the end of the beginning...ou quelque chose comme ça.

and then there was a village

Let me begin today’s blog entry by stating that I had composed a rather wonderful, rather long blog entry two days ago, but by some unknown stroke of the keyboard, I had erased the entire composition. Not that any of you were disadvantaged in the whole process, but I nevertheless apologize.

This past week in Ouagadougou has been fun. I think I have seen/experienced it all. Whether it was my taxi driver casually taking out a guy on a motorcycle, or the old man with twelve toes on the side of the road selling pre-paid cell phone cards, Ouaga has a (mis)adventure around every corner.

Tomorrow, I leave for Pobé-Mengao, my village site for the next two years. Today is the last day in which I can buy a cheeseburger or chat with a familiar face. Today is my last day in Ouagadougou, for the next three months. The Official Swear-In ceremony (where we take the oath to be volunteers for the next two years) took place on Friday, the 25th of August. After a day of frantically seeking out random necessities for my new home (literally everything except the kitchen sink...and a bathtub), we put on our Friday’s best and took advantage of great appetizers and diverse company at the U.S. Ambassador’s house (a.k.a. the swear-in site).

Affectation and its sorrows

The act of being taken to your site of service is known as affectation. Since Peace Corps Burkina Faso has only a limited number of vehicles, not everybody can be affecté’d at the same time. It just so happened to work out that myself, along with 4 other volunteers, are the last to be sent to site. 15 or so left yesterday, 14 today, and we leave tomorrow. I did not anticipate their departure to be as emotional as it was, but you cannot deny the gravity of it all. 33 volunteers who have seen one another for the last 3 months, every day, all day, all sharing one amazing cultural experience, only to be spread out all over the country.
What I find to be hardest to believe is that even though I have been in Burkina Faso for 12 weeks, my actual job here has only just begun. Two years remaining. In many regards, it seems like a long time, but when I think about the reality of it all, that I will be living here for two years, building friendships and relationships, two years has the potential to go by very quickly.

The next step, as it were

It is a requirement that each new volunteer remain at his or her site for the first three months of service. Aside from traveling to the nearest market town, it is important that the volunteer not travel much when they first arrive. This is what they call the “Settling-in” period. Since my job involves interacting with the community, helping them jump start programs they want to do, it would be outrageous, let alone impossible for me to simply jump into town tomorrow and start doing all the things I think is best for their community. The first three months of every volunteer’s service is to get to know the community, to conduct informal meetings in an attempt to find out exactly what are the community’s needs, and to simply become a familiar face. Generally speaking we are told to do “no real work”; simply informal needs-assessments, but ask any volunteer and they will probably tell you that the first three months at site are the hardest. The adjustment from Pre-Service Training to life alone at site is anything but subtle.

On March 17th, 2005, with a tentative stroke of the keyboard, I submitted my Peace Corps Application online. One year 5 months and 10 days later, I am here, in Burkina Faso, a day away from beginning my two years of service.

Jusqu’á la Prochaine Fois

This may very well be my last post until around Thanksgiving, as that will be the end of my three-month lock-down in Pobé. There is an Internet café in Djibo (30 km away), however, it is exceptionally unreliable not to mention extortionately priced (hey, its the Sahel). In any event, I hope that this blog finds everyone well and in the best of health. To my friends and family, I miss you all and do not doubt that I am thinking of you all constantly. To any up and coming PCT’s awaiting Staging who happened to come across my blog, sorry I didn’t provide more substantive info, perhaps next time (trust me, blogs were my Rosetta Stone for Peace Corps prior to departure). To all, stay tuned.....

best,

Joel Turner (My name :)
Porgo, Joël (mon nom de Sananga)
Konfé, Boureima (mon nom de Pobé-Mengao)

p.s. apologies for the dismal lack of photos chez moi online...my camera decided to grow legs and walk away