Every Day is a Winding Road

Hey, All. First things first. Regarding the new address (see sidebar): my old Ouaga address will always work (it's the Peace Corps office) so, if you have sent something there, never fear, it will be received. I'm using the new Fada address because it's easier for me to get mail in Fada, as I'm there more often. I'm in Ouaga this weekend for a meeting of our newly formed PC Burkina AIDS Task Force, having been elected the rep from my sector (Girls' Ed and Empowerment). Basically, we get together to discuss HIV/AIDS sensitization - what volunteers are actually doing and how each sector can incorporate activities into their work. We're also trying to consolidate and streamline the myriad of resources and ever-changing news and information so that volunteers can easily access what they need to initiate effective sensitization campaigns. Good stuff. I just got back from lunch and satellite TV at the American Embassy. Weird. I haven’t seen U.S. network television in 8 months and I just watched an episode of Extreme Home Makeover. I cried...about five times (the stories are so sad!). It was on the Armed Forces Network and followed Access Hollywood or some comparable gem displaying the gag-worthy excesses of American pop culture. Having not been exposed to that stuff (except for the odd Entertainment or People lying around the PC hostel – c’mon, who doesn’t want to check out this years results for “Sexiest Man Alive”?), it was slightly disgusting to be inundated once again with all of the meaningless, materialistic bullshit that pervades American culture...yes, I know I sound like someone who’s been living in the bush for 8 months, go figure. Don’t get me wrong, I am seriously nostalgic for the Land of the Free, but it’s hard to reconcile a lot of what I’ve known and been surrounded by Stateside to what I’m now experiencing. On that note, what I’m now experiencing is significantly better than what I was. I’m starting to feel like a competent volunteer and a person capable of doing some meaningful work. The transition back to village after my holiday travels was harder than I thought it would be, despite the fact that I was welcomed back so warmly (they really like me!). I had a tough time getting used to the relative solitude and the lack of stimulus and English speakers that my almost three week vacation provided. However, after getting back into the swing of things, I realized how much progress I have made as far as integrating and forging relationships, particularly those that are significant professionally. All of a sudden, I felt really capable of figuring out what to do and how to do it. Since getting back, I’ve revamped my English club at the high school – now it’s just open to the two oldest grades (the students capable of forming actual phrases in English – beyond “How are you?” and “I am fine.”). Our focus is now going to be topic-based discussion, and the kids are enthusiastic about tackling issues that impact them – forced marriage, poverty, female circumcision, HIV/AIDS and the like, which is pretty exciting for me because it makes this endeavor meaningful beyond the English aspect. I’m also hoping that the club will help me identify kids who are interested and motivated in working with me on other projects, namely a peer-mentor program with primary schoolers. I’ve also started a girls’ club with my primary school – the two oldest grades. We’re starting off light – games, songs, stuff like that, but my goal is to start incorporating life skills exercises (we have a really good manual with a ton of activities on everything from values and decision making to pregnancy and forced marriage). Beyond that, I’m working on developing an HIV/AIDS curriculum for my high school, having just recently realized that there is NO HIV sensitization this year (read: no NGOs coming in to do it). Though the principal is certainly motivated, he and the teachers are over-burdened with the overwhelming class sizes and course load as is, so he was excited that I’m up for the task. I’m either going to do it all myself with each grade level or try to make it a peer education project. Lastly, I’ve started devoting each Tuesday to helping our with baby weighing and vaccinations at my village’s clinic. There are 2.5 babies born every day in the department, which is the administrative equivalent of a county but really the size of a few small towns in the U.S. (total population is 22,000+). I help with the record keeping, which is basic but time consuming, and get to hang out with lots of cute kids in the meantime. So that’s my update, work-wise. Things are definitely just getting off the ground but I am beyond thrilled to be occupied every day. Next week we (all the Girls' Ed volunteers) head up to Ouahigouya, where we had our three month training, for our In-Service Training (it's usually supposed to take place three months into site, but for us it'll be at five because another incoming group's training occupied the time when we should have had it). It's our opportunity to discuss our experiences, observations and challenges thus far and receive training or consul based on our needs at this point. It's also the first time our group will all be together since swear-in, so it'll be great to catch up with everyone. I'm going to try to visit my host family as well. Regarding goings-on in village, I experienced a rather startling realization about two weeks ago. The existence of excision (female circumcision) was certainly something I was aware of and something that we touched on briefly during training, but the reality of excision in village only really became apparent to me recently. I had been in Fada for my birthday and had stopped at the internet cafe before hopping on the bush taxi to travel the 60k back to village. While I was using the computer, this sort of jolly, bumbling older man walks in and, being a nassara (white), I glance his way but don't give him to much thought. I get back to village and am biking down the main road to the market and I notice that there's a meeting going on at the maison des jeunes (big building that hosts lots of different activities). I notice a nassara outside which is a bit curious but continue on to the marche for veggie-shopping and socializing. As I'm biking back, a younger guy stops and greets me so I stop pedaling and talk with him for a few minutes. Turns out he's from Tibga, a village about 25k from Diabo where there's another volunteer. He then explains to me that he works with the Catholic mission there and they're doing a sensitization on excision for opinion leaders in the community (so the white guy's a French priest, that makes sense). I think "hey, that's cool" and ask him if they'll be back. They will, so he tells me to follow him over to the meeting, where the discussion portion of the sensitization is going on, so that he can grab the schedule to let me know the date. I walk up to the door as the chef from a neighboring village is coming out (this dude is COOL, I visit with him from time to time because my friend is his daughter-in-law - he's this tiny little man who always wears a striped bou-bou and a kind of bowler-type hat, very 1900). We chat and then the young man indicates that I should come inside to meet the priest. He's sitting in the back of the room, behind the audience, listening to the discussion. We exchange greetings and head outside to talk, at the same time I realize he's the nassara I'd seen at the internet cafe that morning. He introduces himself, tells me he's the priest at the Tibga mission and that he used to be at the mission in my village (our current priest is quite boring). He turns out to be this really dynamic, energetic guy and we start talking about excision, which, it turns out, is still practiced by the majority of the population, we're talking like 80% of girls, AT LEAST. This is rather shocking news to me, but it turns out that excision is a pretty hush hush deal so it makes sense that I haven't been aware of it. It is technically against Burkinabe law, but prosecutions are few (though apparently there has been one prosecution of a vielle (old lady) in a nearby village). The really sad thing, beyond the totally grotesque, reprehensible act of cutting off a young girl's clitoris, is that it's WOMEN who promote and perform this heinous act. WOMEN mutilating other women. Let's start with the 3 months a girl spends sitting on a pile of sand (and NOT going to school) because she's in too much pain to move and continue with the potential for infection, increased risk of STDs (a 400% higher risk of HIV infection) and potentially fatal complications during childbirth. On top of this, she will experience a great deal of pain during intercouse and will most definitely never enjoy it. I had a conversation with some of the male clinic staff over tea and the graphic descriptions of problems arising from excision during childbirth made me thankful that my French level only allowed me to understand 2/3 of it. There are people, namely younger parents, who understand that excision is a bad thing, but often the authority of older members of a family trumps a parent's opinion or wishes, so the excision occurs anyway. This is fueled by the plethora of myths that girls won't be able to procreate without being excised, will be undesirable to men, and the like. Though I have some very strong feelings, naturally, on the matter, I'm going to let this subject lie as the Tibga mission is doing a great job of making an effort to sensitize people to the many, many risks of female circumcision. Beyond that, their moral authority is more effective than my plain old nassara-ness will ever be, not to mention that taking this issue on could kill my stellar popularity ratings au village, risking the success of other projects. I will, however, be present at the next sensitisation and have already conversed with some younger women, whose progressive views on the topic I pretty much (correctly) assumed. There are a lot of elements of culture in Burkina that I disagree with but can rationalize to a degree or accept based on circumstantial factors, but the prevalence of female circumcision in Burkina (one of the highest in Africa) is really revolting and has certainly cast a dark shadow on la vie simple au village. OK, on that cheery note I'm going to beg off in the interest of getting some actual work done here in Ouaga. So, 'til next time... "We are the ones who first ploughed the earth when Modise (God) made it. We were the ones who made the food. We are the ones who look after the men when they are little boys, when they are young men, and when they are old and about to die. We are always there. But we are just women, and nobody sees us. " - Setswana poem, Botswana - Thanks for reading. Chrissy http://www.stopexcision.net/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_cutting