The One Year Mark (in Ramsa)

The “one year left” countdown has officially begun. March 20, 2016 marks my 365^th day spent in the village of Ramsa. In another year, I should be back on a plane headed back to America with 26 months of Peace Corps Service under my belt.

Currently, I’m in a duo-state where I feel like time is speeding-up, but also slowing down. The days seem to blend together now. A week will begin, activities will go by, and suddenly I’m waking-up Sunday morning for my relaxation day. Fortunately for me, the oncoming heat is acting as a de-catalyzing agent to slow my life down. In my region, April à June is known as the “tuulgo wakate”, or hot season. These three months present us with unrelenting heat before the rains come at the end of June. Even the Burkinabe complain about this heat. There are a few positives to note of this season: I get to sleep outside, literally under the stars; bucket showers at the end of the day make the previous 12 hours almost bearable; my solar-powered battery is always charged. Then come the negatives: non-stop sweat, even at 3 AM; the return of camel spiders; dust storms; more sweat. Surprisingly I feel significantly less apprehensive than before the previous hot season. Last year I struggled a bit acclimating to the heat, but this year my body is more in tuned with the heat and the side-effects it brings.

Since my last blog post, I’ve been extremely busy attending trainings outside my village as well as getting to work in Ramsa. In chronological order, voici mes activités de les deux mois passes:

1.       Dance Marathon / Camp "Laafi”: The Youth Development Committee in Peace Corps Burkina Faso holds a series of Dance Marathons in Burkina Faso to fundraise for youth-related activities in the country. My fellow volunteer Brian and I decided to combine the Dance Marathon with his Camp Laafi (which means “health” in the local language) at his site. The combination worked out flawlessly. 6 Peace Corps Volunteers taught health related trainings (more specifically HIV/AIDS and family planning) to around 80 Burkinabe students, while mixing in many American style dances between the trainings. The students learning so much valuable, basic information that pertained to them in their young-adult lives. However, the American dances were what honestly shaped the entire experience. Over the two days we taught our enthusiastic students staple dances like the “Macarena” and “the Chicken Dance”, as well as newer ones such as “the Nae Nae” or “the wobble”. The students loved watching us 6 volunteers do these strange dances. After the camp was finished, I actually saw students back in the village doing the chicken dance by themselves! 

Dancing the "Cotton Eyed Joe". My fellow PCV Brian leading the dancers.

Dancing the "Cupid Shuffle" with my friend Meghan.

We would keep the dance going after the day's activities were finished. They kids loved dancing with each other.

2.       Peace Corps Site Visit in Ramsa: On February 24 one of my bosses came to Ramsa to give me my mid-service site visit. Aicha, who is a Program Assistant for the “Community Economic Development” (CED) Sector, came to my village to talk with my villagers and observe upon some of our ongoing projects. I am in constant communication with our CED team back in Ouagadougou updating them on any current projects or questions I might have. However, it is necessary for them to talk in-person with my work and community members. Overall, the visit went very well. My community had much to say. They’ve appreciated my contributions thus far. Then, they went on to voice some of their desires for possible projects to take place in the coming year. Following the conversation we surveyed our potato gardening project as well as the condition of our moringa garden. So far, so good. The visit was over before I knew it and then we were back to work that afternoon.

My Boss and I conducting a "town-hall" meeting to assess the quality of my work over the past year.

Surveying one of our small potato gardens. Here the potatoes are about 3 weeks before harvest.

One of my village elders presenting my boss with a chicken as a parting gift. 

3.       Agriculture / Animal Husbandry Training: The Peace Corps holds a few “Food Security” trainings for volunteers throughout the year, focusing on things such as beekeeping, soy or gardening. This training, which mainly focused on animal husbandry and fattening, was a clear choice for my village since almost everyone practices some form of animal husbandry. Big or small, chickens or goats, everyone relies on animal production to give them a small income boost, provide them with animal waste which later turns into compost, or to help them labor their fields before seeding. Throughout the 4 day training we learned on professional animal husbandry techniques which were also applicable at the village level. My two counterparts, including my main counterpart Hermane, took a plethora of valuable information from this trainings which we will later share with our community members. This training felt different from the soy training that I attended in January, since the need for improvement in this area was apparent the moment I arrived in village. Almost every one of my savings groups expressed an interest in learning techniques to improve their animal raising. After the training was finished, I couldn’t wait to share our finding with the villagers of Ramsa.

During our training we visited a model chicken coup. The goal is to one day be able to construct habitats like this for our village chickens.

Hands-on training on how to properly make compost. I've gotten quite good with a machete.

At the end of the training with my two counterparts. Proud of these guys.

4.       “FESTIMA”, or International Mask Festival: The two days following our animal training in Koudougou, I took a two-day vacation to the city of Dedougou to witness the International Mask Festival which takes place every two years. Tribes send representatives to this festival to showcase their local mask and costume, as well as their traditional dance and rituals which accompany them. I heard from a few older volunteers that this was one of the few Burkina activites that was a must. I wasn’t let down. Countries from West Africa, as well as regions from Burkina Faso, put on dance after dance to entertain a crowd of around 2-3 thousand viewers. These rituals, which were mainly practiced in the past, were primarily in animist regions to call upon the higher powers to bring good rains, good health, and ward off bad spirits. I enjoyed this festival especially since masks aren’t popular in my region so it was my first true taste of this local practice.

A traditional mask from Burkina Faso

Representatives from either Togo or Benin.

Representatives from the Western Region of Burkina Faso.

5.       Potato Harvest: For the past three months, some of my community members have been growing potatoes with the intention of selling in bulk once harvested. Potatoes do well in my northern region so we knew if the gardeners followed the proper procedures, all would turn out well. We ran into a few unanticipated setbacks along the way. The land in our new garden space has been fallowing for some time, so it isn’t as nutrient-rich as some other plots. This, coupled with some gardeners who didn’t properly prepare or apply their compost, resulted in a weak harvest for a few. Not to worry. The majority of our gardeners produced solid amounts and will be able to take home some profits. Needless to say, next year for our second attempt everyone will know all of the necessary procedures for awesome potato production.

Mid-way through the harvest. It was a-lot of work, but since it was the "riib-daare" or the "day when we get food/money", our gardeners powered through.

We harvested little over 2 tons of potatoes. Pictured the morning before shipping them off a buyer we found in our regional capital.

6.       Animal Husbandry Trainings in Ramsa: My two counterparts and I were excited to bring back the knowledge we gained and share it with our community. We understood that animal husbandry trainings would be beneficial to the entire community, not just our work organization. I designed an information flyer and posted it around village. So far we’ve done 2 trainings. Chicken raising is by far the most popular in village, so that had the largest turnout. Behind is sheep/goat fattening. Lastly is pig farming (since my village is 98% Muslim, only the small Catholic community can raise them). Without a doubt, the biggest highlight of the two day-long trainings that we held was the performance of my counterpart. I had no idea how effective he would be as a trainer. He translated the manual we received into Mooré and simplified everything so that our villagers could better understand. I was also pleased to see him take some of the training techniques that he observed during the professional training that we attended. Asking their expectations at the beginning, keeping them engaged, quizzing them throughout to see what they’ve been retaining and having fun throughout. I aided him by occasionally adding my two cents and drawing many pictures on the chalkboard of model chicken coups or the animal feed recipes, but it was clearly him running the show. Our goal in the coming year is to help these villagers now put what they learned into practice.

My Counterpart talking about where our village chicken raising is currently, and where we would like to end-up eventually. The use of pictures was very important because we any written instructions wouldn't be understood.

Diving into chicken feed.

Chicken feed formula based on the age of the chicken. Primarily corn/sorghum powder mixed in with fish/soy powder for protein. Also, a small mineral mix to add other necessary elements.

Peace Corps'ing

It was during these trainings when I realized that even after I leave Ramsa, work will continue. My counterpart has been learning so much new information either from me or through trainings. It was clear then that he can effectively transmit this information to the village when Peace Corps no longer exists there.

Hot season is here… If you want to imagine what I’m doing, I’m probably half-naked sitting in the shade trying to escape the sun. And so is the rest of my village.

Until next time,

MB