Meghan's Blogadougou

The journey of my Peace Corps service in Burkina Faso

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Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! I spent the last week traveling around the southwest of Burkina Faso. The trip started in Bobo where we explored the Grand Mosque (pic 1) and the Old City. The next day we traveled to Banfora to hit some of Burkina’s tourist spots. The first evening we ventured out to Lake Tengrela to see hippos (pic 2). We got into a canoe with a guide and he paddled around the lake and found some hippos. Luckily, one of the females recently had a baby so we were not able to get too close to them. That evening we had a delicious meal at a restaurant called McDonald (they had delicious burgers and salads!) and did a rum tasting at our hotel. The next morning we woke up early for a day filled with outdoor activities. We first drove to Sindou Peaks (pic 3 and 4) then headed to Fabedougou Domes (pic 6 and 7). The drive to the domes was a dirt road with fields and fields of sugar. We stopped a local man who was heading home from the fields and asked for a sugar cane. The raw sugar cane (pic 5) was fun to eat and ridiculously sweet. After climbing around the Domes for a little bit we decided to cool off in the Cascades (pic 8). There’s not a ton of water in the Faso so it was an exciting (and cold!) change to be able to play in water. The next morning, before taking a bus up to Dedougou, we decided to visit a sacred baobab tree (pic 9 and 10). The tree is over 500 years old and the man in the red claims to be the keeper of the tree (our friend went here earlier this year and another man claimed to be the keeper of the tree...). It was a magnificently beautiful tree and trip.

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After spending 15 months in Burkina Faso, I decided it was time to take a vacation. My friend Chloe and I met my two sisters in Morocco for a 2-week journey throughout Morocco. The trip began with us landing in Casablanca and taking a train up to Tangier. We only spent one night there, but it was nice to see the ocean again! The next morning we woke up and took a bus down to Chefchaouen. The city of Chefchaouen is a beautiful blue city located in the Rif Mountains, just south of Tangier. We absolutely loved our time here. We bought Moroccan rugs from a really nice Berber man and even went on a hike to the Cascades d’Akchour. The water was freezing, but Nicole, Alex, and I got in!

After Chefchaouen we headed to Fes for a couple of nights. We stayed in a beautiful riad but were bothered by all the haggling and ridiculous prices. On the second full day, we took an overnight bus to Merzouga for a desert tour. We arrived in the morning and hung around the city until we left that evening. We all mounted our camels, and took off into the Sahara desert. When we got close to the camp, we went sandboarding and watched the sun set. That evening was filled with delicious food and music on local drums. We slept under the Milky Way and woke up before the sun to head back to Merzouga.

Next, we were off to Ouarzazate to visit a Peace Corps volunteer. There was a group of volunteers in Ouarzazate for a language training so we were able to meet some of them. The next day we visited the Dades Gorge. We met a traditional Berber family who invited us into their house for mint tea and walnuts, bread, and olive oil, all made from their garden. On our way back, we stopped at a fig nursery and picked some figs ourselves. They were delicious!

The next morning we were off to Marrakesh. Although a bigger city, but slightly smaller than Fes, we really enjoyed our time. We visited the artisan village, where profits go directly to the artisans themselves, a palace, and the medina. Like the other cities, we bought lots of souvenirs. We were planning on spending 3 nights there but at the last minute decided to visit Essaouira for our last night in Morocco.

We took an 1.5 hour bus ride west to this beautiful city located on the Atlantic Ocean. We spent our day wandering the streets, visiting the harbor, and even taking a nap on the beach! That evening Nicole and Alex treated Chloe and I to a delicious dinner. This beach town was a perfect ending to our 2-week vacation.

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Just some pictures of me and my friends hanging out this summer

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Village slide

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Right before I left to Koudougou for the Youth and Development Leadership Conference, there was a big fete in village for Ramadan. I was very happy because my best friend from Nedogo came back to celebrate (she was in Ouaga for school and stayed there for the summer to work). She gave me one of her hijabs to wear to the mosque, we ate a ridiculous amount of rice, we made our favorite gateau, and she braided my hair in the evening!

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p.s. if you click on a photo, you can see the caption

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What summer break is like in village

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Every Wednesday I go to the health center (CSPS) to help with baby weighing. The babies have to get vaccinations immediately after being born, at 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 9 months, and 15 months. Although the health center staff has offered to let me give injections, I have never done it. I typically just fill out the booklets with the dates that they’re receiving the vaccination. The whole process can take up to 4.5 - 5 hours depending on how many women come. 

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Pic 1: My sitemate Brian explaining the process

Pic 2: Adding water to the flour/water combo after it has soaked for 4-8 hours

Pic 3: Draining the new water/flour combo. What's left in the bucket is soy milk (SO delicious) and what's left in the strainer is given to animals (protein that humans cannot digest)

Pic 4: Me obviously not being much help other than taking pictures of Brian working and me hanging out with the kids

Pic 5: The women straining the proteins again

Pic 6: After straining and then drinking some of the delicious soy milk, the water/flour combination is placed in a large pot over the fire.Once it starts to boil, you pour just a little bit of strong tamarind juice in wait for it to boil again. You continue to do this until the liquid becomes clear like water (this process takes a while). Then, you scoop out the tofu, strain the water (really hard to do because the tofu is really hot!), and place it under a rock to harden. Finally, you cut it up, add sauce, and eat it all up! Unfortunately, something came up and I had to leave a bit early so I don’t have any pictures of the final product but they said they loved it.

Pic 7/8: Getting the kids to pay attention for the picture may take a bit but eventually a good one turns out! Next step- teaching them to smile in photos!

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A small collection of photos from the Youth Development and Leadership Conference I attended in July. The students I brought (Eloi and Ramatou) were picked by the principal and are some of the top students at the school. 

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Peace Corps Youth and Development Conference, Koudougou, Burkina Faso 2015

This video is one example of the many camps Peace Corps Health, CED, and Education Volunteers organize during the school summer vacation in Burkina Faso. Eac...

Here's a link to a youtube video my friend Chris Rowell made about the Youth Development and Leadership Conference I attended with two students from village this summer! The video explains the rest...

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FunFact

Nedogo, written Nedego in Mooré, is the name of my village. After being here for 10 months, I realized that I dont't know what "nedogo" means or where it comes from. I decided to ask around village and sure enough, I found the answer. Nedogo comes from the Moore word "nedegé" (pronounced neh-deh-gay) which means to clean. There is another word (peké) that also means to clean/wash (as in to wash dishes or clothes). However, the difference is that "nedegé" means to clean in the sense of scrubbing or wiping away. They described it as trying to clean a gourd of local beer (because it would be sticky and you would really have to scrub to make it nice and clean). Anyways, many years ago there was a family of three Mossi brothers. The oldest one settled in Zorgho (my regional capital) and the middle brother settled in Kinkinrgo (a tiny village north of Zorgho and is the current site of a volunteer). When the youngest one came along and asked, "where should I settle?" his brothers told him to settle in the area 15km south of Zorgho (in what is now Nedogo). However, there was another ethnic group, the Bissa, currently living there. His brothers told him to simply get rid off the Bissa. Sure enough, the youngest brother went in and "cleaned out" the area by force and violence. Today the area is predominately Mossi. There are Bissa people (for example, Balkissa from the previous post and the principal at my school) still around but typically they married in or came for some other reason. Although it has a sad history and chased an ethnic group out so the Mossi could rule the area, today Nedogo is a very accepting community.

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Meet the Kologos. Here is a picture of my go-to boutique in village. Fidel (the man on the far right) started a little shop many years ago and it has grown to be a boutique with (basically) everything I could ever need in village. He sells cold water and bleach and Rambo (think Raid) and mango juice and he even used to sell toilet paper (sadly, I can't find it anymore in village). I hang out here a lot and chat with Fidel and his wife Balkissa (the woman in the yellow). He stopped going to school in the later elementary years but she stayed through middle school and even passed the big exam (BEPC) to continue in school. Balkissa is very smart and even speaks to me in English sometimes! They have 1 son (the little boy in blue) who hates sharing with me but is absolutely adorable. Don't know if/how the other man in the picture is related to them but he was around when I took the picture. This summer I will probably be hanging out here a lot trying to answer some of Fidel's many questions about America. OH and they have literally the only public trash can I've seen in Nedogo so obviously I appreciate that : )

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Wait, what. Where did this past year go? Happy #tbt to exactly one year ago when I left for Burkina. Be home soon, Mom! #peacecorps #burkinafaso #pcbf #1down1togo

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When a neighborhood kid steals my phone