant figures was
definitely startling. My brother was outside and saw them at the same time and
immediately started chasing the unwelcome donkey with rocks from his slingshot.
What had been a typically calm evening became a spectacle within seconds. I've
been here for 2 months, but I don't know when I'll get used to the stark
contrasts of moments like that!
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| My host family's donkey after Saturday's rainstorm. Soaked! |
Another animal
encounter was a lot more casual between me and my host brother. We were sitting
on the couches last night watching the news when we heard a thud near the
bikes. It sounded like something fell or got bumped. My brother looked over the
arm of his chair and dismissively said, "eh, mice." He said it in
English before French, which I appreciated, but then he went straight back to
watching the news. I went straight to my room. People freak out when there are
snakes in or out of the house. But mice? Forget about it. "Harmless."
Psh, no thank you! I plan to get a cat as soon as I get to my site.
