My mom spent a month in West Africa to see what my life was really like. We were able to do quite a lot but also see the realities of my day to day activities. After a morning sleeping in to catch up on jet lag, we headed over to the Ghana embassy to request visas for the second half of her trip. That night we had dinner at Gondwana, one of the nicest and most expensive restaurants in Burkina Faso. Not exactly an authentic experience but definitely worth it. My friend Yoshi joined us so she and my mom could meet and we could celebrate Mom's arrival and her departure. Yoshi finished her 2 years in Burkina a few days later and is back in Japan now. I'm very sad to see her leave since she has become one of my closest friends here but I look forward to a trip to Japan in the next few years!
My mom's first full day was spent participating in an activity sponsored by Catholic Relief Service to plant 1200 trees in a new neighborhood built by NGOs to house the victims of last September's floods. It seemed to be a big publicity stunt since after an hour or so of 30 PCVs sporting fancy new shirts planting trees, we all were sat down as a group to listen to all the bigwigs talk about this great project. The truck bringing water in got stuck in the mud and tipped over so I don't think the trees were ever watered. Also only half of them got fences put around so I'm sure the other half were eaten by cows and goats within the first week. Anyways we had a good time and Catholic Relief Service along with other NGOs has done an amazing job of creating this huge new community where six months ago there were only fields. A barbecue was held that evening for all the PCVs and included a balafon (like xylophone made with gourds) band, the traditional music of southern Burkina. I think it was a great introduction for my mom to development work as well as many of my friends here.
A day later we headed to my site where we spent two weeks hanging out and mostly following my normal routine if I actually had a routine. Everyone in village had been hearing me talk about how my mom was coming to visit for at least the last year so were very excited. Visitors are always important here but I was told its an especially big deal that my mom came since she is the one that gave birth and raised me.
We made the rounds at my family compound meeting the women and children who weren't in the field that day. Baby Sakinatou was home so I handed her to my mom even though she was naked. Of course she had to shit right on Mom. Welcome to village! After a change of clothes we went to town to see my CSPS and meet many of my friends. The next day was market day as well as Sunday so I had a girl's club meeting. We made rounds at the market and then decorated visors my mom had brought with the girls.
Throughout her time in village we also helped my friend Dabre with the three day process of making and selling dolo. That's along with drinking lots of dolo made by other women so she was able visit many of the local cabarets! We also weighed babies, made enriched porridge, watched health talks on malaria, the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS, and malnutrition. We went to church and danced with the women and children in Dabre's courtyard. Another Sunday we made liquid soap with my girls club and discussed the importance of good hygiene. Dylan came for a couple days with his friend Chris who was also visiting from the US. We all biked out to one of my Peulh villages to see how it is different from the Bissa village. It had rained that morning and the route isn't great on a normal day plus we had all kinds of bike problems so it was quite the adventure.
Before leaving, many people stopped by to wish Mom well and give her small gifts to take home. If I can remember correctly, she received 2 live chickens, 50+ guinea fowl eggs, 2 huge containers of onions, a large bowl of dried beans, a bag of peanuts, 2 local baskets, several calabashes, a small leather purse and sandals, and some traditional woven cloth. She was shocked at the gifts, especially since there was no way for her to take many of the things home, but I explained they are so excited to have her visit and want to show their appreciation. It is the time of year when people don't have much money so they give whatever they have which in this area happens to be peanuts, onions, and eggs right now.
Mom also brought many gifts for my friends and family including tshirts, baseball caps, headscarves, balls, toy cars, a badminton set, and a variety of other toys and games. She had bright yellow shirts made that say Kirstin is my sister so we gave them out to all 30 kids in my compound.
Back in Ouaga, I took Mom to Village Artisinal where you can watch local crafts being made and purchase souvenirs including bronze statues, cloth wove on a loom, beaded jewelry, leather purses, wood carved items, batiks, and beautiful bags made from old plastic sachets. We also went to the huge new Grand Market in the city center to purchase other souvenirs.
We celebrated Fourth of July at my country director Shannon's home with some other PCVs and Americans living in Burkina.
The next day we were off to Ghana and watch for a blog about that coming soon!
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