Le Fete du Dindon

Just because you're stuck in Burkina Faso for Thanksgiving doesn't mean that you can't eat yourself in to a tryptophan induced food coma. A few volunteers got together for the holidays in Bobo and we had our own little feast with all the fixings. They only thing missing was the passed out relatives and football blaring in the background. We found a guy that raised turkeys here in Bobo and bought 3 from him for about US$ 80.00. They were pretty expensive for still being alive. We took the machete to them out back behind the barn and after a few long hours of plucking we had ourselves 3 good looking birds. We had a nearby restaurant grill them up for us and we made the rest of the sides, we had it all, from stuffing to pumpkin pie. Here are a few pictures of the slaughter the night before the big day and everyone eating themselves silly on Friday.

As some of you may know, a few of the volunteers were robbed last month in Ouagadougou, in which I was included. They broke in to our Peace Corps house late one night and selected mostly electronics and cash, then used my backpack as the get a away bag. I apologize for the lack of blog postings and photos, but without my camera it has been a little difficult. Along with my camera all the photos I have taken since leaving the states are gone too. I used someone else’s camera here to show you that we didn't starve this Thanksgiving. The food should have put on a few pounds by the amount of turkey and potatoes I ate, but a recent battle with girardia again left me passing most of my meal right on through. I am shopping on line for a new camera that will be sent over here so that I can keep updating everyone with photos for the next two years. School is going well and I only have about a month till our Christmas break. I am thinking about taking a trip to Ghana for a couple of weeks over the holidays and playing with the idea of celebrating Christmas on the beach. It can't be that hard to make a sandman in stead of a snowman.

Just wanted to add that Burkina Faso tied with 4 other countries as the poorest country in the world according to the United Nations International Development Index. Mali, Niger and Sierra Leon were the others at the bottom of the list. The Index calculates development with variables like; life expectancy, literacy rate, annual income, and GDP. Needless to say things in those areas a need a little work here, and life is not easy for the Burkabe.