African Adventure 8

01-03-08

I hear the women “pile the millet”, rhythmic sounds as two and three pound together this morning. Before going to the clinic I visit them under the old tree where they've done this activity forever. There are new faces, visitors, and all are getting ready for the marriage fete (feast) I'm sure. (See pictures.)

Lots of people come into CSPS and I recognize Beli from Zao, who helped bring in a young woman, who delivered twin boys two weeks ago. She is sick and on an IV line and gramma has the twins, who are extremely tiny and fragile looking. They have a tiny cry. When the mother tries to nurse them, she has no milk. I encourage her to drink water, as much as she can. The babies have trouble latching onto her nipples. I will go home, find my La Leche book and share some info with them somehow. They only speak Moore'.

The little boy and mother who were here yesterday are back. He is on another drip. He gives me a slight smile, I think he remembers me and the ball and jacks I gave him. When I talk to the major this morning, we discuss some questions I have about the village site locater map which I have to fill out for PC. He also answers some questions about the COGES and refers me to Gansonre for info on the Microplan and statistics for Sala. I also discuss with the major my desire to do a questionnaire or presentation in some villages regarding the main health problems they are having.

When I return from my home, I give the twins' mother, Nebia, Atia, the quilt for her twin (jumeau) boys that aunt Sal made last Fall. She is happy as I tell her mother that my friend in America made it for a new African baby. (See pictures). I show Atia the pictures in the LLL book, then copy them by hand and write the words under each one in French, and Beli says he will find someone to translate them into Moore' for her. The pictures describe how to position the babies, and how to encourage suckling. I bring her an orange drink and Beli encourages her to drink lots of water. I discuss with the RNs and the trainees that the babies need to eat every two hours around the clock to survive. I ask them about the meds she is on and if they restrict her milk production. I spend time with them as we bridge the communication gap.

I am home studying for my upcoming work with the villagers, when I hear lots of bustling next door. Sikinata is pounding arachide (peanuts) and Minata flips the powder in a tray to get rid of any peanut skins. Zanabou is making tô (long o) which is a staple in the Burkinabe' diet. They are preparing food for the marriage feast this weekend. I go over and watch the men set up the lights and loudspeaker for the dance tonight. Some women are filling a big plastic tarp with ground millet to dry on my porch. No bride and groom yet. I gather he is coming home from Cote D'Ivoire to get married.

That evening I bring my chair over to watch the dancing which begins after dark. They watch me too. The teen girls from across the village come up and greet me. There are dozens and dozens of youth gyrating to the music. Everyone in village knows there will be a wedding tomorrow and they can come to any of the festivities. My two nurse trainee friends show up and ask where I live, so I show them my place. They point out on my big BF map on the wall the villages near Koudougou they each come from. After socializing for awhile, I invite them to the Mass at the Thyou barrage in the morning, a decent walk down a path from my place. The kids keep dancing through the night, laughing and copying the moves from the more experienced ones. I turn in at 11, but the music goes on until 3am.

02-03-08 “Pelerinage au Barrage”

Activities are starting outside in my quartier early this day because of the wedding. The chef comes over to our compound, so I quickly grab my pagne to wrap around my shorts, and go outside to greet him and the two gentlemen with him. About that time Minata takes my hand and escorts me into Salam's quartier to see the women gathered in a hut. They have two huge mesh sacks filled with cooking ware for the new bride. The young woman is sitting in this space, sequestered until her wedding. While we are nearby her home, we stop and greet the premiere femme of the compound, Kietomougo. The women of my two quartiers continue preparing food all day.

Both Zanobou and Abdoulaye are going to the pilgrimage with me this morning. It is a huge event, and people from miles around attend. Lots of them go to the Catholic Church in Thyou and walk the distance to the barrage, about 1.5 K away. But we are walking on a path from the other direction and will be there in time to see the people arrive there who make the pilgrimage. Already when we get to the dike road, we see the tent set up for Mass on the west side of the barrage under the trees. We find a good location on the south side of the congregation area to put our bench, which Zanabou carried from home on her head for us to sit on during the service. Others are there waiting too.

We can hear the drumming as the people coming get nearer, and suddenly they are coming en masse across the field and through the trees. Georges led the chanters to the barrage. As they all get settled, the 5 priests are getting ready too. The opening prayer and singing by the youth choir from Sabou is very good. Georges led the Thyou choir and the congregation through much of the other singing. (See picture.) There were drums and organ music, and the sound system had a few squeaks too. The priests each led various parts of the service. The people there laughed at the sermon the young priest gave, and I later learned he told a story about a monkey with a stomach ache, who was advised not to eat the fruit of a certain tree. He refrained for three days and then relented and got sick again and died. It is a tree with blossoms/fruit that are short lived but very lethal. I'm thinking the moral was about temptation.

At the offertory part of Mass, some villagers carried high a big basket of produce to place on the altar too. The priests all passed out communion as the choirs kept singing. The backdrop of the water in the barrage, and under very old trees made the outdoor mass especially beautiful. Towards the end of the service a catechist announced the amounts each neighboring parish had pledged and collected for the project to build a new church. They are very poor but giving people.

There was a market of sorts set up nearby where people attending this “Pelerinage” could get something to eat and drink while socializing with each other. We found the sisters from the CREN, and some of the older ladies we invited from the complex in Sabou. We met Georges two daughters, and most of his extended family. We found pork and bread and made sandwiches for everyone, as we all sat under a tree on benches. Later the girls and I found the African dancing that was going on in one area. We had fun dancing like Africans to the local music, and I followed the lead of the women in the circle stepping in rhythm to the sounds. The kids laughed as I tried out my steps, and later I heard from a lot of different people who either saw me there or heard I was there. Then it was time to go home.

We got to our compound in the afternoon to find the wedding feast happening. The ceremony was apparently over. We spoke to the men gathered under the hangar, slicing the roasted mouton meat and we got plates of food. We heard the women in the courtyard dancing, so we joined them after we ate. Abdoulaye and I watched his mother lead the Moore' chanting in her rich voice. The women invited me to dance, then passed me a veil to tie on my waist. The men drummed the calabashes and strummed the strings on the gas can and made beautiful music on homemade instruments. The festivities went on into the night.

03-03-08

This morning when I arrived at the clinic, the major was in a new orange boubou talking with people. Meanwhile Gansonre was looking for a woman's chart to find the diagram highlighting where her leprosy was on her body at the last exam. It had gone from her back and sides to both elbows and was now on her hands. In the main area the two trainees and Philippe, RN were treating 3-4 patients on IVs. I chatted with the major telling him I was preparing my presentation in French for his review. He gave it two thumbs up. Next I asked for the Microplan of the clinic for the next year, and was given that to read and glean info from. At this point I understood there will be a COGES mtg this afternoon, and I was invited.

I visited the marche' briefly that day to get supplies, food and visit people. Several people were happy to tell me they saw me dance Sunday after the church service at the barrage. Villagers like it when one tries to emulate their customs, and dancing is definitely one. Soon Garrett and I were eating a salad at the marche' and talking about the visa he is getting to go to Togo soon. I also found my friend Marie and we had a dolo together at the hangar.

In the late afternoon the COGES meeting started and lasted an hour. There were about 6 people there from the members of the group. The major and Gansonre ran the meeting with the president and treasurer responding with discussion at some points. My French professor arrived in time for the meeting and took some notes for me as it was all in French. He explained the discussion to me later. The major had to leave before it was over, and the next meeting will be the 30th of next month. Late in the meeting Gansonre invited me to explain my project to the members, so I did that after I introduced myself and confirmed their names. I told them I was going to present to three groups, Zao, Bolo and my quartier to have a discussion about health issues for them, using PACA tool for “Needs Assessment Matrix”. Gansonre helped demonstrate the tool to the GOGES members. We are set to begin on Wed.

After we returned to my house we spent time working on my French translation of the presentation and had tuna salad and tea. We rewrote the presentation. The next morning we took a copy over for the major and Gansonre to review. They liked it, especially the questions at the end about how does one get the main identified health problem, and how does the community treat the person with that problem. Then Gansonre told me the police were coming to take him to Zao regarding a construction accident there. He was finishing up with the patients he was seeing at the Sala clinic, showing the trainee how to flush out an eardrum on a 10yr old boy, who has put dirt down his.

After I left the clinic I went to the boutique to inquire about a taxi brousse to Gao. While there I visited the men out front and the older ones were patient with my Moore efforts. That was fun. I also visited more with the stagierre infirmiers. They want an American contact and they were cooking benga and invited me to eat with them. It was excellent, and Alexi was the cook.

After my language lesson, George and I discussed the presentation Wednesday and he asked whether the COGES were invited. I said sure, as I had given the details for everyone to know. They had mentioned at their meeting that they accompanied the last PCV to the sensibilisations. I am open to this.

05-03-08

We made our final preparations to go to Zao. George biked 15 K to Sabou for a black marker because there wasn't one here anywhere. What a trooper! We made the matrix on butcher paper, so it is ready for our work today. We stopped by the CSPS to touch base with the major before heading south to Dana and then Zao. He said the COGES were at the district today, and would not be coming. When we arrived at Zao, we found Beli and Atia, my friend, who took us to the marche' for benga. Many villagers were gone to a funeral so the presentation did not begin until afternoon under a big tree near the route. Beli retrieved benches and a blackboard for our use. We reviewed the presentation with Beli the AA for Zao and he offered to translate it into Guerrinsi for the villagers right after Georges translated my French statements into Moore'. As the crowd gathered, about 20 women, 10 men and 30 children, we commenced. After introductions, I explained that I wanted their help in discussing the most significant health problems in their village. I said we would use the matrix that I learned in Corps de la Paix. We would divide into smaller groups to identify the health issues. The first part went well. When we divided up Beli took the men, Patrice took another group and George took a big group of women. Each group came up with five health issues and we merged the lists until we had five for the matrix, and then began comparing every two issues. That was going pretty well and then an older gentleman started debating the merits of the process and the fact that it was midday, so we should give them money for their lunch he argued. I tried to ignore him, which was not the right thing to do. People started leaving.

Additionally some people requested medicine from us when they heard we were from the health clinic. A woman showed me her toddler's burn, where a 1” square of flesh was missing from her little foot. An older woman wanted aspirin for her headache.

It was determined that Diarrhee was the principle issue for this village. My closing three questions and statement did not occur this time. We ended the event as the headmaster from the school came by to say Hi. When we went back to the marche' Mdm. Kiemte from Thyou greeted us. She was there selling things, and I realized I had sat next to her on the last transport to Ouaga. She was so excited to see me and we talked quite a while.

I thanked both Beli and Atia for their help and support with our efforts in Zao. As we pedaled back home with the first presentation behind us, I felt OK, thinking it was a good effort for the first one. I assured Georges I couldn't have done it without his help and translation. I said I know I don't have the language yet to do this by myself, but in spite of that I want to be here! He told me that the language will come.

06-03-08

Thursday morning, time to weigh babies! The accoucheuse let me weigh the last four and write their birth weight in the register and in their health books. Soon the infirmier stagierres came to the maternite' and said they had a mother in delivery. There were two grammas in the waiting area, but it was going to be awhile I learned. I headed over to the school but no one was there. So I stopped at the quartier across from the school and found that the older man who was giving me Moore' words at the boutique yesterday lives here. We chatted and then a woman brought out benga and maise for me to eat. It was very good, and what I didn't finish the kids in the quartier were glad to eat.

My lesson was late today because George's daughter had his bike and wasn't aware of the time. We did a new dialogue and I read a chapter out of the primer. We agreed to meet at 7am to ride together to Sabou because he also was going to KDG for the weekend to visit his wife, and they would view the tombstone for their baby, which is supposed to be done by then. Later as I packed for Koudougou, I nearly cried when I opened the box Sally sent me with two new baby quilts and many other things for people in village.

07-03-08

Minata tied everything onto my bike and away I went in the morning. Georges was waiting in Thyou for me and we pedaled together to Sabou in an hour. We checked on the transport over to KDG which was supposed to leave at 9am, but after we found an omelette stand and returned, it was clear it would be much longer than that. I urged him to leave for KDG before it got any hotter, and he actually arrived there about the time we left Sabou on transport, 11:15am. Another woman from Thyou named Awa traveled to KDG with me and wants to visit me next Tuesday at my house. Since she spoke Moore' and I don't yet, a young man, Eric translated for us.

After I settled in at the mission, I went to the internet and then after about 45 minutes the power in town went out. My friend Alassone had joined me at the internet cafe to observe, and I promised to call him when I returned there.

At 5:15 the stations of the cross began at the mission. I walked behind the crowd and enjoyed the French hymns. I met my friend Achille at the Conference Center for dinner and to visit. He brought me a cahier of French phrases that he had copied. I had a pair of sandals for him, which fit nicely, and he was both surprised and happy. We both went to the cybercafe and the power was back on, so I called Alassane who came and joined us. Achille followed me home to the mission for safety.

08-05-08

Today is the “International Woman's Day” which is celebrated in a big way in Western Africa. The banks and poste were closed, but the market was open. There was a parade and presentation at the stadium in KDG. (See picture.) I texted Achille and when he came we walked to the grandstand where people were giving speeches in honor of the day. We went to the marche' and searched for material made specially for “Jour de la Femme 2008”. We found one pagne for 4 mill, way too much money! I will wait to get three pagne, enough to have a dress made. While there we bought wonderful peanut butter at the marche' and bread to make sandwiches with our avocados.

We went to the internet around 3 and Zach was there, a volunteer whom I met with JZ in December in KDG. Zach said a bunch of volunteers were staying with Melissa and everyone was going to dinner tonight at 6 or 7. We were invited to join them, but I hedged on the invitation. Pretty soon Nakiesha called me and said she was coming to get me for dinner. She scolded me for not calling them that I was coming to KDG. So Achille and I joined Kelly, Melissa, Nakeisha, Justin, and Zach for brouchettes and beer. We bought salad across the street and that rounded out our meal. They were fun to be around and welcoming to my friend. Achille followed me safely home before heading to his place.

09-03-08

The church bells at the seminaire woke me up at 6, and again at 8 they rang, but the priest last night told us mass was at 8:30, so when Achille arrived this morning and we walked over to the church, the overflow crowd was sitting on benches outside the building. The sermon was occurring when we got there, and then we threaded our way up for communion. The singing was wonderful and the priest had a good tone too. Of course the seminarians were angelic in sound. We walked back to my porch to eat the omelette sandwiches Achille had brought, then we had a visit from Georges and his wife, Laurentine, who had also gone to Mass at the seminaire today. The dining room chef gave me coffee to serve my guests.

Laurentine had greeted me warmly, touching the sides of our heads together. Georges said that the cross and heart tombe for their infant was not done. They had spent most of Saturday dealing with that. The metal work was done, and there was a coat of black paint on the tombstone, but the writing wasn't there. Georges and Achille discussed it a long time and eventually came up with the plan that Achille would do the lettering for Jean Marc Kiemtore', ne 23 Avril 2007, dec 15 Fevriere 2008. Sign painting is the line of work that Achille and his brother, Serafine do in Koudougou.

We looked at pictures on my laptop, before going to the internet cafe to post my blog. I had packed up my things and all four of us went down to the gare, where one catches the taxi brousse back over to Sabou. Turns out there wasn't going to be transport until very late, after 6pm. And that means it would be dark by the time that I would be riding my bike back 15 K to village.

The solution to that was that the driver would take me to the church in Sabou, and the priest would contact the sisters and see if I could possibly stay the night with them. The priest took me in his mini truck up the road a few kilometers to where the sisters were behind the new CREN we had visited. The sisters welcomed me, showed me to a room with a fresh bed, fed me dinner (the biggest meal I had in a long time), and we chatted about my work and theirs as we ate. Besides grace before and after the meal, Sister Mary said “Let's say hi to Jesus”, and showed me into a small chapel. Another interesting thing was the bathroom which had a shower, and two toilets, which is a typical French feature.

The next morning after mass in Sabou, we returned home for breakfast, another big meal. Srs. Amy and Margaret showed me their garden and their chicken house, and the mango on their petite fruit tree. (See pictures.) We all departed at the same time, me for Sala, and them for their weekly shopping in Koudougou. We exchanged information to stay in touch.

When I got home there was a big crowd gathered near the chef's compound celebrating the life of an older woman from there who had died. After a brief time getting ready, Minata and I went to the chef's quartier, where dancing, drumming and chanting were in full swing. Minata led the chant in her rich deep voice, while the women danced. When I danced the people got very animated, loving the effort. The chef was in traditional clothing, and I tried to capture these things in a couple pictures. Also Minata's brother, Gerard was shooting off a big old rifle to add to the celebratory atmosphere.

11-03-08

After braiding my hair this morning, which is getting easier with practice, I went to CSPS to talk with the major and Gansonre about contacting the ICPs in the satellite villages. I need to set up another presentation with villagers. I let the major know that I wanted to present to my quartiers here in Sala this week. He was patient with me and interested in my plans. I will confirm the date and time for him as I requested that someone from the clinic come and help with the presentation.

I found that the other questions I have are covered in the Microplan for 2008 that the CSPS had to develop. So I will borrow that and read it in French and translate it into English notes, so I can get my first quarterly report ready for Dr. Claude. Even in the PC there is tons of paperwork, reminds me of working for the state in Oregon.

I visited at the maternite' briefly before going over to the elementary school in Sala to give some things to the headmaster for the students. Edward is very interested in an exchange of letters from his school to the one in my hometown with the students at Harmony. I took a picture of him with a lot of students who had gathered there on the steps in front of his classroom to post for the students back home to see. (See photo.) The African students laugh when I show them the digital photo right away.

The temperature today is 105 degrees, and difficult to handle and study French and Moore well. Before the evening was over, I smelled rain in the air. Minata sent over tô and aubergine sauce for dinner. I had fried up some plaintain, so we were set. I asked Minata to invite the people from our compound to the presentation on Thursday morning at 9am. We all played a long game of Uno.

13-03-08

The night before the two nurses in training were on my front porch, waiting for me when I returned from the market. We reviewed the material for my presentation tomorrow, because we all assumed they would be helping with it. But no, this morning the major came over on his moto at 9am and he helped us with the project himself. The consensus was that we would do it under the big tree in front of both quartiers. The number of people attending were 20 women, 10 men and beau coup the children. The presentation went pretty smoothly with mine in French and Moore' translation by my teacher. The major led the men's group through the discussion of major health issues, while Georges led the women, who convened on my porch. The men finished quickly, so the major came over to watch the women wrap up. He noted that they had not included Palu (Malaria) in their top 5 health issues, so he talked to them about seeing so many patients for that and from bad water all winter in clinic here. The major in action is amazing to watch. Everyone loves and respects him very much.

Finally we settled on five issues for the matrix and compared each pair. Palu was number one issue by then. I asked the three questions and recited my conclusion thanking them for their time, etc. Then they applauded our efforts. That was satisfying.

That afternoon Awa, my new friend from the transport to KDG, came to my house with a huge bag of peanuts for me. We had seen her earlier in the week at market and she said she would come by after my presentation. Voila! I made lunch and Georges and Minata spoke with Awa in Moore'. She and I just hung out, looking at pictures of my family.

14-03-08

I finished translating the Microplan from French to English today. I had a morning language lesson because it is Friday in Lent and 1600 is the hour of the stations of the cross too. Then we went over to the CSPS to see if the nurse trainees were still coming over for dinner tonight. I want them to try tuna salad. They insisted that we stay for riz gras. We did and it was excellent. They expressed that they were sorry to miss the presentation at my quartiers, but listened to our report of the major helping us.

In the afternoon Garrett visited with me and we talked about our blogs and also his upcoming trip to Togo. He said the visa to Togo cost him 25 mill. Seems high, but I really don't know.

A tall beautiful teacher asked to go with me to “Chemin la Crois” today. I stopped on the way back home for some things for the salad tonight. When I got home I did some prep work on our dinner, then Kassoum and Alexi showed up at 6:30pm and we chatted over a cup of tea. I showed them the tuna pkg and also the dressing pkg. I gave them the directions to Uno in French for their information as we would be playing that later. This evening would be an American experience for them. Two teen girls came by on the pretense of visiting me, but pretty soon they were acting shy and eventually the trainees went out on the porch and chatted with them.

By 7:30 we were eating dinner, after which we moved out onto the porch which was much cooler and played Uno until 10pm. They loved it and we all had such fun. After I bid everyone Good Night I went to bed.


15-03-08

I read French primers with the Catechist's two sons, Bertrand and Claude. They are adorable and such nice boys. Later in the morning I returned the Microplan back to the CSPS and saw the two trainees there. They delivered two babies this morning. I went in to see the one still there and the newborn had vernix on its head it was so new. The stagierres and I exchanged phone numbers for later contact. Abdoulaye had washed my bike and Zanabou had washed my clothes and with Minata'a permission I gave them each 100 CFA. I passed out bonbons to the children and mothers in my quartiers, which is always exciting. They were happy. I spent the rest of the day packing for the next three weeks, when I would be in training. One week at Ouaga for Health Sector stuff, the next week in OHG, where we did our original in country training. There we would go back to our host villages and practice with some of the village work we will be doing in our assigned placements. And the third and last week will be in our regional capital city KDG for more local language training.

The next day, Sunday I spent the entire morning waiting for transport to Ouaga. Most taxi brousse were already loaded down and didn't even stop for us. Two musicians played for me while I was waiting. Finally a camion stopped and three or four of us got aboard to travel to Sabou where we would catch a taxi brousse. The one problem with this picture was that when I asked to sit up front (because I can't stand up for any time in the back of a big truck) the old man, young woman with her baby in lap and the driver were already there and not going anywhere. I sat on the front edge of the seat by the passenger door, which was fastened with a black rubber strap!?! So for safety I hung on dearly to the uncovered vents that were on the dashboard. We stopped along the way for other passengers too, and in Sabou the driver had someone take me to the transport spot. So generosity comes with ying yang inherent.

When I arrived at the transit house a big cheer went up, esp from Becky who is the closest to my age, 25 years younger. We get along famously and I was very glad to see her. We went around the corner to happy hour and caught up a bit. The PC car was coming at 6:30pm to take all of us in the Health Sector over to Dr. Claude's house for a catered dinner in their back yard. Her husband is the Minister of Justice for Burkina Faso and that position comes with a few benefits, this lovely home in a gated community being one of them. Dr. Claude said how proud she was of us and the work we are doing and most of all our enthusiasm. Doug Teschner, the new country director of PC in Burkina Faso was also there, and in his welcoming remarks he quoted Thoreau, from On Walden Pond, who said something like, “To get to the essence of life, I went into the woods to find my core.” Doug Teschner fit PCV into that image metaphorically.

16-03-08 First week of IST (In Service Training)

Some of the things we did this week were: Field Trip to Health Ministry Office, also presentation by the Palu (Malaria) Director, Field Trip to the American Embassy and talks from different department heads, a Safety and Security session, a talk by the BF director of Unicef, a Nutrition class with samples of good protein and local foods, grains and powders to enrich what villagers eat. Dr. Claude brought the powders, grains and plants in with labels and told us the merits of each. On Friday afternoon we had a NGO (Non-Governmental Organizations) fair, and finally most of us in village got a class on safety while riding on a motobike, when we travel to remote villages. Most of us were fitted for our helmets. We can't drive motos, only ride with someone on one, like our counterpart in village.

During the week our meals were catered into the PC bureau where we had our trainings, and we enjoyed this luxury after three months in village eating one dish meals,etc. Another night we had a backyard barbecue at the new director's home. Other program directors assisted with this, as Doug's wife will not be here until college lets out in America. At the end of the meal Mr. Teschner auctioned off some treats for correct answers to questions like, When did PC begin? Who was the first PC director? Name the 6 countries that surround BF, etc. It evoked a lot of laughter. We ate downtown a couple times too as we caught up on each other's life in village.

Saturday afternoon I walked over to St. Francis of Assisi's to find out the Mass time tomorrow, Easter Sunday. While I was there I inquired about Confession/Reconciliation and a woman found a seminarian, who in turn found a priest for me. I had told both people that I needed to do it in English, which didn't happen. So I did my first confession in French, some kind of milestone I believe. I have no idea if he understood me as I made up some vocabulary along the way. But I did understand when he gave me one Our Father and three Hail Mary's to say for penance.

On Easter Sunday I walked the eight blocks to Charles De Gaul Blvd to church. The choir danced in to the entrance chant, as the five priests and 8 altar boys entered too. The French Mass was spectacular. Two high school choral groups led the songs with the congregation responding with the refrains. The musicians were sitting to the left of the altar, and the choral director was at a microphone in front too. Soloists used the microphone, and then at the offertory, youth brought up baskets of fresh vegetables while the ushers carried forward the baskets of French currency. The host was gigantic. The altar boys rang the bells three times as the bread and wine were blessed and consecrated. At communion two priests went outside to offer communion to the throngs of people out there listening over the loud speakers.

As Mass neared completion the choirs (all in navy slacks and light blue tailored shirts) sang a medley of hymns. Women trilled and people swayed to the rhythm. When the priests left the altar, the choir spontaneously formed a line to encircle the altar in praise of the Lord for His resurrection. (See picture.)

24-03-08 Second week of IST in OHG

The first day we traveled from Ouagadougou to Ouahigouya, a three hour bus ride. After settling in at ECLA, where we had had our Pre Service Training, Becky and I rode our bikes out to Somyaga, our host village to visit our families there. A huge crowd was at the school for a football (soccer) game. My host brother, Madi stopped on the moto, greeted me and took my bags. Then my host sister, Aguerra came running from the soccer game to greet me. She took my bike along side me as we walked toward home. Then I saw the family coming to meet me. Orokia and I started running. And we hugged a long time. Then I hugged the teen girls in the family, then the little kids. As we neared the mango tree out front of the maison, Azita and Amade were waiting. Another round of hugs. Awa and I trilled some kind of high notes. It was a glorious reunion, and oh! how I missed them the three months in between.

We sat on the porch a while, then they showed me my old room was empty and clean. I got out my box of tee shirts for everyone, socks for Amade and earrings for all the women in the family. I gave them a new deck of cards, and passed around suckers. Everyone put on their new shirts for a picture. It was great fun. We chatted for a time and when Becky came, they wanted so bad for us to eat with them and stay overnight. We told them that we couldn't this night, but we would negotiate with Peace Corps for letting us stay another night this week after we did an activity in their village. At dusk we departed but Orokia and Fatimata followed us up to the paved road, and then the whole rest of the way into town. They wanted to assure our safety. We promised to return.

This week in OHG we learned: Presentation at School on Hygiene, especially getting intestinal maladies from the flies. We learned how to make ORS with water, sugar and salt, and songs to also show the students. We talked about what to do on rainy days at village. Stephanie gave two soap making demonstrations. We learned about monitoring and evaluating our work in village to see if we made a difference. We did our school presentation on Wednesday, and told Amade that we would eat with them on Thursday and stay the night.

Another area we covered this week was Fund Raising; use of Theater Groups for getting Health issues to the people in a fun way. Dr. Claude set up a field trip for us with a group of traditional healers, a Q & A session really; another field trip to CREN for bre demonstration; and we learned how to train COGES members regarding setting goals, priorities and getting the community involved.

Friday morning when I woke up at my host family home, I could hear women's voices over at Awa's. I went over there and sure enough there was a room full of women, some from the group that dances. I loved seeing them all. Gramma Awa didn't want to let go when she hugged me. We went into another trilling round. She's worried about my arms being too thin. Somehow she and I bridge the language differences. Orokia brought hot cereal she made from millet, and Amade brought me bread and coffee and tea. I asked about the twins that were born the day I left village and Orokia went and got one with the mother and other twin following her. They were chubby and beautiful, the mother looked fabulous. I took pictures of course.

Before leaving for Somyaga, I also took many pictures of my host family. Hand in hand, Orokia, me and Fatimata walked to the hangar in the center of their village for the COGES training. The wind was pretty bad, so we moved into the lobby of the maternite' and when no members arrived for the meeting, we decided to use my family, which worked out well. We had a list of questions about SIDA(AIDS)-HIV which my host sister Fatimata translated into Moore' for the others who joined us. Some came to visit the new baby and mother in the maternite' and ended up answering questions with us too. It was a good discussion with Orokia there as she had some definite ideas on the subject. As we pulled away from village my family was waving and Amade motoed up right then too. I'm sure I wasn't the only teary one.

Back in OUA Robert and I had to go to town with Burema to get fitted for moto helmets. The driver let us shop across the street for fabric about Jour de la Femme 2008, and we negotiated 3 pagnes each for 5 mill 750CFA. We were happy with the deal. I had so many boxes come in the mail that I had to leave some at the Transit House for later pick up, but I managed to take four boxes with fans, batteries and things I need for the hot weather that's coming. When we got to KDG on the bus, I text my friend Achille, who came on a moto, strapped on my 4 boxes and took them with us to the seminaire, where we (Rob and I) are starting our third week of IST with JZ in Moore' language.