8 Mars

8 mars, or March 8, is International Women's Day and is a national holiday here in Burkina Faso. I know I talked about it last year but figure I will share with you my experiences this year. On the actual day, we didn't do a whole lot in my village though I know it is often a big deal in the cities. We were in the middle of a polio vaccination campaign so had a lot of work and not much time for fete-ing. That said, there was a soccer game late in the afternoon and I played again this year. All the women and older girls that were interested in playing divided into two teams. Several hundred people came out to watch so we had a great time making huge fools of ourselves. Every year there is a pagne, wild print fabric, made for the holiday and many people get outfits made for the celebration as well.

This past weekend was our actual fete in celebration of international women's day and it was quite the event. Our village recently finished building a Maison de la Femme, kinda like a women's center. I'm not sure how it will be used since the Maison de le Jeune, or youth center, isn't really used much. Personally, I think both projects were built with NGO funding a project that was unnecessary and doesn't meet the actual needs of the community. Welcome to the world of development work though. Anyways, the chief of my village is married to the Minister of the Promotion of Women so she is the one that actual throws our fete. I guess since she is always busy on the actual holiday with the nationwide fete, she chooses a date at the end of the month to throw a celebration in her husband's village. I think it has been a big celebration for the past few years but this year was even grander than usual because of a special guest of honor. The First Lady of Burkina Faso, Madame Chantal Compaore, came for the ceremony to open our new Maison de la Femme.

As I rode into village the morning of the fete, I was shocked at the hundreds of people biking and walking along the road starting about 20 km away all headed to the party. Once I was close to village, I ended up having to walk because there were so many people the vehicle couldn't get through. I walked over to the area where the big ceremony was just starting and was overwhelmed by the thousands of people hanging out. I saw a few people I knew but didn't recognize a large majority which is unusual for me in village. I finally found my CSPS ambulance and our driver who were ready for any emergencies or accidents and he pushed me through the crowd to an area with chairs on the side to watch the ceremony. The event started with a "parade" of women from many of the surrounding villages weaving through the crowds in a funny marching pattern. There were many different speakers as well as performances by some popular musicians. The girls group that does traditional Bissa dancing also performed.

Afterwards, I headed home to relax since I had gotten only a few hours of sleep the night before. Later I went over to the minister's house when my APCD Dr Claude (basically my boss in PC) called me to come meet Chantal. Dr Claude's husband is the head of the Supreme Court so she is friendly with many of the most powerful people here. I had to get through several guards and police and was asked to confirm my name so that I could enter. I found this funny that since I was the only white person in the village so they had to have known it was me. Anyways I was introduced to Chantal and she asked me about speaking Bissa and how to greet someone.

Even more amazing then the First Lady visiting my village though was how she travelled the 140 or so kilometers from Ouaga. She came in a huge military helicopter! And where did this helicopter park? Right behind my house, next to my family's garden. I think nobody had ever seen a helicopter before so at any given time there were at least 500 people hanging out around my house staring at the helicopter. When she was ready to leave in the afternoon everyone was awestruck as the propellers started turning. Once there was actually lift-off though everybody freaked out and ducked like they would get hit. It flew right over my house on its route back to Ouaga.

That afternoon was another soccer game. This time we were more prepared and much more pressured to win since we were playing women from the next village over and had lost last year. We had soccer practice every night the week before the fete so didn't look like quite so big of fools as we did at the first game. I know I'm not very athletic but its so much harder for me to play here for several reasons. First off it is damn hot and sunny in Burkina Faso and March is the beginning of hot season which makes it even worse! Its also really dry and dusty here on the edge of the Sahara so my mouth and throat feel coated in dust and its difficult to breath after running a little. Finally our "soccer field" is in awful shape. The ground isn't flat and there are lots of potholes so you always have to be careful running to avoid falling. In some sections the ground is super hard, packed dirt but in other places there is lose sand which is extremely difficult to run through and definitely slows you down if you are trying move with the ball. Added to this fact I might have had too much to drink the night before and was already dehydrated before starting to play so had some difficulties at the game. Neither team scored during the game but we won in penalty kicks so everyone was excited with lots of shouting and dancing.

There was a dance later in the night but I was too worn out to go out again. The next day I hung out at my chief and Madame le Minister's house because they offered to give me a ride to Ouaga where I had work to do. I think in most villages, the chief actually lives there and plays a fairly important role. This isn't true for my village though since the chief lives in Ouaga and only occasionally comes back. He has more of a ceremonial position. Instead our Chef de Terre(directly translated is Chief of the Earth but more like chief in charge of traditions as well as farming and hunting) is the one that seems to help in disputes and serve as the "leader" of our village.