Site Visit: Visiting the village where I’ll be living for the next 2 years

Two weeks ago I went on quite an adventure, since it was filled with lots of traveling and brand new experiences. Everything happened so fast, but I’ll do my best to recount the events that took place as I was welcomed into my new home village (for a brief introductory visit). 

First, I headed to the national capital for 3 days where I met for the first time my work and community counterpart. His name is Hermane Ouédraogo and he is a nice, honest and respectful man. A bit on the shy side, but I feel that this is because I’m the first American he has ever met and naturally there is a small adjustment period. In my village, he’ll be in charge of helping me assimilate into the community, meet important people and most importantly help me carry-out my work projects. 

While in Ouaga I was also able to experience the city for the first time and eat some over-priced, non-Burkinabe food. For the past 4 weeks we’ve eaten nothing but traditional Burkinabe food. While delicious, we all still missed our comforting Western food. Each PCV splurged on our first couple of meals while in Ouaga. I spent 9,000 CFA ($18) the first day on meals consisting or chicken sandwiches, fries, schwarma, beer and most importantly ice cream! (To put that amount in perspective I’d usually only spend 200 CFA on lunch and maybe 1,000 CFA on beer and snacks). The most bizarre thing that happened was that I saw a picture of the Manhattan Beach Pier in of the Burkinabe restaurants. I couldn’t believe my eyes and of course I had to take a picture. 

The Manhattan Beach Pier in Burkina Faso

After the fun couple of days in the capital I set off to the village of Ramsa, which is about 260 Km away from the national capital. I took a large charter bus for 3 hours to my regional capital. I didn’t fit in the seats, but I feel like this is something that I’ll just have to get used to being 6’6. I then waited 4 hours before I was able to get on a bush taxi (or van jam-packed with passengers and luggage) and go to my village. It then took me an hour by dirt road to get to Ramsa. 

Bush Taxi packed tight!

The events that happened after arriving in Ramsa are a blur to me. So much happened in that 2 hour time period, but I’ll never forget any of it. I was first driven to the Village Chief’s house where I was greeted by 10-15 important community members (the Owner of the gold-mining operation owns the only car in the village). The Chief wasn’t there, so after 10 minutes I hopped back in the car and went to the next location. Turns out there were 150 community members waiting to greet me at a large welcoming ceremony. I was shocked to see so many people awaiting my arrival. Most of them had been waiting since that morning for me and I got there around 4 PM. I was given some fresh water and millet-flour water, which is tradition to give to any foreigner traveling to that village. Hermane introduced me to the crowd and said some words as to why I was there. He then called me up to introduce myself and talk a bit about my stay in Ramsa. I charmed the crowd with my local language, saying some very basic phrases. I then went on to talk some more in French about what I’ll be doing over the next two years, my excitement for seeing my new home and how grateful I was for them letting me stay in their village. My counterpart translated everything I said to the crowd (since only a small percentage of the population can speak French).

After the ceremony was finished, a group of women formed a large mass and began to dance and chant. This was how I was transported back to the Chief’s courtyard so that we could have an entire second ceremony just for the Chief. It was a surreal moment being surrounded by one hundred or so Burkinabe as they sang songs in their local language. I took it all in and it felt awesome. It was comparable to being a celebrity with everyone around singing praises towards you. After I chatted it up with the Chief (who is very well spoken in French), a dance circle formed and of course I joined in. Everyone went around in a circle and repeated the same steps. The crowd was watching me and loved that I was going for it. It must have been pure entertainment for them seeing a huge white man dancing among African women. 

The day ended as the crowd guided me to my new house. It was newly built by the community and free for me. It’s tiny by American standards (maybe 8 x 18 feet with one door and 4 windows) but it’s just as big as the other houses in my village. In Africa people only sleep indoors, while the rest of the day is spent outside and in the shade. I can’t complain about my house or the lack of “things” because it was given to me for free. The fact that these community members spent their own money to build me a house humbles me a great amount. It gives me a great deal of hope for the community’s willingness to work with me and accept me as one of their own. That night, as I was sitting alone in my house after dinner, I felt pretty numb due to the great deal of events that just happened. The realization that I was going to be living in Africa for the next two years finally set in. Some lonely days, weeks and months were ahead of me. But then I started to receive some texts from my fellow PCVs checking-in and everything felt alright again. This is why the Peace Corps is so great. The support network that is formed my living with 40 other Americans for the first 3 months of training is what keeps everyone afloat over the two year service. I also know that I’ll make plenty of life-long friends in my village who will keep me happy.

The committee that fund-raised and built my house, free of charge to me! My counterpart Hermane is wearing the light blue polo.

 The rest of the visit was filled with lots of small rendezvous with various community members. I met all of the religious leaders, the functionaries (or government employees – more specifically, the head nurse at the health clinic and the directors of all the schools) and plenty more villagers. Also, when I opened my house door each morning at 7AM I would get a steady flow of visitors wanting to introduce themselves and chit-chat. It is Burkinabe culture to execute long salutations and I got a large taste of this while at site. Almost each time I met someone new, they would ask me about my health, family, work, sleep, travel and then go on to bless me a few times. And, this isn’t a one-time thing. Over the next two years I’ll constantly be engaging in these extensive salutations. 

Finally, the best part in my mind about this site visit was getting to know my counterpart Hermane better. He was with me the entire time and there was a lot of good dialogue between the two of us. I got to learn about his culture and he asked me a bunch of questions about the USA. We discussed some of the potential projects that we think the community would see as helpful. I know there will be even more to discover about him once I can speak his native language.

I head to Ramsa to live there permanently in 3 weeks. I don’t think I’ll have internet access once I’m there, so I’ll have to go into neighboring villages to post on this blog and use the internet. Besides that, everything else about this Burkinabe life is going well for me. Everything that was once shocking has become normalized. 

Until next time,

MB

In other news:

• I attended my first wedding this past weekend in a neighboring village where some of my PCV friends live. Weddings are a crucial cultural event where everybody joins-in on the festivities. It starts with an enormous motor-carriage around the neighboring villages and towns when 50-100 motorcycles go around honking their horns. When I got there, my friend Henry and I meandered around and saw tons of people sitting around eating and drinking (non-alcoholic beverages, since was in an Islamic community). A couple friends and I then joined this group of old women in their hut to eat some rice, sauce and intestines. It was a comedic situation for all of us as we squatted around a bowl eating intestines at an African wedding. After we found ourselves at the main gathering point where a live band was playing music with 100 or so women dancing around. My group of 4 guys and 4 girls decided to join in on the fun and immediately everyone started cheering at us. It was so much fun. We joined the conga line and afterwards grooved out to the music. I don’t think any of us will forget that wedding. 

The wedding dance floor. Soon after I took this picture, we jumped in the conga line and grooved out.

Cam, Ruby, Henry and I dancing in the middle of wedding dance floor. Everybody watched us the entire time. Such a great time.

• In Burkina Faso everything shuts down from around 12-3 each day. The heat is too immense so everybody goes home to eat lunch and lounge around. This is the best news for me because it means that I get to nap every day! I plan on setting up a hammock or nice lounge chair in my hangar so that each day I can repose in comfort.