First rain of the year!

It's mid March and we just got the first rain of the year. It only lasted for an hour of so, but it came down pretty well... and about 2 months early. It was Wednesday morning around 12:30am when we heard the drops coming down on our tin roof (a loud preview of the noise to come this rainy season). We ran outside to see what was going on. Had a band of rogue chickens landed on the roof? No, it was rain. We (ok, I, Ryan) jumped up and down a bit, and then upon re-entering the house was poked by a scorpion underneath my big toe. So bizarre, because I was wearing my sandals. I looked down and didn't see anything, but after I popped a couple Benadryls I went back outside and found the culprit clinging to the wall. Flap, dead. The sting throbbed pretty good for about 4 hours and then was just sore for another 4-6 hours. By noon that day all had gone to normal, thank God. Did I also mention that earlier that day (well, the day before I guess) I stepped on an African honey bee? Not my day to say the least.



The rain didn't last long and it's now back to being HOT HOT HOT, but it was a nice little reminiscent moment from our rainy life back in the Northwest. For once grey skies actually felt comforting.

We also had a pretty rockin' onion party in our courtyard. We worked with our neighbors to fill sacks of onions to send to a big fair type event in Ouaga called the CEDEAO. Here is Sonia pitching in.



On another note, we're doing very well on supplies, thanks to all of those who sent us packages. We feel the love! A special thanks to our friends on Owyhee Ct et Dede/ Guy, who recently multiplied our stack of goodies by 10. You guys rock!

We are currently out of site to participate in another little training session in Ouaga. We're learning a lot about our jobs, the NGOs that work here in Burkina and how we can collaborate with them.

Finally, wanted to share the cure little gecko we found clinging to the hotel wall this morning.

VIP stops by our village

To our surprise, we hosted a very special visitor at our village a couple weeks ago. Madame Jackson, the Ambassador to the USA here in Burkina Faso paid us a visit. Here is a picture of her welcoming committee. We were happy to be able to share a few of the projects we are working on, and discuss what the US Embassy is involved with around the country in terms of aid and development projects.



In other news... Ryan has completed his 18 village tour. We live in a 'departement' (what would be considered a county in the states), where there are 18 villages near our village. Technically he is supposed to support the entire departement. 21 community meetings later (as some of the villages are sub-divided).

Sonia is busy as well wrapping up her "Etude de Milieu" (a community needs assessment for the health needs). She has been making the round between the health clinic, maternity and nutrition center. She has also befriended a group of "guides", which is here the version of the Girl Scouts. So she has been spending some time with the girls/young women, who will likely help out on a lot of the community education projects.

Hmmmmm, what else. No recent illnesess to report. All is well, gastro-intestinal speaking.

Oh yeah, there is the heat which has started mounting again. December and January were quite nice, and February had the brutal Harmatan winds. Now it's just starting to get plain hot again. About 90-95 everyday. We are probably going to start sleeping outside pretty soon, but are dreading the battle with the mosquitos. (Thanks for sending the tropical tent Dad and Mary.) The heat should continue to increase up to the 105-115 range by April. Anyone want to come work on their tan? Sometime between late May and early June it should start to rain again (but with the heat it should be pretty humid). Remember, it has not rained a drop since October 15ish.

On the national news front, the capitol city saw some mild rioting and demonstrations last week due to an overall cost of living increase on goods. But all was quiet as could be village-side. We believe all has simmered down in the city as well. These was roughly the same cost increase that led to pretty bad rioting in Cameroon. Guessing this did not make the international news circuits.

We listen to a lot of the BBC World Service from our handy-dandy little shortwave radio. Although the US sports coverage is REALLY bad. Only soccer, golf, tennis and cricket.

That's all from Burkina.

Here are a few other glimpes into our slice of life here...

Our house / notre maison

So, this is it. This is where we live. It's a two room house made of banco (mud) with cement inside. We have an enclosed porch with a hangar. The volunteer that was there before us planted some Moringa trees (look these up, they are incredible), and I have since planted two papaya trees. This picture is a month old or so, and the trees have all grown quite a bit.

All is well. Just thought we'd share a quick picture. Quite a bit different than our place in Portland. But it's quaint. It's home for the next two years.

The latrine eagle

latrine eagle_open
Originally uploaded by gally420

In case you wonder what the facilities look like in village, we thought we would share our latrine with you. When we asked the village mason to make our hole a bit bigger, he went ahead and constructed this masterpiece out of cement. I think there is probably something wrong yet symbolic about poo'ing on/through an eagle, but who knows. He is pretty proud of his work of art, and we get to admire it on a regular (sometimes too regular) basis.

So next time you sit on your porceline throne, think of us and our eagle.

Le Baobab

Wanted to share a quick photo of the gand Baobab. These ancient trees are all over Burkina. Sonia took this one near here training site in Sissamba.