Epic Journey to Fada Christmas

So the volunteers in the Eastern region of Burkina Faso decided to get together in the bigger city for Christmas.  Patrick is my closest neighbor lives about 9 km away from me through the bush.  Patrick biked to my site Thursday evening and we fried up one of my chickens.  Recipe posted below.  Friday morning we attempted to catch one one my chickens because I needed a gift for the white elephant gift exchange.  If you have never caught a chicken before, let me tell you, its very difficult.  I think we spent about 40 minutes chasing the birds until I finally cornered one (yes, me! Get it Kentucky!).  I attached my backpack to my bike and the chicken to my handle bars and we started on a 35 km trek to Diapaga.  The trek took about 2.5 hours and along the road I saw a Zazu bird and Patrick saw a unicorn...they do exist.  Oh, and I decided to name the chicken Blitzen, the Chirstmas Chicken.  Another volunteer, Cindy, lives in Diapaga and we stayed with her for the rest of the day and evening.  Saturday we boarded the bush taxi bound for Fada sometime around 7am, chicken and all. About 6 km outside of Fada, the bus driver realized he did not have his papers so we would not be able to pass into the city.  They said it might be another hour until the next bus comes by to taxi us in.  With all the biking we had done the day before, we were all fired up and decided to bike the rest of the way.  Within a few minutes they had our bikes and bags down from the roof of the vehicle and we were on the road again, Blitzen included.  We happily arrived in Fada, ate good food, sang lots of carols, drank, danced, and sometimes got sick but all in all had a very Merry Christmas.  Side note:  Unfortunately, my gift was the one every was trying to get rid of at the end of the exchange.  Finally someone accepted it and passed it on to a neighbor.  Monday, we attempted to catch a bush taxi but found there was no room so I spent the rest of that day shopping!  Tuesday, we waited.  We waited from 10:30 until 3:00 for bush taxis.  There was 27 people crowded into this large van and we didn't arrive at our destination until about 8:30 due to a number of unforeseen circumstances such as flat tires, sacks along the route needing transportation, people along the route needing transportation, as well as people demanding to be dropped off.  When we attempted to leave the on Wednesday for the bike ride home, Pat fell victim to cold rice and we stayed in Diapaga for yet another night.  Tomorrow, we hope to make it home. 

Clarissa and Partick's Fried Chicken

·         Large chicken clucking about in the courtyard

·         Man named Ouali (Wall-e) to kill, de-plume, gut, and cut chicken into manageable pieces.

·         Drizzle oil onto chicken parts

·         Drop chicken parts into plastic bag with flour, mexican burrito seasoning, chili powder, salt and pepper.  Pat says they need to simmer in the batter for a bit.

·         Now drop the chicken parts into about an inch of oil and fry 'em up for about 4 minutes.

·         Serve with well seasoned rice and wine.

First Few Days in Village

I have moved into my new hut/home.  Its a two bedroom and living room mud structure with an outdoor latrine and shower.  Although, shower really means a short wall that is enclosed on three and a half sides where I take a bucket bath.  The latrine is brand new which is awesome because cockroaches have not yet invaded.  My hut also came with three pretty cool chairs made out of twigs.  I have a pretty big courtyard with a big tree but no gate so children come and go as they please.  That made me really uncomfortable at first but now I am glad because I want my village to feel comfortable approaching me.  For the first week I rode my bike around my community with my Major (Head nurse of my CSPS, or health clinic) and greeted all of the elders, pastors, and community leaders in and around my village.  Throughout these excursions, I accumulated ten chickens, 19 eggs (two of which one of my chickens laid), a sack of rice, some raw mystery meat, two beers, two calabashes (half gourds) of dolo (locally produced cider/beer/ale).  Again, feeling like a rock star.

Diarrhea

If you are planning to come visit me (and you should) you should not read the following post because this will not happen to you (hopefully).  Diarrhea is something that just happens.  Shit happens.  However, it happens at a much higher frequency here in Burkina Faso.  I believe the statistic is that Burkina Faso is number two for the highest incidence of diarrhea.  I know you are laughing right now but this is a serious issue in this country.  Unfortunately, there is a high rate of children who die under the age of 4 due to dehydration related to diarrhea.  Besides Ouagadougou, there is no running water.  Water is acquired from a well (which can be a little nasty but is many times the only option) or a pump (which is clean and clear and safe for Africans to drink but may contain some parasites).  That means dishes and food are washed in standing, overused water, hand washing is occasional and usually lacks soap, and the bathroom is a latrine but only if your family is wealthy enough to afford to build one.  We have a lot of fecal-oral transmission as well as cross contamination due to flies.  There is also the possibility of parasites in the water which why I have to filter and bleach all of my drinking water. 

So here is my story.  One night, around midnight, I awoke in a hot sweat (cold sweats don't really exist here), and I knew something was wrong.  I donned my tapettes (flip-flops), pagne, and head lamp, and dashed to the latrine.  It started then and continued for the next four hours.  Every ounce of liquid, of varying viscosity and color, ejected from both ends of my body.  About every 20 minutes I was running back to the dark corner (of hell) where the fire ants nipped at my toes, cockroaches scurried about, and at one point, even a rat came to check my me.  I was feverish and hysterical so I wrapped myself in a wet pagne and laid down on the floor of my hut weeping and exhausted.  I went through two whole rolls of toilet paper that night.  The next day I was transported to Ouagadougou and learned that there was an overwhelming amount of bacteria and giardia in my stool.  Good times.  

Swear In

December 15, 2011, the G25 stage (training group) took the same oath as the United States President takes during his inauguration.  Not going to lie, I still think that is so cool.  Not only did we all look like rock stars in out matching pagne (African fabric) outfits but this was a televised event at the Ambassador's house.  I was chosen to give a speech in Gourmatcema.  At first I wrote the speech in French and my language professor translated it to Gourmatcema. By the time in was in Gourmatcema I really didn't know what I was saying but I practiced it enough times with him that it sounded pretty cool.  Apparently some people were even able to understand me because I was greeted in Gourmatcema one time on the street by someone who had seen me on TV.  Again, pretty cool.

New Puppy

So my little host brother found another puppy.  We already have one which is probably a couple of months old but this one cannot be more than a month or 6 weeks.  We call the other one Milo but since I have taken a particular liking to this new one, they asked me to name it.  I held the puppy up against the stars, starring deep into his eyes, and I said, “We will call him Simba.”  Now we call him Simba and unfortunately I am the only one who gets the joke.