One Month In (Again)

I’ve been at site for a little over a month now which is weird to think about giving the variable speeds at which time seems to pass here. For instance- each day seems like it takes forever, but each week seems to pass fairly quickly. I guess it depends on if the month is viewed as 30 days or 4 weeks because one would lead toward a conclusion of the former while the other one, clearly the latter. I’d say Month 1 was clearly the latter. And now, halfway through Month 2.

The first 3 months at site is known as the etude de milieu- basically studying the community. It’s a time to concentrate on language skills, meeting people, judging which resources are in the community, what can be found, what the community needs help with, and what they might say they need help with but isn’t really a need- more of a want. I speak French everyday- for the majority of the day. I might exchange a few words in English with the head of the CSPS (called the Major (really l like titles over here) Note: CSPS= health center). But that’s cause he wants to take the TOEFL exam and he spent 2 months in Taiwan doing nursing/ management stuff and all the courses were in English so he understands a fair amount. Then of course, everyone else wants to learn English and I’m not exactly sure how to teach it. I also spend a fair amount of time speaking moore- the local language. I’m getting better at it and everyone thinks it’s amazing that a white person speaks it. When I asked why they thought it was so amazing they responded that there is a lot of French foreign aid work that comes to my village and they don’t take the time to learn moore so it’s just different for them. I have a tutor for moore who comes twice a week to teach me things and we actually do a lot of practical language learning so it’s health or cultivation related and also I’m learning to write and read moore as well as speak. The lessons are done in French and Moore so my French vocabulary gets a nice boost as well. It’s pretty mentally fatiguing going through those lessons for 2 hours at a time. But, anything else would be a bit slow so just go for it.

Meeting people- I spend a lot of time at the CSPS and I meet all the sick people who come in. Now, they treat roughly 1000 people a month (and that’s when it’s not the rainy season) so I see a lot of people. Also everyone brings a friend or family member with them when they come to the CSPS so people know I’m here, as well as my purpose. I also help with baby weighings and tell parents if their child is at a healthy weight or whatnot. I also go to the marche (market) everyday and buy veggies for the evening or something like that so that’s a great way to meet people. I guess what I’m really trying to say here is that I don’t sit in my house all day and read books (although I’ve started reading A Song of Ice and Fire and it’s quite an awesome read)/ watch movies (don’t have electricity at the moment so electronics can’t be over utilized). Meeting people also helps judge the resources in the community- for example, a few weeks ago I found a guy who wants to start an herbal remedy program that relies on plants that can be grown in Burkina Faso for sicknesses, ailments, etc. Seems like a cool idea- and he seems motivated to use remedies that are scientifically proven to work. Cool idea- he wants me to help him find international partners although I’m still trying to get him to explain to me why he wants international partners and what expenses he needs financed.

But, a lot of what people have voiced is that they don’t necessarily want money from me but a way to get money either from selling things or international partners. Money is a tough issue here, because to be honest no one has enough money. But, money isn’t always the problem and even less often- the solution. A while ago my grandmother sent me a link of a madTV skit that featured the I-rack. An apple product that was basically a storage rack, that didn’t work. It didn’t hold anything, it seemed to have no purpose, and when it caught on fire, the promoter just started throwing large quantities of money at it to try and fix the problem. Needless to say the money caught fire too, and he quickly moved on to introducing the I-ran (a pair of used shoes). Whenever I think of using money to solve a problem I always come up with that mental image. But I digress, last week when one of the health agents brought up the fact that he needed money to give to the people who come to his presentations so they would have motivation to come. I replied no you want money and instead tossed out the idea of a free consultation at the CSPS for everyone who was at the program. I thought it would not only be motivation to come but it would also get people to come to the CSPS. A few days later I actually met a Canadian who is working with the health system in a larger city and she’s a business consultant and I told her but not throwing money at an issue and she actually took the words to heart and is now thinking of other ways to go about financial issues. On the other hand, I was walking down the street the other day and a van of Irish people pulled up to me, asked me if I spoke English and then asked me if I had use for 200 free hearing aids so you never really know what to expect.

Mid-February will bring the Language component of the In-service Training (IST), and also, maybe a bed. It will also herald the coming of the hot season and now that the cold season is over (haha cold season, right?) I’m very interested to see how hot it will be.  To slightly ameliorate the situation I will be getting electricity In the near future and with that means a fan, which means air circulation. Not the worst thing ever.