Men As Partners (MAP) Conference

Do you ever have those moments where you tell yourself: "Man! If I only knew about this/had do this sooner, it would've made life a lot easier?"

Throughout the whole Men As Partners (MAP) Conference (in French, Hommes Comme Partenaires), I kept telling myself that. It would've been perhaps the most effective training I could have received as a male Girls' Education and Empowerment (GEE) Volunteer and it was bittersweet that I was getting this training at the end of my service.

In any case, I thought it would be good to bring an extremely motivated and engaged counterpart, my friend and the President of the Parents' Association at my primary school (called APE - Association des Parents d'Elèves), Nazaire. I decided that he would be the best counterpart for the volunteer that replaces me, and what better way to introduce him to Peace Corps, our approach to community development and gender equality than by bringing him to the MAP Conference!

In essence, the MAP Conference compiled about 10-12 Peace Corps Volunteers from various regions in Burkina Faso, and each was asked to bring one motivated, male counterpart from their communities to participate. It was led by the Gender and Development (GAD) Committee of Peace Corps/Burkina Faso, and was the first of its kind to be done here.

Overall, an absolutely amazing training! We talked about gender roles, did many activities that you can find in our Life Skills book and were able to put to practice many of the things we learned throughout our 3 days of training.

My hope is that my replacement volunteer will have an easier transition to site when he/she arrives in September, and will have a counterpart that better understands Peace Corps, the GEE program and can work well with the new volunteer to get projects and activities going faster!

Nazaire and I during the last day, handing certificates to our counterparts.

Group picture -- all the volunteers and our counterparts.

One of my Peace Corps favorites, Lorena! And our matching US/BF pagne outfits. <3

Swear-In Ceremony!

The big day. Finally here! After 9 weeks (and 11-12 weeks for a few) of intense training in language, sector-specific technical training, cross-culture, medical & safety and security, the newest group of Peace Corps Burkina Faso Volunteers swore in on August 27th at the new US Embassy in Ouaga. This was by far the biggest (and nicest!) Swear-In Ceremony we've had, particularly because it took place at the new US Embassy. You walk in and it's seriously like America. Bathrooms with motion-sensored soap dispensing machines, cold water fountains (had to teach a fellow Burkinabè colleague how to use it) and the like! Many dignitaries showed up, including Madame Chantal Compaoré, the First Lady of Burkina Faso. The drinks (wine!!) were a-pouring and the good times just kept coming.

I'll just keep this short and let the pictures speak for themselves...enjoy!

Some of the GEE Tech Team! Evan, Dame (GEE Tech Trainer from Mauritania, Kim, Diallo, Jessi and Emily). Good work, team!

Shannon (Peace Corps Burkina Faso Country Director), Madame Chantal Compaoré (First Lady of Burkina Faso) and Deborah (Chargé d'Affaires of the US Embassy -- Acting Ambassador). Madame Chantal's skin is lighter than mine! Insane!

Madame Ouattara and I. Love her! She's seriously like my aunt.

Sabrina! My GEE partner-in-crime since May. I loved working with her! Plus...West Coast!

The new GEE Volunteers with some language teachers and PCVFs. Holla!

SOUTHWEST Volunteers, whaat up! <3

My loves, Emily and Jessi. Really, I had such a good time working PST and got even closer to my fellow training groupmates.

Asian glow! But seriously, it's Shannon, our Country Director and I. Good work!

Moringa and MSC!

The couple of weeks that I have been able to return to site during this vacation have gone by quickly. What with PST and everything else that's been going on these past couple of months, I still want to keep busy, even if school is now over and everyone has either left to go to their families or is out working the fields (rainy season = cultivating season).

The week before demyst when I was home for a couple of days, my Moringa nursery was sprouting with many leaves. Amazing! Many thanks to Kadidja, one of the leaders of my Girls' Club and probably my favoritest kid!

Kadidja and I with my Moringa nursery. Look how fast they grew in a matter of 3-4 weeks!

Me teaching Kadidja the "slide baby" hand game. I just figured out that it's a fun activity that the kids can do anytime AND practice their numbers in English!

After demyst, I had to leave to work a week of training...I come back and find that the (stupid) goats had eaten ALL the Moringa leaves! Grrrr! Fortunately, Moringa grows relatively quickly but it got me all worried because I was going to do a sensibilisation (community awareness session) with my counterpart, Jean, on the importance of planting Moringa and the high vitamin/nutrient content in its leaves, particularly for malnourished babies and children.

Kadidja and her little sister, Mariam, playing the "slide baby" hand game. In the background, you can see my Moringa nursery all destroyed (stupid goats!!).

Regardless, I still needed to do this sensibilisation because I received a small grant for this (thanks Food Security Committee!) and want to follow through, regardless of any setbacks. So Jean, my counterpart, and I decided to work with two women's groups.

One women's group that meets every Wednesday is in a village about 2km from my house (closer to Jean's house). They weigh their babies (in cooperation with a small community center built by the European Union and the Red Cross) and make enriched porridge for their babies. Unfortunately, most of the babies there are either slightly or severly malnourished. Jean told me about this opportunity and said it would be a great way to introduce Moringa and promote the environment at the same time. Sweet! So I ended up helping to weigh babies and then Jean and I introduced Moringa.

Baby weighings!

It's hilarious...the babies are either terrified of me, complacent or get really giddy and happy.

Jean talked more about the agricultural aspect of it, and with the help of some of the people who coordinate this every Wednesday event, we chose 20 women to give the Moringa plants to. Throughout the month of August while I'm off finishing the rest of training, Jean would check in periodically with these 20 women to see how their Moringa plants were growing and to ensure they were well protected.

Giving the Moringa plantling to one of the 20 women we chose.

Me with some of the 20 women who received the Moringa plantlings. See y'all in a month!

When I come back to site in the beginning of September, it would be part two of this sensibilisation where someone from the CSPS (village medical center) would speak more on the high nutritional value of Moringa and how this could positively alter a baby's health.

The other women's group I want to work with is actually at the CSPS itself. Every Thursday, I weigh babies as a secondary project and thought it would be good to gather some of the women I've been working with for a while now and do this same type of sensibilisation with them as well, so we were thinking when I come back in September, this would be a day-long event.

In other news, my Mid-Service Conference (MSC) just happened. ONE YEAR IN BURKINA FASO! One year as a Peace Corps Volunteer! Absolutely insane. It was mostly medical tests and dental clean-ups, interspersed with a day full of sessions where we discussed our successes/challenges during our first year and some of the things we'd like to accomplish during our second year. I felt really empowered coming from that, motivated to start all the new projects at my site and continue the ones I've found most successful. Jon and I are lucky enough to live so close to each other and have made a pact to do more collaborative work together. Holla! More so, MSC made me realize how close-knit our training group is. I love these people! Seriously, they're yet another group of people I can now consider a part of my (extended) family.

The GEE fam, all smiles. Check out Evan and Devin!

...and I like to title this the "awkward/uncomfortable" picture. Hahaha. I love us.

Year two -- let's go!!

International Women's Day!

I feel backed up in terms of blog entries, especially since I feel like a lot has been going on in my life ever since my last blog entry.

International Women's Day (March 8th) is one of the biggest celebrations here in Burkina Faso and fits perfectly with my sector (Girls' Education and Empowerment). I decided to spend it at Jon's and he did the multiple-day event that encompassed girls playing soccer against each other (a sport that you only see boys playing), theatre presentations on the importance of enrolling girls in school, etc. Very interesting and I was so proud of Jon for all the effort he put into making the event a success. It's motivating me to do something similar at my site next year! On the actual International Women's Day, they had a big celebration in the city centre that involved speeches for the village authorities and traditional Lobi dancing. Sweet!

Jon and his homologue/counterpart watching the theatre presentations.

The girls during the theatre presentations.

The march of women wearing the fabric specifically made for International Women's Day this year. I bought some of that fabric and now have a tee shirt made!

Traditional Lobi dancing with the balafons. I love the sound it makes!

GEE IST : the lovefest begins again

[X] Surviving first three (3) months at site


Wow, I can't believe I've lived more than 3 months at site! I've been waiting for Inter-Service Training (IST) in Ouaga for a long while now for a few reasons: to reunite with my GEE Peace Corps family (really, it's a lovefest); to take a little break from site; and gain some practical skills to bring back to site!

We all came in on Monday and had sessions everyday (pretty much like Pre-Service Training all over again) from Tuesday to Friday. The first night of IST, we had dinner at Doug's (our Country Director's) house which brought back good memories of the time we had dinner at Doug's the first night we arrived in Burkina Faso as fresh-off-the-plane Trainees. His wife and him were so accommodating and their house was filled with Christmas decor...with a Christmas tree! Man, it made me really miss home and my family but made me even more appreciative of the Peace Corps family I've made here half a world away. We had some delicious Mexican food with Christmas music playing in the background. I wanted us to take a "family portrait" by the Christmas tree...thanks to Doug and his wife for taking the pictures you see below:

Peace Corps Burkina Faso GEE 'Stage' 2009-2011
Dinner at Doug's house (Country Director)

Your stereotypical family portrait...Peace Corps style. I love us!

IST was, to me, a fairly huge success. While the structure itself was much like PST (long days of back-to-back sessions going from 7:00/8:00-17:00/18:00), most of our sessions revolved around practical skills that we could take back to our sites now that we've completed our Etude du Milieu (a gigantic document that we each did that analyzed our community and assessed its needs during our first 3 months at site). Aside from sharing our own experiences at site and working on Action Plans for our next 6 months until MSC (Mid-Service Conference), we had sessions on:

• HIV/AIDS sensibilizations (awareness raising sessions)
• community gardens/planting Moringa & other fruits and vegetables
• clubs (English, girls' clubs, reading, math, etc.)
• liquid soap making (a good income generating activity for women's groups)
• community radio and theatre sensibilizations
• and many other things I don't quite remember because I'm getting old =)

Below are some pretty good pictures of some of us during the liquid soap making session:

The inseparable Coleman and Charlie taking a stab at mixing water and salt for our liquid soap making demonstration.

Rachel, Leslie and Molly are all smiles at IST.

Jessi and Julie helping with the initial step for preparing liquid soap.

Colette, Devin and I being the great observers that we are...

This picture cracks me up for multiple reasons...we're all doing different things except for Colette. Oh Colette and your silly facial expressions. =)

'Random' should be added to the list of the top 50 words to describe the Peace Corps. Doug, our Country Director, came into our IST training and showed us some live chickens that were given to him by villagers. It turns out Doug just came back from a visit to a Volunteer's site in the region. Little side note: Doug is leaving Burkina Faso in late January 2010 and will be the Peace Corps Country Director in Ukraine! We'll miss him.

Needless to say, IST has been great! It's helped keep the ball rolling for me, giving me ideas to implement at my site. IST has also given me and everyone else an outlet to express ourselves in a way that only we can understand. We may all be living in different villages/cities with unique experiences but the basics remain the same. And more importantly, it's been a chance to reunite with fifteen others that I've grown tremendously close to in the past 6 months and will continue to as 2010 and 2011 approach.

Julie, Marita, Emily and Leslie made each of us a cute little snowman with characteristics that are particular to us. Note the placement of Volunteers/snowpeople between the two things. Creativity, I tell you!

Also, I leave for Ghana with Devin and Colette early tomorrow morning! Hello 20-hour bus ride! Awww man, it's going to be so exciting! Blogging will for sure happen, granted I have access to the Internet. Hooray!!

Finally putting training to practice!

Earlier this week, all of us GEE volunteers had to do our Life Skills presentations at Model School. Leslie and I did our presentation on Gender Roles and their correlation to your sex (male/female) and how those gender roles vary by community/culture/society. We introduced ourselves and did a little ice-breaker, asking them to give us differences between the Burkinabè and Americans. Then we moved on to our activity...on the board, you divide it into three parts: masculin (male) on one side and féminin (female) on the other side with a space in the middle.

The part of the Life Skills activity where the students run to the board and put in their initial thoughts of a gender role they receive on a piece of paper.

Each student received a gender role or type of job (cleaning the house, taking care of the kids, power, beauty, doctor, tailor, etc.) that was face down. Once we said go, they had to flip over their gender role card, run to the board immediately and place the gender role under the column they felt best fit their gender role. By the end of the activity, you have a board filled with various gender roles in different categories and all the students were having some crazy debating.

You do the activity a second time but the instructions are a little different...you give each student a gender role again, face-up and ask them to think before going up to the board. They have to ask themselves: "Can a man, a woman or both physically do the gender role written on my card?"

The second time around was really interesting because everyone placed all of the gender roles in the middle category, meaning they applied to both male & female. On the féminin side was "pregnancy" and on the masculin side was "constructing/building a house." This is where it almost turned into a mini-riot because some students were arguing that women can build houses; it's just that here in BF, women normally do not while others argued that women don't have the power to physically build houses, nor have the money to fund them.

The whole point of this was to emphasize that gender roles are dictated by what the culture/society/community says...an example being a Burkinabè girl and an American girl. While they both share the same sex, their gender roles differ due to where they grew up. Such a powerful and interactive activity that's getting me more excited for some of the things I want to do while at site…and got me thinking about future careers after the Peace Corps (teaching /education policy, anyone?)!

A pretty blurry picture of me teaching Life Skills. So much fun but definitely a lot of work! I have even more respect (if that's ever possible) for teachers in the U.S. and abroad.