Wednesday, August 5, 2009

African Adventure 18

BON ANNEE! 2009

I biked with Henry Kiemtore' to church for Mass at the wee hour of 6am. Father Casmir was officiating, Georges was leading the choral group. Morning Mass was good, in the freshness of the day.

This evening Sister Mary hosted a surprise dinner party for Sr. Amy's birthday. The priests from St. Luc's and some workers at the CREN and I were all invited. In the evening when I arrived the young nuns were playing with Tiiga, their cat and a new puppy. Right now the cat has size advantage, but won't for long. Sister Mary had prepared a wonderful spread, commencing with soup, a broth of herbs and tiny carrot pieces, then onto baked tomato stuffed with rice. The main dish was quiche with meat pieces nested on top, and chicken both fried and baked. We had tossed green salad and local French bread accompanied by wine and bissap. Dessert was chocolate cake! Paul, the accountant, opened champagne and we all toasted Sr. Amy. It was a jolly meal.

After dinner was the entertainment. We sat in a semicircle at the large open area in the dining room and watched a skit the sisters prepared. Paul was the voice of God (coming from the next room) and Sr. Amy was the one who heard the voice while praying. The other two nuns snuck into prayer and Voila! also heard the voice of God. It ended in laughter.


Then the music portion of the fun evening started. Drums, guitar, and singing in several languages. Father Rene' from Bobo, a Camilian friar and a seminarian from Ouaga made up the group. It was such fun. They recalled holiday songs from their youth and all chimed in.

The next morning Sr. Amy gave me a tour of the CREN. She is now the director of the facility, while Sr. Mary is overall manager of the order and their work. She is also the doctor for the CREN. Sr. Mary told me her nephew Arnold is coming from France and they want to come to my village for a visit. I left there for the Grotto next to the parish of St. Luc, and met a woman there praying, who has been the midwife in Thyou for 9 years. She is a warm, friendly person. I teased with her about sitting close enough to her, that a little of her grace would flow to me.

I took in the marche' at Sabou before heading back to Sala. I ordered a woven flat top for my canary. I also loaded up on produce Thyou does not have.

03 January 09

Today is the marche' in Thyou, and I realized that my left leg can't handle a lot of walking. I was nearly in tears walking the several blocks to pick out vegetables and fruits and condiments. So I will delegate that to someone else until the pain goes down. It has been a +3 and 4 this whole week.

05 January 09

I visited my neighbor Sita and her baby at the clinic this morning. The one year old had her third treatment for malaria and was sleeping peacefully during my visit. The major told me the baby has Palu (malaria) Grave, with convulsions. She will go to hospital in Koudougou if not better rapidly.

I shared information on the CREN with the major and explained the expansion they plan: adult section opens in February and the Emergency Room to add to the laboratory and pharmacy which are open now along with the malnutrition center where mothers and babies stay a month until improved.

It was 5pm when Syrille came on moto with George for dinner. Syrille is a special friend and we are pleased he agreed to come. They greeted Hamadou, the chef of my compound, then Minata, my neighbor and landlady. I showed him my bulletin board full of pictures of my family in America and here. We drank dolo and played Uno for a time before eating. We had big salad, bread, rice with peanut sauce. They were in awe of my can opener and peeler from America. The neighbors came over to enjoy the visitor as well.

06 January 09

Mid morning a man I recognize as a neighbor was visiting with another man outside and held a paper so close to his eyes that his nose touched what he was looking at. I remembered that I had 2 extra pair of glasses in my trunk, so I got the ones with slight correction and offered them to him. He was so grateful, he thanked me in two languages. Later that day I saw him wearing the glasses, and gave him a cleaning tissue for them and case. All those bins/baskets in USA for donating glasses go exactly to this kind of person. Giving only works when there is someone in need to give to!

When I went to clinic today I talked with the major about my desire to have talks and demonstrations with the school children in nearby Thyou as well. Sala, my village and Thyou are sister villages and the communities are very interwoven. He agreed to this plan, as it is not in the same Health District and needs his blessing. I gave him my written COGES (health board) report to which he said “C'est bon!”

On the way home from the market today we went to the north end of Thyou to talk with the school staff about my desire to sensibilize their students about health issues. We agreed on tomorrow. Then we stopped by L'ecole Centre in Thyou for the same request. I had my language lesson in Moore' afterwards.

The next day we arrived at Yaoghin School near Thyou by 9am and discovered that Abdoulaye, my major's son is the first grade teacher there. We met with the director Claude and also noted that the parents group was meeting outside under a tree. The staff organized the two youngest classes, CP1 and CP2 on a huge ancient rock outside for the talk. They responded very well to the hygiene lesson of washing the hands, and especially like the song we taught them. It turned out we talked with three large groups there with a total of 350 students. (See photos.)
We proceeded to Yargo School north of Thyou and repeated the whole process with another three large groups, but held indoors. It ran into their lunch break, but they seemed ok with it. Here there were 400 students. They want the soap balls I offered to bring back for each classroom to use at school. Soap balls are available at the marche' six for 500 francs.


08 January 09

When I went to the maternite' this morning for baby weighing, the women started coming in large numbers with their infants. The assistant nurse and I worked all morning weighing 50 babies and recording the information in both the main book and on the individual cards. Things were going so fast and this got tricky for me because I recorded in the wrong booklet for one family and that took some time to undo. I resorted to writing the weights on a scratch pad asap. The main nurse came to do prenatal checks on several pregnant women. He also was trying to clip the tongue of a 2 yr old, that the mother held in her lap. It was a struggle, so I held his head still for the quick procedure. It was a busy morning!

The next day at my language lesson I began the 3rd year French reader and then we went over our causerie on dental hygiene by practicing with a Nim branch. One peels back about an inch of bark and sucks on the end until it is wet and stringy, then it is ready to scrub the teeth up and down with the natural bristles that makes. It takes practice! But is indigenous to the African culture.

The next day I packed up the peanuts Minata was sending to Dr. Claude, and my bags to go to Ouaga for my mid-service conference, physical exam & work on my quarterly report for Peace Corps. For my physical I had to get an EKG due to my being over 50 they said. Whew! the ticker is fine! Next I had a scheduled Physical Therapy appt. Mr. Forogo placed the sensors differently, to see if there was a solution to why my left leg hurts so much. He applied hot packs too. He tested my legs after all that, rotating them and said it was sciatic nerve problem. He then said I need to stay in Ouaga for daily treatment for a week to reduce problem. Eventually the PT assistants showed me a new exercise pushing my left knee across my body while my left ankle rested on my right knee.

16 January 09

I had another appt with PC doctor for general check up and discuss my leg pain. He ordered a CAT scan. He gave me a lower back exercise booklet and said not to lift over 20 lbs. By Thursday that week things had improved a little. I went again to Dr. Luc Friday morning for his review of the medicine he switched me to and the extra rest and exercise routine. He also checked degree of mobility and said it is mild sciatic nerve problem. Doing treatment now will prevent it from becoming moderate.

I left the PC Bureau to bike back to the Transit House where I stay in Ouaga. En route I wanted to get lunch so I biked to Chez Carlos, a schwarma stand in the neighborhood about 1pm. Two young men on a moto came up behind me, the driver caught my eye as he went by. Then I realized he slowed so the second guy got off and unsnapped my fanny pack in back. When I felt that I screamed loud, which scared them and they both took off, the driver on the moto and the snatcher on foot with my bag in his hand. I kept screaming like I had learned in “Women's Strength”class that the voice is a weapon to be used in these circumstances. The whole neighborhood came outside, people on foot and bike stopped and all wanted to help. I was shaking like a leaf, but most everyone was so helpful.

Around the corner and down two blocks the neighbors pinned the snatcher down until the police came for him. He had thrown my bag in the bushes by then and hiked over a fence into a parking lot and hid under a vehicle. The neighbors told me that they are sick and tired of the theft and robbery taking place in their middle class neighborhood and want it to stop. They sure demonstrated it today. They sent word to me that they recovered my fanny pack with camera, cellphone, money, ID, flash drives etc. and soon delivered it to me. Nothing was missing.

I called the PCB and they came right there (6 blocks) and we reviewed the crime scene. They talked to two house guards who had witnessed the whole thing due to my yelling I think. Congo and I went down to the police station to identify the snatcher. There were about a dozen guys sitting on the floor there waiting to get booked in. We went to an officer's room so he could take a report of the incident. The snatcher revealed the name of his cohort and the police said they have been looking for him for a long time. What a day!

That Saturday I took a bike path around the National Park spotting alligators, peacocks and a reserve of small animals. Some turtles there were over 100 years old. (See photos.)

20 January 09 Inauguration Day in America

I had an early appointment with Dr. Luc and Sylvie, the PC medical team in Burkina Faso to discuss my sciatic nerve problem and how to care for it in village. They will bundle up my new prescriptions and a box of hot packs for use when I am released tomorrow to return to my village. Of course I am to continue with my lower back exercises. Dr. Luc checked my throat which really hurts, but found nothing. When I left there I took a taxi to the Bureau de Sante' to find charts for teeth brushing demo I want to do next in the schools. The health dept sent me to the hospital next door which has a dental section, and they referred me to WHO (World Health Organization). I was given posters and booklets for the school director by the head person there. Visual aids are very useful with the students.

I was near the American Embassy then, where all the volunteers were spending the next few hours watching the swear in of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. The number of people there in DC to witness the event in person was overwhelming, all waving flags. Obama was measured, serious, grateful and spoke without notes. Yoyo Maw and Isaac Stern and pianist played. A poem was written and recited by the president of Yale. Spectacular!

Becky and I were reliving it over a brew around the corner from TH, and an African named Dennis came over to us to tell us how proud he was that Obama appealed to all people watching. Dennis says now he is inspired to visit America. In his zeal he bought a round.

Lots of people came over to my house to welcome me back to village on January 21. That Thursday I weighed 41 babies, but needed help keep the health booklets straight, so the women came to my aid. There were 3 women from my quartier there too. The nurse came to do the necessary vaccinations.

26 January 09

We three, Saidou, Karim and I biked to Gannsin quartier, 5K from Sala for sensibilisation on malaria this morning. It was an hour later when enough people (60) had gathered to begin. Meanwhile we met with the family chef, Ouedraogo Boukari. The talk regarding the disease went smoothly. The comments from the villagers were that they don't have enough money for mosquito nets and they get bit in the fields too, not just at night. Heather is sending me more nets from IKEA. We three visited a while at my house after returning from causerie.

Thursday I worked with the new nurse on baby weighing day, she gave shots and Gilbert recorded the information. Only ten women with infants showed up, but I weighed them all. I did notice that the maternite' was cleaned up and the new books for 2009 were there to write in.

Friday I visited the several patients on drip IVs at the clinic and talked with the major too. Another young nurse is here today named Emilie, having just finished school in KDG.

I worked on translating stories in my 3rd reader and also a bible story regarding Isaac. During my lesson we worked on dialogs which was fun. Then we spent the afternoon at the big market day in Thyou.

31 January 09

Georges had scheduled our sensibilisation on hand washing at the Central School in Thyou this Saturday morning. We met there at 9am and the headmaster organized one big group of CM1 and CM2, who understood my French. Voila! It went well but we couldn't do the other 4 classes because the students were practicing the national anthem to sing at the inauguration of the new police station in Thyou at noon. We attended and got very good seats near the front for the ceremony. Six or eight car loads of dignitaries came from Ouaga then the ceremony began. There was singing, dancing and speeches during the fete. The very popular mayor had the longest speech. He had greeted me earlier and said we would talk further. He seemed pleased with the progress of his village to have a new security agent. Thyou celebrated the rest of the day, as did we.

First week of February 09

When I pedaled home one evening and found Minata sitting under the hangar out front of our duplex, I asked her about the fires in the fields set at dusk oftentimes. She described that the ashes are used for a brine to make potash used in cooking beans. It reduces the gas. I told her I want to learn how to make it, because I love the beans and rice they make here..



The family chef Hamadou rode with me to the CSPS next morning. He brought his X-rays taken in KDG to show the major. We went in together to consult about his lower back pain. The major said take the prescription he already had and it will get better.

The major told me the goats ate all the leaves on the Moringa trees. Ooh la, la! My neighbor Sita told me mites were in the new trees on my veranda, so I sprayed them with Rambo insecticide, hoping to resolve that problem. My counterpart Karim told me he would have some villagers repair the fence to keep the goats out.

Sala villagers are discouraged that a wealthy man in Thyou is running water from their barrage to his personal garden. Our village chef Adama is traveling to KDG tomorrow for a meeting about the issue. Locally there have been a number of meetings to resolve it, now it will get attention at the next level.

During my language lesson at the Thyou barrage I photographed a shepherd with many beef. They were drinking water there. Everything living shares the water.

Thursday Gilbert and I weighed 37 babies, including the twins from Bolo born June 24. They are very tiny still, Albertine is 4.7K and Albert is 4.2K. I photographed them and told the parents, Ally and Bapan, I would find them in Bolo and give them pictures when I come there next.

While at the maternite' we shortened the Moringa tree to 6' in the solarium, so it is reachable for harvesting the leaves.

At Ouaga our Food Security core members met for planning of our big meeting on the weekend. We did this over dinner at La Jardineire. It was good and reasonable.

I prepared our lunch for the meeting, making a tossed green salad, toasted French bread and spaghetti, with a sauce containing dried Moringa leaves full of vitamins and minerals. (See photo.) As we were having six new interested members join our food security group, we four each gave a brief slide presentation on Moringa and our work in village on this project. We also discussed with them the positions open on the committee. This bigger new group is a welcome change with a lot of ideas and energy!

Saturday evening Angie skyped me with a surprise group of my friends and relatives to talk together. They were enjoying lunch together and I got to see and talk to each one of them. I love this new technology, which brings family and friends together instantly
Second week of February 09

While in Ouaga I priced with a tailor the cost of having my Easter dress made—17 mille, very expensive. I managed two more physical therapy appointments while there too. On Tuesday while returning south on the highway towards Bobo, the driver Bouba stopped for a man on a stretcher, who had a seriously injured leg and was going to Sabou. Transport in BF is any and everything. Difficult! When my taxi brousse dropped me at Thyou, I went home and got Adama to help me get my boxes home. We each tied a couple on our bikes to get there.

Wednesday I visited with the major at the clinic to tell him of my Moringa meeting in Ouaga. There were several patients on drip feeds. The major mentioned his natal village and wants us to do sensibilisation for the students at the school there, where the teacher Nebie' Julien is director. We talked about the VIH sensibilisation this Friday and the sensibilisation at Central School in Thyou on Saturday. I also met with the new accoucheuse Albertina. She is tall, pretty and very friendly.

At market I inquired from Marie who she and her daughters use for a tailor and one of the children showed me the place. I ordered my Easter dress there, 4 mille. He had trouble understanding my French, but we managed the transaction.

Thursday we weighed the 8 babies that came in and sent 3 more home because they were too young to be weighed. The accoucheuse recorded the information and she has added measuring height to the program, which pleases me. We can then use a grid for weight and height to determine whether the child is malnourished. I visited with the two new nurses, Bibata and Emilie.

At my language lesson, we studied a Moore' reader and did 5 simple lessons. Then I read one from the French reader.

Friday was the main quartier sensibilisation in Sala-Weeg Yiri. Karim and Saidou were to my house early so we could gather our things and meet Garrett for the VIH-SIDA (HIV-AIDS) talk. By 10 we were at the bottom of my hill close to the big tree down there. The chef had the mechanic clear out his hangar for the talk. People started coming and within 30 minutes we had enough people (60) to begin. Garrett and I spoke in French which Saidou translated into Moore' for the villagers. We talked about the disease, how it is contracted, prevention and education. When we got to the condom demo there were a few snickers, but at the end no questions.

We went to my house to debrief, and it was an enlightening discussion. Karim wanted to know where the virus began and we said Africa. He had heard that it began when a monkey slept with a woman and gave her the illness. Garrett, who understands their French, responded that has been disproven a long time ago. Karim said a second theory he heard is that it began in the Congo when someone didn't cook monkey meat well enough. Karim also wanted to know if there is a vaccinations for AIDS. We answered him “No”.

On Saturday I scurried to get everything ready to meet Georges at Ecole Centre in Thyou for sensibilisation on hand washing. The teachers were all sitting under a big tree before the school bell rang. We began with CE classes, which went well and the teacher helped too. The students loved the song, and Georges practiced with them until they had the chant down.
Then we had an older group, CM and they picked it up very fast. The CP classes were out of school early this day, but had lingered long enough that we met with them outside under a couple trees and went over the causerie quickly. When the volunteers came to do their demo for their comrades, one boy nearly put his hands down in the dirty water, but caught himself. The teacher stood outside with us and shooed the big kids away so we could meet with the youngsters. I left a ball of soap for each classroom.

Third week of February 09

Aminata was building a new house. She was already making mud in the morning and hauling it to the mason, where workers, 4 men and 4 teens were lining up the bricks for her one room hut. Some children were also helping. When one builds anything here the neighbors volunteer their time too. It took most of the day to get all the bricks laid, then the mud mortar dried in the sun.
(See photos.) Later that day I photographed Karim, Sofi and their mother and baby near the construction site. Zanabou had come from Cote d'Ivoire to visit them.



I conversed with the major about the water chart he said he had for our upcoming talk with Sune' villagers. I also asked when the pump next to CSPS will be unlocked. Seems the water table is low and the clinic pump needs to be reserved for its use. He is sending the people over to the next pump for water. He does open the pump for several hours each morning tho.

He was talking with the accoucheuse when I found him, and I excused myself to pedal to church. She asked where St. Irene's Catholic Church is and soon followed me on her moto. As I returned home afterwards I saw quite a large crowd gathered at the mosque in Thyou, unusual for a Sunday and learned that a funeral service was happening. (See photo.)

In the afternoon I hear women singing and approaching our quartier. Dozens of women were coming to congratulate Alizeta on her graduation from the Koran school. The fun of it drew me closer. When I got to the other side of our compound I found Minata and Yondougma chanting and dancing, so I joined them. The women greeted the family chef Salam as they arrived. It was a merry time and I captured some of that in the photos.




When my sister Connie called that evening to tell me she and Chris have tickets to come here I was overjoyed!

I had the major review my talk on teeth brushing, which he said looked fine. He and Emilie are going to Sune' for vaccinations. I also spoke to his son, Oussmane who says he's still watering the Moringa trees next to the maternite'. We want to encouraged them to sprout from the root system. I practiced my presentation one more time that day, when Georges came with 20 Nim sticks. He also had a couple props we will use in demo, glass and bones. I prepared a sack of school supplies and things to take to Sune'.

It rained during the night, but Georges said the first rain does not make mud, so we can go ahead to Sune' 24K away. We left for the causerie at 8:40am, but on the way we had a flat tire on the moto. Luckily the hut nearby was that of a mechanic, who had us on our way in 20 minutes. When we arrived at Sune' School the directeur Dieudonne, gathered all his 95 students into one group for the sensibilisation. We taped our dental posters from WHO to the blackboard and most students understood French but Georges translated into Moore' for the younger ones. We showed them sodium powder, ground salt and toothpaste as options to use. We asked if they knew anyone with missing or broken teeth or obvious cavities in their families or friends. We stressed brushing teeth after every meal. We showed them the things that can damage teeth when put in the mouth: glass, bones, metal, rocks, and very hard candies. After we demonstrated proper teeth brushing with Nim and brushes, we asked for and got 6 volunteers for them to show their comrades how to do it.
For our first talk on this,it went relatively smoothly. At the conclusion I asked the students if they remembered the song we taught them last time regarding hand washing They immediately sang it for us. They were very excited about the school donations.

Next we motoed further into Sune' and met the villagers for a follow up talk on diseases caused by bad water. We found the major and Emilie there finishing up the vaccinations. By 1pm we had enough villagers to begin our talk with them. We had a flip chart provided by the major to discuss how to keep the area around water clean. I gave the ASC a bottle of bleach to share with others. 8 drops per 10 liters of water kills microbes/bacteria. The villagers had two questions in the discussion phase; how to get a second well in village, and how to get help with disease of the eyes, which they relate to this problem. We stressed boil drinking water, add bleach and write a letter to the Bureau de Sante' with request for second well. They thanked us for coming as they are so remote, they get few visitors.

Thursday there were 3-4 women waiting to have infants weighed and vaccinated. The accoucheuse said I should start. I found the right card before I weighed each baby so I wouldn't get mixed up again. I wrote the info right away too. None of the babies this morning cried when we worked together on this, and some even smiled at me. I relayed the baby's weight to each mother in Moore' numbers of kilo and grams. I checked their vaccination record and piled up the ones who were in need, and Bibita came later and vaccinated that handful.

Friday I had a PC site visit by Congo Harouna, security manager and Jean Luc, physician. The driver Oussmane checked over my bike, while the rest of us discussed safety of my house and some general integration and health question. They also talked with the major, who spoke favorably about my work and outreach into the communities. Congo said he went to school with the mayor of Thyou. He also plans to stop at the new police office and introduce self as two of us volunteers live close by.

At the marche' that day we spoke to Ky Simplice, director of Salo School. He needs a soccer ball soon. I told him when my box gets here from America it will be in it. He invited me to come to the game the next morning between Salo and Bolo, held in our own village of Sala. He wants me to kick the ball in. What an honor! But there were some chuckles and jokes when two adult sized kids showed up to play in the game. I greeted the line of players, before I kicked the ball in. It was a fun game to watch.

I took transport to Rob's village Bawiga. He met me at dusk and we biked to his village, 7K on beautiful paved highway, and 4K into bush. We almost got home before I fell in a rut and gashed my foot,which I bandaged when we got home. Along the way we stopped to greet his major at home. Then the theater group was hanging out at Rob's for the HIV-AIDS skit they had planned for this weekend. A teacher and conseillor were there too and they all had dinner ready-Riz Gras. We turned in after a long day.

Fourth week of February 09

Rob loves to cook and made Roots of Antioch porridge for breakfast that was quite good. The young men's theater group were meeting with the functionairres from village to discuss the performance this weekend. They decided to postpone it for a month because a prominent person in village had 13 beef stolen, which put a damper on the village spirit. Rob gave me the tour of the clinic, pharmacy, his Moringa forest project, etc. The Bawiga marche' is literally out his front door. We looked that over too and sat for dolo with some of his village friends. Then we found a hangar run by Poule women, who made us fresh zoomkoom, with sugar and ginger. It was a relaxing day.

On Monday we were biking to transport when we saw a camilian, and took many photos of it.
It changed colors while we were watching. Taxi brousse didn't go to Sabou today, so I caught a bus to Leo. When I got there I got a room at Auberge Natou with Casey's help because the next taxi brousse there leaves at 6am Tues morning. Leo is known for having ignames (big root plant like potato) grown in Cote d'Ivoire 3 for 750F. I found a salad place and the guy made an amazing green salad with lettuce, red onions, tomatoes, cukes and avocado with dressing and bread—300F.

I rose early Tuesday to be in good time for the taxi. As I arrived at the gare at 5:10am, it was pulling out! It stopped for me to get on. Time is relative in Burkina Faso. More passengers boarded along the route, until it was a packed car. By 9:30 we had drove the 100K to Sala. The mechanic's sons helped me up the hill to my house. I checked in with the major to tell him of my visit with Rob. The major called the director of Bansmnore' School and we set a date for sensibilisation with the students there.

The marche' in Thyou has dolo flowing today-Fat Tuesday because tomorrow Lent starts and there will be no beer. After that I went to visit Garrett and talk about the trip to Rob's. Garrett made rice and tomato sauce with lots of veggies and we ate dinner together. Wednesday I pedaled to church for the traditional ashes on my forehead.

Thursday was baby weighing and Albertina the new accoucheuse had made a measuring area on the corner of the two cement benches in the waiting room. That day we took the height of all the babies weighed. That made me so happy as we could then graff the malnourished child by chart and supplement the diet with a protein pack, plus coach the mother. We weighed 23 babies that morning. Albertina gave one particularly tall baby being raised by his aunt, a supplement because he was orphaned, which contributed to no weight gain..

In the afternoon Issaka came over to tell me he is going back to Cote d'Ivoire for a month. He told the school teacher that I have permission to take Sali to Ouaga for an eye exam soon. Dr Cole in Vancouver offered to pay for exam and make a pair of glasses for her. I took a picture of Sali I will forward to Dr. Cole showing her cross eyed.

Friday was the beginning of the polio campaign, when medical staff go door to door in the villages to vaccinated all the young children for polio. The accoucheuse, Gilbert, and I walked all over central Sala, even to my compound. It was so interesting to visit people in their own environment. I got to mark the pinky on the children, while Gilbert marked on the outside wall of the compounds how many children were vaccinated out of the potential number of children fitting the criteria.



I asked the major to take a bundle of yellow t-shirts to KDG to give to my friend, Achille to write numbers on them for the soccer team from Bengre'. The major's son is the team coach. Competition is coming up soon.

Saturday the polio campaign continued. I was later getting to the clinic and my team had left, so I asked the major which route they took. He said go right, past the school and into the bush. I did that and finally asked some kids where they went and they were kind enough to lead me one kilometer to find them. When we found them, they were on moto, so no wonder it took me a while. We went past the barrage to Paul and Odeille's home and I got to see Ingrid again. She had been at the CSPS with malaria a couple months ago. At the next house women were slicing tomatoes to dry.

Tomorrow I go to Ouagadougou to meet Chris and Connie on the plane from America! Yeah!