International Womens Day

March 8 is Womens Day, a holiday celebrated around the world including Burkina Faso though its often ignored in the United States. I first learned about the importance of the day when I was working with high school students from Ukraine and Russia on the 4-H FLEX exchange. Several of them told me what a big holiday it was at home and about their traditions for celebrating it.

I have been very excited for the day to arrive since I first got to Burkina over 5 months ago--can you believe its been that long? Of course I am always excited for anything that has to do with gender equality and feminism so it seemed like the perfect holiday for me! Pagnes --printed fabric sold in pieces about a meter and a half long -- are used by everyone here to make clothes, tie babies to your back, etc. Every year the government puts out a special pagne just for International Womens Day and its very popular. I have been seeing women and men wear outfits made out of the pagne from previous years and couldnt wait to get the 2009 pagne. This year the pagne design came in 3 different colors so it was a tough decision which I wanted to get! A few weeks ago my midwife, my counterparts wife, and I all bought matching 8 mars pagnes and I took mine to the tailor to get a comple made. Since March 8 fell on a Sunday, the holiday was observed on Monday with schools and other offices being closed so I wore my outfit that day. I didnt get a picture than but still want to get one of all my village friends and I in are matching outfits! Since people dont have a lot of clothes here they continue to wear the same pagen for several years until it is worn out.

On the actual holiday, there wasnt a whole lot going on in my village other than a big soccer game between two groups of women. Doesnt sound that unusual for the US but here women dont really play sports. I had been telling my neighbor girls that I wanted to play since I had played in high school but nothing ever really happened with that. I went with them to watch the game on Sunday afternoon and eventually decided to just go ask if I could join in. A couple hundred people showed up to watch the game and it was a lot of fun. I think everyone really loved that the one nasara in village was playing! I found it difficult since the field was basically a sandbox and it is so hot and dry here already without trying to run through loose dirt and sand!! We all were pretty bad at playing but had a good time making fools of ourselves!!

Just before I left village I found out that the Minister for the Promotion of Women is coming to my village to put on a big event at the end of the month in honor of International Womens Day. Everyone is very excited for the fete and was talking about what a great time it would be. I am very disappointed to have to miss this since I still will be in training at the time. Maybe next year....