Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head

I don't know if it is me, or what, but things have not been turning up all that much since the last blog. I'm sort of afraid to leave the house at this point.

First off, that friend of mine who was in a coma the last time I blogged.... well, she passed away two days after I visited her in the hospital. The health care in this country is the most frustrating thing... well, one of a zillion frustrating things anyway. I think it's very possible that a lot of people have chronic health problems that they are just unaware of, because preventative health care doesn't exist in this place, unless you are rich and/or live in a large city. On that note, it's very possible that many people get treated for an illness which is not at all what they have. Like in my village, practically every time someone says they are sick, they say that they have malaria, because that is what the nurses at the local "hospital" treat them for. Hospital meaning a dirty concrete slab of a building that (obviously) has no electricity or running water, and the ambulance is anything from a beat-up station wagon to a motorcycle with trailing cot/bed in back of it. So, even though the vast majority of people here certainly do have malaria on a regular basis, and it is very treatable, sometimes when something actually serious (that is NOT malaria) is the problem, it is not properly treated because it is often treated as malaria. I think this may have been the case with my friend. I heard she had a serious malaria that developed into a broncheal infection, and then the coma. I'm no doctor, but it just didn't seem right, based on what I have learned about malaria thus far. Her name was Worochia, she lived in a village about 6 miles from me, was one of my students' moms, was extremely friendly and fun, and she was supposed to be helping us with our girls camp next month. She will be missed.

Two days after I found out about her death, I left village in my "good" transport vehicle. This car, as usual, should only contain about 20 people maximum, and this particular day I counted 30. No joke. It was squished in there. You think there's never enough room for one more, when they stop for THREE more, and every miillimeter of seat and floor space is covered. Even some laps... like mine, because I had a little girl on my lap. She was so cute, though, and instantly loved me and fell asleep on my lap, so I was OK with it even though I couldn't feel my legs. SO... this time of the year the roads are getting worse and worse with every rain. It's just one big mud road with neverending potholes or ruts or what have you. At one point, all 30 of us actually had to get out of the car and walk across a particularly bad area because it was too dangerous or maybe too heavy for the driver to cross it with all of us inside. So, just as we are not far from the paved road, which generally would indicate smooth sailing for the rest of the ride, something under the car makes a loud crashing sound, the car jumps, and then jolts forward into a dirt embankment on the side of the road. Don't know what it was, but we weren't moving anymore that day. oh, and don't worry, no one was hurt. Good thing there was all that human cushioning to protect each other. Lucky for me, someone I knew passed by on the road a few hours later, so I hitched a ride, but everyone else was there apparently for another 4 or 5 hours.



After that, I travelled to the capital, Ouaga, for a wedding, and choosing to take the "very good" bus company. The one that gets you between Bobo and Ouaga reliably within five hours every time. Except when Stephanie is in the car apparently. On the return trip from Ouaga, just one hour into the trip, the car stopped on the side of the road and didn't move again. And for the next five hours, we sat on the side of that road until the "very good" bus company finally sent another bus to take us the rest of the way. Now I know break-downs happen everywhere, and that's fine. But under most conditions, the driver or the staff would make an attempt to tell the passengers what is going on and how long it will be. Well, not in THIS country. Everyone just got off and just started sitting around. No one from the staff thought to give any kind of "sorry for the delay folks, we're having a mechanical problem and a new car is on the way" speech. Or something of the kind. Just waiting and waiting. It's becoming one of my least favorite things to do. But then again, I feel like the patience I should have upon going back to America will be incredible. So long story short, my should-have-been 5 hour trip turned into an 11 hour one.

I guess since then everything is OK. Oh no, this morning I puked and had stomach problems, but I think that's all better. Who knows.

In Bobo, though, a bunch of us got together to celebrate the one year anniversary of the group that arrived a year ago to the BF. That was fun. Oh, and I actually did a touristy thing for the first time in the Bobo area with the volunteers that travelled here from the other side of the country. There is this river that is in a village about 10 km outside of Bobo that contains "sacred" fish. These are catfish, and according to the story we were told.... long long ago, when Bobo was just a small village, there came a time when there was little rain and people were starving to death. Magically, an albino man appeared from the inside of a well, carrying these catfish that were cooked up and apparently saved the village from starvation until the rains came and all was well again. To honor their sacrifice to save the village, there are now "sacred" catfish that live in this village. And they are so weird!!! We walked up to the side of a murky lake, with bread that we bought on the way in, and threw a few small pieces into the water. All of a sudden, these HUGE catfish appeared from under the murkiness to gobble up the bread. They had to be about a foot wide some of them and at least 3 feet long. It was crazy, and they just come right up to your hands and eat the bread. We were told that no one is allowed to trap and eat them, but even if you try, they will never die. You can fry them til you're blue in the face, and they will never die. I guess because they are sacred. I would test that theory out, but I think I have enough bad luck right now as it is. Don't want to invite any ancestral catfish protectors to do me any more harm. Also, when one of the catfish naturally dies in the river, it is given a burial like a human is. And there are a couple of these lakes in this village where there are sacred catfish living. Some of the places require you to sacrifice a chicken before going before the lake to see the fish. Don't know what for, but many times an animal sacrifice is a part of many ceremonies.....So there's a little culture for you.


Me feeding the big old sacred fish!


They were huge!!!




Looking forward to the end of this week because my good buddy Josh Y invited us all for a Christmas in August party in his village, so I'm gonna go up to see my pals and the northwestern part of BF. (except Tyler!!! boo for leaving us, but say hi to my folks for me!!) Hopefully the bad karma is over and all will go well. I'll keep you posted.

oh, and thanks for all the supportive messages people have written. I appreciate it a lot, and it's good to know you are still reading and keeping tabs on me.