Oh, eyore

God it feels good to laugh out loud. My water boy yelled "Koko!" and I came out of my house to collect my water jugs. Originally they were 20L oil bins but they have a convenient handle on top and are the primary tool for water transportation. As Burema is unloading my water off the back of the donkey cart I notice his donkey has a new accessory. They've put a string through the end of a flashlight and attached the string around the donkey's head so the flashlight hangs down his nose. It looks like Eyeore is about to go spelunking and I just stand there and laugh. Donkeys have such a complacent look bordering indifference. The donkey turns awayas if to say well I like my headlamp anyway, and shines his light elsewhere.

As my amusement subsides I pick up my two water jugs (thats right I can carry two now) and wobble into my house. I have a bucket of sudsy washed laundry that's waiting to be rinsed and whole slew of uses for my new found wealth of H2o. Water has become harder and harder to come by considering the rainy season is now 3 weeks late and the pump next to my house is recently broken. I asked my water boy, Burema whether they were going to fix it because I know it is his family that is responsible for it. "Ah! But there is no money!" he cries throwing up his hands. "What about the 5cfa they charge for every water jug?" "Ah yes, there is that. Actually they are waiting for my uncle to come from a nearby village because he knows how to fix it." I swear, sometimes I think they had a village meeting before I arrived and told everyone that if I ever ask a question just say you have no money.

Why don't you go to the health center?
I have no money
Why don't you send your kids to school?
I have no money
Why don't you use soap?
I have no money
Why don't you give birth at the maternity instead of at home?
I have no money
Aha! Giving birth at the maternity is free - gotcha.

Now it becomes a question of priorities. Whether you acknowledge the health risk involved and accept that you have options to mitigate that risk. When they spend over 10,000cfa a year on medication for malaria that proves that they can afford the 3,000cfa to buy a mosquito net to prevent getting sick. But they tell me they do not have even 100cfa and there is nothing that they can do. In reality I have polled friends and neighbors and they tell me that you contract malaria from the wind or if you drink tea before eating. Therefore it is not clear the causes and effects of these diseases. When none of their friends of neighbors are sleeping under a mosquito net (except for that crazy white girl) then why should they.

We have the same problems in the US of people understanding that their habits are not healthy but not willing to change their ways. Obesity is pandemic and yet people still say they can not lose weight; eat less, exercise more, end of story. And yet they spend money on diet pills and acupuncture just as people here would rather boil leaves and drink the broth because they are convinced it will help, because they heard from a friend of a traditional healer that this is what to do. Why do we drink chicken soup when we have a cold? The same traditions guide our behavior but as a result the problems here are magnified thanks to poverty, strict religious piety and abslutely no government support. Addressing each of those factors is important but nothing will change without an adjustment of priorities. Here it is the money that motivates, not the goal of development. Of course this is a generalization so take it with a grain of salt and know there are exceptions. In order to learn a skill or become a specialist in any area you have to attend what they call a 'formation'. Basically this could last anywhere from a day to a week and consists of all day activities and information sessions that make you proficient in the subject matter. In order to hold a formation it is necessary to have enough money to pay all the participants for there time, food and lodging. Basically this would be like paying students to go to a week long seminar. These are the type of classes that in the US the participants would gladly pay for, but here they will not attend unless they will be compensated for there time. Of course I have argued countless times how they are being rewarded for the information gained, they do not need monetary compensation in addition. But that is the tradition here and they insist that if you do not compensate people for there time they will either not show or never come again.

Just some of the fun obstacles we get to deal with, my internet time is up although I could write about this for hours. Hope it made some sense, take care till next time!

p.s- A great motivator to wash your dirty clothes the same day is finding a scorpion asleep in your dirty laundry bin. I think the whole village heard me scream when I found out is was not dead. Ew!!! I promply doused it with insecticide and ran inside, problem solved.

Malaria training: Take 1

Sunday was our scheduled information session on Malaria. I had presented the idea a week before to the 6 helth committee members that were present. If I held information sessions once a month they could share what they learned with their respective villages and at the same time gather information on local prespectives concerning the health topic. Since there is one member representing each satellite village this could ideally reach a wide percentage of the population. The members seemed enthusiastic and so I went home to prepare.

I created a technical information sheet on the signs/symptoms, methods of prevention, treatment and groups that were at a higher risk than normal of contracting malaria. The health records have shown that the highest number of cases of malaria occur from August - September after the rainy season has subsided and the increase of mosquito breeding grounds has done its damage. Since we are on the verge of the rainy season I considered this to be a good time to be clear on ways to avoid getting sick and to whom this disease could potentially be fatal. As soon as the rain starts the majority of the local population will move out to live next to their fields which can be anywhere from 1 - 10 km from their house in village. Basically everyone will be dispersed and an audience for health information sessions will be hard to come by.

Our health session on malaria was scheduled for a week after the monthly health committee meeting. I arrived to find two out of seven members present and decided to wait to see if any more would show. An hour later I decided to get the show on the road. It's always a hard call to wait for more people or begin with those you have. If you wait too long then the ones who were there from the beginning will tell you they have to get back to work but the ones who have yet to arrive will always say they are on their way.

I asked if the new midwife, Ida, would like to join us and thankfully she obliged. As it turns out the president of the health committee is more comfertable speaking Jula then french and she is fluent. So for the next hour I presented in french, Ida would translate to Jula and the president would translate to Sonhrai for the treasurer. Honestly who knows what the final message was, hopefully something about sleeping under a bednet as I repeated myself maybe 30 times to emphasize the importance. Of course at some point it was going to be mentioned that there are people who are too poor to afford the $3 mosquito net that can sleep 3. No matter what the problem this argument will be used to contradict any solution that is proposed. My response was quick and simple, doucement doucement, little by little, they have to save. I could see their doubt but that could also have been disappointment that I did not offer like every other 'nasara' they have met, to help pay for it. They have grown accustomed to 'if you ask, you shall receive...' that their initial reaction is to serch for funding instead of paying it themselves. When the funding runs out they do not look towards internally available resources but instead towards who would be willing to support their efforts.

While clearly it is a constant struggle when there is never enough, I still think this illustrates a larger problem concerning their priorities. They are willing to pay for the medication when someone becomes too ill to stand and all traditional methods have failed; but to pay for a method of preventing said illness is just not considered. I tried to illustrate the cost and benefits of pursuing a means of prevention rather than treatment. Clearly it makes more sense considering the costs of treatment triple as compared to those of prevention. While my audience agreed and nodded enthusiastically I could tell they were not convinced and that it will take more time. We shall see what the future brings and of course I will keep you updated.

Hope all is well wherever you are and take care!

Local perspective

Constantly aware of my foreign status and outlook it was a great learning experience to walk through village with my counterpart's little sister and the equally educated nurse's aid. Adja is 17 and as quick to be bored as any 17 yr. old could be. Her family is from Ouahigouya, the big city compared to Gorom Gorom where she goes to school. When she visits her brother in Korizena she mainly studies as there is little of vlaue to do and see in such a small village. Adema is from Korizena but is likely one of the most educated, speaking fluent french and holding a relatively well paid position as nurse's aid and janitor to the health center.

They both stopped by my house one Sunday to borrow my cell phone and since it was out of batteries we left together to head back to the health center where the newly acquired electricity was proving useful. On the way I saw the educated interact with the local and learned what is not acceptable on Burkinabe terms.

After the 20th child greeted us with a shrill "Ca va! Ca va! Ca va!" Adja expressed her annoyance. "They are too young to all be doctors, why are they asking me how I'm doing? Who are they?" I clearly identified with this thought and my volunteer friends would agree. Our favorite kids are the ones who go to school and simply cross their arms and curtsey as you walk by, much more agreeable and I always return the the salutation of respect. To maintain my sanity the others I ignore.

Continuing on our walk one little girl stopped to stare as we walked by only to follow close behind once we had passed. This irritated Adja even more and after a few minutes she angrily motioned for the girl to go ahead of us. "But why did you do that Adja? Now we are downwind and can smell her." This was an obvious observation after a moment but it showed the clear difference in standards even from someone one who was raised in village. Even though neither parties have running water or flushing toilets they hold themselves to a higher standard for knowing the benefits of hygiene and practising what they have learned. Of course the local families are poor but that does not mean they can not afford soap for 100 CFA, roughly 20 cents. They do not consider it a priority and do not draw the parallel between dirt and disease the way we do. To them there are many causes for diesease learned from experience and from what they have been told by traditional healers. Malaria is cause by drinking tea before eating lunch, or if it is very windy while you sleep. I ask my neighbor what she washes her hands with and she tells me soap and water but she is only saying what she thinks I want to hear because I have yet to see a single villlager wash their hands with anything more than water. They have been told what to do, but clearly not why because they do not consider it to be important enough to change their habits. I consider that to be a issue of priorities which turns health education into a tricky business requiring cultural sensitivity and a strong argument for the necessity of change.

The fun begins...

I completely forgot to share a story about our trip...

Originally Tom informed me that his flight would get in to Barcelona about 2 hours before mine. Trying to be the practical girlfriend I told him he should go to the hotel, unpack, shower and wait for me there seeing as how we would have no means of communication upon arrival. As a not-so-subtle romantic (my favorite movie being 50 First Dates) I was hoping he would be waiting for me at the gate. His next few texts quickly killed that plan as his plane went from 4 to 6 hours delayed. At that point I had to turn my phone off as we were leaving Burkina and I didn't know what would happen. I decided then that no matter how long it took I would wait in the Barcelona Airport and do a role reversal of suprisor and suprisee. I brought a change of clothes, I could shower in the bathroom so I wouldn't smell like Africa and hunker down with a book until he arrived; I had it all planned out...

I woke up to the pilot announcing we had safely landed in Paris CDG airport with a local time of 5:45am. That leaves plenty of time for me to make my 7am connecting flight to Barcelona, or so one would think. The next hour and a half were spent in a nerve clenching state of frusteration. First there was a line to get on the shuttle, then to go through customs, then to get through security to get back into the airport I had just landed in. At one point I turned on my ipod and laughed along to Mitch Hedberg on SNL, I figured if I was still standing in line when I had 5 minutes left to board I would just declare emergency and run. As it turned out I did have to run but with a grin of excitment and a sigh of relief boarded my plane at 7:35, it was scheduled to take off at 7:45. Of course I am in row 22 of a 30 row plane so I start making my way back trying to figure out if I'll have a window or an aisle seat when Tom stands up and starts walking toward me... I almost fell down but luckily he gave me a big bear hug before I could go anywhere. It was almost surreal but anything that good just had to be true, it was the beginning to our 7 day long dream. He later told me he saw the stewardess behind us clasp her hands and sigh, "Awwww." I was too busy being stunned into silence to notice. When I found my voice all I could muster was, "What are you doing here?!" Brilliant, I know. Since there were people waiting behind me to sit down Tom ushered me into the seat next to him which was thankfully unoccupied. We sat there hugging for the next 5 minutes after which Tom informed me, "You smell terrible!" Of course my plan had been foiled but I couldn't be happier. He then relayed his travel adventures where American Airlines cancelled his flight but he refused to leave until they transferred his ticket to AirFrance but he still ended up having to sprint between terminals to make the connection; the security gaurds all reached for their firearms when they saw him fly by. I listened intently but could not wipe the smile from my face, I was just so happy to see the one person I had missed the most.

And so began the best vacation ever...

(I told this story to my girlfriends in Burkina and they were such fans they made me promise to tell it again, so here it is ;)