e-mail dated October 9, 2002 Return to List
Ok everybody, below is part one of the mini-series, Shaffer in
Africa. Unfortunately due to time and mental constraints, we can't follow our
hero too long. And a lot of it isn't all that interesting, especially if you're
looking for the flavor of Africa in the text. I got a little excited that I had
access to a laptop that wasn't being charged by the hour so I started working
on all the back stories. Unfortunately I think the scope of it is too large (I
didn't really get that far) and too small (I'm leaving out a ton of stuff). No
complaints! You get what you pay for: which was nothing, except for that whole
American tax dollar angle but hey do you really want to resort to that. As for
when the next installments might be coming. I don't know. When starting this
little series, I was under the impression that the laptop was going to be left
at the Banfora house. That meant I could chip away at stuff each time I came in
for something. However Christie, the laptop's owner, is getting some converter
soon that will let her run it off the car batteries at the clinic she works.
I'm hoping that the thrill of having it in the village won't be that great and
it will make it's way back to Banfora. But she said that she'd probably have it
there sometimes. So who knows. At least it's not some sequel to a movie that
takes two years to make. Go to Part one of the miniseries, Shaffer
in Africa.
Just to keep you in the know. I'm in Banfora for my writing group's first meeting and I'm a little nervous. I haven't been able to write much since I've gotten here. But now that I'm in village, the floodgates are finally opening. But unfortunately there is a lot of junk that's been collecting there. My first story is turning out to be over thirty pages long and all pretty much crap. But hopefully I'm getting it out of my system. Lisa and Katie came in on transport today. They were suppose to get in at 11 am in Banfora, having taken the bus out of Gauoa at 7:30. But it broke down on the way and they ended up taking a bush taxi, which I guess also broke down. Well they finally got here about 3:30 pm, covered with dirt. We didn't get any writing group stuff done the first day. They were tired obviously and I wasn't really feeling up to it yet either. Josh and Ras came down too. So we have this full house of people and it was a little overwhelming. I was so happy to see Lisa, Katie, and Josh since it's been a month. And well, it was too great.
I also met a new friend that day. I made about eight trips to the gare (station) hoping to find that Lisa and Katie had finally made it in. Christie was telling me that she needed to go talk to the Japanese volunteer that was stationed here and get hooked up in case either he or us hears anything about the Ivory Coast mess (see below). I didn't even realize that Japan had volunteers here. Anyways, I was biking back from one of my gare checks when I noticed this small guy on a relatively new mountain bike. I biked over and sure enough it was our Japanese friend. I invited him back to the house and we hung out for about an hour. It was another weird first, talking to a Japanese National in French. Something I'd never thought I would do. The guy was kind of quiet, very polite, and his Japanese French was a kick. For the most part, he understood my broken French. So I took to him immediately. We talked a little bit about Seattle and the Mariners and their three Japanese players. Christie then went over to his house later and asked if he wanted to join us for dinner at the Calypso, my favorite restaurant in Banfora. We had a blast at dinner. I paid for the girls, it was the least I could do. The Japanese Volunteer and I talked a bunch, both at dinner and while we all walked him back. I've nicked named him the Dude, cause well I can never quite remember his name. He's a fun little guy. I later gave Christie, Brooke, and Ally a hard time because they hadn't already befriended him. He's been living in Banfora for almost a year and a half. I told him next time I'm in town on a weekend we should all go out dancing. I would love to hook him up with a Burkinabˇ woman.
Ok so the more serious stuff:
If you haven't been following the news, or even if you have (this little corner of the world doesn't get as much press coverage) there's been a little brew ha in the Ivory Coast these last three weeks. A rebel group failed to grab power in a Coup and now is slugging it out with the government. The heads of Ivory don't seem to be interested in a ceasefire. Ras, whose village was 20 km from the border has been taken out and is now hanging out in Ouaga. He's heading for Bobo soon to just kick it with our PCVL Josh until this stuff quiets down. If it doesn't, then he might have to get a new village--which sucks since he was a cool guy to hang out with, my only classmate in my region. So I guess if things get a lot worse, or a mass of refuges starts crossing into Burkina Faso, the whole south end of us, Banfora and Gauoa could be evacuated as well. Just temporarily, hopefully. But don't worry--things have a few notches to go until it comes to that. And if it did, I'll get a little vacation in Bobo or Ouaga, there are worst things. The Peace Corps vehicle is only an hour away so there is no problem getting us out. It's hard to say how likely all this is. There's between 2-3 million Burkinabˇs in Ivory Coast and the president is using this Coup as an excuse to try and hassle all of them out of the country. I guess some of them have been killed and a lot of their houses destroyed. The President has been openly accusing Burkina Faso as being behind the Coup, which is all pretty much crazy. Seems like the President is a little nuts. He's already agreed, then changed his mind at the last minute on three cease fires. He's strained his relationship with France as well as the other countries of West Africa. So right now, though its more worried feelings then based on facts, It seems like its only a matter of time before a big enough group of Burkinabˇ refuges moves across the boarder to cause Peace Corps to evacuate the south. Hopefully all that would mean would be a week or more of downtime in Ouaga for us. Though some of the others see other grimmer possibilities. For one, if all of the Burkinabˇ immigrants either decide to come back or are forced to come back, then that could cause a pretty destabilizing situation not just for the south but for all of Burkina Faso. It's hard to think of how the government would handle three million more people in the country. So what would happen after this is hard to say. Some are worried that it might reach a level where we all might have to leave, maybe permanently. I really don't think that's going to happen. At least not where things are now. But don't worry mom: The reason why this is worrisome for us is not because of the Refugees, it's that we know how much Peace Corps is going to be cautious about our safety. So we worry that we might have to miss out on village time because of there extreme (but all around good) cautiousness. Ras is a good example. My village is about 90 km from the border which is a pretty good buffer. So don't worry.
I've been biking a lot lately. These last few days have been JNVs.
National Vaccination Days. So I've put in about sixty or more km of bike riding
going to the satellite villages for Labola. It was a complete blast though. I
actually felt useful for once and all the back-country trails were a lot of
fun. Now I understand the appeal of mountain biking and off roading. But now my
legs are jelly and I'm glad I have a little break with my writing group.
So what's next? Lisa is going up to Bobo this Friday after we finish with the writing group stuff to meet Caroline. I'm thinking I might go up with her. It is only going to be for a day or so and it would be nice to see Caroline again. After that it's going to be a couple of weeks in Labola, then Ouaga at the end of October for the Arts Festival. My time already seems so divided between village and other.
Well, more later,
Shaffer
Peace Corps Volunteer for the village of
Labola
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