It's Over

I am no longer a Peace Corps Volunteer. Thursday the 16th of April 2009 was my last day working for the US government. A new phase in my life is starting. I have had an amazing almost 3 years living in Burkina Faso and seeing life through from the bottom up. I taught math and science as a secondary school teacher to classes of up to 100 students in French. I have seen the realities of health care in West Africa in our small rural clinic. And I have made friends that will last a lifetime all along the way. The voyage has never been easy, but the best ones never are. As a teacher, I learned the realities of families who understand the value of education but unable to pay meager tuition for their children. As a health volunteer, I worked with mothers on nutrition programs for their children only to watch certain malnourished children die of malaria. But not all was sad and discouraging. I remember giving back an almost perfect score to a student who earned it to manage and pass to the next grade by studying with me in sessions after class, or when a student first uses a real microscope to discover a living cell with her own eyes, or when a good friend of mine goes to the clinic to pick up some condoms when he never did before, or when a child overcomes malnutrition after a nutrition program I taught. I really can’t begin to describe everything I have seen, along with the lessons I have learned, some of which I am still trying to understand. It has been an amazing experience that I would do again in a heartbeat and would recommend to anyone who wants to understand the world, life and development outside the US. I could ramble on and on about Burkina Faso and what I have seen/learned here but I don’t have the time to write it all and am not great with words. But in the near future over a cold American beer I could fill you in a bit more.

As for me now, the only thing I have to do in the next 3 weeks is make it to Dakar, Senegal to catch a flight. I am on the road for the next 3 weeks with a good friend Bryan from my original training group from 2006 on the way to Senegal. We are passing through Mali, Guinea, the Gambia, and Guinea Bissau on the way. We are taking bush taxis and have no real schedule. The excitement of travel and unknown has revived me into my old self. Then I am going to spend about 10 days in Morocco on the way back stateside for a layover. All said I should have a US customs entry stamp in my passport on the 22 of May.

Many of you may ask what a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer does after their service. Well most either search for work or return to graduate studies. Economy noted; I chose the latter. After applying to grad schools in Public Health, and having some good options, I have decided to return to Iowa and start classes the University of Iowa this summer. I can’t rationalize racking up loans at some high class private school with our current economy. Also loans are what tie most Americans down. I want to be free of these strings to make the choices I want, to live the life I want. Choosing a grad school was one of the toughest choices I have made. But overall I am budget kind of guy, getting the most for my money.

I am excited to return to the States and see all my family and friends. Africa has been amazing and I know I will return to Burkina Faso sooner than later. But as for me now I am again excited for a change and seeing the road along the way.

For those of you who want to know more in detail what I did for my Peace Corps service below is my Description of Service (DOS) a government document that each volunteer completes at the end of his or her service as an offical record of what they accomplised.



DESCRIPTION OF PEACE CORPS SERVICE

PCV Jonathan Schultz
Social Security No. xxxxxxx-4429
Burkina Faso 2006-2009

In late 2005, the Peace Corps awarded Jonathan Schultz the opportunity to serve for two years as a Volunteer in Burkina Faso, West Africa. His acceptance marked the final stage of a competitive application process, which stressed technical skills, adaptability, cross-cultural understanding, motivation, and French language skills. After a three-month Pre-Service Training, Mr. Schultz was assigned to teach math and science at the secondary school level in the West African country of Burkina Faso.

Pre-Service Training
Mr. Schultz began training on June 7, 2006, participating in an intensive eleven-week training program in Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso. The training program used community-based learning as its method of instruction, including 100 hours of language in French, Mooré, and Jula, 100 hours of technical skills in teaching, 25 hours of personal health and safety and 25 hours of cross-cultural training. Language training focused on French, the language used for the education system in Burkina Faso. The local languages of Mooré and Jula were also taught in order to prepare Mr. Schultz for cultural integration. Technical training included technical language in French, strategies and methods for teaching science and math with the Burkinabé context, and the requirements and expectations of the Burkinabé system of education. As part of the technical training program, Mr. Schultz taught science and math classes in a four week summer school program to prepare for the beginning of the actual school year. Cross-cultural training sessions served as an introduction to the culture, politics, and history of Burkina Faso. To enhance cultural integration, Mr. Schultz lived with a Burkinabé family for the majority of the intensive training.

Mr. Schultz successfully completed training and was sworn in as a volunteer on August 25, 2006. He was assigned to Balla, a village of about 5,000 inhabitants. Mr. Schultz was one of eight faculty members at the middle school in Balla which had an enrollment of 209 students and four grades of study. Mr. Schultz reported directly to the school principal, Mr. Saidou Sawadogo.

Primary Project
Mr. Schultz taught science and math classes. His teaching load was four classes totaling 19 hours per week during the 2006-2007 school year, with class sizes ranging from 42 to 78 students. The science courses he taught were physics and chemistry. His teaching responsibilities included all aspects of day-to-day teaching, as well as evaluating student progress through tests, quizzes and short homework assignments, and participating in faculty meetings.

Mr. Schultz developed demonstrations and labs that could be implemented in a Burkinabé classroom, with limited materials available. He actively collaborated with his colleagues and shared his teaching techniques with the other math and science teacher at his school.


Mr. Schultz also started a school garden to improve the nutritional value of the school lunch program. The garden was also used as an educational tool in teaching agriculture techniques and as a resource in biology lectures.

On May 16, 2007, Mr. Schultz was medically separated from the Peace Corps due to an injury that required medical procedures not available in Burkina Faso. On February 2nd 2008, Mr. Schultz was reinstated as a community health development volunteer to complete his 27 month commitment. Mr. Schultz changed sectors due to his interest and experience in the health field and the fact that his education position had to be filled for the following school year.

Pre-Service Training
Subsequent to his reinstatement, Mr. Schultz completed three weeks of training in early February to become familiar with the Burkinabé health care system and the work of a health development volunteer. This training included understanding the workings of a decentralized health care system and the adoption of the Bamako Initiative, and shadowing a current health development volunteer in his village.

Primary Project
Mr. Schultz was re-assigned to the new village of Bouendé, in the Southwest region of Burkina Faso. He worked at the local health clinic (Center for Health and Social Promotion), which serves approximately 2,500 people in seven villages.

As a health development volunteer, Mr. Schultz collaborated with the health clinic staff and the village health management committee to build capacity in health promotion and disease prevention and to improve the organization and administration of preventative services. He worked under the Ministry of Health and reported directly to the Head District Physician of Bobo-Dioulasso. Throughout his service, Mr. Schultz integrated into his community by participating in daily village activities, agricultural work, and local traditions and ceremonies which provided him with a deep understanding of the local culture and the realities of a developing country.

The major achievements of Mr. Schultz’s service are as follows:

Community Analysis – Needs Assessment: To gain a deeper understanding of the community and its main health concerns and resources Mr. Schultz undertook a month long community needs assessment in collaboration with community leaders, the local health center management committee and health clinic staff. He conducted informal interviews and a door-to-door survey in the village, reviewed health center statistical data and observed appointments and procedures at the clinic. The results of the study later served to develop health education activities to address the needs identified by the population which were determined to be HIV/AIDS, child nutrition and basic hygiene.

Clinic Activities: As part of his regular activities at the clinic, Mr. Schultz participated in monthly vaccination sessions, weekly baby weighing and nutrition consultations, and pre-natal consultations. He advised the health staff on innovative health education approaches. He also assisted in developing health education talks, promoted outreach activities, collaborated with health staff in developing an annual action plan, and became an advocate on behalf of patients. Additionally, Mr. Schultz assisted local health workers and community volunteers during the “National Immunization Days” campaigns, an intensive international effort to distribute essential vaccines to children under the age of five.

Positive Deviance/Hearth Model Nutrition Education Program: In May of 2008, Mr. Schultz attended a training seminar on nutrition education in Ouagadougou with staff from Peace Corps Headquarters, PC/Guinea and PC/Mauritania. The Hearth Nutrition Model is based on positive deviance theory (the acronym in French is FARN, for “Foyer d’Apprentissage et de Réhabiliation Nutritionelle”). The program is used to rehabilitate malnourished children by identifying examples of positive nutritional behavior within the local community and teaching these behaviors to other mothers within the community. Each day a nutritionally complete porridge high in protein is prepared from local ingredients by the participants themselves to rehabilitate the malnourished children. With assistance of a local clinic health worker, a different health topic is discussed each day of the two-week program. Topics include: hygiene, weaning, diarrhea, vaccinations, family planning, HIV/AIDS, prenatal consultations, balanced diets, potable water, and local endemic tropical diseases. The three PD/Hearth sessions conducted by Mr. Schultz had positive results, with almost all children showing sustained weight gain and parental behavior change.

Moringa Project: In conjunction with the malnutrition prevention program at his health center, Mr. Schultz developed a project to provide the health center with moringa tree leaf powder to be used as a therapeutic component for malnourished children. Moringa is a nutritionally rich tree that is internationally recognized as an effective agent to combat malnutrition. Mr. Schultz’s project successfully started a field of 50 moringa trees at the health clinic to be used for nutritional reinforcement.

VAST Grant AIDS Day: With HIV/AIDS as an identified health concern of the community, Mr. Schultz collaborated with clinic staff and community leaders to write and manage a $1,000 Volunteer Activates Support and Training (VAST) Program grant. This grant was sourced from the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) provided the financing for an AIDS day program at the clinic and follow up informational retention study on the effectiveness of the HIV/AIDS outreach program. The program included a theater presentation, forum debate on the stigmatization associated with disease, along with a video projection that explained prevention, transmission, and treatment of the disease, and how to live with those already infected with the disease. The program was supported by the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) whose staff discussed treatments available at their new clinic in the regional capital. Mr. Schultz's initiative was recognized by the regional hospital in the local capital and which offered additional support to increase the effectiveness of the initiative. Finally, Mr. Schultz organized coverage of the events by both national and local media (newspaper and radio). Subsequent to the AIDS Day activities, voluntary HIV/AIDS testing increased at the clinic, as did condom sales.

International Women’s Day: In the spring of 2009, Mr. Schultz successfully collaborated with the clinic staff, village leaders, and women’s groups to plan and implement the celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2009. Women participated in a bike race and soccer match as well as an activity portraying the uneven distribution of work between genders. Over 700 people attended the day’s festivities.


In-Service Trainer: For three weeks Mr. Schultz served as a volunteer facilitator for the new community health development volunteers. Mr. Schultz worked closely with Burkinabé counterparts to plan and facilitate the technical training component of the in-service training. He was responsible for facilitating technical sessions, evaluating trainees’ progress, and assisting trainees’ integration into Burkinabé society. The training sessions included project design and management, health education in rural environments, the Nutrition Education/Hearth Model, and how to work cross sectorally with other Peace Corps Volunteers.

Jonathan Schultz
Peace Corps Volunteer
Burkina Faso
2006- 2009

Dad Makes it Over to Burkina

So yes, I am really bad at keeping up my Blog. It has been over 2 months since I wrote anything and lot has happened.

First of all my Dad came to visit. He arrived like Sri, looking way too clean and over loaded with baggage. Getting off the plane he was pretty “FIRED UP” and kept trying to speak Spanish to the Burkinabe. After a few beers at the airport he calmed down and we started our 2 weeks together seeing the Burkina Faso. We spent a couple of days in Ouagadougou, which my Dad pronounces “Ouagadoubadou, the birth place of Scooby Doo.” He recuperated from jet lag and got used to the heat in time to head to a big game animal park in the south called Nazinga Nat. Park. We saw more than I expected. (Elephants, Buffalo, Warthogs, Antelope, Baboons, and Crocs.) Dad kept referring to feeling like was in Jurassic Park and went through about 4 video tapes, most of which are just bushes and dashboard. After that we headed north to the Sahel, where the Sahara desert is creeping south. We rode camels, hiked the sand dunes and learned about the trade routes across the Sahara.

After that we headed east to Bobo-Dioulasso my regional capital. From here we hired a driver and spent a couple of nights in each my old village where I was a teacher, and my new village where I am currently a health volunteer. I know what my Dad saw in this week he will never forget. A life few people can imagine and fewer can understand. It was great for my Dad to see where I have spent the last 2 years of my life. We were welcomed in grand style as everyone in my village knew of our arrival. It was pretty impressive to see the entire village waiting at my house when we rolled in to greet us, and the party they planned the night after was something as my Dad put it… “Straight out of National Geographic” We ate traditional food and sat as balafones and drums played all night in our name. It was a pretty rocking party. When we left around 1 am, a group of over 200 people were dancing in a cloud of dust in a giant circle to a rythym only West Africa can produce that didn't relent till sunrise.

After that we headed back to Ouaga and continued to Cario were we visited the big sites for a week. We saw Cairo, then down to Luxor and over to the Suez Canal and Sinai Peninsula. Again probably 4 more video tapes were used here. Words really can’t describe the grandness of ancient Egypt and photos can only try. It was amazing. After that we parted ways and I landed back in Burkina Faso for the 4th time in my life.

Getting off the plane and walking down the stairs on to the runway, I felt so confomortable. I remember my first arrival. I was nervous, excited and full of wonder. Now I was content, confident and watched others for the first time take in the deseily air of Ouaga. I got out of the airport and the taxi men left me alone, somehow they could tell I was not fresh off the boat. Maybe it was my dirty clothes, my accent, or just the way I carried myself, but somehow they knew I had become African in a way.

I have spent he last few weeks in village trying to catch up with my good friends before I head out of here. I am currently in Ouaga where I will be working with the new group of health volunteers. I will be helping lead a technical training to for about 3 weeks. Then I go back to village to a weeks then, sign out of Peace Corps for good. I am excited for the future, sad for the friends I will leave behind and thankful for all that Burkina has given to me.

As for me I am looking at places I want to see on my way back state side. I am thinking Mali, Guinea Senegal and Morocco at the moment. Since I hear nothing but horror stories from other volunteers and friends looking for jobs back home, I think I will take up the grad school idea.

A visitor from a far away land

The past two weeks in Africa have been a much anticipated and appreciated break from village life. One of my best friends Sri came to visit me and see the life I live, something that very few Americans can understand. Coming to a little known French speaking West African country on your own wallet, taking your two weeks of annual vacation to come to worlds second poorest country to understand the lives of people on a forgotten continent is something so great to which I can only begin to express my gratitude and admiration. Many of my friends had talked about coming to visit me during my Peace Corps service, but knowing the sacrifices required to actually get here made me realize that it would be an unlikely event. Sri kept talking the talk and until about 2 weeks before he arrived, I still second guessed its reality. When he got his VISA approved, sent me his itinerary and asked what to pack, this is when I took it a little more seriously.

Sri survived the flight over the Sahara and arrived on time at the Ouagadougou International Airport, which is little more than a runway, a couple of rooms under constant construction where your bags are simply placed on the broken baggage belt. When coming into Ouaga on the final decent one asks yourself, “This is the capital? Where are all the lights, tall buildings etc?” where only a few major streets are lit. The first step off the jet and climbing down the stairs you take in your first breath of the unforgettable African air. It’s a hot sticky blend of diesel fumes, smoke, and sewer. It’s a memory you won’t easily forget.

When I first saw Sri I instantly thought, “Wow he looks clean.” The fresh from America look is hard to duplicate here in Burkina and becomes easily recognizable. I was waiting for him with a few friends at a nearby street side bar where we sat down to relax and have a beer. It’s a little overwhelming the first time you get here and it takes a bit of adjustment to get your bearings. The next couple of days were spent roaming around the capital seeing some of the sites. Then we headed west to Bobo-Dioulasso, the second largest city and a jumping point into the bush towards my village. We hitched a ride with a good friend of mine, Danielle who was also making the trip to Bobo. We spent the next couple of days around Bobo and a day at my old school where I taught 2006-2007 and went into the nearby national forest reserve to see the hippos. New Years was in a pricey club in Bobo where we got our fill of old American Pop and thumping Burkinabe hits. Next we took off on pair of mountain bikes en route to my current site where I work as a health volunteer. Its about a 40 km ride in the bush, its not an easy ride for someone not used to biking. I was proud of Sri as we made it ¾’s of the way before he plainly stated, “Yeah about that biking thing… I am good now.” He had had enough. We got a late start and it was getting dark, my phone was dead, and we had about 10 km to go in the hills surrounding my village with no light. This road is also rarely traveled at night. Sometimes I am less than stellar at planning. So we started walking our bikes the last leg of the trip hoping to find a passing truck that would accept to pick us up. I refrained from telling Sri about the poisonous snakes, scorpions and other dangerous wildlife in the area. As luck would have it an empty truck passed us and gave us a lift after paying a price that we had little leverage to negotiate.


Under the cover of darkness we rolled into my village as families were preparing the evening meal and cleaning up after working in the fields. As soon as I turned on my house light, one of two in the village, it was obvious that I had come back with my much anticipated visitor. Many of the villagers came to my courtyard to wish Sri welcome, and a pleasant stay in Bouende. We washed up and headed to my family courtyard to meet everyone there. I live next to a big family that has kind of taken me in as their own. This is common in the culture here. I eat with them and help them in the fields when I have time, the head of the family is also the President of our village health committee (COGES) and we often work together. In the complete darkness of the village with nothing but flashlights and kerosene lamps guiding us we greeted the entire family. My host father TRAORE Go-Brahima (Ton-ton for short) has 3 wives and around 20 children of his own, and has taken under his wing a few orphans of friends and family. As we went from mud hut to mud hut, we popped into to mothers grinding peanut butter, cooking To and washing children next to small fires and lamps. Either way it was a lot of hand shaking and salutations in Jula. It was Sri’s first look at how the majority of Burkinabe live. We sat down with my host dad at his tiny shop that sells the basic village necessities (rice, salt, sugar, soap, cigarettes, matches, spices, razors, powdered milk, etc.) As Sri’s arrival was unannounced the family hadn’t prepared any special meal, and actually hadn’t prepared anything at all that night. Which happens about once a week. The family just doesn’t eat some nights. We embarrassingly happen to land on one of these nights. They quick whipped up some porridge with millet flour, sugar and powdered milk for us. We ate some but gave most to the children and others who had come to now surround Sri as he ate. The new white guy in village was probably the biggest event of the month, and no one wanted to miss him eating his first village meal in public. He was constantly being greeted while trying to stomach what he could of the porridge, as I translated with a full mouth between Jula, French and English.

The first night in a new place is always tough, and your first night trying to sleep in an Burkinabe village couldn’t be greater challenge. The plethora and inconsistency of night sounds can make sleep impossible. Basically it sounds like Jurassic Park outside your front door. It is almost as if the animals have planned an eerie night symphony where each section tries to out perform the next. It’s a mixture of farm animals and drums, with intermittent dogs howling with donkeys apparently at war all night in a house infested with crickets. I have grown used to this sadly and sleep just fine. Sri on the other hand had a tough time, which is completely understandable as back home we can sleep in completely controlled environment.

The next morning was spent greeting many of my good friends in village, meeting some of our clinic staff where I work and going to a nearby village for their market day. After a long and busy day we had a dinner of To (the staple food in Burkina Faso) with my family. We also made a pasta dinner as a back up if things didn’t go down smoothly. That night I found Sri some ear plugs.

The next day we amazingly caught a ride on top of truck full of melons heading back to Bobo. Sitting like kings on top of our thrown of produce we rode in style through the dusty heat of mid day back into civilization. That afternoon we hitched a ride again back to Ouagadougou where we planned to apply for VISA’s to go to Ghana. This took another couple of days waiting around in the capital due to the fact that Ghana was in the process of electing a new president where they close all international boarders. Elections in Africa can turn from peaceful displays of democracy to violent demonstrations if things don’t go smoothly. We waited out the election results taking the advice of Peace Corps and as the boarders opened and we got the green light and completed the paperwork. While waiting we stopped by the Peace Corps office and US Embassy, which when compared to most of the local scenery can be a tourist attraction in itself. Sri got to meet our administration and understand a little about how Peace Corps works here in Burkina.

With our VISA’s approved we boarded a bus south to a little place I like to call “paradise“. Ghana for most volunteers in Burkina Faso is a wonderland of good food & beer, lush greenery, and beautiful beaches. Sri had wanted to compare an old English colony like Ghana with one of prior French rule. The way infrastructure was developed to exploit resources of the colonies in the past, greatly effects the countries of West Africa today. All aspects of colonial rule, the transition to independence and the recent drive to democracy, not to mention environmental resources are all factors that account for differences between Ghana and Burkina Faso. The differences are stark and reasons why are a class on development itself. Ghana just inaugurated its newest president in what many international observers state was free and fair, which is uncommon in Africa. Here is quote from press statement given by the US Department of State.

“We congratulate Professor John Atta Mills on his January 3 victory in the Ghanaian presidential race. We commend the Ghanaian people on their resolve and deep commitment to the democratic process demonstrated in their participation in their nation’s presidential and parliamentary elections. These elections, pronounced free, fair and credible by a wide range of international and domestic observers, have proven Ghana has truly taken its place among the community of democracies.”

Seeing that democracy can work in West Africa has given hope to places like Burkina Faso where the current president is serving his 20th year. He has changed the constitution to allow for extending his term. The president of Gabon has been in power for over 30 years. Beyond government, Ghana feels more developed as soon as you cross the boarder. People you chat with there, understand the world better and have more life goals in terms of education and personal improvement. I could talk about the differences for hours.

We headed straight to Accra the capital of Ghana then west along the coast. We toured museums, slave castles, and rainforests in whirlwind of taxi’s, Tro-tro, and buses. In our travels we met a couple of girls, one of which was working for an NGO in Accra. Our last night before we left back to Burkina we hung out with them and a few of their friends at one of the swankiest clubs I have been in for a long time. It was in the ritzy area of Accra and packed full of Ex-pats and rich Ghanaians. The wealth measured from a glimpse in the parking lot and that of the clientele spoke for itself. It is a mind blowing experience to see the chasm of difference in lifestyle from one extreme to the other, from a tiny Burkinabe village where people often sleep on empty stomachs, to probably the nicest club in one of the largest capitals in West Africa.

All in all it was a great two weeks to share with a great friend. I will be adding an article from Sri shortly on his thoughts of his time spent in West Africa. His fresh, clear and non-jaded point of view will surely be interesting addition to my blog.

I have added two new albums of Sri’s time in West Africa on my picasa page linked to the left.

Everybody Loves Free Pencils...

Quotes to live by,

Give a village child a pencil and he might beat it on the ground like a drum or stick it in his ear.

Give a village child a pencil along with an education and he will write and learn, and maybe one day become president and help Burkina.

Or maybe it was about fish and fishing… Anyway.

The past weekend I spent in Balla, my old village working on our garden for the new school year and distributing school supplies sent from their pen pals back in Iowa. I have been helping with my old students and a few interested pen pals from my old high school in Iowa City on a cultural exchange. I presented Burkina to their French class back home and here now we talk about America. They love hearing about different places, mostly with the dreams to leave Burkina and go somewhere else. Most students and even teachers dream of leaving Burkina. Which is pretty sad. Life is not easy here, and the politics here make it worse. But the simplicity of their lives can be attractive when compared to the hustle and bustle of western life. For the most part they are in some ways happier than we are, they live their entire lives with their families close by, their friends rarely move away for new jobs, and they eat simple organic meals they grow themselves. With that considered they have little to no infrastructure, little opportunity to education, and health care. Its not easy and ce n’est pas la meme chose.

Our school garden has finally started with the help of a few good friends back home. The fence is up and we will be planting soon for this school year, which is roughly from October to June in Burkina. The biggest problem in Burkina is lack of water and if our school pump stays in working order we should be able to produce enough to enrich the school lunches. Malnutrition is a common problem here in West Africa and one that even I suffer from time to time. While I was home on vacation I gained about 10 lbs in 2 weeks. Its already gone now.

HIV/AIDS in Burkina

HIV/AIDS is still considered a myth in my village of Bouendé. A while ago I heard from a villager when asked how can someone become infected with HIV, "If you eat uncooked chicken." So yes, I instantly thought here is where I can do some work. Africa and HIV/AIDS are synonymous today and living there it is easy to see why.First and foremost is ignorance. Like my village friend who thinks you can get HIV from eating raw chicken. The average Burkinabé is ignorant to how are transmitted. She was correct that some diseases can be transmitted from uncooked foods just confused on which ones. This ignorance is not their fault and is an understandable problem. Around 75% of the Burkinabe are illiterate, that’s nation wide. In a village like mine it is closer to 95%. So it is very reasonable that people don’t understand disease transmission.

(The United Nations Development Program Report used to place Burkina Faso as the most illiterate country in the world, with only 12.8% in 1990. With the consistent effort of the government in making schooling more accessible and affordable, however, the literacy rate has doubled and is now at 25.3% of the population.)

So in summary most rural Africans don’t understand the diseases that plague them. Which is why AIDS in this example, is so dangerous. As I have said before, when someone asks how some one died, the common answer is that he was sick. Period.

Second, if someone does understand how HIV/AIDS is transmitted, the environment in which that person lives makes it hard to make positive choices to prevent infection. Condom use is on the increase in the urban areas but is still taboo in the villages. It is complicated. Elders think that sex education is too modern and should not be talked about in public. Places to buy condoms are very public. This creates and awkward environment for the buyers. People see who buys what, and if you buy condoms you could very well be thought to have the disease, and therefore be shunned or worse. So villagers won’t even buy them out of fear. Stigma is one of the greatest factors in the spread of HIV.

Third, is the problem with testing. Very few people in Burkina are tested. People are ignorant to the treatments available and most think that the disease is fatal. So if you know you can die from it, don’t know of any treatments, and you are really poor, why would you even get tested. This is the greatest problem in Burkina. Most villagers are starting to learn about HIV but are not going to get tested. In some ways I can see their point, but the only way to decrease transmission is to know who has it.

The last factor I will talk about is polygamy. Most Africans are polygamists, they have multiple wives. They often also will have a mistress outside of these official wives and with limited condom use, they easily become infected and in turn infect the rest of their wives or other partners. This is another reason why HIV is so devastating in the African culture.

So all those factors together in my tiny village I decided to start an HIV education program. I applied for a grant with the US Embassy, some money Bush has made available and was accepted. I organized a large AIDS day last month where we had theatre presentations, talks from local and American doctors, and movies on AIDS and the associated stigma. It went off with a great success. The national newspaper was there and a local radio station did interviews on the spot. It was really probably my biggest accomplishment as a health volunteer.

A theater group from Bobo came out to our village and did an hour performance dealing with family life and living with HIV/AIDS. It was interactive and the villagers loved it. A doctor I know who works with the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative came and talked about possible treatments for children for free. And that night we had a condom demonstration along with showing videos in their local language projected on to our clinic wall. It was an all day event that I think made a real difference. I hope.

Here is a link to the newspaper article.

http://www.sidwaya.bf/sidwaya_17-09-08/bobo-arrondiss_3.htm

Here is a link to a recent article on the food crisis in Burkina.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9VbHRv6hOk

http://www.crs.org/burkina-faso/food-crisis-urban-poor/

As for me, I just got back from almost 3 weeks back home in the States. It was a nice vacation, but oddly it felt good to land back in Burkina Faso.

Dogon Country, Mali

The Dogon people are a Malian ethnic group that currently live along the Bandiagara Escarpment in the Malian desert. They use the cliff as protection from the elements and enemies much like the way the Pueblo Native Americans of Mesa Verde in Colorado. After constantly hearing how amazing their culture is from other volunteers, I took a few days off saving babies and headed North into the desert with a few friends to see it for myself. Other people had talked up similar trips so much that I had become skeptical. Having seen many of the National Parks in the states I kept my expectations low. After the first night at the base of the cliffs I was proven wrong and thoroughly impressed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogon

Tired and covered in dust from the long bush taxi ride north we arrived in Koro, Mali. It’s about 15 hours on various transport means from my house… mountain bike, bus, bush taxi, etc. We met our guide Oumar who has been taking volunteers on tours for over 10 years now and we set off in a beat up station wagon to the first village next to the cliffs. We got there at dusk just as another rainstorm let up. The station wagon couldn’t bring us all the way due to a rising river, so we had to get out and wade across and hike to the village. The evening light made the cliff line appear massive and a roaring waterfall next to the village produced an impulsing beat. Mist rolled over parts of the cliffs hiding their true height and gave the entire village an eerie ancient feel. We got to our compound and had a quick dinner and passed out after a long wet day. I slept hard, but as usual I had to wake up in the middle of the night to use the facilities. This is a nuisance that I have come to accept, but tonight I was grateful for my small bladder. I woke up to a full moon peeking through the clouds. As the rain on top of the cliffs continued a virtual lineup of waterfalls appeared through the fog and ran off the cliffs. The ancient abandoned village under the cliffs was illuminated by the moon as a mist and dull roar encompassed the compound. It was one of the most surreal experiences I have ever seen. I just sat there for what seemed like forever as the village slept. I tried to capture it with my camera, but the moonlight was not sufficient, and I quickly gave up. Film can never capture an entire experience and certain things are more vivid remembered only in the brain. I will always keep this memory. It was amazing. I did get a little clip of footage in the morning of the view, but the waterfalls had already started to cease as the sun came up.

Wanting to get a good view of the cliff line and some good pictures of the sun rising and lighting up the cliffs, I left the camp early and hiked out almost a mile away. I crossed a small stream and continued up some sand dunes to get a better viewpoint. The rain continued up on the cliffs. I was gone only an hour and returned as my stomach started to call for breakfast. I followed my steps back to the village and a small concern that was in back of my mind when I crossed the stream, which was only at my calves an hour before, became a reality. The stream had risen a lot and now was 3 times as wide and possibly over my head. The current was strong and increased at the narrows. Even at its narrowest spot I could never jump it and if I did fall in would be swept away. I walked a ways in both directions but found no solutions. I had to get back to the village to start our tour and decided to try and cross where I had before, as to have a better idea of its depth. Knowing that if I lost my footing and had to swim my camera would be ruined, I decided to wrap it in my shirt and coat and throw it across the stream. It was only about 40 ft and thought the risk of a cushioned impact was less than it getting wet. So I took off my sandals and looked for a soft landing spot in the grass. I threw it as far as I could. The wind caught my coat and slowed it down enough that it bounced off the bank and into the stream. So there I was watching my camera float down the stream slightly wrapped in my coat. I whipped my sandals across the stream and dove in to save my camera. I was carried down stream a bit but managed to get my camera out of the water. Sure that all my photos and camera were ruined I returned to the village soaking wet too scared to open my camera bag. It was obvious to the villagers that I had to swim the stream, and most thought it was pretty funny. In the end my camera and memory cards turned out to be dry, and I had another funny story to add to my journal.

The next few days were spent visiting cliff dwellings from centuries ago, some from the Tellum people who, according to our guide, lived there starting in the 1400’s. They climbed vines that have all been cut down or receded from climate change to build their houses in hard to reach places high on the cliffs. Some of the houses are 100’s of meters high above sheer faces. Other ethnic groups like the Dogon that settled in the region thought that the Tellum people could fly due to the heights and inaccessibility of their settlements. We also visited local hunters, sacred ceremony sites and graveyards. Our guide Oumar was great and his ability to speak English really made it seem like a vacation. I read in Lonely Planet Guide Book and heard from other volunteers that visiting the Dogon Plateau and Escarpment is one of the “Top 10 Things” to do before you die according to some. I am not sure if it should be in that list, but it definitely was close to making my mine.

Le Foyer d’Apprentissage et de Réhabilitation Nutritionnelle (FARN)

Hearth Model (Community Based Nutrition Education)



Most of you probably wonder what I really do as a health volunteer besides help out at our clinic (CSPS). Well here is one of the programs I have just completed to rehabilitate malnourished children in the village. The program is a community based model to improve the health of the entire family while focusing on children. The original concept of the Positive Deviance (PD) / “Hearth Nutrition Model” (FARN in French) was introduced in the 1980s in Haiti and has since been replicated in countries as various as Vietnam, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Mozambique, Mali, and Guinea. In contrast to traditional nutrition interventions which “tend to look for problems in the community that need to be solved, the PD/Hearth approach looks for the positive behaviors and strengths that exist in the community and can be built upon.” It proves that despite poverty, there are local practices, knowledge, and resources that can be exploited to promote positive health practices. Even in the poorest communities, some mothers are still able to raise healthy, well-nourished children. If those “positive deviant mothers” (Mamans Lumière in French-speaking countries) could pass on their feeding and hygiene practices to other mothers in the community, we would see the problems of malnutrition and other childhood illnesses significantly decrease. Moreover, since the solutions focused on in PD/Hearth come from within the community, thus the behaviors are far more sustainable. These “Mamans Lumières” help lead the Hearth program and provide a real example of someone in the same environment with healthy children.

Positive Deviance Webpages
http://www.positivedeviance.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_Deviance



In practice, the PD/Hearth intervention brings together between six to ten mothers of malnourished children over a two-week period to learn and practice the healthy nutrition behaviors performed by a local positive deviant mother. Led by myself and the “Maman Lumière” from the community, the Hearth group prepares a healthy local recipe and discusses a health issue of concern to the women and their children every day. All the food used in preparing the meals comes from the village and is affordable for all the women in the program. The health issues are discussed with the assistance of one of our local clinic staff. At the end of the 2 weeks, most children gain weight and often exhibit improvements in mood and energy. Furthermore, qualitative studies suggest that the mothers continue to practice the healthy behaviors learned in the Hearth even after the program has come to a close.

Objectives of Hearth (FARN)
Hearth has three main objectives.

1. To rehabilitate malnourished children. Each day, trainers and participants prepare enriched porridge together. Every woman has at least one liter for her child to eat throughout the day, in addition to his usual food. Over a period of 12 days, participating children can gain moderate to significant amounts of weight.

2. To educate the women on basic health issues (i.e. Hygiene, Vaccinations, HIV, Malaria, etc). Each day, the session leaders address a different health topic. Practical, healthy solutions that are accessible to local women are promoted. They facilitate a discussion with the women addressing their questions and dispelling local myths.

3. To demonstrate that raising well-nourished and healthy children is possible even with limited means. By showing that positive change is possible and by teaching women information about their own basic health, women will be inspired to continue positive health behaviors after the training.

This past weekend I completed my second Hearth Model Workshop (FARN) with women from my village. The malnourished children were chosen from information gathered from our clinic at monthly baby weighing. The workshop was held at the “Mama Lumiere’s” courtyard or foyer. At the end of the two weeks all but two children gained substantial weight, one passed away from Malaria, and one decreased after getting over a respiratory infection. At the end of the program each mother received a Moringa sapling that I have been growing in my courtyard. My courtyard has become a mini-nursery and I have been working with my friends from village to incorporate the Moringa in their diets and as a means of reforestation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa
http://www.moringagardencircle.org/tree.html
http://www.treesforlife.org/



Remember rural Burkina Faso is poor, really poor. I constantly hear with the “World Food Crisis” that people are complaining about the rising prices of basic goods like rice. Most villagers in Burkina can never even afford to eat rice. They may get a plate of rice a few times a year, and as I found out while teaching last year from my students, they may only get one bottle of Coke a year. So all my recipes used in the 2 week program used village resources. Most were porridges based on sorghum (millet), corn, beans, peanuts, fish, local leaves and mangoes. Every day I ate with the kids to encourage them, and yeah I even gained a little weight myself, which I could use. I am planning on doing other FARNs in the surrounding villages in the months to come.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/indepth/080702_food_crisis.shtml

"Ligi ligi" and Pneumonia

Farming Burkina Style

People say the best form of birth control in Burkina Faso is the mass introduction of mechanical farming equipment. Basically tractors equal less need for children. After the past week I have come to understand the exact meaning of this idea. Group farming in Burkina Faso is ridiculously fun and now I understand what it really means to farm by hand. The average family size in Burkina is about 5-8 children per mother, and with polygamy in almost all rural areas, that equals about 3 women per man… around 15-20 children per family. My nearest neighbor and host family has 17 children and 3 wives. Last week I was introduced to Ligi ligi, which means group farming in Jula. I had been cultivating before, but this was a whole new experience. I was told the day before that there might be dolo and beer, along with music. When I got to the field around 10 am the group was well on their way to having a “good time”. I made it there to work just enough for the blisters to form on my hands before the morning porridge break. After that we worked until 2pm and then had lunch with as much Dolo as anyone could handle. Pork was the meat of the day and everyone had their fill of To. Then we worked till around 5pm and my hands, back and neck were a mess. Throughout the entire day the ballafone only stopped for a mere 15 mins, and that was only for the musicians to eat. All and all we weeded about 3 hectares of millet.

Weeding massive fields with a two foot long hoe may seem like a pretty cavemanish idea, and yes I too had similar first impressions. But once you realize how tough and rocky the soil is here, you soon realize after centuries of evolution, it most definitely is the best way to unearth weeds growing in the fields. A longer handle would make sense if the soil was soft, allowing you to stand up right and work in a more relaxing position, but you would get no where and it would not nearly be as efficient. Once you get a new Daba, (Jula for hoe) in your hands and a few liters of dolo in you the work just seems to fly by. The field owners will organize basically a small party in their fields to attract as many able bodies in need of booze fix. They also will kill a goat, sheep or pig for the day. The wives will be busy the few days before preparing local millet beer and enough food to feed the masses, also hard alcohol is bought along with beer depending on the means of the proprietor. Basically it amounts to a massive music filled festival in the fields, with dirt flying and dolo sloshing all day long. It was my first experience seeing this type of group farming and the results were pretty amazing. It motivates others to work harder and longer, while building community relations. The calluses on my hands are coming in nicely and all the villagers are in awe that the white guy CAN work with a Daba and keep up with the young folks… they are proud of their Toubabou (white guy).

On a more serious note, now that the rainy/growing season in full swing, villagers spend most of their time in the fields with their children with them. This colder/wetter season provides a great environment for children to catch colds. This is often overlooked by the importance of completing field work in such a short growing season. The work has to be done, if not the villagers won’t eat next year, so often children are left unattended and not sufficiently protected from the cold.

I watched two kids die last Friday from Pneumonia. They were brought to our clinic after being sick for about a week. When they got there, there was little we could do to help them. Even with prescribed antibiotics and all the meds we could muster, we sat and watched their lungs fill with fluid. We tried to suction as much as we could with the simple tools we had, but in the end it was just an endless battle against time. It was again one of those experiences you really can’t explain. The hardest thing for me was after the children passed away, the mother just attached the child to her back as if it was still alive; the way most African women carry their children, and had to walk the 3 or 4 miles with her dead son on her back. It was a tough day.

Often it’s not appropriate to photograph the experiences that make the biggest difference on me here in Burkina. Most of these I would never want to… and I am sure you would not want to see them. This is not to say that I won’t try to explain them to the best of my abilities. It has been a tough few weeks, but an amazing few weeks. I am starting my second malnourishment program next week in a nearby village. I will explain later and hope to add more photos.

Last night a good friend of mine (Erica) was bitten by a poisonous snake while walking home from dinner in Bobo. She had not seen it in the dark on the path and had stepped on its back. Ben and I killed the snake and brought it back to our office. Her foot swelled up and went numb as she felt the venom migrate up her leg. She was taken to a clinic and within in an hour or so an anti-venom IV was started with anti-biotics. She is fine now but it was a bit of a scare for us all. Never a dull moment.

Malnourished Children

Last week another 3 year old died from malnutrition in our village clinic. Malnutrition is a problem in my region of Burkina Faso. Over the past few months, when we go out on vaccination rounds in the other smaller surrounding villages we weigh the children. This monthly weighing is an easy way to see trends in weight and notify parents of malnourished children. (Ex: 23 months old at 4.400 kg = less than 10 lbs) This is where my work comes in and I will discus with the family better nutritional and hygiene practices, and a demonstration on how to make an enriched porridge with local produce. Over the past four months this child who recently passed away was continually losing weight. His family was warned of the problematic trend. They seemed not to care too much, until this last visit when their child was obviously severely malnourished. I don’t need to attach a photo here; you’ve seen similar kids on TV. He couldn’t walk, distended belly, cracked bleeding lips, chapped and swollen feet and hands, sunken eyes barely open. We took him to the clinic and tried recuperating him with IV’s and feedings. It was just too late. He passed away the next day from complications due to malnutrition. His body systems just basically shut down. You could see in his eyes he was so tired, he just wanted to die; to stop his suffering.

His mother is currently pregnant, and his father has 3 wives and couldn’t afford to pay for all of them to be properly fed. Life is looked at differently here, especially the lives of children. Like I said before he will have no funeral, and no ceremony. The family will just have more children, hoping that the next child with better economic times this will survive. The hardest thing for me to grasp here is the cultural regard to life. It’s hard for me to imagine living a life that is so difficult you have to think of only yourself.

Friends ask me, “Are you making a difference over there?” It’s a question I ask myself a lot. I know I am making a difference, to what extent I will never know. A very similar child to the one above has regained weight is eating well and is healthy. When I first met the little guy he was in bad shape and I thought he would not make it, but after spending a lot of time with the family and mother he was recuperated. So maybe I saved one kid. That makes a difference right? So yeah I am. His mother participated in my Nutrition Project and has now become a role model for other mothers with malnourished children. Last week while we were playing with her now healthy and happy kid, she told me “Awenice”, Merci Beaucoup.

On a way lighter note, I got a new puppy. His name is Kisira, (“Chief of the Courtyard” in Sambla.) Same name as my old dog, just a new language. There are 66 different native languages in Burkina. If he can’t make it home with me, he will be better off than my last one. This ethnic group doesn’t eat dog.

World Food Crisis

It seems like everyone I talk to in Burkina is discussing how “La vie est cher” and how everything here has become more expensive. Everyday on the BBC, I hear of new disasters in the world causing further price increases in everything from gas back home in the states to rice in my tiny village. It seems like this year will one of the hardest for Africans. Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Chad, Malawi, Zimbabwe and even South Africa all have political problems that are constantly in the news. This compounded with the rising food costs should make for a tough next year chez nous. I have obviously not kept up with world news back home as much as I do here in Burkina, but I have this overwhelming sense that the world is really pretty messed up. All I hear about are disasters in Asia, famine in Africa with continual political corruption, war, and even flooding now back home in the Midwest. I wonder how the flooding will effect food production back home on the Iowa farms and resulting market prices. Basically life for the ‘bottom billion’ just got a whole lot worse, and seeing it first hand from the viewpoint of a small West African village makes it all the more powerful. It is interesting how the rising costs of food have affected different classes differently. The upper class people, who buy their own grains and oils, are more affected than those in the lower class, who farm their own crops. So from the village perspective the increase in food price is not as bad for those in the villages. Villagers in my region are so poor that they are almost completely self sufficient and live independently from the markets. Even before the increases in food prices, they couldn’t afford to pay for rice. They only eat To everyday, and even produce their own oil from shea butter. In the long run the rise in food costs will obviously affect all economic aspects, increasing petrol and other needs for the villagers. But today it is evident that the world food crisis is affecting those who don’t cultivate their own food. Strikes and demonstrations against the governments to increase pay are continuing around Africa and I feel that they will not be slowing down until the prices plateau.

Life as a Health Volunteer

Recently I have finished a two week program working with a small group of mothers with malnourished children in my village. Every morning for 2 weeks mothers bring their kids to a designated courtyard and we work together to make an enriched porridge from locally grown and available produce, discussing complete pediatric nutrition. We weigh the children before and after the two weeks and will continue to evaluate their weight gain. Along with this nutritional lesson provided, we incorporate a lesson on local health problems. Topics included basic hygiene, potable drinking water, malaria, HIV/AIDS, proper birth techniques, proper weaning and family planning or birth control. The lessons where taught by myself along with our clinic staff in the local language. It was a great experience and the majority of the children gained considerable weight. Those who didn’t were plagued with malaria, diarrhea or other infectious diseases that undermined the nutritional benefits of the two week program. I am planning on continuing this program with more groups of women in the months to come, as about 30% of the children in my village are malnourished.

Village Life

My new village is tiny. No market, no transport to or from the village, no restaurant. This makes life a little different than my last set up. I am eating more with families and definitely living on a lower level. I have definitely become a real villager. I spend on average about three or four dollars a week in village. That’s for everything. Recently the rains have started and now everyday the village is empty. All the villagers are out in the fields planting their crops; millet, corn, peanuts and cotton mostly. Cotton is their only real cash crop and therefore is associated with the most risk. Based on this years cotton prices fewer people are planting cotton this year. All the farms are plowed and planted by hand. I have not seen a tractor in my region yet. Some of the more prosperous families have cows and plows to work the land, but still most do everything my hand. I again tried my luck at farming. It didn’t last long, about an hour and a half into planting millet my hands blistered and I about passed out in the relentless sun. I ended up sitting in the shade pounding as much water as I could hold while the others kept working for hours. It is remarkable how calloused their hands are and the quantity of land they can seed in a day.
Also, as the growing season has started the village elders have started their ceremonial sacrifices to ensure a good growing season. I have had the rare opportunity to record some of these ceremonies with my camera. I will have to show you all when I get back. Some of the video clips are a bit graphic and too long to upload. Overall things in my new village are going well and I am enjoying my new work, although I do miss teaching and the classroom environment.

As the growing season gets underway, people invest all there money and time in preparing their feilds for the coming rains. Natrually this causes a lot of stress on farmers. Also as the rains come the first new growth sprouts and all the animals who have been basically starving in the dry season eat everything green in sight. This can cause massive problems between farmers and the hearders, usually from different ethnic groups. I heard on the radio last week that an arguement broke out between a group of farmers and hearders. The herders' cows had eaten a large amount of the farmers' new corn. The farmers went and killed a few of the cows in retaliation, this event escilated the situation and it became violent. Overall 15 people were killed in the dispute in southern Burkina. It must not of been a pretty site, axes, hoes and machetes. I am not sure if it made BBC, but was on our local radio from Bobo.

Below is a funeral where villagers dance and play music for days in celebration of a life well lived. The more important and older the person was when he or she died, the bigger the party. Babies and children have no funerals and are just burried, this night was the opposite. He was a pretty big deal.

Volontaire de Sante

Life as a health volunteer is going to be a completely different Peace Corps experience. My first year (June 06- May 07) as a teacher was great and I would never want to give that up, I learned a lot about teaching, discipline and public education in a developing nation, but this next year will bring forth completely new set of problems. As a teacher I was aware of the health problems in Burkina, but never really saw them. Students would mention that they had Palu (Malaria) last week and couldn't make class, or that their little brother was sick with something. It was always like that, but I never really saw the diseases. Even when someone passed away, they never could explain why. They would just say he was sick. We would talk about HIV/AIDS but never really knew who was tested etc. The past month in my new village has been the complete opposite.



The first couple of weeks back in Burkina were spent doing small training sessions learning about the "Health Sector" of the Peace Corps. Since I went through an extensive training period in 2006 to become a teacher, I didn't need to go over the language and cultural components, so this training was specific on ways Peace Corps Volunteers can work with the government village clinics (Centre de Sante et Promotion Sociale = CSPS) to inform rural populations and improve the general health of the community. The CSPS's are small clinics that combat disease and provide a maternity where mother's can give birth in a clinic setting rather than at home. They work at the community level to inform the villagers about disease, hygiene, and proper nutrition. Most of the CSPS disease treatment is simple when thought of from western standards, but the when you are living in these rudimentary rural conditions, proper understanding of the sanitation and endemic diseases is the most efficient way to save lives. The CSPS staff normally includes a couple of nurses, a trained midwife and a pharmacists that runs a small set of government controlled generic medications. The CSPS system is the front line in terms of medical service and they are placed all over the country in some of the smallest most rural areas. This is the case with my new village Bouende, its small, real small, and very remote. Not remote in terms of location from Bobo the regional capital, just remote in terms of commodities. Maybe rustic is a better choice of words. Last year I taught at a middle school, they don't have one here in Bouende, which has a population of around 1200. There are about 2500 people in total who come from the surrounding villages to our CSPS. My old village of Balla had a population of about 5000, and had cold beer and a decent restaurant. Neither are in Bouende, so it feels a bit different.



The past month in Bouende I have seen first hand the health care problems of Burkina Faso, some of which are extremely emoitional. I met this one family while conducting a general door to door informational health study that informed me that they thought one of their children was a bit small for his age. The mother brought him over and he seemed to be in pretty bad shape. After a series of questions with a friend translating from French to Sambla, I found out he was 3 years old, can't walk, about 16 lbs, has chronic diariah and sometimes bloody, has a fever, doesn't eat well, and his mother has stopped producing milk. They don't sleep under a mosquito net, like almost all Burkinabe and probably has a severe case of malaria. It is easy to see that he was severely malnourished and behind in neurological development and will probably die soon. Holding back tears I asked her why she never went to the CSPS, she simply said that she didn't have the money. It is really tough to see some of these things. On an up note, the next day I got a group of women together, all of whom had malnourished children that I had discovered the day before, we discussed proper weaning techniques and hygiene. Then I showed them how to make an enriched porridge from local sustainable resources that are cheap and will improve their childrens nutrition and hope to fatten up the little tykes, and give them some energy to keep on fighting to survive. It was a great example of the importance of a health volunteers' work. These mothers with small children are reluctant to come to the clinic for a number of reasons; money, stigma of having a small child, traditional beliefs, or maybe they don't even know it's a problem. The CSPS is great resource and they could be treated there, but often the villagers feel distant from it and don't understand its purpose and think it is too expensive. My job is to promote western treatment and improve communication from the clinic to the local community. Living at the village level and working directly with the community to recognize and understand the problems in the village, and working together to solve these problems is what I will be doing for the next year or so... and I am excited about the new challenge.

Back in Burkina

Last weekend was my grand return to Balla, my old village where I taught last year at the CEG. My Co-workers and friends from village had been anticipating my return for a long time. I told them when I was leaving that I was coming back, but none actually believed me. But I proved them all wrong after 8 and a half months... to say the least they were surprised. Smiles on their faces were easy indications of who were my real friends. I first arrived at dark and met the old teachers that I worked with and we sat late into the night discussing everything from American politics to the latest village drama. It was great to be back on the same terrace that I had spent some much time just relaxing with my friends and grading mounds of papers. The next morning as I made my return to the center of the village during our market day it was so fun to be back. The surprised smiles were worth more than enough for enduring the lengthy bureaucratic reinstatement process of the Peace Corps.

My students were so excited to receive their Pen Pal letters from America... they wrote back in a few hours and asked so many great questions about the US. They each wanted a photo of themselves with their new "Pen Pals" photo so that I could send it back to the states in proof that they got their letters. After they wrote their letters, I told them that I had a surprise for them in the office. It was then that I showed the few students what I had brought them from the US. I had all the supplies out on out office table and it was there that I taught the few students there how to use a real Microscope. It was their first experience seeing and using technology they had only read about. Those couple of hours were probably the most rewarding of my entire Peace Corps service. Some of the students were so amazed to see and use slides they had only read about and maybe seen drawings of in their textbooks... it made me feel maybe one of these students someday would become a doctor, being motivated from these small science supplies I had brought. Which is a story in itself... teaching never allows you to see your rewards and the changes you make in the students you teach until years later. That being said I have met a couple of current teachers that had Peace Corps Volunteers as teachers years ago that motivated them to help the country develop and go in to teaching.

This was short, but I will have much more in the week to come. I have been all over the country and really busy getting adjusted to my new village and the new health sector. I think the change in work will be a great new eye-opening experience for me. I think that I have learned more in the past month than I have learned in my entire first year here. Big statement but true.