Batie Assignment
e-mail dated February 10, 2003 Return to List
Hey everybody,
I
was in Banfora hanging out with Josh and his parents who are here on a visit. I
finally went and saw the
tourist
stuff around Banfora. The waterfalls were pretty cool but donÔt hold a candle
to the falls back home. Then we went to the domes, which are some tall rocks in
layered patterns. They were
interesting just because you could climb to the top and actually see down on
things. One problem with this country is the lack of heights. It was exciting
to see far again.
Towards the end of these few days hanging out in Banfora I called
Raymond (the Boss at Global 2000). TheyÕre an NGO (Non-governmental organization associated with the United
Nations) that was started by President Carter.
Their big thing in Burkina Faso is Guinea Worm eradication. I had signed up to
help Holly run the Gaoua region Worm Week and wanted to find out where we were
and what I could do.
Well it turned out that the person who had signed up to do the
Batie region (south of Gaoua) had backed out, so they had nobody, which meant
basically that unless I had some serious problems, I was doing Batie. There was
a meeting for both Gaoua and Batie Worm Weeks in HollyÔs village in two days,
and I should try to be there.
So the next day I hopped on transport, a beat up van stuffed with
people, and took off towards Loripeni that is on the road to Gaoua from
Banfora. The trip should have taken a little over four hours. It took a little
over nine. The left rear suspension slipped out two times, stranding us
roadside while they tried to jerry-rig it with some chains and two car jacks. I
had taken the taxi-brousse because the only bus to Gaoua didnÕt leave till 2:30
pm and would arrive in Loripeni at dusk. As it was though, I only just beat the
Rakieta bus to Loripeni.
I then had to bike 22 km north on a bumpy road to HollyÔs village.
It took about an hour, with only the first 25 minutes in the remaining light.
Luckily I had my bike light. It was a little freaky at points though. I had never been to HollyÕs village
before, so the best I could do was keep an eye on the distance markers and hope
that I had been told the right distance of 22km. I also stopped and asked
people along the way if I was close to Yerifoula (HollyÔs village, each time I
asked, they corrected my pronunciation). There were a couple of burning fields
and trees along the way that added to the eerie Blair Witch project feel. I
finally got there around eight o clock and proceeded to take a long and well
earned shower.
The next day, a couple of people from Gaoua and one guy from Batie
came to the village and we sat down to have a meeting. I did fairly well,
better then I had expected. My French is coming along, but I didnÕt quite feel
up to talking for a couple of hours with the Batie guy about stuff I really
didnÔt know. But things went well. Luckily he was one of the Burkinabes that
can understand my strange version of French. We in fact got done before Holly
did with the Gaoua folks.
Now I was expecting to take off after this meeting and go back to
Banfora via Bobo. I had some things to do in Bobo and was looking forward to
eating a pile of brochettes at my favorite restaurant there. The problem was
that I hadnÕt realized that now that IÔm the one and only coordinator for
Batie, I was responsible for nearly everything on the Peace Corps end. I had to
check out the sites weÕd be staying at as well as the villages we were going to
visit. Then figure out a schedule and a budget for the week. All of these
things are firsts for me. My guy from Batie wanted me to come back in a week
and half to do this stuff. I was not about to hop back on a bus though and go
back to village for a week, only to repeat my journey to Gaoua, then Batie
again. So I arranged to meet him in Gaoua on the fifth, about four days away,
then hopefully we could figure out a time for me to visit.
So the meeting was over. Katie (another volunteer who came to the
meeting) and I were going to catch a ride on HollyÔs friendÕs truck to Gaoua
then stay the night there. Unfortunately the truck didnÔt arrive until well
after dark, and HollyÕs friend was sick and tired. We climbed aboard, getting a
front row seat in the massive rig. 10kms outside of Yerifoula, he pulled over,
got out, and threw up. When we reached Loripeni, he put his head down on the
steering wheel for about five minutes while some people unloaded some things.
After leaving Loripeni, Katie wanted to put on her bike helmet.
She asked if I thought it might be rude. I said who cares. She put her helmet
on... and just so she wouldnÔt feel too silly, I did the same. So we spent the
next few hours sitting with our helmets on, watching our driver nod off from
time to time for a few moments. We got into Gaoua around midnight. We slept in
the Gaoua house that the Gaoua volunteers pay for.
So here I was in Gaoua with a few days to kill. The next day I
went with Katie to her village. I got to meet her new counterpart. We grabbed a
few cold beers at her buvette and then went and hanged out at her house. The
day after that I decided to go visit Ras in his new village. I hadnÕt seen him
for a long time, not since Bike-a-thon in early December.
According to Katie and her villagers, all I had to do was bike due
east through the bush until I reached a main road. Turn right and keep on going
until I find Nako, RasÔs village. Well it wasnÕt quite so easy. I kept thinking
I had somehow missed the road. I asked people along the way which direction
Nako was. TheyÔd point South-West instead of the West I was told. I eventually
found the road, but only right outside of his village. I think the problem was
that when I asked people where Nako was, they pointed to the exact direction,
South-West, instead of the easier though somewhat longer West then South.
In RasÕs village, we just spent the whole day talking and catching
up. The place is rather huge, with solar-powered street lights and a big
clinic. The next day, I rode back into Gaoua so that IÔd be there to meet with
my Batie guy the next morning.
Holly turned out to be there. Then Mike made it back from his
weekend trip to Niger. I was lucky to meet up with Mike since he had helped to
organize the Batie Worm Week last year. He came with me to my meeting and
helped fill in some of the holes that my French created. There was good news
and bad news at the meeting. The bad news was that we had to change the dates
we had planned. Originally we were going to do it right after the Gaoua worm
week, so we would just take all their supplies and materials off there hands.
But Batie had just had a Meningitis outbreak and they felt they couldnÕt handle
that while also having a worm week. So instead of the third week in March, the
best we could do was the first week in April.
It created some problems, but nothing too serious. The good news
was that the MCD (the head hancho for a regionÔs medical department) was
available in the next few days so IÕd be able to go down that day to Batie and
meet with him and see all the sites. My waiting in Gaoua was done. The only bus
to Batie left at 7:30pm. Luckily it was only an hour and half trip from Gaoua.
I arrived and waited at the tiny gare for my Batie guy to come and pick me up
and show me where I was going to be sleeping. In typical African fashion, he
wasnÔt there on time. So I had to wait.
I sat on a bench with a guy while he waited for this girlfriend to
fry him some food--a sort of street restaurant. The girl turned out to be
either drunk or crazy, my vote was for crazy. She laughed uncontrollably, then
when addressing me, would talk in a low and hissy voice. All of this by the
light of the cooking fire. I was an instant hit, breaking out the little bits
of Jula (a local language) that I knew.
Then my guy showed up and he took me to an empty functionare house
by the hospital. It was big, new, and had an overhead shower. No electricity,
since Batie wasnÕt wired. A little weird as it was the first regional capital
that I had been in without power. Still, it was nice digs for a Peace Corps
Volunteer. I set up my screen tent over the death mattress they left for me and
was fairly comfortable.
The next few days I met with the MCD. I also biked to the five
villages where we would visit to do our worm education. Everybody there thought
I was crazy to bike all the way out there and back, but it really wasnÔt that
far, just a bumpy road in places. By the second day I was really starting to
push on getting the budget done. My guy said it should only take ten minutes,
not to worry. Well of course it took longer then ten minutes. In fact it took
too long. I ended up hopping on the only bus heading back to Gaoua with the
promise that they would send it on Rakieta to Banfora on Monday.
Back in Gaoua, I was going to take the first bus in the morning to
Bobo. No way was I going back on the road from Gaoua to Banfora. I had learned
my lesson. So it was a little after noon and I decided to bike over to LisaÕs
village which was 12 km away. I surprised her and we spent the day and night
catching up. I think I woke up about 5:30 in the morning and biked back to
Gaoua. Caught the bus there, got into Bobo about 1:30pm. Then hopped on another
bus to Banfora. It felt great to be finally heading back home. My heart seemed
a little lighter. I arrived with a big smile on my face.
So now itÔs Monday and the bus from Gaoua is supposed to get in
about 5:30pm. If all goes well, IÕll have their half of the budget in my hands
tonight. Then tomorrow morning IÔm going back to Bobo to type everything up,
including the stuff for the PCVs, then fax it to Global 2000. Stay the night
there, then finally, finally, be able to go back to my village for some R@R.
IÕll have a week there then IÔm heading to Ouaga for FESPACO, the African film
festival that occurs every other year.
Well I guess thatÕs about all. I ran through it all a bit as well
IÔm exhausted from it all. I guess my first bit of real work here was a bit
harder then I thought it would be, but I handled it well.
Well I hope that all is going well back at home.
IÕll try to write soon, and hopefully something a bit more
interesting.
Take Care,
Shaffer
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