Swear-In Speech

I'm not sure if I can handle the luxury of two days in a row with internet access, but I feel the need to take advantage before I head off to village for three months (we're required to stay in our region for our first three months to ensure that we integrate as much as possible). I just finished editing my French speech for swear-in with the help of one of our language instructors, so I thought I'd go ahead and share the English version. Mind you, I'll be giving my speech to the Ambassador and a host of U.S. and Burkinabe dignitaries, as well as Peace Corps staff and my fellow trainees/volunteers so I'm definitely a wee bit nervous! Anyhow, here it goes...

Swear-In Speech

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, friends and honored guests. Thank you for joining us on this momentous and memorable occassion. It is out pleasure to share this special evening with you.

We arrived eleven weeks ago, stepping of the plane wide-eyed and a bit naive, unprepared for what awaited us. Most of us came to Burkina Faso with only rudimentary knowledge of the country, prepared for a great adventure but little knowing what to expect. Our first few days constituted a barrage of sights, sounds, experiences, and a rapid and intense introduction to Burkina Faso.

During our stage, we learned and accomplished a multitude of things. We became members of families and communities and were embraced with generosity and kindness by people whom we can never forget. Our days were spend studying language and culture and acquiring the skills necessary for our future work. Though sometimes difficult and frustrating, we gained an incredible volume of skills and knowledge from the Peace Corps staff, our host families and communities. Little by little, Burkina Faso began to reveal itself to us as we opened our hearts and minds to our new home. As we gained knowledge and experience, we evolved from strangers and observers into participants and community members.

We now have the opportunity to take what we have learned over the past eleven weeks and apply it on our own. For many of us, the next two years will constitute one of the greatest challenges of our lives thus far. We will develop friendships, apply and acquire new skills, and integrate into our communities as we continue to learn each day.

Tonight signifies the end of our journey as stagiares and the beginning of our two years as volunteers. We will take on the new roles of friends, educators, and community members. I would like to thank everyone who has supported us in our endeavors and who have helped us to reach this point as well as those who will aid us throughout the next two years. We would not be here without the support of the governments of the United States and Burkina Faso, the Peace Corps staff in Washington and Burkina, our host families and their communities, our homologues, and our future communities. We have been received with warmth and enthusiasm and equipped to thrive and succeed over the next two years. My sincere hope is that, while we will undoubtedly take so much with us at the conclusion of out time in Burkina, that we will also leave a part of us behind, in this country whose people and spirit have already begun to touch us.

Almost a PCV!

Bonsoir! It's about 6:00 pm here in Ouagadougou and I'm taking the opportunity of our pre-swear in week in "civilization" to check e-mail and keep up with what's going on in the world. We spent 3 days in Ouahigouya after leaving our villages last Thursday. Each of the host villages had a closing ceremony on Friday to say thank you and goodbye to our host families and everyone in our villages. It was nice to have an opportunity to formally say goodbye but definitely sad to leave our families, who did such an incredible job of taking care of us and helping us to integrate. I had a particularly hard time saying goodbye to Mariam, one of my sisters, who did so much for me, from bringing my bath water every morning to explaining the incredibly complex geneaology of my HUGE host family to me. As we were saying goodbye, I went to shake her hand (in Burkina you only shake hands or hand people things with the right hand, as the left is considered unclean). I reached for her right hand with mine but she shook her head and took my left hand in her left hand, which is a sign of respect and deep friendship in Burkina and signifies that you expect to see that person again in the future. I can't tell you how flattering this seemingly simple gesture was to me.

We spent our time in Ouahigouya taking several exits tests on the multitude of technical, cultural, and lingual knowledge we've attained over the past ten weeks. It wasn't the most enjoyable element of stage but, all the same, nice to be able to demonstrate all that we've done.

We arrived in Ouaga on Sunday and are staying at a hotel for the week before we swear in and head to our sites. We spend our days in informational sessions, going over the logistical elements of our upcoming departure and highlighting some of the important safety and security and administrative elements of PCV service. We've definitely taken advantage of our time in Ouaga thus far, eating well, enjoying some time to socialize, and appreciating the plumbing in our hotel (though I'll admit that, oddly, I miss taking bucket baths). A bunch of current PCVs who helped out with our stage are around, and many more will be here for swear in on Friday. Yesterday we took a trip to the American Embassy where we met the U.S. Ambassador to Burkina, who gave us a little spiel on what goes on at the embassy and various U.S. projects in the country (things like sustainable development grants, malnutrition studies, etc.). We also spoke with the Political Foreign Service Officer who gave a talk on the political history of Burkina Faso and discussed the current climate - interesting stuff though, as PCVs it's interdit (prohibited) to discuss Burkina politics, though we can discuss U.S. politics as much as we like.

Our swear in ceremony will be held at the Embassy this weekend, followed by a formal reception and then our informal "after-party" at a dance club-type place near our hotel. Swear-in consists of speaches by the Peace Corps Country Director, our training manager, and various other important types, as well as five speeches given by us, in five different languages. Four will be in the local languages we've been learning and will continue to learn at site (Moore, Fulfulde, Gulmanchema, and Jula) as well as French. I'll be giving the French speech, which I finished writing yesterday. I think my English version is pretty great, but we'll see how well it translates. Happily, one of our language instructors is kindly correcting my translation today, so that I'll have a few days to practice before swear-in. Bonne chance a moi!

We'll spend the day of swear in and the day after shopping for household things (gas stove, mattress, housewares, etc.) before taking public transport to Fada, our regional capital, where a group of us whose sites are in the region will stay for a night before being driven to our sites. It's definitely a bit surreal that in a few short days, I'll be settling into my new house in my new village in my new country in the middle of West Africa.

Time to sign off, though I hope to post again before I leave for site.

****I'm pleased to report that I've finally gotten my act together and posted some pictures! So check 'em out! The link is below and on the link bar to the right ->

http://chrissyinburkina.shutterfly.com

"Here I am, where I ought to be."

Premiérement - I HAVE A CELL PHONE! From the States, my number is 011-226-76-65-49-77. Calling anywhere from Burkina is trés cher (more expensive than my Peace Corps allowance affords), but texting, even the States, is doable...so, if you're so inclined, please do!! Calls are more than welcome as well as I have a cell phone tower near my site (go figure, talk about irony), thus reception in good.

That said, Hi All! It's been a while! It's been a busy couple of weeks full of classes and lots of quality time au village. We're all a bit burned out as stage winds down and are looking forward to the end of training and the commencement of our two years at site. It's definitely a bittersweet time, as I'm sad to be leaving my host family, who have made my introduction to la vie Burkinabé a pleasant and unforgettable experience. I'm hopeful that Diabo will provide as warm and welcoming an environment as Sanaga has for the past two months.
I've lately been reading Isak Dinesen's (neé Karen Blixen) "Out of Africa" which, despite being almost a century removed from my African experience, rings true in so many ways. It feels a bit cliché to be reading "Out of Africa" IN Africa, but the prose is beautifully descriptive and her insights parallel many of my own observations. She writes, of her farm in Kenya's Ngong Hills, "There was no fat on in and no luxuriance anywhere; it was Africa distilled...like the strong and refined essence of a continent." I don't think Isak spent any time in West Africa but I'm confident that, if she had, she would have agreed that this description certainly holds true for Burkina Faso. There is absolutely no fat on this land, nor its people or animals. Even now, at the height of the rainy season, the profusion of vegetation is merely relative and, unlike the images of tropical Africa, is wholly functional in its grandieur.
I'm going to take a cue from Isak and emulate a section of the book entitled "From an Immigrant's Notebook" which is an interesting and amusing collection of essays on her observations and experiences.

Grand-Mére, Le Crocodile

Last weekend, we took an excursion to Koumbre, a village 30k outside of Ouahigouya, to visit the village's sacred crocodile pools. We hiked out to the two pools and enjoyed a leisurely mid-morning snack of popcorn and bissap (a Burkinabé drink made from boiled hibiscus leaves and sugar). After relaxing for a while, we gathered around the second pool, which is a small, murky pond situated underneath a sheer cliff face. One of the Peace Corps staff had hired two local boys to lure the crocodiles out with two chickens we had purchased. They proceeded to tie a rope round the leg of one of the chickens and repeatedly hurl it out into the middle of the pond. This, one can imagine, caused the chicken to flail about for some time and attracted the attention of several of the crocodiles. That bird was a smart one, however, and soon developed a strategy of floating ,completely still, until it drifted over to the side of the pool. The chicken-throwing scenario was repeated numerous times and, though the crocs surfaced and circled it several times, they never followed through. My theory as to their response is two-fold: 1) We were too large and noisy a group and 2) These crocs are a proud bunch and were determined to maintain their integrity despite the temptation of a tasty treat.
Despite the lack of Discovery Channel-worthy carnage (did I really want to see that, anyway?), it was an enjoyable trip and a much-needed break from the increasing monotony of classes.

Interestingly, crocodiles are a significant element of Sanaga's (my homestay village) oral history, as well. According to the village Imam (Muslim religious leader), the people of Sananga are descended from crocodiles and his grandmother was, herself, actually a crocodile. Apparently she shed her crocodile skin long enough to seduce his grandfather and, after they married, she gave birth to four baby crocodiles before producing a human offspring. He told us this during a meeting we had with the village opinion leaders after which he walked off into a gentle rainshower, assuring us that the rain didn't bother him since he is , of course, descended from crocodiles. One might think there is substantial reason to doubt him however, this is the same Imam who attributed this year's plentiful rainy season to our arrival in village, thus I am overwhelmingly apt to believe him.


Hanging out by the crocodile pool

Group Photo

Le Tailleure ou "Tu as peur de manger?"

We depart village this Thursday, after which we spend several days in Ouahigouya before going to Ouaga, where we'll stay for a week before swearing in on August 25th. Swearing in, as you can imagine, is a big deal. Its the official culmination of our two months of stage - our blood, sweat, and tears, if you will - and the commencement of our two years at site.
Given this, many of us have opted to have outfits made in traditional or modern Burkinabé style for the occasion. Last weekend, some of the other stagiares and I went to the tailor of of our language instructor's wife, to have complets made from fabric we had purchased at the marché. I had met the tailor, an amiable fellow, before, as we had paid him a visit for a practical language session. After he and I discussed the design for my complet (a two-piece outfit with a long skirt and a pretty, off-the-shoulder top of an appropriately West African bright yellow and blue, floral material), he took my measurements. After he had measured my waste he looked at me and asked, in true Burkinabé fashion, "Tu as peur de manger?" (are you afraid to eat?). Rest assured, I have not wasted away, in fact, I have finally gained some weight back. However, in Burkinabé culture it is totally normal to comment on a person's physical appearance, particularly their wieght. "Gros" (fat), for instance, is a sincere compliment, as being well-fed is a sign of wealth. Slimness, on the other hand, is not so great...so thank you, Nana the tailor, for pointing that out.

That's all I've got for now as my time is winding down. Things are good - the rain is plentiful thus some nights are actually cool. Each day I feel a bit wiser and more acclimated. I certainly experience those "Damn, I'm in Africa!" moments that some of you have referred to. To return to Isak for a moment, she put it best when, describing her feeling upon waking up in Kenya, she writes, "Here I am, where I ought to be." Though I miss home, family, friends, and the comforts thereof, this is certainly where I ought to be.

Thanks for all the e-mails, know that they're read even if I can't immediately respond...it's so good to know what you're all up to! Also, there were some inquiries as to a package wish-list so here's a brief list of things that would rock:

M & Ms (as that hard candy shell withstands the heat)
Skittles
Crystal-Light, etc.
Granola Bars
News magazines (not Newsweek, as PC gives us the int'l edition...but publications like the Economist, the Atlantic, anything Foreign Policy related, etc...we are definitely starved for information and current events here)

That's all I can think of for now - anything you're inspired to send will be more than appreciated!!