Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Grant Time!


Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Made it back to village safely --- that’s never a guarantee; it’s always a bit of a shocker when transport goes relatively well…  Well, I guess “relatively well” would be an overstatement.  I mean, I did wait for my bus for over three and half hours, just hanging out on the side of road from 8-11:30pm, waiting for the good ole “Midnight Express” to breeze through from Bobo to Guron (essentially my village…Guron is only a few kilo away from Lanfiera, about 15 minutes by bike).  While waiting, I sat awkwardly on a rice sack and read a book, using my cell phone as a flashlight.  Several busses stopped, but when MY bus finally came, some guy just started grabbing my stuff and loading it onto the bus immediately, and I just kept repeating, “Where is this bus going?  Is it going to Guron?” to verify that yes, this was the bus I wanted and if I got on it, I wouldn’t end up in the middle of nowhere.  Unfortunately no one responded….so I just got on and prayed.  (As it turns out, it was indeed the bus I wanted, thank God!)  Naturally, there was nowhere for me to sit, except for the half-broken seats next to old, sleeping women or women who had dirty smelly babies with them.   I chose a spot next to an old woman, crammed myself in (the guy next to the window was passed out, taking up 1 and a half of the three seats, and the old woman pretty much took up the other 1 and a half seats….) I’m not sure how I got in….but somehow I fit.  I continued to read my book until someone yelled at me for my cellphone light bothering him.  So then I was angry and annoyed.  The bus ride was far too uncomfortable and bumpy to even try sleeping.  I mean, I had to brace my legs against the seat and wrap my arms around the bars in front of me in order to avoid falling out of my seat or getting thrown out the window due to the massive bumps aggravated by the driver going at an insane speed….  I was almost tempted to put on my bike helmet…but then thought, “Nah, I’ll be fine.”  Well, I did make it back to Lanfiera after several hours on the Midnight Express and a few bruises on my head (maybe I should’ve worn my helmet?) and it was almost 5am by the time I biked back to my house and greeted Sabari who was thrilled to see me after having been gone for a few days --- she was probably more hungry than anything, though.

As I opened the door to my house, my cell phone light shined towards my garden and then I saw it:  the gate was moved, leaving the entrance wide open, and most of my plants were missing…or rather, eaten.   URGH.  I hate Africa!!!  How are we supposed to accomplish ANYTHING at all to help “the community” when I personally can’t even successfully have a small garden with salad and green beans, next to my house, completely enclosed with 5 foot high walls save the entrance (which has a gate, by the way!) without someone going and messing it up and letting their damn animals eat my green beans?!?!?!   Urgh.  Anger is an understatement.  This is precisely why I don’t think I’ll be extending my service for a third year: animals here ruin all my things.  And herds of donkeys enter my courtyard at night and stampede right underneath my bedroom window, making the most annoying sounds known to man.   And to make things worse, no one cares, because “C’est comme ca, ici” (It’s like that here), and as thee American, I’m rich and can certainly go buy some more green bean seeds if I want…   So I went to bed angry (or was it angrier? Since I had already been annoyed about the midnight express?)  And fell asleep to sweet dreams of knowing I had to get up in less than 2 hours to teach my 7am math class with 120 junior high kids.  Not exciting.  Especially when you’re tired and crabby.  I fell asleep, woke up to my alarm far too soon, turned it off, and went back to bed.  When I got up shortly before 11am, I called my homologue to let him know I had “just” gotten back to village, ate some food (I was hungry!) and read a book, because I was angry and didn’t want to do any of the things I needed to be doing, like taking a shower (I was also quite dirty, covered in red dust), washing my dishes, watering my half-dead, mostly eaten garden, typing up my grant requests, correcting a few hundred math test, etc.  So I didn’t.  I basically moped around the whole day in my house, not leaving or greeting my neighbors, or really accomplishing anything.  Today (Wednesday) I got up, thoroughly washed (including my hair), went to school, lectured students about being annoying and disrespectful during my class.  I might have also kicked a few boys out of class and taken a girl’s juice – hey, my rule is no eating or drinking except water during class…and she had brought a cold, almost slushy-frozen juice….so it became mine. Muahhhaha 

But after class (and eating some Americaland goodies, including wild rice with a can of chicken breast, smothered in Velveeta cheese and a Snickers bar for dessert), I got to work.  I had pictures to take of “Flat Stanley” visiting my village for my cousin Jessica's daughter, as well as a grant to write – It’s due tonight… I didn’t leave myself to much wiggle room there, and in fact, even at the moment, it’s still not emailed.   The internet is working, but it hasn’t finished uploading the document (11 pages of grant gloriousness), and so I wait.  And pray that it will work.  If it doesn’t I don’t know what I’ll do.  The deadline is literally in a few hours.  C’mon Internet!  You can do it!  Just upload a few bytes every minute, that’s all!


If you’re interested in my grant, titled “Literacy through the Arts,” here’s a few paragraphs of its eleven pages:

Project Summary:  By providing each of three local elementary schools with a set of one hundred age-appropriate picture books (primarily in French, but also in local languages) and basic “Literacy through the Arts” materials, this project aims to provide students with improved learning opportunities to develop their reading and critical thinking skills.  Additionally, this will be accompanied by a teacher workshop for the schools’ teachers and directors, strengthening their capacity so that they can successfully and creatively teach literacy.  This project addresses many of the community’s concerns, including: improving schools and children’s education; learning how to read; increasing access to books; incorporating health, hygiene, and other basic life skills into school curriculum; and training teachers.  The community and individual schools will be providing a significant proportion of the resources necessary for this project (25%), but in order for “Literacy through the Arts” to be as successful as possible with the greatest impact, outside aide is needed.  The potential outcomes for “Literacy through the Arts” are invaluable: books to read, students who succeed, and teachers who lead.   Considering that the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow, can we really put a price on their education?

Community Background:  Located near a river in the Sourou Valley of western Burkina Faso, not far from the frontier of Mali, Lanfiera and its surrounding commune is a flourishing community (pop. 15,800) that has recently received much attention from outside aide resources, such as the USA’s MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation).  However, all of this attention has been directed at improving the agricultural techniques of local farmers, increasing production, and ensuring food security, while in the meantime, the youth and teachers, who spend their days at school rather than in the fields, have been neglected.  The schools have many problems, ranging from too many students and not enough desks, to a lack of trained teachers and limited access to potable water.  Yet, when asked what they would most like to see changed in their community, an overwhelming majority of community members (including both adults and children) expressed a desire to learn how to read and to have access to books – specifically, books that are fun, educational, and interesting to children, as opposed to math textbooks (which are lacking as well!).  There are no libraries near Lanfiera (the closest is 42 kilometers away), and there are certainly no places to buy books, more or less books written in French; or better yet, African French; or still even better, local language.  Furthermore, the pedagogy used by teachers to develop students’ literacy skills is severely lacking and altogether negative in approach, primarily due to insufficient resources, though also a result of not implementing fresh and modern pedagogical methods into the classroom.  Every year, the primary schools graduate several hundred students into the local middle school (though almost as many don’t even make it to middle school), and sadly, almost half of these middle school students cannot read or understand a text, unless it is read aloud to them first.  While they may be able to hang on for a little while – or even a few years – they eventually reach a point where their inability to comprehend written language prevents them from learning entirely, and consequently, they drop out of school.  Aiming to inspire students and teachers, this project, “Literacy through the Arts,” is needed in the community because it addresses many of the community-identified priorities presented to me, as well as has the potential to incorporate secondary community concerns such as health and hygiene.   But most importantly, this project goes above and beyond, getting at the root of the problem while creating sustainable skills and practices: not only teaching students, but also teaching teachers. 



If it gets approved, there’s a good chance you’ll hear about the grant again…when I come knocking on your door (well, the cyberspace door of your email or facebook, that is) asking for donations!  How much do I want….oh just a thousand dollars…or two. Specifically, 1.178.000 CFA (local currency) or $2,356.00 (USA).   *Think Beth’s Christmas Present….or Africa’s Christmas Present, if you want to be global.*  But hey now, don’t get anxious.  it’s really  not that much.  Honestly, it equates to about $800 for each school – and that’s nothing. Most Americans spend more than that just on clothes…or yummy Starbucks drinks during the year….or one month’s rent…or a personal computer!  These schools don’t have much of anything, certainly not even just ONE computer (no money + no electricity = no computers), nor are there books.  Can you imagine going to school and your education only consisting of note-taking in a language that’s not even your mother-tongue?  No wonder the majority of the people in this country are illiterate (they sign their names with X’s – seriously.) …. But you can help fix that!  Keep me in mind, and hopefully in a few weeks, I’ll let you know what you can to do to help and how to send my project your monetary donations!  Merci!

Monday, November 12, 2012

Yet another brief update....


November 12, 2012

Life in the BF (Burkina Faso) never fails to be new and exciting every day.  I have so many stories I wish I could share, but of course there is never time (or electricity) for that, and plus they’re difficult to write about and explain, and they’d be so much better in person.  I’ll do my best to store my most memorable stories in my brain, or write about some of them in my journal, and type some up when I have electricity and am not bombarded with lessons to plan and test to correct, but hopefully someday, if there’s ever a dull moment in conversation, I can save the day with my, “One time, in Africa….”

School started the first week of October for me, and I’m teaching the same grade levels as last year, sixième and cinquième (basically 7th and 8th grade).  It’s nice to do something that I’ve already done and experienced now, and thus I am more relaxed and don’t have to spend as much time planning the lessons or writing tests since I’ll just replicate many of the things I did last year.  Plus this year, I can actually speak French well enough so that my students understand me….kinda.  haha.  Even if my French still isn’t great, it’s at least a thousand times better than last year, let’s just say that.  School thus far has been going fairly well, and most days I like it, though naturally I do have days when I hate all of the kids and can’t help but think that they are all stupid.  But then I remember it’s not their fault they can’t learn: they’re malnourished and can’t read and don’t understand French and are 14-years-old surrounded by 120 other teenagers in a small space with hormones raging and don’t have books, and their past teachers couldn’t teach worth a darn…. So while they might be lacking any signs of intelligence, it’s not their fault….and they are improving, petit à petit (little by little).  I currently have 236 tests waiting to be graded from the exams I gave last week, so for the moment, school kinda depresses me --- I hate correcting tests; it takes HOURS if not several days of nonstop grading --- and so I’ll move on to another topic.

Love life?  Non-existent, of course.  And that’s fine with me.  There’s been a few cute Burkinabe guys (educated, not villageoise i.e. from village and never went to school) and they work in/near my village as gendarmes (a mix between military and police), teachers, nurses at the clinic, etc.  I’ve been proposed to more times than I can count, had them buy me beers and grilled fish, gone dancing, been invited to celebrate holidays with them at their parents’ houses in the big cities and meet their mothers, rode in their cars, and other things that, upon reflection I realize, I’m totally taking advantage of them…but hey, if they want me to ride in an air-conditioned car to go get a cold drink and good food that’s not boiled flour paste and slimy leaf sauce, of course I’m going to accept.  Who in their right mind would say no?  Plus I’m sure they’re perfectly content just getting to hang out with me, thee jolie (pretty) American.  Gosh, I’ve turned into such a…player?...heartbreaker?...I dunno, but so it goes.

Post Peace Corps plans?  Yes, it is time for me to start thinking of that already.  Crazy.  Well, there’s not a lot to say, at the moment.  I don’t think I want to do a 3rd year any longer, but I may change my mind, depending on the next few months.  I believe I technically finish my service at the end of July or in August (close of service dates are flexible, plus or minus 30 days).  Thus, while I theoretically could be back in America before the start of the 2013-2014 school year, I’m not sure if I want a teaching job right away, nor do I want to go through the nightmare that is trying to research and apply for jobs from West Africa…urgh, not fun.  Plus, I would like to take a COS (close of service) trip to southeast Asia, which would then mean I won’t be back until September, and by then school has most definitely started.  Consequently, at the moment I think my game plan is to:

1. finish my service in August

2. take a 5-week COS trip: Thailand, Cambodia, The Philippines, possibly Australia, followed by Hawaii and then home sweet home ---- how’s that sound for awesomeness!?

3. get back to Minnesota around mid-September and stay with my parents through the holiday months (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.), during which time I will:
                a. go shopping for new clothes, get a haircut, eat tons of yummy food, play in the fall leaves, etc.
b. substitute teach when I want to in/around Springfield area
c. travel around and spend time with family/friends (i.e. stay at my grandparents’ house for a week, road trip to Colorado to see my friend and village sitemate, Molly Morrison, etc.
d. volunteer my time to guest-speak at schools about Burkina Faso

4. figure out my real post Peace Corps plans and hopefully have a more legit game plan that will commence in January – somewhere to live, an actual job (though I can always continue substitute teaching if I don’t find anything), grad school?, haha I dunno.  I have no idea, really.  This is possibly the scariest of all the things I have to think about.  Deciding what I want to do: teach or not?, grad school, service or humanitarian work, something abroad again, another state, or close to my family/friends, find a place to live…urgh, it’s a lot to reflect upon, which is why I’ve decided I don’t want to deal with it while in the BF.  I feel like it would disrupt my PC service too much, and for the time being while I’m here, I want to focus on Africa, not on what I’m going to do back in America.  I’ll leave that for once I’m back and have gotten the chance to spend a bit of time with everyone who’s important to me.

What do you think?  Any feedback?  Anyone wanna donate their couches for me to come visit/live with them for a week?

My parents have undertaken a huge renovation project since I’ve been gone, which they’re hoping will be done when I get back.  They’ve added on a music room, an enclosed sunroom/porch with fireplace, finished basement, an office for my dad, a laundry room, double garage, and who knows what else.  I honestly don’t know much about it….just that it’s different.  Weird.  Our house is not even going to look remotely the same as I remember it.  Apparently the reasoning for the house update (according to my mom quoting my dad) is that, “The windows and siding all needed to be replaced anyways.  So we figured we might as well tear down a few walls as well.  Besides, in a few years people are going to be bringing other people home and there needs to be space for the grandkids…”  bahahahaah.  True, perhaps.  A lot can change in a couple of years.  But as far as I can tell, this will probably not be me bringing home grandkids, nor can I foresee Kevin or Erin doing that either.  And Katelyn, well heck, she’ll just be starting 8th grade when I get back, so she better not be bringing people home (unless it’s hyper teenage girls for a slumber party) or be giving my parents grandchildren….

Everyone in my village who saw pictures of me and my mom in Italy would say, “Ah!  Is that your younger sister?”  So I guess that means either I look really old, or my mom looks young.  I’ll choose to believe that my mom looks young….so hopefully someday, when I’m 50-years-old, people will think that I’m only 30….  That’d be nice haha.

What’s new in America?  I don’t know anything.  Apparently Obama was re-elected (I didn’t vote – I didn’t have my act together to apply for my absentee ballot in time…so such much for exercising my right to vote…), there was a big hurricane on the east coast?, and um, yeah, that’s about all I know.  

I’m currently in the process of writing some grants to request donations for projects in my village, such as improving the school library (aka buying some books) and starting a chicken egg farm (aka helping my village make money, increase their protein intake, and provide me with yummy eggs so I can make omelets and bake cakes in village!).  I, like usual, meant to have it done for today so I could post it, get it approved, and then you my lovely family and friends could start donating…but alas, things aren’t working out so smoothly in village (organizing Burkinabe and making budgets with them is EXTREMELY difficult) and so nothing is ready.  But maybe around Christmas time?  Don’t worry, I’ll let you know when you can start giving your money, haha.

Well my bus leaves in an hour, and I’m still not packed, so it’s time to go…  until next time, December 10-17 I’ll be Ouaga, take care! 

P.S. As I should have internet with good connection for chatting/skyping December 10-17 in Ouaga, I 'd love to read emails, updates, look at photos, Christmas cards and letters, etc.  So start emailing them my way!  

Merci beaucoup!