So since Ryan still in Burkina being a Peace Corps volunteer, might as well keep doing what we he's there to do. No reason to just sit and read, waiting for Sonia to get back. There is work to be done. Lots of it.
Most recently Sonia and I worked with the women of our village to plan their March 8th event (International Women's Day). Last year was pretty lame, so we started planning early and the women really came through. They organized a women's bike race, foot race, soccer match, large meal and a dance that night. In Sonia's absence, I gave a health/family planning presentation to about 100 village women talking about things like communication with your partner, birth spacing and contraception options. It was pretty fun. Kind of weird, but cool. Here are a few pictures. Luckily I had a couple other Peace Corps volunteers come visit that day to give moral support and sample the dolo. Can you spot them in the crowd?
Brian and Vinny sit in to support the women and learn about having kids.
These women taking dancing to another level.
Special thanks to Bad Scott for sending this soccer ball halfway across the world!
Otherwise, I'm personally still real busy working with the USADF (United States African Development Foundation) on the hopes of a large-scale Onion development project coming to our village. We're currently in the market study phase, trying to assess our current production capacity and the market opportunities to sell onions in mass quantity. It's been a great opportunity to work on a large scale activity like this that could really impact the livelihoods of this rural population. Because let me tell you, there is no shortage of onions in this place. But they do need to find a more sustainable way to sell them.
And I'm still planting a lot of Moringa trees. We're hoping to get 10,000 in the ground during this raining season. But before we can do that, I have to survive another HOT season. And alone :( It's not going to be pleasant.
Otherwise, all is well. The puppies are getting bigger, and so are the kids (not our kids, but the family kids we live with).
Mocha and Cafe, now not such little puppies anymore.
I think that's it for now. Looking forward to St. Partick's Day and my annual Guinness (which amazingly enough I can find here in Burkina Faso). And for only $2!
