Gettin busier....

Life has finally gotten busier again, thankfully. With the Girls Camp in full swing, there is constantly lots of organizing to be done. And so far, so good. Megan (my PCV neighbor) and I, along with various members of the village, have had 4 successful meetings so far. Daily themes ranged from "what does it mean to be a Burkinabe woman?" (societal expectations, objectives in life, living in a village, etc...) to Health discussions (mainly puberty and HIV/AIDS) to discussions with their parents about why they don't want to send girls to school. It has been educational for everyone involved, I think. In general, it has been killing lots of down time and (hopefully) positively affecting 20 young girls in my 'hood. We'll see.... we are planning on evaluating it all at the end with questions/surveys, so that should be a good indicator.


One of the girls at Girls Camp. They cut out magazine pictures to decorate notebooks we gave them... pictures that represent themselves or something they strive to have in the future.


The girls at work on their notebooks


And more girls working on their notebooks

I biked 40 km the other day. Something I haven't done since last year in training. Don't know why I am so lazy here, but it felt good and made me realize that I need to get my butt in shape. Although with all the "women's work" I have been doing since my girls are no longer around (they're in the fields every day), like welling water and laundry and all.... I feel like I'm buffing up again. oh yeah.

Here are some pictures of my village, Padema. Note the extremely well-planned and well-constructed bridge over the water:






This is my little 2 yr old neighbor, Mariam. She showed up at my house carrying this very large kitchen knife. Don't know why, but I didn't take the knife away from her. She seemed to know what she was doing. I don't underestimate children with sharp objects in this country.


A little friend who visited me at home one night. Actually I saw one like this guy practically every night for a week.

I had a not so great experience in Bobo just yesterday with some rotten little kids. There are kids in all large cities who run around selling little trinkets like tissues, or candy, or post cards, etc. out of cardboard boxes they carry around.... and they harass the crap out of you if you look rich or especially if you are white. Usually I am friendly to everyone, and I try to politely refuse whatever is being sold.... and usually about 80% of the people you'd cross in the street will greet you with a smile and friendly hello and when you say no they will eventually just go away and let you be. However.... these freakin kids, who I recognize from every time I come to Bobo and get harassed about buying something.... deserved a swift kick to the mouth. I was biking around, running errands, and was stopped buying something, when the brat came up to me. With a serious and mean face on, he started in on me...

Little Brat: "I know you. Don't you recognize me? You know me. HEY! Last time you said you'd buy something from me. Aren't you going to buy something? Don't ignore me. Here in Africa people say hello to people. I know you, white lady!!"
Me: "no, leave me alone, I'm busy" and I try to start biking away
LB: "Oh you're a mean person. You say you don't know me and you do!"... blocking the way
Me: "yes I am mean, now get away from me."
LB: "you're a RACIST!!! RACIST!!! RACIST!!!"
Me: "yes, kid, I'm a racist. That is why I am working here in Africa. Because I am a racist. Good bye."

I start riding down the street, which is crowded with lots of people.

LB: "RACIST!!! BASTARD!!! SLUT!!! RACIST!!!RACIST!!! I know your bike. If I see it in town, I'll slash your tires!!"

His little rotten, rude friends also start chanting "RACIST" at me as I am riding away.

I keep riding and saying "ok... bye now"

There is nothing you can do in this situation. If I stop and have a battle in the street with a 12 yr old kid, I look like a fool. If I hit him, someone will think I started something, or the kid could say I did. If I ride away, he's screaming racist at me, and everyone is staring. Nice kid. At moments like those, I wish I was in village where everyone knows me. It's amazing how differently people act from the village to the city. You can even feel the judgements differently in the city. The way people look at you. Sometimes if I say hello to someone on the street, they reply with shock and thank me for saying hello, whereas in the village it's a huge, friendly hello that is just natural and anticipated. I don't know why that is. I guess it is based on experiences with other foreigners, but the Burkinabe themselves have completely different attitudes from the village to the city. Good old press and other worldly influences. Helping develop the social situations all over the world. For the worse.

I posted some pics on the last two blog posts because I finally got to upload them. So check them out whenever.

And if anyone was planning on sending me any pkgs, please include some mac n cheese. I'm out!!
S.O.S.!!!!

THANK YOU!!!