Les contes africaines!

What a great blogger I am! You get two posts in one week :)

I am just motivated to post about this fantastic event I went to last night! About two weeks ago I met a Canadian girl who used to live in my neighbourhood and she told me about this cool little theater nearby that does ‘African storytelling’ on the last Wednesday of the month for free, for the community. She gave me the contact information for one of the ‘conteurs’ that she met there (storytellers).

I met Jean-Claude a couple of times and he told me that although he doesn’t perform so much at that theater anymore, he would this time before he heads back to Togo (where he is from) for some work he has to do there.

I had no idea what to expect, having only been to the theater once during the day and just seeing it quickly for a few minutes. Essentially it is a big lot with a couple of buildings on it and its resident theater troop uses the space to rehearse and host some events I believe.

I went with Antoine and Angèle…two Burkinabe friends I’ve met through Sarah… Angèle left before it really began so Antoine and I were left behind for the adventure!!

Essentially it is a very community event with mostly young people (from ages 5 to maybe 18). There weren’t too many people when we got there but by the time we left the place was pretty packed. There isn’t much sitting room (a couple of benches) but all the kids were sprawled on mats on the floor and the slightly older kids standing around. It was fantastic!! There were about 8 different storytellers who took turns on the stage.

It began with two young boys actually, who I guess have been training with one of the storytellers. They were super cute and nobody really listened. The one boy was so nervous!! The one thing about society here which can be hard to get used to is how direct (blunt) people are. So people were making fun of him out loud and everyone was laughing…but he was laughing along too. It is all just for fun. So while I was thinking how horribly mean it was and probably on some pedagogical level really terrible (pretty sure mocking students is not such an acceptable tactic in teachers college back home!)… I had to remember that it is not really my place to judge and, in reality, that kid was fine! And he pushed through and told his story despite it all.

So the adult storytellers ranged from really good to really really good and mostly spoke in French, so I got to understand most of it. They use their body language, interacting with the audience, singing, instruments, voices to tell their story and usually there is a moral of some sorts. Like most fables/stories you sometimes have to stretch a little to understand the moral. After a long story about a guy who goes on a trip to a village and gets in a fight with a tortoise…the moral is… he brought it on himself…or something! ?!?!?!?!? But regardless the best part is the story getting there.

There were even some pretty lewd sexual inuendos that the crowd just loved (and I was pretty shocked to hear) such as the story of when ‘mouth’ died and none of the other body parts (nose, eyes, ears, head, feet, stomach) wanted to participate in burying him because he always got them in trouble when they smelt/saw/heard something or made them carry/digest things they didn’t want to! Except “dj antoine and his two ‘friends’” who always benefitted from mouth when he picked up girls… ummm don’t ask me what the moral was in this story?!?!? Or how it was audience appropriate! Haha

But bottom-line is that it was a fantastic event with the audience laughing and interacting. I can’t wait to go back in October! Antoine even had a really great time, although I know that both him and Angèle were very skeptical when we first got there and there were 5 people and two benches set up :)




One of the storytellers with his homemade guitar of scrap cans!


He was one of the better ones! Had fantastic laughter!



Only one woman performed and she was really great! Almost better then the men just because she was challenging the men in their usual roles!

The captive audience!

This is my friend Jean-Claude!

This was a little sweetheart who came to sit on my lap! She didn't talk and barely smiled...but also refused to leave my lap :) I think she was caught between awe and fear! My whiteness is pretty terrifying!

Life in Ouaga

Okay…so I realize that this isn’t a good start to a blog when already after 3 posts I’ve slacked off. But I’m back :)

I’ve now been here almost a month and feeling pretty settled in. It is amazing how when you work you get into a kind of ‘routine’ and even thousands of miles from home, life seems pretty normal! I bike the 15-20 minutes to work everyday, saying my hellos to all the ‘regulars’ that I pass every morning, arriving sometime between 8 and 8:30. Full work day of research, writing, translating, correction, reading, meetings etc etc until about 4:30-5:00 and then I head the 15-20 minutes back home. If I stop to go to the bank or do groceries along the way and leave my beautiful pink bike with the friendly ‘bike parking’ guys that are on almost every corner. You leave your bike with them and get a little ticket so that you can get it back when you are done. It costs 50 FCFA which is about…a quarter of a quarter?!? Not too shabby!

I usually have an hour or two at home to myself before Emeline comes home and even more before Sarah comes home (remind me not to work for the UNDP…she works insane hours!). Evenings are spent going to the tailor with Emeline (soon for me too… although I’m trying to be good and not go crazy having things made too quickly!)… going to the neighbourhood ‘maquis,’ which you could call a bar but it’s more a street-side pub/hang out. Some of them have dance floors. You can get a whole deliciously roasted chicken for about $4 and a beer for $2. Perfect meal right there!

Tuesday and Thursday nights I’ve signed up to go to a salsa class! Sarah is supposed to go as well but given how much she is working she doesn’t get to all that often. Its fun! The prof is really fantastic but kind of overwhelming and a little arrogant. But everyone in the class is really great and we are a few beginners so it works out to some laughs!

There are also all kinds of theaters/plays/concerts going on all the time. There is a community theater near our house that has African Storytelling every last Wednesday of the month for free. That’ll be tonight so quite exciting! In a couple of weeks Ouaga Hip-Hop festival starts and Hanna’s boyfriend (Hanna is the other intern) has made a bit of a name for himself as the new DJ in town (yes, after only one month! He moves fast!). So he’ll be in a few of the concerts DJing around town.

Saturdays (if we aren’t sleeping in after a late Friday night :p ) Sarah, Emeline, Hanna and I go to an African Dance class that one of Sarah’s friends organizes. It is really great actually. There are two professors and a guy who plays the djembe. They are really good! Emeline and I actually saw them perform in a theater/dance show last Friday where the Minister of Culture came to watch. It is really a lot of fun and a HUGE work out! If you have never tried crouching for an hour and a half while lifting your legs over and over and swinging your arms…Do! It’s FUN :)

Normally I think a weekend would include a trip to a pool somewhere. One of my colleagues has generously offered unlimited use of his swimming pool and there are a number of hotels around as well. If only there was a beach! I can’t stress how much I miss that. I am really enjoying Burkina but…man…even my Burkinabe friends complain about the lack of ocean!

This past weekend, however, was pretty much just lying in bed after catching some kind of bug in my stomach. Actually I don’t know what it was but just that I was in a lot of pain and nauseous. I’m blaming the slightly uncooked egg sandwich I ate Friday afternoon because all weekend the thought of that sandwich made me cringe even more! Usually the sign of a culprit! It is all over now and, although I don’t think I will order that egg sandwich again, I am ready to go back to the corner kiosk that sold it to me and try something new!

So that is life up until now. Work is going really well too and I’m keeping busy. It is a pretty flexible work place so Hanna and I can help out essentially anyone who needs it. That is really great because it means there is always something to do and we really get to see all the different aspects of the Embassy work.

I promise I will try to take some pictures to share a little of what Ouaga looks like. And by “I will take pictures” I mean “when Emeline’s sister comes back (they went to Togo for a week) I will take all the photos she has taken of Ouaga and post them for you all to see” :)

Cheers and love!

First weekend in Ouaga!

Today will be the beginning of my third week here in Ouaga! Which means I still get to have a lot of the “firsts” that you get from having just arrived somewhere. First weekend in Ouaga, first trip to the village artisanal, first night out in Burkina, first ride on a moto in Burkina etc.

This weekend was a long weekend because Friday was the big celebration to mark the end of Ramadan (a month long fast that Muslims do). Sarah and Emeline invited me along to go see two of their friends in the afternoon. Everyone has a bit of a party and then you go around to visit everyone and end up eating multiple meals a day! Although we got lucky and only had two :)

Other then that it was a pretty relaxing weekend. Went to a really great African dance class Saturday morning that a friend of Sarah and Emeline had organized! I think it will continue every Saturday… THAT was a work out :)

Emeline also took me to a guy that she knows who makes shoes. As in hand makes them for you! That is kind of fun! We then went to a woman who makes bags but after over an hour of Sarah and Emeline discussing what kind of bags they wanted with what kind of details....with two powercuts during that...turns out the lady had a waaaay unrealistic price and we left without the girls getting their bags! Aaah I'm slowly remembering the joys of patience!!

The weekend ended of very nicely with a couple rounds of tea with our very friendly Burkinabè neighbours!

I'm starting to like this place already :)

This is my house! It feels a little strange to live in a whole big house with a garden and guards. I feel much more grown-up then I think I want to be :p





This living room! We are going to do something about the couch covers... really they are just hideous! It's a little hard to see in this photo...but trust me!


Our little porch with our kitten friends sitting on the chair. Actually, we'd rather they not be there but one of the old owners had them (two black and white kitties) and now they just don't ever want to leave! Which makes it hard for us who are kind of obliged to feed them a little cause they really don't seem to be capable on their own. But the problem is then that they are also very picky and pretty much only eat sardines... a can of sardines a day for each is not that expensive but when you think that that means spending 600 CFA a day and that very many people in this country would use that 600 for their food for an entire day. Seems odd to me to spend it on cats! That is my moral dilemma in this house :p


Our walkway from the gate and Sarah's car!

Our big blue gate :) and Nicolas...one of our lovely guards standing watch!


And below...my pride and joy!! I've had her almost a whole week now and she hasn't broken down once!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isn't she a beaut?

First trip to the village…big success!

I can never figure out this whole picture thing so they are all mixed up in here! Sorry! This is the last painting touches being put on the building. Not an easy way to paint for sure!

This is the school!

This is the side of the road where we were stranded for 3 hours! At least it was pretty...although it was also HOT!

On the way out of Ouaga!

This weekend we went on a trip to the village!

Sarah (one of my roomies) has an Association that she started with some friends from home that raises money (through its members, through donations, through events, through an “adopt a child” kind of initiative) for a certain village called Irim (or at least that is how I think it is spelled). They work with a Burkinabe association called Association Aidons Afrique Ensemble (AAAE) that was started by various Burkinabe individuals about 15 years ago. AAAE is based in a town in the north-ish of Burkina called Ouahigouya and works with 21 different villages in that area. They have all kinds of projects in the villages but their core principal is that it is the villagers that come to them as say “hey, we could really use a school” or “we are having a hard time finding usable land for our farming” or…whatever they see as a need. For example AAAE started a Mutuel de Santé (health care cooperative) in some of the villages because people were finding they just couldn’t pay for their medications for themselves and their kids. So now the people in the village can pay a monthly fee and get their services covered and I am pretty sure all school children are covered automatically. Very interesting organization! I am already really looking forward to going back and maybe working a bit with them. Seydou who hosted us and took care of us is a really impressive man with some great visions for his organization, but in a really realistic way. AAAE gets funding from all over for their various initiatives from small Associations like Sarah’s or from bigger government donors. It depends on the specific initiative or project.

So Sarah’s association has funded a school to be built as well as some materials and salaries for people working at the Mutuel de Sante. The school was because where the school is right now is quite far for a lot of the children to get to and in june/july they simply can’t get there because it is the rainy season and the roads are impassable. It is just being finished so we got to see that. We also got sit-in on a meeting which AAAE was holding with people from all 21 villages about some of their agricultural initiatives.

It was super interesting over all. The only hitch was that…surprise! Car broke down! We ended up sitting by the side of the road for 3 hours on the way there while Adama….Sarah’s loyal friend and our amazing driver for the weekend…hitched a ride on a scooter to the nearest town to find some parts that we needed and a mechanic! 3 hours later we were up and running!

We also had some adventurous off-roading since to get to the village it is a small dirt path (that we were only able to actually see because it is the rainy season so everything is green and lush! In the dry season there is a dusty path that you really have to know to figure out where it goes). With the rainy season there were some iffy patches of water and mud and, what I would call a full-blown lake that we had to cross! Sarah’s car is a big jeep but without 4-wheel drive so there were some doubts about whether or not we would make it! We did! :) Over all a great first weekend in Burkina Faso and some good bonding with the girls!

Week two has begun with some more interesting work and still lots of reading to do. I now also have some work to do around some of the climate change adaptation projects that DANIDA funds. Very interesting!

Oh, and another big news from the weekend is that I have a new name. Since having two Sarahs is pretty confusing, I’ve been given the name Sarata. Which is a pretty common name here and still close enough for me to recognize it when being called! The unfortunate part about being named Sarah here is that ‘white person’ in More (the main language spoken) is Nassara…with emphasis on the “sara.” So everyday I walk down the street and wonder “how does everyone know my name?!''

Arrival!

Arrived!

It was another long trip with lots sneezing and stuffy-ness with this new “allergy” thing my body has picked up (thanks dad :)!), but as usually pretty uneventful. The most eventful part was the arrival! Burkina has a tiny airport, made even tinier by the fact that they have a reconstruction project going on (again…wonderful for my allergies as dust swirled around in the air!).

The best part about this reconstruction is that there are no luggage belts for your luggage to come through nicely and you to stand back and let them come to you. Instead a few guys were wheeling huge carts in piled with our bags and tossing them in a big line in front of all the passengers. You then had to proceed to squeeze you way through and maybe, hopefully get a glimpse of you bag…if not make the painfully slow process down the line desperately searching! This wouldn’t be a problem if the plane was half full and if everyone didn’t seem to have 4 or 5 bags!! But, to be honest, everyone stayed really calm and joking about what a hassle it was. There wasn’t any of the Senegal aggressiveness that would have led to elbows in ribs and angry jostling. Already this country feels more calm!

Ulla (my supervisor at the embassy) was there in baggage claims after I came out through security, which was really nice!! She was a life-saver and held down the fort with my stuff while I suitcase hunted in the crowds.

We got out to the house where I am living and I am super excited! It is a little three bedroom house with a living room and kitchen. Emeline (a French girl) and I share one bathroom and Sarah (who is Swiss) has her own in her room. There is a little garden out front and a little space you can sit outside! There is always a guard at the house…which is either disconcerting or kind of nice. Nice to know there is always someone at the house I guess.

My first day at work went wonderfully as well. Lots of the usual reading and looking through documents to get familiar with what I’ll be doing! Looks like it’ll be really fun and everyone at the embassy is super nice. There is another student as well and we share an office which is kind of fun too.

More about the job later as I learn more about what I’ll be doing :)

So far…very good impressions of Burkina! I have to remember that it is not Senegal…because there are a lot of similarities…but many differences too. The biggest I’ve notice so far is essentially ZERO transportation options in this lovely town. Shared taxis (that may or may not take you, depending on their route and “zone” they work in) seem to be the only option…unless you want to wait an indefinite amount of time for the couple of city buses that might run every once in a while… hmm this could get challenging!!

For those in good ol’Canada…hope you are enjoying the heat wave. Weather here is beautiful (of the one day I have seen of it :)!) I even have a ceiling fan in my room!!