I feel a little weird writing this entry but I have had a few requests to write more about the people and the culture so wanted to share some info I have gathered and observed about one ethnic group in particular. Since I find this tribe so interesting, I've done a little reading in my guide books and asking questions of others around here.
The Peulhs, also called Fulani or Fulfulde, are the second largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso making up 8% of the population. They are very marginalized throughout this country and the region of West Africa though. In Burkina, they make up a majority in the north but also have small villages throughout the rest of the country. The Peulh were the first tribe in West Africa to convert to Islam hundreds of years ago and they spread the religion throughout the area because they traditionally were nomadic herders. Most Peulhs still are cattleherders though many have settled into villages and cities because it is more difficult to move around. The Peulhs sell eggs (when available in rainy season) and milk in the markets. I have been buying Puppy milk from a Peulh girl that stops by my house every few days. He loves it even after it curdles!
On a side note, the name Burkina Faso comes from words in two different languages spoken here: Moore and Jula. The term for people from this country is Burkinabe which comes from Fulfulde, the language spoken by Peulhs.
I have noticed other tribes in Burkina often have only negative comments to make about Peulhs. I've been told that they are too proud and that they are thieves. Since Bissas and Mossis usually are cultivators and Peulhs are animal herders, there often are fights and issues over land use as well. When I was in training, there was a Peulh community in my host village. One day, my friend set down her phone and forgot about it. It was gone when she went back to look a few minutes later and everyone in the village was talking about how the Peulhs had stolen it. No one saw this but the blame was automatically put on them because of the negative stereotypes of this tribe. This is just one example that shows the discrimination they face constantly.
Even though they are viewed negatively by others, Peulh women are renowned for their beauty. They are often lighter skinned and have distinctive facial features along with different style of dress, hair, and jewelry than other tribes in the area. Many women wear large silver coins in their hair and I was told this is a sign of their wealth since each one can cost around $6. Anecdotally I have also noticed that they seem to really love striped shirts! I have posted some pictures from my visit to a village near my home.
I met a missionary family from New Zealand that is living in Tenkodogo. Their work is to convert Peulhs to Christianity which I found interesting since he said there are only about 200 Peulhs that are Christian in the whole country and because they are traditionally Muslim. He and his wife are also working with education and health needs though which is great for this marginalized population.
There is a fairly large population of Peulhs in several small villages in my area. I want to start doing more work with the Peulhs in my community since I feel that our health center is not meeting their needs. They struggle to communicate with the health staff and others in the village since many don't speak Bissa or French. I think they also are often forgotten when there are sensibilizations or other health programs. Since most of their villages are farther away from the health center, it is difficult for them to come in when they are sick especially during rainy season when the route is often unpassable. The Peulh women are less likely to come in to give birth and attend baby weighings at my CSPS as well. On a surprising note, they are more likely to use family planning services from my health center. The rate is still very, very low but I was excited to note this during my Etude. I hope to start doing programs out in the Peulh villages and just received a basic phrase book from Peace Corps so I can at least greet them in their own language.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Babies Galore
I have been at site for about five months and during this time three baby girls have been born in my family. Before this I really hadn't spent a lot of time with babies and young kids but I am growing to really love my youngest neighbors. Lohaimatou is now four and a half months old and so much fun to play with. She loves to smile and always responds when I make funny faces. She's also a little chunker which makes me so happy after weighing underweight and malnourished babies every week. Nuhaimatou is two and a half months old and has been very healthy since her health scare when she was a day old.
Three weeks ago, Mariam, a woman from my family, asked me to look at her health card to see when she was supposed to go in for her next pre-natal consultation since she can't read. I saw that she had missed the date so I told her to go in on Monday morning. She didn't know when she was due because she was unsure when she had gotten pregnant but I was thinking it must be soon. I didn't realize how soon though! This was her fifth pregnancy, she has two older children and two that had died. Monday morning I saw her leave for the health center very early. I went to see how her consultation went and she said everything was good and started walking home. I passed her a few minutes later on bike when I had to run an errand. I got back to the health center about 20 minutes later to find her in labor--she had never even made it home. Since no one knew she was about to give birth, they asked me to go tell the family and have them come with supplies that families provide (fabric & towels, buckets, soap, etc) for deliveries. I biked home and started explaining the news in Bissa to the other women. Less than 5 minutes later another women arrived saying Mariam had already given birth to a girl. Definitely the fastest delivery I have ever heard of! We headed back just in time to watch Mariam walk from the delivery room to the post-delivery, resting room. They handed me the baby while Mariam rested and the other women cleaned up the delivery room. Burkinabe women are so amazing and strong!
It is my understanding that in Islam, it is the tradition for babies to be baptised and given a name when they are seven days old. During the first week, it is very bad luck to call a baby by its name or to ask what the baby's name is even if it has already been decided. Baptisms are huge events in Burkina and a great opportunity for a party. I had missed the two earlier baptisms in my family so was very excited for this one. Traditionally guests give soap to the new mom since she will have lots of laundry to do. Others will give money or other baby gifts. The family then provides a huge meal to all of the guests that come. I didn't see the naming ceremony though I think it is an actual event. Instead I saw all of the men hanging out playing cards separate from the women who were talking, cooking, eating, and dancing. The women were happy to include me and we danced, played with the kid, and ate rice with a little chicken--a real treat for my family.
I don't know of any more pregnant women in my family so think it will be at least a few months until we have any new additions to the family! In the meantime, I hope to talk to them more about contraceptive use especially birth spacing which is a more accepted term here than family planning and allows the educator to focus on the health of the mother instead of preventing pregnancies.
Three weeks ago, Mariam, a woman from my family, asked me to look at her health card to see when she was supposed to go in for her next pre-natal consultation since she can't read. I saw that she had missed the date so I told her to go in on Monday morning. She didn't know when she was due because she was unsure when she had gotten pregnant but I was thinking it must be soon. I didn't realize how soon though! This was her fifth pregnancy, she has two older children and two that had died. Monday morning I saw her leave for the health center very early. I went to see how her consultation went and she said everything was good and started walking home. I passed her a few minutes later on bike when I had to run an errand. I got back to the health center about 20 minutes later to find her in labor--she had never even made it home. Since no one knew she was about to give birth, they asked me to go tell the family and have them come with supplies that families provide (fabric & towels, buckets, soap, etc) for deliveries. I biked home and started explaining the news in Bissa to the other women. Less than 5 minutes later another women arrived saying Mariam had already given birth to a girl. Definitely the fastest delivery I have ever heard of! We headed back just in time to watch Mariam walk from the delivery room to the post-delivery, resting room. They handed me the baby while Mariam rested and the other women cleaned up the delivery room. Burkinabe women are so amazing and strong!
It is my understanding that in Islam, it is the tradition for babies to be baptised and given a name when they are seven days old. During the first week, it is very bad luck to call a baby by its name or to ask what the baby's name is even if it has already been decided. Baptisms are huge events in Burkina and a great opportunity for a party. I had missed the two earlier baptisms in my family so was very excited for this one. Traditionally guests give soap to the new mom since she will have lots of laundry to do. Others will give money or other baby gifts. The family then provides a huge meal to all of the guests that come. I didn't see the naming ceremony though I think it is an actual event. Instead I saw all of the men hanging out playing cards separate from the women who were talking, cooking, eating, and dancing. The women were happy to include me and we danced, played with the kid, and ate rice with a little chicken--a real treat for my family.
I don't know of any more pregnant women in my family so think it will be at least a few months until we have any new additions to the family! In the meantime, I hope to talk to them more about contraceptive use especially birth spacing which is a more accepted term here than family planning and allows the educator to focus on the health of the mother instead of preventing pregnancies.
Got Malaria?
I am borrowing the name of this post from an e-mail I sent out four years ago when I was in Kenya. At that time, I had just recovered from malaria so I happy to say I am currently healthy but am doing some work with malaria.
It feels like not much has gotten done this month but I have felt very busy. Part of this I know is the exhaustion from the heat. I see an end in sight though. We have had two huge storms and sprinkles a few other times. Things are starting to look green after many months of dust and dirt. Its almost like spring in Wisconsin except 40 degrees warmer!
With the rains also come the bugs. Even with such a little moisture, I have seen a huge increase in the number of critters out. At night it gets so bad when I am using a flashlight that I usually give up and hang out in my bug hut. Mosquitos are also reproducing rapidly and we are entering into malaria season. Even though Burkina is dry for a good part of the year, this parasite is a huge problem year-round but it gets so much worse with the rains. At least 50% of the patients coming into my health center are treated for malaria. I say treated because there are no blood tests done and anyone with classic malaria symptoms (normally a reoccuring fever) is treated. If they are still sick a few days later, the nurses will then treat them for something else. I wrote a few months ago about the newborn from my family that was treated for malaria. There also have been a few other kids that I know that have gotten malaria since I have been here.
Last week one of my favorite kids, Maneera, had a really high fever and chills. It looked like malaria to me but her dad was gone and her mom said she couldn't take her in then. They gave her Tylenol and the fever went away. I was pretty sure it would be back again and sure enough two days later they came to tell me she was sick. Since I had told them the fever would be back in two days if it was malaria, they really believed I knew what I was talking about and agreed to take her in. While we were waiting to leave, I asked them about mosquito nets. I had brought it up before and the women all said they had them and the kids slept under them but I knew this wasn't true. Our health center gives out nets during the rainy season to pregnant women and babies so the family has several. Anyways I convinced them to find a net and we hung it up right then. Since then I have seen at least a few of the younger kids sleeping under it. I also went to hang out with my family one day and found that the two week old baby was asleep inside a small pop-up mosquito net. I was so excited to see they had such a contraption and were even using it in the middle of the day when the mosquitos aren't so bad. Its great to see even the smallest changes in my family and my village.
There is still lots of sensibilizing to be done but I know rainy season is long so I figure I will have many opportunities.
It feels like not much has gotten done this month but I have felt very busy. Part of this I know is the exhaustion from the heat. I see an end in sight though. We have had two huge storms and sprinkles a few other times. Things are starting to look green after many months of dust and dirt. Its almost like spring in Wisconsin except 40 degrees warmer!
With the rains also come the bugs. Even with such a little moisture, I have seen a huge increase in the number of critters out. At night it gets so bad when I am using a flashlight that I usually give up and hang out in my bug hut. Mosquitos are also reproducing rapidly and we are entering into malaria season. Even though Burkina is dry for a good part of the year, this parasite is a huge problem year-round but it gets so much worse with the rains. At least 50% of the patients coming into my health center are treated for malaria. I say treated because there are no blood tests done and anyone with classic malaria symptoms (normally a reoccuring fever) is treated. If they are still sick a few days later, the nurses will then treat them for something else. I wrote a few months ago about the newborn from my family that was treated for malaria. There also have been a few other kids that I know that have gotten malaria since I have been here.
Last week one of my favorite kids, Maneera, had a really high fever and chills. It looked like malaria to me but her dad was gone and her mom said she couldn't take her in then. They gave her Tylenol and the fever went away. I was pretty sure it would be back again and sure enough two days later they came to tell me she was sick. Since I had told them the fever would be back in two days if it was malaria, they really believed I knew what I was talking about and agreed to take her in. While we were waiting to leave, I asked them about mosquito nets. I had brought it up before and the women all said they had them and the kids slept under them but I knew this wasn't true. Our health center gives out nets during the rainy season to pregnant women and babies so the family has several. Anyways I convinced them to find a net and we hung it up right then. Since then I have seen at least a few of the younger kids sleeping under it. I also went to hang out with my family one day and found that the two week old baby was asleep inside a small pop-up mosquito net. I was so excited to see they had such a contraption and were even using it in the middle of the day when the mosquitos aren't so bad. Its great to see even the smallest changes in my family and my village.
There is still lots of sensibilizing to be done but I know rainy season is long so I figure I will have many opportunities.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Puppy Love
I am feeling a little like the crazy dog owner but wanted to share a few stories about Puppy with you! I never realized how different it would be to have a dog here than it was in the States. Plus this is really my first pet that is completely mine since the other dogs I have had were at my parents' house. Along with worrying about his nutrition since I have to cook him dinner (even when I am sick or tired), I also am very concerned about his health. Luckily my aunt who is a vet in Minneapolis has provided me with lots of advice and meds! Then there is the concerns about him getting hurt. Dogs are mean here since they are usually for guards so I am worried about him getting beat up by a bigger dog. Also am worried about him chasing (and possibly killing) a chicken in which case the chicken's owner will probably kill Puppy. I have heard this is a very possible response in this situation. On the other hand, I have seen several chickens and roosters try to attack him when he gets to close to them or their babies. He still isn't afraid of them though.
His biggest fear is of goats and sheep. I didn't think they would ever hurt him though they do like to approach and stare at him which freaks him out and he tries to run away or hide behind me. That was until last week when we had an unfortunate event with a goat! Puppy woke me up one night last week at 3 am to go potty. I had been sick and not sleeping well so was very frustrated but took him out anyways. Often at night there are goats and sheep resting just outside my door but this night one goat didn't run away like they usually do when I get close. Instead she charged and started attacking Puppy. I kicked at her and tried to get Puppy free. He started screaming and woke up the whole family! I finally was able to pick him up and the goat ran away. Several young men came out to see what the matter was. Since it was the middle of the night in hot season, I was in my pajamas of a tank top and shorts (ie not properly covered for village) so really didn't want to be seen! Anyways turns out the goat had just given birth so was being a protective mother. Somehow in the process of fighting her off Puppy I ended up with placenta all over my leg. Only in Burkina!
I am trying to teach Puppy a few commands and decided to use Bissa instead of English. Everyone cracks up when I speak to a dog in any language, let alone Bissa so I enjoy continuing to make villagers think I am crazy. He is getting pretty good at come (burnow), sit (nyinta), and go home (parro) -- at least when nothing more exciting is going on!
I have added pictures to Village Life, Puppy, Workshops & Events, Family, PC Home. I also took a few short videos that I want to try to upload but haven't had time to do yet. Hopefully coming soon!
His biggest fear is of goats and sheep. I didn't think they would ever hurt him though they do like to approach and stare at him which freaks him out and he tries to run away or hide behind me. That was until last week when we had an unfortunate event with a goat! Puppy woke me up one night last week at 3 am to go potty. I had been sick and not sleeping well so was very frustrated but took him out anyways. Often at night there are goats and sheep resting just outside my door but this night one goat didn't run away like they usually do when I get close. Instead she charged and started attacking Puppy. I kicked at her and tried to get Puppy free. He started screaming and woke up the whole family! I finally was able to pick him up and the goat ran away. Several young men came out to see what the matter was. Since it was the middle of the night in hot season, I was in my pajamas of a tank top and shorts (ie not properly covered for village) so really didn't want to be seen! Anyways turns out the goat had just given birth so was being a protective mother. Somehow in the process of fighting her off Puppy I ended up with placenta all over my leg. Only in Burkina!
I am trying to teach Puppy a few commands and decided to use Bissa instead of English. Everyone cracks up when I speak to a dog in any language, let alone Bissa so I enjoy continuing to make villagers think I am crazy. He is getting pretty good at come (burnow), sit (nyinta), and go home (parro) -- at least when nothing more exciting is going on!
I have added pictures to Village Life, Puppy, Workshops & Events, Family, PC Home. I also took a few short videos that I want to try to upload but haven't had time to do yet. Hopefully coming soon!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
6 Months Down
About two weeks ago, I hit the six month mark in Burkina Faso. It seems crazy to me because in many ways it feels like I was just trying to decide what to take out of my suitcase to get it closer to the weight limit. I am in such a different place now though and really do feel like I am at home in village! I spent a little over six months in Kenya so this is now officially the longest I have been out of the U.S. (and actually out of WI) and away from my family. I am about a quarter through my service which also seems crazy because I feel like I am just getting started. I have also been in village longer than I was in training in Ouahigouya. Training felt so long compared to the time that has flown by at site!
I want to say a huge thanks to everyone that has been supporting me emotionally and through letters and care packages! First off to my parents who have been amazing at calling and sending cards and packages. Plus they recently booked a trip for us to meet up in Egypt in July. I am very excited to see them! Thanks as well to all my friends and relatives that have shown how much they care about me. I realize I haven't been the best at sending letters (postage is just so expensive for me!) but I really do appreciate hearing from you and feeling connected to your lives in the States and around the world! Special thanks to everyone that has sent me care packages over the last six months: mom & dad, Beth, Suzy, Kim & Jim, Mary B, Jeff & Deanne, Mrs Lee, Anna, Maren, Judy E, Allison, Wayne Crusaders, and Tulane MI! You guys rock! It may be hard to imagine how excited I get over American junk food, easy meals, and magazines.
So what have I been doing you may ask? Well its hot season so I have to admit I sit around at home reading and mopping up sweat from every inch of my body. Its just too hot to do much else! I have been trying to get some planning done though. I have decided to do a girl's camp for two weeks this June so am trying to put together an application, projects & activities, and logistics. There is still so much to do but its looking like its really going to happen.
Back in April I applied for a US embassy grant on behalf of a women's soap-making group from my village and just got word that we were selected. The US embassy had a contest last year to design a pagne (piece of fabric) and then had these printed up. They are giving them to local organizations to sell and then the funds can be used to support the organization's project. Pretty cool huh? Anyways this soap group has 15 women that have all contributed money to participate in a training and received support from the local government. They now know how to make bar soap and made one small batch but don't have the funds to launch a big production. I am in Ouaga to pick up the pagnes at the embassy and take them back to village. I'm a little nervous about how I'm going to get it all back to village on bush taxi but we'll see how it goes tomorrow! The women are going to start selling them and hopefully raise enough money to purchase all the supplies to really get their soap co-op going and keep it sustainable!
I also recently started a moringa pepinaire (I can't think of the English word but its when you start seedlings in plastic satchets). Moringa is this amazing tree that grows great here and can be used for so many things including using seeds to purify water and drying the leaves and making a powder that is super nutritious. Check out this site for more info. Peace Corps really wants volunteers to start moringa in their communities so I got the neighborhood kids to help me start about 30 seeds. Once the seedlings are big enough, they are going to plant them around our compound and out in the field. Eventually I want to get others in the community on board but I figured I would start small. Plus this was a great project for kids!
Back in February I took four women to a HIV/AIDS Training of Trainers. We have now started giving sensibilizations in the community. They set the goal of doing a sensibilization in every quartier (kinda like neighborhood) and satellite village. We have done two so far with at least a dozen more to go. Turn out was great at both with more than a 100 people at the first and about 50 at the second! Plus the audience asked a lot of great questions! I am really trying to encourage the women to work on their public speaking skills and break free from the traditional lecture-style sensibilization that is common here. I saw definite improvements in our second one and am hoping that they will continue to improve as they keep doing them. Its hard for me to stand back and let them put together a presentation. I think a big part of this is giving them an opportunity to learn how to be leaders and is not just about educating the community about HIV.
I spent the past weekend in Tenkodogo with two Japanese volunteers living and working there. Japan has a program sort of similiar to Peace Corps called JICA so it was fun to meet these women and hear about there experiences. One women is working with the local government office and the other is doing health work. Its interesting to see how our jobs are similiar and different. She is posted at the district level and in a city so works with multiple health centers compared to me in a village with one health center. It seems that their organization also has a lot more funding for projects and acitivities. This is something I am struggling with in village because everyone assumes that I have access to a big pot of money for projects but Peace Corps is really about volunteers using community resources and not providing funds. An example is with our HIV sensibilizations, the women really wanted to do some elaborate stuff and expected me to find funding. I did agree to buy condoms for demos but other than that I said we had to use what we had. They are making do and I think its a lot more sustainable. I'm sure I could come up with some great activities if I had access to funding like the Japanese volunteers do but I can understand Peace Corps' reasoning.
I have posted pictures of my puppy, a HIV sensibilization, and a few other random things. I also added captions on some that had forgotten before.
I want to say a huge thanks to everyone that has been supporting me emotionally and through letters and care packages! First off to my parents who have been amazing at calling and sending cards and packages. Plus they recently booked a trip for us to meet up in Egypt in July. I am very excited to see them! Thanks as well to all my friends and relatives that have shown how much they care about me. I realize I haven't been the best at sending letters (postage is just so expensive for me!) but I really do appreciate hearing from you and feeling connected to your lives in the States and around the world! Special thanks to everyone that has sent me care packages over the last six months: mom & dad, Beth, Suzy, Kim & Jim, Mary B, Jeff & Deanne, Mrs Lee, Anna, Maren, Judy E, Allison, Wayne Crusaders, and Tulane MI! You guys rock! It may be hard to imagine how excited I get over American junk food, easy meals, and magazines.
So what have I been doing you may ask? Well its hot season so I have to admit I sit around at home reading and mopping up sweat from every inch of my body. Its just too hot to do much else! I have been trying to get some planning done though. I have decided to do a girl's camp for two weeks this June so am trying to put together an application, projects & activities, and logistics. There is still so much to do but its looking like its really going to happen.
Back in April I applied for a US embassy grant on behalf of a women's soap-making group from my village and just got word that we were selected. The US embassy had a contest last year to design a pagne (piece of fabric) and then had these printed up. They are giving them to local organizations to sell and then the funds can be used to support the organization's project. Pretty cool huh? Anyways this soap group has 15 women that have all contributed money to participate in a training and received support from the local government. They now know how to make bar soap and made one small batch but don't have the funds to launch a big production. I am in Ouaga to pick up the pagnes at the embassy and take them back to village. I'm a little nervous about how I'm going to get it all back to village on bush taxi but we'll see how it goes tomorrow! The women are going to start selling them and hopefully raise enough money to purchase all the supplies to really get their soap co-op going and keep it sustainable!
I also recently started a moringa pepinaire (I can't think of the English word but its when you start seedlings in plastic satchets). Moringa is this amazing tree that grows great here and can be used for so many things including using seeds to purify water and drying the leaves and making a powder that is super nutritious. Check out this site for more info. Peace Corps really wants volunteers to start moringa in their communities so I got the neighborhood kids to help me start about 30 seeds. Once the seedlings are big enough, they are going to plant them around our compound and out in the field. Eventually I want to get others in the community on board but I figured I would start small. Plus this was a great project for kids!
Back in February I took four women to a HIV/AIDS Training of Trainers. We have now started giving sensibilizations in the community. They set the goal of doing a sensibilization in every quartier (kinda like neighborhood) and satellite village. We have done two so far with at least a dozen more to go. Turn out was great at both with more than a 100 people at the first and about 50 at the second! Plus the audience asked a lot of great questions! I am really trying to encourage the women to work on their public speaking skills and break free from the traditional lecture-style sensibilization that is common here. I saw definite improvements in our second one and am hoping that they will continue to improve as they keep doing them. Its hard for me to stand back and let them put together a presentation. I think a big part of this is giving them an opportunity to learn how to be leaders and is not just about educating the community about HIV.
I spent the past weekend in Tenkodogo with two Japanese volunteers living and working there. Japan has a program sort of similiar to Peace Corps called JICA so it was fun to meet these women and hear about there experiences. One women is working with the local government office and the other is doing health work. Its interesting to see how our jobs are similiar and different. She is posted at the district level and in a city so works with multiple health centers compared to me in a village with one health center. It seems that their organization also has a lot more funding for projects and acitivities. This is something I am struggling with in village because everyone assumes that I have access to a big pot of money for projects but Peace Corps is really about volunteers using community resources and not providing funds. An example is with our HIV sensibilizations, the women really wanted to do some elaborate stuff and expected me to find funding. I did agree to buy condoms for demos but other than that I said we had to use what we had. They are making do and I think its a lot more sustainable. I'm sure I could come up with some great activities if I had access to funding like the Japanese volunteers do but I can understand Peace Corps' reasoning.
I have posted pictures of my puppy, a HIV sensibilization, and a few other random things. I also added captions on some that had forgotten before.
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