Travels | Daily life in Burkina Faso

Daily life in Burkina Faso

This page contains daily life snippets which were originally in the section This Week but have become "old news". I choose to keep them here since these stories really reflect our experience of living and working as a volunteer in Burkina Faso. Hopefully, some of you will find these interesting in some ways and perhaps even relate to them...

August 27, 2007

Quiet month

August is the month for vacation here and most people take a whole month off. So it has been pretty quiet at the CECI office with only the replacement secretary present, and myself of course. I don't mind this slower beat and I am sure that once September rolls around, the pace will quicken. Rémi's daycare was supposed to close also for that month, but decided to stay open since there were 3 families who needed the daycare service. The nuns have been very kind and Rémi still enjoys going there. But lately, he has started to get bubbles on his skin that come and go, and we have been thinking that they are due to allergies. We had the choice of going to a nearby clinic but it would have cost us 34$ to see a doctor, or go to the pediatric hospital and see a licensed grumpy nun/nurse for 50 cents. We went for the grumpy nurse! In the waiting area, there were many women with their babies, most of them had their breast out too feed. It is quite common here, I even saw women walking down the street while breastfeeding. Anyhow, the nurse ruled that they were allergies and said nothing more. So now I am trying to test various foods to see if it is related either to eggs, dairy, nuts, fish or wheat. And the daycare is helping keep an eye on this for now.

The morning routine is nice now. We get up at around 6 am and while I am still groggy, I put on the coffee to percolate. Then I turn on TV-5 and get the Tele Journal of Radio-Canada in French so I get news from back home and find out what our dear Harper is up to. Then it is Rémi's turn to sit in front of the TV for 20 minutes of cartoons, one of them a Quebec story teller called Dominique Raconte, then Baltazar and Martin-Matin. While he watches TV, I put the house in order, wash his diaper and prepare breakfast. Then shower time, a short walk with Roxy and off to his daycare on my bicycle, then work.

I lied a while back when I said that I would take Rémi with me to Bobo, about 5 hours away, to see the hippos. I have decided that this would be too much "management" for me (hotels, work, babysitter away from home) and will go alone. I leave on Wednesday and will return on Saturday. This is the first time that I leave Rémi since March, when I went to Tibet. A school monitor named Ludovic will come to my place to look after him. His is kind and I feel that I can trust him. His usual babysitter has a husband to take care of and would not have been able to stay at my place. Plus when I am away, I want Rémi to get 100% attention, no less. Come back next week to see the pictures of Bobo and the hippos!

August 24, 2007

Raining cats and dogs!

Wow, when they say "rainy season", they really mean it. I guess it was the same in Nepal and Vietnam. And it should be like this for the month of August at least, but also thereafter. When it rains, the sky just falls out and the streets turn to torrents. Impossible to go out - everyone takes cover until it ends, sometimes taking one hour or more. When we are at home, the sound it makes on our tin roof is incredible and wakes us up when it happens in the middle of the night. These days, Rémi has learned to say "it's gonna rain!" (il va pleuvoir!) as he looks up to the dark clouds. Tho we get by on bicycle, so far this has not been much of a problem. We just wait for the rain to stop before taking the road.

Dress it up!

We regularly have people coming from Canada to Burkina and it is tempting to ask them to bring special foods or things that we can't get here. At the same time, it is a hassle for the person bringing it and to coordinate. And I had a dilemma about one silly thing this week - salad dressing! I eat a lot of salads here but the only dressing we can get is a brand from France and each variety is more bland then the other with no taste. So should I ask the next volunteer to bring a few of my favourite salad dressings and risk it spilling in her luggage? Of course not. But then the real solution came to me - go on the Internet, get the recipe for Thousand Island dressing and make it! Which I did! It is sooooo easy and tasty. Funny how we have come to depend on supermarkets for everything, and we rarely think about making certain things anymore... but now I can toss it up with zest and class! How cool is that?...

August 16, 2007

Solution mode all around!

Most of you have only a vague idea of what kind of work I do overseas, something along the lines of working with small businesses. Right? Well here are a few more details so that you know what to answer when people ask you. In Burkina, I am supposed to work with 5 partner organizations of CECI, all of them in agriculture (2 in shea butter - beurre de karité, 1 with rice, 1 with fruits & veggies and the last one a multi-sector federation). My mandate is to prepare 3 trainings in how to do a market study, a marketing plan and set up mechanisms to follow-up on sales (tableau de bord). With each training module, I would write a training manual and a participants' guide (yawner!), so that the training can be replicated in the future. Following each training, I would help each of the 5 partners to apply the learned tools, for example for them to do a real market study. But, no matter how simple and practical I would try to make these trainings, my hunch is that they won't really apply the tools, and I will have to do it for them, unsure if there is a need. What they really want and have been asking, is for me to create a web site for them, as well as publicity posters and pamphlets. But I am not a graphic designer and have only limited skills. Still, this seems more concrete to me and a chance to work on my own. So I have agreed to do these tho for now I have been very frustrated trying to work with Photoshop. The good news is that I found a tutor to help me gain skills in graphic design, and it seems that Macromedia Fireworks is an easier program so I get to learn that! So I am excited about the prospects of doing this type of work for the next year and learning so much in the process...

I have also had a bit of a problem with the babysitter/house cleaner, tho she does a good job of cleaning and her 3 year old son gets along well with Rémi. The hick here is that when she comes on Sundays and this is my day off, I am kicked out of the house with nowhere to go. I have a few times spent the day at the American Club but on rainy days when I cannot swim, the day is long. In Nepal, I would drop off Rémi at the babysitter and have the whole day Sunday to relax at home and do some shopping. Well here Angele lives a bit far, and with all the traffic and accidents, I don't want her to take 2 kids on her bicycle. So I mentioned this to her, and she said that she has a relative who lives near my house where she can go with Rémi and her son! So now she cleans in the morning, has lunch at my place, then leaves for the afternoon and returns at 5 pm. Problem solved!

I am also happy to report that I cooked on Sunday the chicken I had bought at the supermarket and it was delicious, thank Heavens! You may wonder why I had not bought it before. The answer is that I buy my meat nearby at the butcher (beef) and the meat section at the supermarket is at the back with the very expensive imported cheese so I never thought to look there for chicken. But now I have a new regular treat to add to my Friday pizza night, Sunday chicken night and no more marathon meat, ever! Oh, and here is a not-so-appetizing picture of foutou, smoked fish in a sauce with a blob much like uncooked pie dough that you spoon and dip in the sauce.

August 10, 2007

For the glorious baptism of my niece, Jessica!

Yep, my sister and her husband are thrilled to have adopted a young girl from Nunavut, at about the same time I adopted Rémi. And now it has been almost 2 years since they have her, and on Saturday she will be baptised. For this grand occasion, my sister Manon invited about 200 of our family members and relatives and rented a community hall. Plus, as if this was not enough, she has prepared games for all, slides and of course, a feast. Rémi and I are sorry to miss this family reunion, but we are with everyone in spirit. To show this, I have put together a collage that represents us with a well-wishing message. So to all the Trudel, Lavoie and relatives, "Cheers!" to you from us here in Africa! Chin-Chin, as we say at home.

Yesterday I resigned myself to buying a fist size roasted marathon chicken from around the corner and then regretted it. For the few mouthfuls of tough meat, it just wasn't worth it. So I was darn set on finding a real solution to this ongoing dilemma and voilà, I got one! At the supermarket, I went to the meat section where I never go and low and behold they have fair-sized chicken. I paid 10$ for 1.7kg but it looks good, so I will report on this on Sunday when I cook the blessed bird for dinner. I also nearly cried when I found corn chips, so now I can make nachos! We take all of these things for granted back home, but here when we find some of our favourite things, we appreciate them so much more. Yippie!

August 9, 2007

Nasaara, Gaijin, Farang, Bideshi...

I miss the friendly and respectful way of calling people in Vietnam and Nepal with the usual "Hello older/younger brother/sister!". I was a nice way to relate to people and open a conversation with perfect strangers. Here, when Burkinabé want to get our attention, they usually go "psssst, psssst!" to which I never reply. Often this is followed by "Hey white boy" and when I feel like doing my bit of education I reply "Yes black boy" but the point falls on deaf ears. We also get "Nasaara" screamed at us, especially from kids, as this means "white person" in their native language. Sometimes when walking with Rémi we get such a crowd yelling this in our ears that Rémi gets scared. So I kindly say "Hello" to them and just as quickly "Goodbye" so that they leave us alone. Still, more often than not, we get a nice "Bonjour!" from regular folks and this always gets a prompt return from me. I have had to get used to hearing "Bonsoir" in the afternoon tho, and even when a partner organization wants to suggest meeting "in the evening", I have to remind myself that they mean in the afternoon. Guess the French didn't teach them right, unless they do this also in France! It is nice being able to speak French here tho, so I am thankful to the colonial days for this. Burkinabé sometimes speak to each other in French, other times in their native tongue of Mauré.

August 5, 2007

Waddling in crocodile territory!

Rémi has been curious about crocodiles since we got here. There is a park nearby where there are a few sad animals in cages including 2 crocodiles. And inside the park, there is supposed to be a crocodile pond where they are free to roam. I have been to the park twice and didn't have time to walk around the whole place so I never found them. This Sunday, I went with Rémi and specifically asked how to find the pond and got vague directions. So off we went strolling down the alley but at one point, the path went under water since we've had such heavy rain lately. What to do? We had come this far and Rémi kept repeating the word crocodile and pointing forward. So I put him on my shoulders and started walking in the water. Before I knew it, I was up to water knee high, 300 meters from dry land and water all around, flowing... Then I got to think that since the crocodile are free, the pond is supposedly near, they could be anywhere and come at us. Boy, did I get scared all of a sudden realizing how stupid I was to stand right in crocodile territory! I quickly waddled back to "dry land" and eventually exited the park. When I told this to the woman collecting the fee at the entrance, she said that I was lucky because the crocodiles do get out of the pond and roam around wherever there is water during floods. And they are quite big... Gee-wiz Ben...

August 4, 2007

On the road to Koudougou!

It is a long weekend for us here with Monday as the Day of Independance. I felt the urge to "get out of town" but with Rémi and Roxy, this needs careful planning. It was a toss between going to two cities - Koudougou in the West or Ouahigouya in the North - the first one 2 hours away and the second one 3 hours by bus. I thought of going and staying overnight but could not find anyone to look after Roxy. So in the end I decided to go for a day trip, and we took a green bus-taxi which surprisingly took us right to the bus station. The 2 hour bus ride was interrupted by a minor mechanical problem and were solved within 15 minutes. Once in Koudougou, we walked around the market area and I took some nice photos. We got Rémi a haircut but as I have already noticed here in Burkina, we never see a pair of scissors. They simply use the electric razor and do the army crew cut. And the result is not nice, no matter where we go. Then we went for lunch and had a lovely breaded Poisson Capitaine (without the head, tail and fish bones!) with some green beans. After, we walked around again for a bit and four hours after our arrival, we boarded the bus home. On our way there and back, when we went through pay tolls or stopped at road forks, vendors would run to the bus with karité (shea) fruits for sale. I tried them and so did Rémi but we were not crazy with it. It has the texture of avocado, but a huge nut inside and a tough skin, with little fruit pulp. Once in Ouaga, we were able to take a green taxi all the way home for only 2$! These fake taxis are starting to act like real ones to me... All in all a nice break from the usual routine, a chance to see a bit of the country and just a plain and simple nice family outing. See the new pictures in the Burkina Faso album - they speak a thousand words and it is my way of showing you around this country!

August 1, 2007

Blessed with Rémi...

Wow, it is unbelievable how it has already been 2 months since we arrived here in Burkina Faso! We are definitely more at ease now and a nice daily routine has made a huge difference. My favourite activity with Rémi now has become our ritual before bed. Once we've had dinner and I've finished cleaning up, we both lie down on the couch, him on top of me nooked in my arm and we chit chat. I ask him what he ate in simple questions, and I get him to answer with word strings and basic sentences. I ask him about his day, the name of his friends, and we count to 20, look for the gekko on the wall, call him over and comment on this and that. This little babble time is fun and slowly it is expanding bit by bit. I feel so blessed to have him in my life and he makes each day a treasured moment. He is becoming an easy and fun kid, has always been, but now more like a young boy, secure in our relationship and aware of his actions. Definitely easier than last year. I just bought us two hand carved chairs, small but strong enough to hold a person twice my weight, as tested in the store. I shopped around and these were my favourite, and Rémi loves them too! They add a touch of Africa to our home which I enjoy...

Last weekend when I went to the market with Julie and we really enjoyed looking all the vegetable stalls, the people and the whole atmosphere. When we are together, people think that we are a couple and Rémi is our son. At first she would tell them that it was not the case, but I mentioned that I didn't mind. So we get to pretend to be a "normal" family for a few minutes... I don't mind! We stopped on our way out at a coconut stand and bought a couple of pieces to eat on the spot. We sat down for this and watched people walk by. As we were finishing eating our coconut, the man at that stand returned with a blackened yellow old gasoline plastic jug and poured out some water into an equally yukky smaller container then splashed the coconut to "refresh" it. As we looked on, we laughed at the thought of all the germs in that water that we had just ingested, hoping now for the best - a mild case of diarrhoea.

A week ago when I went to the artisan market I had bought a Burkinabé game of beads called Wallé, not knowing how to play it. I figured it was original and eventually I would get someone to teach me. Well, that day came soon when on Saturday, a teacher from Rémi's school came by our place for a visit. We talked about many things, including the high prices of Burkina, his family and the school where Rémi is. He also showed me how to play the Wallé, and we had a fun time. He mentioned that tho many people play this game, the nice set I have is for tourist. The Burkinabé just dig little holes in the dirt and throw a few pebbles in! That same evening, Angele came by to care for Rémi and this was my night off. I met up with some friends, we picked up some pizza at a Western restaurant and then went back to Julie's place. The pizza was yummy, and then afterwards we played.... Wallé! We had such a blast, that I am taking home a few games to give as presents so beware! We also played my favourite card game, the "Ass Hole" (Trou de Cul) and had a great time. I returned home at 10 pm after a fun evening...

July 27, 2007

Telephone mania

Since getting to Burkina, I am often baffled at how complicated and expensive things are, and the telephone service has been no exception. Let me try to explain here in a few lines the inexplicable... There are 3 mobile phone companies in Burkina (TelMob, CelTel, TeleCel) and if you call someone from your mobile to another from the same company, it is supposed to be cheaper tho no one has yet told me the exact price. If you call someone from a different company, then it is more expensive. If you call from a landline, it is supposed to be the cheapest. So usually, it costs around 40-75 cents per minutes to talk, so it ain't cheap. I often try to use Telephone Centers which have fixed lines but a few times, I got stuck with a big bill (tho they have a visibly locked counting machine that fixes the charge). Yesterday, I called a friend and talked for 6 minutes and it cost 3,50$, another time 4 minutes for $2,50. So in the end, it does not even seem "cheap" calling from a land phone. Sometimes, Burkinabé folks will call you, let it ring just once so you know who called, then hang up so that you are the one paying for the call. This trick does not work with me anymore! For now I have decided not to get a land line and keep mobile calls to a minimum.

It would be pompous of me to state that Burkinabé are like this or like that, but I think I am entitled to a solid impression....They seem to all want to ride a Mercedez Benz and act like so. In fact, I have never seen so many real Mercedez on the road in my life. I would venture to say that they represent at least 50% of the cars out there, most of them older models dumped by Europe of course. And Peugeot is a big name here also with cars and moped. Most women here have braided hairdos that they change weekly and clothes that are so fancy, motorbikes, etc. The shea butter coop sells her new tiny soap to locals at 1$ a piece, most partner organisations I work with have no money yet they get publicity pamphlets done on very thick expensive paper. Everytime you stop someplace, there is a "parking fee" for someone to watch your bicycles (motorbike or car) for 25 cents and they laugh when I pull out our chain and padlock and "no thanks". To them, it would be like admitting to be poor. You may think that 25 cents is nothing, but if you stop at many places for a minute or so when doing your shopping, it adds up on top of all other expenses here. And us, simple yet frugal Canadians trying find cheaper ways here and walk the road of the have-less while the locals try to look like the riches of Dynasty..."Le monde à l'envers", as we would say in French!

July 22, 2007

A hidden treasure...

Now that routine has settled in, I can start to venture off and expand our world as I mentioned last week. Chatting away with a neighbour, he mentioned a nearby market which I did not know about so I went to check it out. Low and behold, behind some slums, there is a huge market with clothes, houseware, fruits and vegetables. I was shocked! So I walked around to check things out and returned on Sunday to buy some stuff and take some pictures. I love market photos and had to "walk and shoot" quickly so as not to give time to people to object. And the result is "worth a thousand words" and you can check this out in the Burkina Faso photo album. Here is my favourite shot...

I walked into the small food shop to buy juice and cheese and when I got to the counter to pay, the guy had sunglasses on. When I asked him why, he replied that his eyes were sensitive to light and hurt. Then the woman next to him putting groceries into bags just grabbed my arm and asked: "Do you have medication for this?". Of course I was baffled and answered "No! But I hope it gets better". What else can you say?

I went with a friend to the Arts 'n Craft "village" which I feared would be a tourist trap but I was pleasantly surprised! There were many stalls with various crafts such as bronze, paper, hand painted fabrics, leather, baskets, etc. I bought a wood carved game with beads called Wallé and now I have to find someone to teach me how to play it. There are many ideas for gifts for friends and family, that is for sure...

I did try the grilled Poission Capitaine which was nice tho quite expensive at a tourist restaurant. I also went to a more Burkinabé place and had Foutou, a sticky blob of flour which you dip in a sauce with fish. It was OK, tho nothing to run to the kitchen begging for the recipe or asking for seconds... Even my friend who has been here 5 years admits that she never raves about the food. They just don't use any spices, and often the fish or meat just bathes in oil. Still, when in Rome eat like the Romans, or at least try to!

July 20, 2007

And these are a few of my favourite things...

It must be human nature as routine sets in to find things we like and enjoy, and Burkina Faso is no exception. These bring little joys to our life here and make our experience of the country special and unique:

The mangoes here are so sweet and delicious that it has become Rémi's favourite fruit, along with bananas;

Chatting with the nuns at his school always makes me smile and laugh - they are so warm and friendly;

The French taught people here well how to make delicious baguette bread, and I love buying it fresh at the bakery and eating a whole one with butter;

Going to the American club to swim and to eat a heart warming cheese burger or club sandwich with fries;

Buying a piece of cake at the shop next door with Rémi;

Seeing the beautiful colors of painted fabrics and getting two 6' high pieces made for my dining room (elephant and giraffe);

Listening to African music on the many excellent radio station and Radio Canada International in the morning;

The traffic here stinks as much as in Asia but it much quieter. They do not blow their horns continuously here, which is a huge relief;

Taking a shower has never been so refreshing in my life;

July 16, 2007

Expanding our world...

Now that the home and work life seem to be "under control", we can look at trying new things bit by bit and discovering Ouaga. On Saturday morning, we headed by bicycle to an amusement park for kids called Faso Parc which has been recommended by a colleague. I did not know what to expect, but there were various types of slides and things to climb on for kids - airplane, elephant, dragon, etc. There were also some rides like a merry-go-round which was fun and a train. The Ferris wheel was not working and apparently the technician had to go to China to get the parts. We were there hardly 30 minutes when it started to rain cats and dogs and the options were to go into an office building and sit there with all the staff (and have them stare at us) or go on a covered trampoline outside, which was the obvious choice. It rained for a good hour with strong winds so we huddled in a corner to keep warm while singing songs. Eventually the rain stopped and we returned home.

Sunday the housekeeper/babysitter Tatie Angèle came by with her son Arsene. While she cleans the house and washes the clothes, the kids play together and I was free to go downtown to do some grocery shopping and also stopped by to get photos developped for my scrapbook. Getting digital photos done here is very expensive, and the few places that do it often ask 1$ per print, but I found one at 80 cents per photo, which is still expensive. But that's the way it is here.... After returning home at 4 pm, I went for a walk in our neighbourhood with Rémi and Roxy, something that we rarely do since the roads have a constant red dust cloud and enough traffic. We bumped into a catholic gathering where people were playing music and dancing. There was also a wooden pre-historic merry-go-round and of course Rémi wanted to go on. Within minutes, we were the focus of everyone's attention, so after awhile we moved on. In the evening, we went to a nearby Senegalese restaurant for dinner. The people running the place were kind and we had riz gras with fish which was simple but nice. Next time, I want to try a Burkinabé restaurant and have the Poisson Capitaine which is the national dish here...

July 9, 2007

Fake taxis...

It looks like a taxi, it has a sign on the roof that says taxi, and they are all green color - but they are not "real" taxis. They will take you along with any other passenger in the direction where it is going. I had to have that one explained to me and it goes like this. No meter - you hail the green thing and say where you want to go and if it goes in that direction, you hop on and give 50 cents. And along the way others do the same. So you may actually have to hail a few before you get to where you are going, if it is not in a straight line. So what about "real" taxis where you pay him to take you all the way (and only you). They exist but are rare and cannot be spotted on the road. So apparently, you can try to negotiate with a green thing to take you where you want to go, if it is empty. But this seems a hassle to ask a taxi to be a taxi when it is not. I was told to think of them as mini-buses. Thanks, that helps....

I'm glad I have my bicycle on most days but lately I have had more then my share of flat tires. Again Murphy has been hanging around me just a wee bit too much and having a blast at my African integration. On Monday I got 2 flats and finally they said I needed a new air tube and tire, which I agreed to so I could get back on the road. But then the repair man of course has no parts so he wants the money to go and buy them. So I decided to go to another place that seemed to have parts hanging in his doorway, but same thing. It took him 2 hours to go and get the parts, take apart my bike, fight with the other guy on how to put the pieces back together (back wheel is complex) before I was back on the road again. I get to work and once again, the tire is flat. By then I am fuming and the repair guy is too far away to walk to. So I stop at a repair shop, get him to take it apart again, borrow his bicycle so I can go back to the repair guy, get a new tube from him (manufacturing defect he says) then bike back to the other guy to get it fixed. Two days ago, low and behold, the front wheel had a flat tire! So I went in front of my house to the guy who has no parts and he was able to fix it quickly. Two days later, the front wheel came flat on my way to work. I got it fixed and the guy found that the patch previously done was leaking so he replaced it. When I told him it was the second time, he answered that I should change the air tube. "If I change the tube every time I have a flat tire, this will be too costly", I replied. The next day, just as I got to work, it got flat again so I dropped it off for repair and walked away. When I returned to pick it up, he said it was a leaking patch. This morning while having my coffee, I had the good sense to go check my bicycle because I had an early meeting and could not afford to be late. Flat again. The guy in front of my house was not there at 7:30 so I went to another and asked him to change the air tube. Oufff. Leave me alone Murphy and go to Canada for awhile, please!

July 4, 2007

Television Chicken!

Oh, how I miss the tasty fat and tender chicken of Chitwan which I would roast in my oven and eat every week! That was such a treat, and by far the best chicken I had even had in my life. That was then, this is now as they say in the cliché. Here we have marathon chicken, and no matter how much people here and in Vietnam try to convince me that small and tough chicken has more taste, they will never win me over! And here they are really tiny. And they call them Television Chicken (poulet télévisé) which had me puzzled at first. I asked the secretary at CECI about this and she said that they use this name because they roast them in a glass casing! I did buy one twice. The first time it was so dry and tough that I hardly ate any, and even Roxy had a rough time with it and its bones. But I figured that part of the problem was that it had been overcooked. So the next time, round 2, I got one that was less done, and it was somewhat better. Still a far cry from the one in Nepal. They also do French fries and to my surprise, were delicious. Oh well, so long tender chicken...

June 30, 2007

Canada Day...

Well, we were invited on Friday evening to the consul's mansion in Ouaga, along with all other Canadians living in Burkina. There was an entrance fee of 3000 CFA ($7) per person but it included free beer, a puppet show and a buffet. Rémi kept eying the pool and asking me if we were going to swim. I told him that we would later (in my head meaning Sunday) and eventually he found some toys near a kid slide which belong to the consul's boys. So this kept him busy for awhile.... I got to meet the ambassador of Canada and his wife who adopted 2 boys from Vietnam 13 years ago. Now teenagers, they have decided to go to Vietnam for a visit...On Canada Day, which fell on Sunday, we were supposed to go to the American Club where they were going to celebrate their Independance Day. But Mother Nature thought otherwise and it rained all day so we stayed home, with little to do. That's when a DVD player would have come in handy to help pass the time at our place... Sunday evening, I had 3 friends over for dinner - I made a couscous with merguez sausages - and we had a nice time...

June 29, 2007

Puzzle master

Rémi has adapted remarquably well too Africa so far which has made my life a whole lot easier. He never cries when I take him to daycare and seems to enjoy his new found friends there. However, they do not have educative activities with the kids so I compensate for this at home. He now knows his ABC completely and we sometimes play with the alphabet magnets on the fridge or do some writing practices. But mostly, we have started making simple sentences use the verb "be" or "I like/don't like", "I want" and easy verbs like eating, standing, walking, etc. (in French of course). Since the loss of my lap top, this has meant no DVD for him or movies for papa so we have to find ways to keep ourselves occupied. Lately he has really taken to doing puzzles and we would do them together. But to my amazement, he is now able to do them himself and place all 24 pieces of the puzzle! We may just have a little genius on our hands...

June 27, 2007

Murphy's law comes around...

How does it goes... when you think that things are going well, boom, Murphy comes around and drops a brick on your head. And she did. I was riding my bicycle to work yesterday, feeling a bit chipper and glad that I had bought one since it helps me get around long distances quickly. I was on my way to the office, humpty-dum, when I got to an intersection - looked right and left - then crossed the road. A policeman waved for me to pull over, which I did. He said I had not put my foot down and done a proper stop. Then he took my bicycle and handed me a paper saying I would have to go to the police station later to reclaim it and pay a fine. I tried to negotiated and ask that this be a warning but he would not budge so I stayed there in shock as more victims fell to their control with their motorbikes or bicycles. Then I had the good sense to call my partner organization and a staff came over. He tried to negotiate but with no success. When I and others asked the policeman where the bicycles would be taken, he would not answer and told people to call SOS (??). He also said that I would need to bring the papers in order to reclaim it. What papers, I asked. The receipt of the purchase of the bicycle with the serial number of course, he replied. So with my helper from my partner organization, I went back home to search for this elusive receipt, which to my relief I found. Just as we were leaving my house, we saw a truck go by with all the motorbikes, and my bicycle on top. We followed on my friend's motorbike as it crossed town covering more than 10 km. Once there, they asked me for ID which I did not have with me and at first, they would not let me reclaim my bicycle. Finally they agreed and I had to pay 6000 CFA (15$) which is a fortune here. Mentioning this to a friend, he said that they don't usually confiscate bicycles but took mine because I am white. Tho the policemen stopped many bicycles, I realized that he was right and that while I was home looking for the receipts, they had loaded only my bicycle to take away. This makes me sad... When I managed to ride back to work and crossed the same intersection, the policemen were still there and snickered as I passed but I just looked straight ahead while doing a proper stop. And coming home that evening, people along the road all mentioned that they had seen my bicycle being taken away and wanted to hear the story but I was in no mood...

June 25, 2007

Polygamy, Allah, working hours and dust...

And those are the themes for the week! I was talking to a Burkinabé new friend and he told that his father had 5 wives and with them all, a total of 28 children! And they all knew about each other - whats more, they even lived in the same compound and shared the same yard! Polygamy would still be normal today and all a man has to do is advise city hall when getting married that he plans on doing it again. And tho they are catholics, my friend swears that this does not go against religious values! Does the pope know about this yah think?

We have the house of Allah 2 doors from our place and four times a day, bless their souls, a guy screams on the loud speakers and calls everyone in for prayer at the mosque. The one that gets to me is the call at 5 am, which wakes me and Remi up every night. Then it comes again in the afternoon and evening. I guess in awhile we won't hear it anymore... but for now I grind my teeth and and wait for the guy to finish so I can go back to sleep! According to my world atlas, there are only 10% of Burkinabé who are catholics, 35% who are musulman and 55% with local beliefs.

Work hours are from 7:30 or 8 am to 6 pm! But they take a super long lunch break of 3 hours from noon to 3pm. Tho this is great since it gives me plenty of time to go home, do things, have lunch and a long nap, it does make the work day seem to be endless. And with these hours, I now get to see Rémi much less then I did in Nepal. I usually drop him off at daycare at around 8 am and pick him up at 6. So I see him for 2 hours in the morning and the same in the evening. We now eat dinner real late, usually at around 7pm.

And the dust, dear oh dear. Monica from Friends would be beside herself! Only the main roads are paved and all others are dirt or more like red dusty roads. And this is the case with the street where I live. The result of this is tremendous dust in the house. The minimum I have to do is wash the floors everyday as well as tables. Why be such a clean freak you may wonder... because Rémi rolls himself on the floors! And to help, we have also switched to putting on only dark colored clothes for him. And now with the rainy season around the corner, I guess we'll add red mud to the list of things to clean up everyday. But at least for the past few days, it hasn't been too hot at around 36 C and the rainy season should last until November with usually cooler climate. We have already had a few rain storms, and I swear I thought the roof was going to fly off (same in Nepal and Vietnam). But of course it didn't...

June 18, 2007

Thanks Uncle Sam!

We just had a great day yesterday going to the American Club where they have a nice pool, a library and a good restaurant. The pool is shallow enough so that Rémi can stand at one end, so he stayed in the water for over 4 hours, clinging to kids and adults who came in the pool. He had a blast and being such a social kid, this is good for him and for Papa to have a bit of a break. So we'll surely be back every Sunday, and hopefully we will also meet other parents and kids and develop our social network. Thanks to the Americans for having such clubs around the world and the French for having cultural center. The one here seems quite active with many movies and African bands coming to play music.

The day before, Saturday, we went to Rémi's daycare because it is the end of the school year for kindergarten and elementary students. So they had prepared a little show with singing, dancing and poetry...His daycare even did a little group walk-on the stage, so I will post this cute video online as soon as I can! Of course, Rémi is the only white kid in the school. Burkinabe folks are very formal, thanks to the French legacy, so everyone parents and kids alike were dressed to the 9. Except Rémi and Papa in shorts and a tank top. I felt soooo underdressed that next time, I will come better prepared. But I have noticed this with everyone here... they are reserved and formal, which creates a bit of a distance when meeting people. I have been interviewing potential candidates as babysitters/cleaning lady but it is not easy. This person would have access to my house and take care of Rémi Saturdays (to give me a break) and also live in my house when I need to go out of town for work for a few days. We tried on Saturday one lady named Angele, and the plus is that she also has a 3 year old son so he would be company for Rémi when she comes over. It all went well, and I now I will try to take precautions by getting her ID and registering her with the Security Office here (which is recommended).

Our place is starting to look like a home bit by bit. Bookshelves for storing food and stuff were delivered so I was able to take things off the floors and start placing them in the house. We also got one sofa and 2 tables, one to use as a working desk and the other for the dining room. So already, we are settling in nicely and this feels good. I got myself a cellular phone which is great and have decided for now not to get a land line. So if you want to say "Hello", you can dial 0-226-70-67-18-11! Or for those of you who are used to it, send me a text message! It would surely make my day...

June 13, 2007

A few bad days...

Well, most of you know me pretty well and might venture to say that one of my qualities is that I get things done and am determined. In some cases tho, this means that Ben Bulldozer takes over and sometimes needs to cool it. In retrospect, I think I overdid it by moving so quickly to my new house. There were just too many things to do, and taking my time would have helped me deal with adaptation and stress. Besides, CECI was paying for the hotel for 2 weeks and they served good food in its restaurant so why rush? The result was that all came at once - paying for the furniture, stove, fridge, 2 months of damage deposit, one month rent, half a month to the agent, and on and on. And then a bad luck hit me....

I was a bit paranoid of leaving my valuables in my new house so as I had often done in the past, I decided to hide these in the house. With no furniture except beds and table, hiding places were scarce. So, low and behold, I decided to hide my lap top computer in the bottom drawer of my oven and forgot about it. Coming home after work, I had to quickly make dinner and decided to heat a piece of bread in my new gaz oven. Well, within minutes a black smoke started to come out but I did not realize/had forgotten about my computer. I figured that it was nothing much due to lighting up my new stove. But the smoke kept coming so I asked for help from my neighbour who had the good sense to run back inside the house - by then all smoked out - and take out the gas cylinder. He also called the firemen. When they arrived with the water hose and started hosing the house I went inside to "get my lap top" and only then did I realize that it was the source of the smoke, being in the plastic suitcase which caught on fire. The firemen managed to take the stove outside to hose it down and pulled out the charred remains of my baby. I was in shock, feeling so much like this could have been avoided. In the end, I just found out today from the computer guy that we were able to recover the hard disk and my documents so that is good news. Plus my parents have already bought me a new one which will be sent to me via the director who will return here from Canada in 2 weeks. All is well that ends well ???

On the positive side Rémi is doing so well at the daycare with the nuns. They are so friendly and already we are discussing signing him up for the October Kindergarten since spaces are limited. They are also associated with an orphanage and I have mentioned my intention/desire to adopt a girl. They seem to see that Rémi is happy and that this would be a great idea. Already, they take care of 3 orphans daily and a 2 year old girl named Elody would be perfect. But woooo, one step at a time. I am thrilled to have a bicycle because I really need it to get around. Everything is a bit far (too far to walk in this heat for sure) so it helps me get around. I have installed a seat for Rémi and this gets everyone here to look and chuckle a bit. Fine by me! I have already "ordered" most of my custom made furniture - bookshelves, tables because there are no closets or cupboards in the house for storage. Avocadoes and mangoes have been delicious and I have only been eating salads since I got here. With the heat, I find that I heat so little and Africa may prove to be my best diet! I have enough reserves from my pigging out in Canada to last me awhile....

I can't believe it but it seems like I am getting a bit used to the heat - it has been 40-42 C everyday, and this morning when I woke up it was already 30 C! And because there are walls all around my house, there is little circulation of air in the house so the fans are one all the time. I managed to negotiate to have one air condionner in the living room tho I try not to turn it on too much. I definitely would not sleep with it on for fear of getting a super high bill at the end of the month. I will wait a week or see before getting a phone at home and a mobile for emergencies. All in all, I feel better today and have landed back on my feet!

June 7, 2007

Confessions of a vagabond...

It has now only been 4 days since we arrived and I am still taking in this new environment which has become our home. I am in shock for now, looking around and wondering if I will like it here... We arrived last Sunday in the middle of the night (4 am) at Ouagadougou airport and found poor Roxy in her cage going around on the carousel !!!. A driver was waiting for us and took Charles de Gaulle boulevard, a wide road with a few shacks here and there (no tall buildings). We got to the small Zandogo "hotel" and my first reaction was "dear oh dear, what am I doing here?". We slept in untill noon, then headed out but I was hit with 42 Celsius heat and ran back inside my room. A driver took us to the CECI offices in the afternoon, and then Rémi and I had dinner with the director.

My first impressions of Africa is that it is very bare with few low buildings and mostly shacks here and there. Going downtown, I was also a bit shocked by the poor state of the streets and shops compared to Kathmandu or Hanoi. Ouaga is a very wide town so it takes a long time to get from point A to point B. Everything seems far so I had to get a bicycle right away to get around. From the hotel to CECI office it must be 2 km, same for daycare and double that to get "downtown". By the time I get to the office, I have usually cycled 4 km and am all hot and sweaty! I am still not sure how I will meet other foreigners but I guess that will come in time. For now I have only met one other volunteer here and I have yet to get acquainted with the city.

On the up side traffic is predictable and organized here, unlike Vietnam or Nepal. Vehicles actually stay in their lane and stop at lights or cross roads even when there is no car coming! I am the rebel here, a Nepali Quebequer feeling silly stopping all the time and wanting to run lights. It is also nice here to be able to speak to people in French wherever we go. The food so far has been good with cous-cous, potage and tasty mangoes. They have roast chicken the size of a fist on the road side and I am still hoping to find decent size ones soon.

I started to look for a place to stay with the help of a "démarcheur" or agent who will take half a month's rent when we conclude the affair. Prices range from 300-400 CDN$ but I managed to find a place for 250$ including one air conditioner in the living room. It is a small house with a tiny kitchen, living room and 2 bedrooms. I also looked around at daycares but most of them follow the public school system and are closed starting next week for 3 months! Still, I managed to find one that will only close one month in August, and this gives me enough time to find a substitute for that period. Rémi has been there twice so far and has not cried, so his adaptation is going well. He is, of course, the only white kid in the class.

Most of all, I am shocked at how expensive Burkina Faso is, compared to Nepal or Vietnam of course. Here are a few prices to give you an idea: 500-600 $ for a medium size fridge, 150$ for a used gas stove (with oven), 200$ for a basic bamboo sofa with cushions, 200$ for a double bed, 4$ for a box of Corn Flakes, 6$ for a pound of coffee, 1$ for a litre of water, $100 for one-month of daycare (compared to 30$ in Nepal). I just bought a low quality bicycle to get around for 100$ and I am freaking out at how expensive it is here! I have been trying to find a billboard where other foreigners leaving the country would post things for sale but so far, there seems to be nothing. So I will need to budget closely and I am sure things will work out fine in the end. Stay tuned for more of my shock waves as I get to know this new place and culture!