This Country Is Complicated!

Well, it’s certainly been an interesting past 36 hours. It all started so simply, but turned quickly into a hellish day. It isn’t like I watched somebody get shot or anything, though at one point today I watched a guy get into a heated battle with a military man. That’s never a good idea in a country with little repercussions for cops or military-folk.  Anyways, I woke up at about 6:15 for about the third time. There was a windstorm the night before, and it was pretty intense. With a tin roof kept on only by rocks with sand everywhere, it’s noisy and can be intimidating. I got up, made coffee, fed little Taco (the dog) some meat I made the night before, and left the house at about 7:40 on route to Didyr.

            I got to Didyr at about 8:00, when the bus is supposed to leave. Of course, things never happen on time here, and I was the second person to arrive. I waited for about an hour, and then rode the crappiest, milk truck-looking thing to Koudougou. There is one seat you are not supposed to sit in, and that is the front one. I did not have this choice, as it was the only available one, and was still safer than standing holding the door shut like I did last trip to Koudougou (different bus, horrible mistake). The reason is because the road is unbelievably sketchy and they drive far too fast, a recipe for disaster. If you are in that front seat, the windshield will not take kindly to your presence in case of a crash. I got lucky, and arrived in Koudougou unscathed. The first stop was the Ecobank ATM; right next to the “bus stop” I exited the bus. Naturally, the ATM wouldn’t let me get out any money. At first no panic, I’ll just use my credit card and advance some money, even though the ATM should have worked since I received a text the day before that we had gotten our monthly allowance deposited. Well, the credit card didn’t work either. I went to another ATM for a different bank, no dice. I got extremely flustered at this point, and with a mere 3,500 CFA to my name (in my pocket) made the decision that I had to go to Ouagadougou and get this straightened out. If I left basically immediately, I could get there, go straight to Ecobank, get everything straightened out, get money, and be back on the 18:00 bus back to Koudougou, where I’d already rented a hotel room.

            Everything was going as smooth as it can, consider the circumstances, and I arrived in Ouagadougou slightly ahead of schedule, but very angry. I got to Ecobank quickly, and spoke to an attendant almost immediately. It looked like I was going to be able to follow through with my plan after all. That’s when I found out that I had no money in my account. Needless to say, I was not particularly pleased. They directed me to a customer service lady’s office; that lady was out sick of course, though they neglected to tell me this. After about 20 minutes and getting bored of playing Bejeweled on my crappy Africa-phone (I didn’t have time to get anything form my hotel room as I needed to get on the bus immediately if I was to catch it and make my plans on time), I called the money guy for Peace Corps. He directed me to another woman, as he was doing a money count and was not allowed to leave until it was all counted. She was very helpful and told me that the woman I was waiting for was not there, and would not be there. However, I could go speak to the bank manager and he will get it all straightened out. Thanks Ecobank for having any idea what you are doing.

I still had plenty of time, so I spoke to him and explained my dilemma. He made a call, and told me it was fixed and it would work in about ten minutes. I waited fifteen to be safe. It didn’t help. At this point I was filthy, furious, and poor as the dirt that covered me.  I gave up and biked back to the Transit House, the first time that I had done that. Biking in this city is terrifying.  People really don’t care if they hit you. If it happens, it will always be your fault. The trick is to be just as much of a jerk as they are. Luckily, I made it back and was greeted by a couple of my very good friends, and a night of drinking and debauchery ensued. We stayed up way too late, and probably drank a bit too much, but we can only get together every so often, so it was worth it. Oh, I had to borrow 10,000 CFA from my friend Amber because, again, I was more broke than the poorest of Burkinabe at this point.

Today was a rough wake up. I got out of the Transit House at about 9:00, and headed straight to Ecobank, positive for some stupid reason that today it would work. I received a text late last night from Ecobank saying I was credited X amount of money. Naturally, I got to Ecobank and the ATMs are nonfunctional, at all. I was ready to throw a hissy fit. I asked if there was another one close to that one, and was told that all of the Ecobanks in Ouagadougou (and maybe Burkina) were not working. I gave up. I had had enough and went to the STAF bus station. I was coming back to Koudougou regardless. If I had to borrow money from my friend Kelly, so be it. She was smart and brought a debit card with her to this country. Peace Corps told us not to, but we’ve all come to learn that their directions are awful on the most part. I needed to take my Malaria prophylaxis with food, so I went to this little hole in the wall called Studio Café, had some coffee, and two sandwich du viande which translates directly to “meat sandwich”. I went to the Ecobank ATM here for one last go, hoping and praying and IT WORKED! I was ecstatic.

From there, it ended up being a pretty good weekend (it is now Sunday and I’m going back to site today). The hotel I stayed at had a decent Internet connection, and there is a restaurant in Koudougou with pizza and decent drinks. I have come to realize that I have never drunk as much as I do in this country. I really don’t care; you have to do what keeps you sane, and that is definitely challenging sometimes. My friend and Kelly and had our fair share of beers and ate good food. Unfortunately, I will not get to watch the Superbowl tonight, nor watch Louisville play Marquette, but you can’t win them all I guess. I have realized my next few purchases once I actually have money. I am considering getting the Internet key that I’ve already mentioned. I would really like to get a table that doesn’t wobble, but that is far more expensive than you might imagine, and I really want, and need, to get a bed. Sleeping on a Therm-A-Rest and a crappy cot just isn’t cutting it anymore. Sleeping on a bed this weekend reminded me of how awesome it is, and how much I miss being comfortable.

I’ve been in this country for a little bit under four months now. I’ve been at site for more than a month and a half, and my language in-service training starts in a week. After that, my technical in-service training is in early March. After that, I’m really on my own. I have started thinking about what kind of projects I want to do with the communities that I work with. I connected with another community about six kilometers from me, did a needs assessment with their “organization”, and determined that what they want the most is a freaking CSPS. They basically want me to build them a hospital. I told them it is not likely to come to fruition, but as I am the first volunteer in the community and there will likely be two more after me (unless we get evacuated which looks more and more promising everyday based on this crap in Mali), we can start fundraising. Accounting and corruption are two big problems here, as you could guess. They have no idea what expenses or revenues are, and when there is a lump sum of money it often manages to find it’s way into somebody’s pocket. To prevent this, I plan on giving a basic accounting lesson, and make them appoint somebody to hold onto all of the money, in a secure place. If it disappears, they will know exactly who it was. If I could actually succeed in building a CSPS, that’d be something impressive, but it just so very unlikely. Things do not move quickly in this country, especially when they cost a lot of money.

Burkina plays Togo in the quarterfinals of the Coupe d’Afrique (African Cup). Yesterday Ghana and Mali advanced, so it will be an all West Africa final regardless of outcomes. It’d be a big deal if Burkina advanced to the Final Four. This country does not have a lot of things to cheer for, so we are all hoping for a win. There is also a match with Ivory Coast and Nigeria. If both Burkina and Cote d’Ivoire win, they will play each other in the Final Four. This would be huge here. This country has a freakish obsession with Cote d’Ivoire. If they had a choice, they would be adopted by them and forget Burkina Faso ever existed. When families can, they send their kids to Cote d’Ivoire. You see more Cote d’Ivoire clothing than you do Burkina Faso, and all the food comes from Cote d’Ivoire. It is actually obnoxious how there is no nationalism here, but a total infatuation with our war-torn neighbors to the South. In other news, I hope the 49ers cream the Ravens, and the Ravens dominance will come to an end as Ray Lewis retires.

I have seen more boobs in the past 4 months than I have in my entire life. It is a daily thing. I have never disliked boobs more. It is totally acceptable here to breastfeed, at any time, whenever you want. Mid-conversation with somebody, and oh, out comes the boob. The kids bite and tug and oh, it’s just awful! But I have gotten used to this, and it almost seems normal to me at this point. Other things that are going to be strange when I come back to the United States are the broken English-French mix that we constantly find ourselves speaking in when around other Americans. “That shirt is expensive” becomes, “That chemise sure is cher.” “I’m going over there” becomes, “I’m gonna go la bas.” This is what happens when you are forced to speak in a language all of the time and then immediately switch back over when you are with an American. Its ok, that is the least of my problems adjusting back into American culture. Why the hell am I even thinking about this, I don’t leave until next December! All right, this post is straying; hope is all is well in America my dear friends!

Rockin flowers on my shirt and in my hair

How else do I fill my water? Hotels here have no sinks.

Me in my Les Etalons jersey! Hair is getting long