On the road again

I'm going back to village tomorrow! After spending 35 days living out of a backpack and a messenger bag, I finally return to Pobé-Mengao. I left at the end of May and embarked on a series of adventures; a little travel, a lot of work, little sleep. I really have no intention to spend this much time out of my site ever again. It just so happened to work out this way, as I had trainings, then vacation, then more training, and lastly, the past week spent training new trainees. I am all trained out.



I am trying to neglect the reality that 2 weeks after I return to my site, I must return to Ouaga for my Mid-service training. Why all the training?! I'll tell you why? Its summer. Low work season in village (for volunteers, that is). I have been staying in cell contact with friends in Pobé, and they gave me three pieces of good news.



Piece of good news #1: It finally rained, I mean really rained in Pobé! The rains came late this year, so people are getting nervous...but one week ago, my village got their first real rain (they refuse to count little 20 minute rains..go figure). This, of course means people are not out in the fields, growing their means of survival, between now and October.



Piece of good news # 2: Pobé-Mengao won the Mayor's cup soccer competition! Beginning in April, all the villages in the department of Pobé-Mengao take part in a soccer tournament. Nevermind the fact that Pobé is the largest village in the department, I have every right to be excited for my home team's success.



Piece of good news # 3: 29 out of 32 CM2 students passed their C.E.P. exam! Background: CM2 is the equivalent of 6th grade and at the end of the year, each student must take the exam in order to continue on to 2ndary school. According to my colleague Hamidou, this is the highest passing percentage he has ever seen. So who wouldn't be excited? The closing ceremony for the primary school is on Monday. If I had the means, I would bake a cake!



My last two weeks have been spent working PST (a.k.a. stàge) here in Ouahigouya. It has been a lot of fun getting to know the new trainees. They seem to be a really strong group and I am pretty confident they will all be upstanding volunteers. And they're a lot of fun. Spending time in Ouahigouya always makes me a bit nostalgic, seeing as how I spent my first 3 months of my Peace Corps life here...add to that spending 6 days a week working stàge, at times, I myself have felt like a trainee once again. But not quite. Spending time here has taught me a few things. First of all, I am so thankful that stàge, for me, is a thing of the past. I forgot how grueling it really is. 6 days a week, 9 hours of session a day...and at the end of the day, I return to a host family that speaks no English, minimal french. You have no free time.

Secondly, I have been able to see how far I have come in the past year. I came to Burkina Faso with minimal French. Spending time with the stagiares has allowed me to see how far I've actually come in the past 13 months. Aside from French, I have learned so much about the culture here..arguably a much more difficult language to master. I'm still not there...but I'm pretty happy with my progress.

Lastly, working stàge has helped give me fresh ideas of what I can do in village. I have, believe it or not, learned a lot from the stagiaires....they are full of so many good ideas, I couldn't help but take note. My biggest goal for the upcoming school year is to work more closely with the APEs/AMEs (parent associations) in regards to capacity building. I'd think the APE and AME in Pobé are well-functioning, but there is so much more that they can do.



I can't recall the last time I have been so exhausted. I look forward to returning to the slow life in village. There is much to think about, much to process. Its been a long time out of site.



Thanks to everybody that has sent kind words re: my blog. I am glad you enjoy what I have to say. You know me, I like to stay in touch with friends...I have no doubt the same will continue heading into my second year of service.



That being said, until next time.



j