My Host Family's Home

My Room

Le balai

I'm usually only in my bedroom for sleeping because it gets pretty hot in there during the day. Electricity is very expensive here and my host dad was nice enough to give me a fan, so I try to only use it when I'm sleeping. It makes a HUGE difference in my quality of sleep. It also works as fantastic white noise during loud thunderstorms. The floor is concrete throughout the house, so I always wear flip flops. My door is about 2 inches off of the ground, so it is not rare for me to see bugs in my room once in a while. I sleep under a mosquito net, so I don't worry about them then. It's the surprise 6-inch black beetle on my curtains that makes me jump and go grab my host brother for assistance. He's a 14-year-old boy. Bugs don't bother him. Anyway, I had my first sweeping experience after about 10 days in the house and now I understand why it's good to sweep every couple days here. A lot of dirt gets tracked in, in addition to bugs that die from eating my bug spray (I sprayed my room and then left for the day, as recommended by Peace Corps). The sweeping device here is the "balai" (buh-lay) which is only about one foot long. Talk about a good exercise for your back!

Shower

My host family does not have running water, so I take bucket baths twice daily: immediately upon awaking and again before dining. Whenever it's around the time for me to shower, I'll hear a thud of a bucket outside my door saying, "hint hint, take your shower." I grab my shower items from in my room, grab the bucket full of water outside my door and take a few steps to the other side of the hallway to the shower area. To take a bucket bath, I use my 12 oz. plastic cup to scoop up water and pretend it's a transient showerhead. It seriously saves so much water. Want to lower your water bills? Consider switching to bucket baths. Or turn off the shower when you're washing your hair, shaving, etc.

Latrine

Sorry if you wanted me to leave a little mystery, but I warned you that I would keep it real on this blog. Here's my toilet for the next 8 weeks. Some restaurants have toilets, but most places don't have running water and thus provide a hole in the ground. Usually the surrounding walls are only about 4 ft high and the area is home to flies having a party. I'm EXTREMELY fortunate that my host parents keep their latrine clean. I don't know what they do, but there are less flies in this outside latrine area than most gas station restrooms. I'll be sure to learn their ways so I can keep mine this nice at my future site.

Burkina Faso shower area

Burkina Faso Latrine

Courtyard

Chez Moi - My host mom came out the door just as I took the picture!

Voila my host family's stunning courtyard. Doesn't scream Africa? I know. Flowers mean bugs, especially mosquitos, so  seeing flowers is rare. Want a pretty yard? You're going to have to find another way in malaria-infested West Africa. So, am I safe here? Yes, of course. Peace Corps wouldn't allow a trainee to stay someone that isn't safe. I take malarial prophylaxis everyday and though mosquitos are definitely present, they don't seem to be too much of an issue here in Leo. As for my host family, I have no idea if they also take malarial pills. They're definitely wealthy by Burkina standards, but I don't know what their healthcare is like. 

My host parents' nursery

My host dad is a retired electrician, but I think he still makes a living by growing/selling/planting baby trees. Within my first few days living there I asked him if he sells the plants and he said no. Maybe he misunderstood my question, thanks a lot language barrier, but I don't really know.

On particularly hot days, it's probably about a 15-20 degree Fahrenheit difference under the large tree (below) than outside and probably a larger difference compared to the house. It gets so hot in my room that sometimes my liquid makeup sounds like water when I shake the container (P.S. at this point, most of us girls have stopped wearing make-up, it's wonderful). This is also the tree under which I do my laundry ever Sunday morning. If it's too hot inside during a soccer match, sometimes I'll go sit under the tree and right letters, journal and/or do homework. I call moments like these "Peace Corps moments." There are certain expectations that a lot of us have coming into Peace Corps, and sitting under a mango tree writing a letter is definitely a #peacecorpsmoment.

My brother (right) and his friend staying cool under the tree.

Donkey (left), latrine (center), cactus (right)

My host family has a donkey, but I have never seen him in use. They don't have a farm, so I don't know why they have a donkey. Maybe he was a gift. I need to figure this out. He stands there tied to a tree all day, every day. My room is right next to the back door of the house, which has a direct route to the latrine. So, I pass him every day on my way from my room to the latrine. If he's feeling especially sassy, he'll follow me toward the latrine (square walled area in middle of picture) so that my exit is blocked when I am finished. If he's in a particularly bad mood, he'll back himself up so that his rear end is facing my escape. This immediately becomes a game of dodge the donkey kick. So far, I'm winning, but I'm well aware that one of these days he'll throw some kicks when I least expect them. If I feel like pushing my luck outside of the dodging games, I pet him on the nose. After about the third stroke he decides it's time to snap at my hand, so I stop. We have a love-hate relationship. At least it's mutual. ;)

Family Space with TV

The chair on the far left is where I eat all of my meals.

I played recreational and competitive soccer from ages 5-15, but I never got into watching professional soccer on tv. I've watched so many soccer matches in the past 3 weeks that I now accidentally call it football during conversation. It seems as my French fluency increases, my conversational English decreases. I've just come to terms with speaking Franglais at this point. All of our classes are instructed by locals following Peace Corps procedures from Washington DC. So, even though I'll be in a cultural, technical or safety course, half of the material is delivered in French. I wake up thinking in French. Just wait until I learn third and fourth languages here. My head might explode.

Well, that was quite the tangent. The whole point about me talking about football was that I watch it every night with my host father and brother. It doesn't matter which continent is playing, I have seen majority of the matches. I come home from the training center, take a bucket bath, then bring my homework out to watch the game and socialize. Okay, let's be real, the socializing consists of me and my host brother making "ooo" noises at the tv whenever there's a collision or goal or whatever. My host family always has "my chair" ready for me and facing the tv. Since it's the best seat in the house for watching the tv, the cushion of the chair has completely lost its integrity. The wooden bar is pushing through my tailbone as we speak. But, if I move anywhere else, they will insist that I move back. The only time they don't say anything is when I make a note of how many insects are bothering me. As you can see in the photo, the tv is pretty close to the front doors of the house, which are always open. At this point, I'm used to casually flicking off small flying African beetles that land on me.

GO AFRICA. But seriously, the entire continent is united in supporting any African team to win. It's pretty amazing. My host brother woke up at 1:30am with his dad to watch the Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) game one night. Cote d'Ivoire is next to Burkina Faso and so is Ghana, so those games are more exciting for my host brother since he knows a fair amount about the countries from school. Unfortunately I haven't seen either of the USA matches because they always start at 10pm here and I'm passed out asleep by then. The morning after the USA v Ghana match I was expecting the usual morning update from my host dad about who won the match because he always gives me the update each morning. He said nothing. I assumed USA won, and sure enough we had! I'm currently watching the Brasil v Cameroon match. I really want Cameroon to win because one of our Peace Corps physicians was born in Cameroon and he is hands down the funniest professional I have ever met. Also, he hands out chocolate during all of his lectures. I'll talk more about him another time.

There's Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself.

All of us volunteers know that at some point we're going to have a hot mess, terrifying but sort of hilarious story to tell. Three of us didn't expect it would happen so soon to us. It happened Sunday June 15. I'm safe and sound, please don't worry. It's just a funny story to me at this point. I wrote it the night of the incident. Enjoy!

Morning

Today was my first day off since I arrived in Burkina Faso. I slept in until 8am, took a bucket bath, ate breakfast and hand washed my clothes. Bam, 11:30 hit and I'd only done those things. Hand washing clothes is quite the process. Anyway, it's a super hot day so my host dad showed me a chair I can sit in under a giant tree in their courtyard. It's probably 20+ degrees cooler under that tree than it was in the house. My room is an oven.  So, I spend most of the day under that tree reading, writing my blog, writing letters, [insert other unplugged activities here]. Before I realize what's happening, my host brother and his cousin are bringing over the kitchen chairs and table that we usually sit at. They brought lunch to me! It was spaghetti and a sort of tomato sauce. It's safe to say my lunch was half spaghetti, half mangoes and bananas. They really don't appreciate how little I eat here. I promise I'm eating until I'm full, I just don't have an appetite. I do more unplugged activities and then decide it's about time to head over the internet café in town since it's late enough in Burkina for people in California to be awake. Also, I really wanted to get another blog post posted.

My Host Family's Courtyard. Left to right: host brother (14), his cousin (13) and the family donkey!

At the Cyber Cafe

On my bike ride to the cybercafe, I see another trainee riding his bike. I haven't seen another trainee in 24 hours, so I'm stoked and catch up to him. We ride to the café, where I find other trainees and some of them head out to play soccer. I take my sweet time at the internet café. Well, there's really no other option because it can take anywhere from 5-30 mins to upload ONE picture to my blog. After 1.5 hours, I'm ready to head home when it starts sprinkling [insert Jaws theme here]. I pay a whopping 450 cfa ($1 USD) and am about to pack up and leave when a torrential downpour and thunderstorm begins. Great. I'd told my family that I would only be gone for about an hour and it had already been over that. I'm not the only one there. Two of my other friends are there. We think, "let's go beat the storm before it gets worse," but the men working the cybercafe tell us, "vous devez attendre!" (you must wait). I know I shouldn't be out there anyway, but it's getting dark. I take off my backpack and set it down and we settle in to wait for the storm to pass through.

It's a Peace Corps rule that during training, we must return to our families by 7pm every night, with the exception of two nights per week when we can stay out later with friends as long as our families know. Welp, I don't have my family's phone number (my own fault), but they have mine, so I figure they can call if they get worried. Wrong. Cell phone service rarely works during thunderstorms. Cool. After about 45 mins, the rain finally starts to calm down and the lightning no longer seems to be within 1-3 miles like it had been. Yes, 1-3 miles. Bright. Loud. Scary. We take this as our chance to get home.

The Journey Home

I live the closest of the three of us girls to the cybercafe. However, half of my route is dirt road. And when I say dirt road, I mean currently river. Torrential downpour for 45 mins creates 6-inch deep rivers in certain sections of the road. I turn my bike light on and we wade out into the road river to start the trek home. We hit a point where the water isn't super deep, so we jump on our bikes to try and get home faster. All is well until BAM rider one hits a dip in the road and her bikes stops, BAM rider two hits the dip in the road and almost falls off her bike, and BAM I try to swerve to the right to not hit them, but the angle of my turn makes me hit the dip and fall sideways until SPLASH I'm in the river. I start cracking up laughing because I'm not even the slightest bit surprised that the first time I fall off my bike is in a muddy road river. Let's talk some more about me falling in the water. I'm coming from the cybercafe, so my laptop is in my backpack, the same backpack that gets submerged when I do. My laptop is in my North Face hiking waterproof backpack. Doesn't get wet. So, now I feel like I'm one of those hardcore people in North Face cliff climbing commercials. But, then I remember I'm not. I'm in a road river, in the dark, in Africa. I seriously couldn't stop laughing.

Anyway, back to the story. We get back on our bikes and my wimpy light shows me that I wiped out literally 10 yards from the paved road. You have got to be kidding me. So close. So, I we ride our bikes on the road, I wave bye to my friends and I'm super close to home. I ride around the roundabout, take my exit and then turn left onto another awesome road river. My cue is a set of golden yellow doors to turn onto my street. When I say street, I mean another unmarked dirt road. I get off my bike and start walking. I remember from the previous thunderstorm that the roads are hard to bike on because they're soft. I walk my bike close to the right side of the road so I can have a better glimpse of the golden yellow gates with my wimpy bike light. It's still sprinkling and the thunder and lightening are coming back. Great. Searching. Searching. Searching. I'm used to riding this section, so I have no grasp on how soon it will be while walking. It's seriously probably only a quarter mile from the main road, but it's pitch black and I'm walking, so I have minimal spatial awareness. People walk by saying "bonsoir" like we aren't in the middle of a thunderstorm and I politely respond with "bonsoir" even though it is NOT a "good evening." Closer lightening. I really don't like lightening. I'm not used to it in California, so being outside during a thunderstorm terrifies me, the girl on a road river, pushing her metal bike. Real smart, Kathleen.

I am starting to freak out because I cannot seem to find my golden yellow landmark. More lightening. I pass an overhang area and consider stopping and staying there and wait for another storm to pass, but change my mind and decide to push forward. I hit a large intersection of road rivers. I must have gone too far. I turn around and head back. I see the overhang again and consider stopping, but another person wishes me "good evening" and I begrudgingly keep moving. I see doors to my left and I literally walk right up to them with my light. Yep, yellow. It had looked red before with my dumb wimpy bike light. I also see a bunch of unfamiliar trees, but I turn anyway. Sure enough, there's the small opening in the wall to my host family's house. Made it!

I open the house doors and my host brother stops watching the World Cup match and says my name, as he's the first one to see me. I immediately say bonsoir like I'm supposed to, even though it is NOT a good evening, and my host parents come out from the kitchen area. My immediate reaction is to apologize profusely because that's my automatic instinct as an American. I should apologize for being late and for the worry I've caused my family. Before I can begin my French apology, my host mom walks out with a look I will never forget. Burkinabe people are always happy and smiling. So, when she walked out with a worried and sad face, I didn't know what to do with myself. I just said I was fine, "ca va aller?" and I need to take a bath. Everyone laughed. Ca va aller is a big joke to us trainees because anytime we say that we get food poisoning, or our bike break or whatever other hardship is happening, our trainers and host families almost always say, "ca va aller," which essentially means "c'est la vie" or that's life, everything is fine. And, I'm definitely shaken up, but everything is fine!

This is another one of those emotionally scarring moments where there's potential to change your perspective indefinitely. I didn't break down during or after the terrifying episode of being in a thunderstorm in the dark. I'm proud of myself, not because I didn't break down, but because I know that I can do this. I can be a Peace Corps Volunteer. We all have moments that make us question whether or not we can finish out our service, but I figure if I can live through an ordeal like that on my 10th day in country, then I can be ready for anything else that comes at me.

Needless to say, I no longer plan to be out after dark for the rest of staging, even though we're allowed to. I'll of course make exceptions for celebrations like July 4th, but in those cases I'll have friends to help me home. 

My bruised hip, knee and ego wish you bonjour in California and bonsoir here in Burkina!

Staging in Ouagadougou

We spent Friday, June 6 - Wednesday June 11 at a Catholic convent in the capital of Burkina Faso. I have since been spending time in Leo with my host family and so far so good!! My host family is amazing and knows French, thank goodness. However, this post is about my time in the capital, so I'll do my best to tell you everything without going overboard in length…wish me luck.

We passed around a random adorable baby. No diaper on...yikes!

Interviews

Language - I had my language interview with the head of our language training for the next 3 months, Siaka. He and his staff are all Burkinabe (pronounced Burkina-bay), so they are able to assist with our French language and cultural training. My interview went fairly well. In French, we talked about who I am, where I'm from, what my goals are for in country, and talked through some scenarios.  I ended up placing into the Intermediate-mid class, which is the minimum proficiency level required of being sworn in as a volunteer at the end of training. However, since I'm a science teacher, they require that I eventually hit Intermediate-high. Considering a lot of my friends here speak zero French and will be proficient in 10 weeks, I am confident that I can increase my level, too. We will also take a language exam after one year of service. If you hit a certain level, then you achieve international fluency, which will be an awesome skill to put on my resume.

Medical - Volunteers weren't joking when they said that this is the best medical care you'll ever get. I met with Jean-Luc, one of our Peace Corps Medical Officers, for my medical interview. When I arrived for the interview, Jean-Luc had my entire medical history with his own notes. I was impressed.

We were all given two weeks worth of Doxycycline, a malarial prophylaxis, when we arrived. However, one of the side effects is nausea and upset stomach, especially in the mornings since we take the pills at dinner. I've had a history of sensitivity to acidic foods and drinks, so naturally this med didn't work so well. By the fifth pill I was so over the nausea. So, now I'm taking Malarone. It's just as effective, so no worries there! The medical unit is extremely flexible, so I can switch meds at anytime.

We were also each given a medical kit with every med I could possibly think I might need in West Africa. They refill the meds when we run out, all at no cost to us.

Cultural Director - Then, I met with another staff member to talk about my site placement for after training. This will be where I'm living and teaching for the next 2 years starting at the end of August. Then, I met with the Country Director to discuss how my experience has been so far. She's the acting Country Director and will only be here for another week. Our official country director will arrive sometime in the next week.

Tasks

Bike fitting - I hopped on the bike that the Burkinabe men pointed to. And when I say hopped, I mean hopped…like 4 times. Riding a bike while wearing a full-length skirt is tricky because the skirt rides up, but we have to keep our knees covered. Anyway, I got on the bike, gave a thumbs up to the men to show them that it was the right size (hoping that I could just get off) and before I even had a second think about getting off I received a push and I was on my way for a 100-meter trip around a statue and back. I am proud to say that I didn't fall off. I haven't been on a bike in years. Ya know, they have that saying, "it's like riding a bike," for a reason.

Money - Most of West Africa uses the cfa as its method of currency. 1,000 cfa is a little under $2. So, I received my walk-around allowance for during stage, the next 10 weeks of training. I also setup my bank account with one of the local banks. Peace Corps reimburses the cost of my bike helmet and checked bag fees, so that will be put into my bank account in addition to my biweekly stipend once I go to site. I also exchanged any US dollars I'd brought with me.

Phone - Part of my walk-around allowance covers the cost of a cellular phone that will be used for Peace Corps work, but also can be used for personal use to contact friends and family in the US.  It is free for me to receive calls and texts. The cheapest method to call me is through Skype, unless there's another known method out there. Please shoot me an email or ask my mom or Donnie if you'd like my number! I'm using a simple phone, throwback to T9word days, so unfortunately using WhatsApp isn't an option…yet.

Immunizations - Since I've arrived, I've received three additional immunizations: typhoid, meningitis, and the first series for rabies. I told you…great medical care!

Classes

For the next 3 months I am back in school for 44 hours per week. So far we've received a wealth of knowledge!! In Medical we covered the basis for malaria, dehydration and diarrhea…yes, diarrhea. Diarrhea and vomiting are a common occurrence for travelers to West Africa. There's bacteria EVERYWHERE, so our facilitators have extensively trained our host families on how to cook for us. We also have special water filters in our rooms. We've also had classes on language and culture, host family etiquette, safety and security, teaching technique, etc. I'll do my best to update as often as possible!

Meals

We were served 3 meals every day during our stay. American men usually lose weight during service in Burkina due to the drop in protein in their diets. Women usually gain weight due to carb-heavy nature of the meals. My diet in the US was already carb-heavy, so I'm not too worried, though I am definitely feeling the effects of the drop of protein.

Food - Breakfast is usually a foot-long baguette with jam, butter, or nothing. Yes, I'm in heaven. Though, the mornings with no spread options were rough. Lunch and dinner are usually a carb with sauce. At the convent, we mostly ate rice with sauce, though one evening we had spaghetti and another evening we had macaroni. The convent also spoiled us with seasonal fruits and veggies, so we ate a lot of mangoes, cucumbers and onions, with the occasional option of bananas. The mangoes are huge and the bananas are tiny. They're great though!

"Riz gras" literally translates to "fat rice" and served with chicken, potatoes and carrots 

Drinks -  For breakfast, Burkinabe mostly drink Nescafe, or its equivalent, with the option of adding powdered Nestle milk (fortified with vitamins) and/or organic sugar cubes. There's also the option of just mixing the powdered milk with hot water, which isn't too bad if you add sugar to it. I wouldn't say it tastes like milk, though! A local drink we tried is called something along the lines of bee sap. It's super sweet, so most of us drowned it in water. I was MOST excited about the soda options because they're made from real sugar and bottled in Burkina Faso. Awesome.

Bonding with friends

There are a lot of athletes and musicians in this group, so I fit right in and have connected with a lot of people. A couple of the guys brought out their guitars to the gazebo one night. I grabbed my ukulele and played the 4 chords I know and then all 31 of us were singing songs and having a great time. It's truly amazing what can happen when you're unplugged from the electronic world!

I couldn't believe there was a Shell station here. My little piece of California/USA. :)

Have a great weekend and I'll post about my time in Leo soon!