e-mail dated September 28, 2002 Return to List
I biked into Banfora today for the first time.
It's a little over 15km and its not all that bad. There are a few hills, one
monster one, but manageable in a little under an hour. I went to the poste to
get some money, and then went to our second home. I was thinking that I'd bike
back today, but I just don't have the energy to turn down sleeping under a
ceiling fan tonight and having an actual shower and toilet. And wouldn't you
know it, a flyer was stuck in the door; this week at the new Internet place
they're having a special. 30f a minute. Which still comes out as 1800 francs an
hour, more than any place in Bobo, but about 400 hundred cheaper than the Peace
Corps discounted rate here. So everything is gravy.
I don't know if you've been following the
African news lately, but there was an attempted coup de etat in Cote D' Ivoire,
our neighbors to the South. It's
hard to say exactly what will happen with it. I'm not too worried in my
village. It's out of the way and not all that close to the border. Ras is in
Banfora now though. They evacuated him from Yendere just to be on the safe
side, but he was only 10 km from the border. I'm sure if it ever looked like it
was going to get any worse, the Peace Corps would just move us out of the
region. Don't worry!
I do have my new address in Banfora. It's at
the post office and I'm still not sure how the packages work there. I guess you
could try sending something there next, but maybe just keep sending it to Ouaga
until I have a chance to find out how it works. I will be in Ouaga no matter
what for Thanksgiving; we have our reconnect there. Anyways, here's the address:
B.P. 173
Banfora, COMO (the E has an accent
mark climbing up like a hill)
Burkina Faso, West
Africa
(I'm not sure about the
West Africa part, seems like a big Duh but that's how she wrote it for me when
giving me the address, guess it can't hurt)
My average days so far have been pretty low
key. I wake up around 6:30 or 7; have a cup of milk; maybe listen to the radio
or something a little or read; take a bucket shower; and then head over to the
CSPS. I sit around there for an hour or so, mostly just talking or reading. Then
we head across the way to my counterpart's house. We have lunch there around 10
or 11. Then sorta just hang out for a couple hours. I read or play cards.
Sometimes take a nap. Then I eventually head home. Do some more reading there
or work on my French or read through some health stuff. Make myself dinner
around five or so. Which usually means a tuna fish sandwich or maybe some
creative spaghetti. Read, listen
to music, or hang out with my family. Take another bucket shower. Then lock my
door and go lay down. I'll read or write and then go to sleep. And that's about
it. About once a week there might be something that takes longer at the CSPS,
like a vaccination day or micro plan review. But for the most part it is like
that. I write, read, study, listen to music, talk when I can with people and
that's about it.
As for projects, they really don't want us to
start anything at least in the first three months, if not longer. We can help
out with stuff already going on. But they don't want us coming up with our own
projects until we have a good feel for our village and what they might actually
need AND want. Most health volunteers don't actually get going on there own
projects until the start of the second year. They might have little stuff, but
that's it. The one thing that I'm supposed to work on is an "etude de
milieu" which is kind of a study and needs assessment of the area. That is
supposed to be started within the first three months and could take up to six
months to finish. Then there will be little things that I can do outside of
village. Like there is an AIDS/SIDA bike ride after Thanksgiving where a bunch
of us start in different villages and ride towards Ouaga over a week and stop
at villages along the way and do sensiblizations. There will also be worm weeks
that I've expressed an interest in being a part of.
I have been taking some pictures. I haven't
used my SLR yet as I didn't want to whip it out in village the first month and
just further cement a touristesque appearance. I have been using the point and
shoot though. I have three rolls finished and a fourth about half way through.
I didn't have much time to get it developed the last days of Bobo. I don't know
if there is a good place to get it done here in Banfora. I'll have to ask the
girls next time I see them. I'm seeing Josh on Oct. 9 and he lives in Bobo. I
might see if I can give him the rolls and some money and see if he can get them
developed for me and then I can get them from him when I swing through there at
the end of October. He's a really cool guy so he'll probably be willing to do
it, I don't want him to do it though if it's at all going to be difficult.
I don't want to take too many pictures with
the point and shoot until I know for sure it's still in working condition. It
seems to be working, but I hate to take roll after roll only to find out it got
hit too hard on one of my trips and now shoots only white pictures.
Most of the shots I've taken were in BoboŅa
lot from our swear-in day. Then I have a few of the new family that I live
close to--one of the mother and I standing next to the corn yesterday. The corn
is like two feet taller than me. I hope that one comes out. We'll see. I've
seen a lot of stuff I want to shot. Once I'm back from Halloween or
Thanksgiving I'll start to play around with the SLR.
I've had a few problems with scorpions (don't
worry ma) but nothing I haven't been able to handle. I'm hoping the screens
that I've gotten installed on my windows and doors will keep the death toll at
eight. Cross your fingers. The screens have at least kept the bats out. It used
to be I'd wake up in the middle of the night to these little drops of liquid
through the top of my mosquito tent. Then I realized that the bats would hang
out over my bed and well, shit. So then I just closed my metal window/blinds.
That kept them out (I'd giggle with delight as I heard them smack up against
the closed window) but the room was incredibly hot without the airflow.
Oct. 9 I'm meeting Lisa here for our first
writing group. Half of me is really looking forward to it-- hanging out with
Lisa, playing some scrabble, eating decent food for a couple of days. The other
half of me is dreading showing her the story I've come up with. It has promise
I guess, but it feels like most of its crap right now. It's also feels way too
long (25 pages). But it's hard to say since I've never handwritten a story
before, only typed. I definitely miss writing at my computer. It just doesn't
work as well with a pen; my hand is just too slow to keep up. Josh is going to come to the little
meeting/vacation too. He's a great guy and interested in writing too. So now
those halves of me are all the more separate. Now it should really be a blast,
but my audience has doubled. Well wish me luck. Hopefully they'll be so starved
for the written word that they won't notice how terribly boring it is.
All my love,
Shaffer
Peace Corps Volunteer for the village of
Labola
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