Dearth of a Post, man

Sorry about the slowdown in posting recently. Things have been picking up steam, we’re cooking with gas, firing on all cylinders, etc., which have precluded from the steady stream of posts to which you’ve all become accustomed.

I had a Volunteer Advisory Council (VAC) meeting up in Ouagadougou, the timing of which coincided with the FESPACO film festival, so Dave and I trudged up there for three days of films, friends and fancy food. The VAC meetings were only a minor portion of the days so we were able to hang out with our beloved fellow PCV’s and catch a few films as well. There were no criteria for the movies we saw, just that they were screening at a convenient time and location. The films I saw were “Behind the Rainbow” (documentary about post-Apartheid politics in South Africa), “Amour Sex & Bicyclette” (film + documentary about love in Burkina Faso), and “What Lola Wants” (Egyptian – American film about belly-dancing and women’s subordination in Egyptian society – the two topics were unrelated in the film’s plot). I also saw a series of short films, most of whose message or objective I didn’t really understand. The first short film, whose title had something to do with Kamil’s father died and committed suicide six times, was very artsy and incomprehensible to me. I loudly exclaimed after, “What was that all about?” and seconds later the director was at the front of the theater, thanking everyone for viewing his film, remarking how he had long wanted to get this film made, what a triumph it was to be screened at FESPACO, etc. Whoops. I hope he didn’t understand English. We also had a lovely dinner at Dan, the program director for Small Enterprise Development, and his wife Tanja’s house where Kat made delicious pizzas with a special secret Sardinian tomato sauce and played ping-pong, foosball and pop-a-shot basketball. I also got to hold Dan and Tanja’s wonderful daughter Leah for an absurdly long portion of the evening.

When we returned from Ouaga, our courtyard dad told us that our beloved courtyard puppy, Patience, had passed away. We were incredibly shocked by the news. He said that he came home one day and Patience was “gravement malade, en train de gigoter” and then he had to be put down. Our courtyard mom said that she tried to administer worm medication to no avail, so she believes he was poisoned. But who would poison a lovable, loyal pup like Patience? I am still reeling and totally nonplussed. He was an affectionate friend, fierce protector and unabashed playboy who should have lived to see his first birthday. Patience is and will be greatly missed.


International Women’s Day, March 8, is a national holiday here in Burkina Faso and each year special pagnes are designed to properly celebrate. Dave and I bought 3 pagnes and had matching outfits made. He will probably be mad at me for posting the picture, but what can he do, he’s stuck with me in Africa for the next couple years. Orodara was the regional host for Women’s Day this year and so a large ceremony was held in town that was attended by regional VIPs, including the governor. The irony of the ceremony was that most of the featured speakers were men. Dave followed the local Women’s Day custom by preparing lunch while I laid on the couch in front of the fan.






A few days thereafter, Dan the program director for Small Enterprise Development came by Orodara to check out our site and even slept over our house. Our counterparts hosted an exquisite and wide-ranging, all-inclusive dinner (supplanting the pesto and bowtie pasta he had brought for us to feast on) and we had short meetings with each association the next day. I feel really bad for him as it was unbearably hot the night he slept over, and our little house doesn’t get much of a breeze. (You know its really, really hot if I proclaim it to be hot, as I’ve been living in Africa for a little over 5 months now.) He was the consummate professional and did not complain. The night after he left, we were awoken by the sound of feral cats viciously fighting and making bloodthirsty killing sounds on our porch, so I’m glad he wasn’t around for that.

The day after, we had to prepare for visits from a US-government sponsored agency targeted toward African development, as Dave’s and my organizations are applying for grants from them. The application is quite extensive and requires a good amount of research and explanation. It is not unlike RFP’s that I coordinated at my previous job, but at least in those instances the information was available, somewhere within the bowels of the firm – the challenge there was to locate the gatekeeper of the information and gently prod it forth. In this instance, the information requested may not exist at all (in that it was not maintained throughout the years) or the request is American in nature and difficult to respond from a Burkinabé perspective. Despite the perceived difficulty, my organization is motivated and excited, which in turn makes me motivated and excited. The visit went well and we are looking forward to doing a deep-dive into the process. Working on the application with my group reminded me of a story that a professor from college used to tell about her former life as a bank loan officer for small businesses. She really enjoyed that job because fledgling entrepreneurs would come into her office and eagerly weave stories about their hopes and dreams into their business plans. I felt I could relate as I was working with my group to describe how they want to expand their business with the grant money, if awarded.

Next week we start Interim Service Training (IST), which entails 3 weeks of, you guessed it, training. The first week will actually be here in Orodara, and a nearby volunteer will join Dave and me in intensive Dioula classes, to be proctored by one of our most beloved staff members from stage. The next two weeks will be in Bobo and Ouaga for technical trainings, a workshop with our counterparts, and an NGO fair. Hopefully I will have some good stories and pictures for y’all thereafter.