Letter to Jayne & Steve 10/6/05
Dear Jayne & Steve
Thanks so much for calling! That was a real treat! I've missed some phone calls and was pretty bummed, so please tell people to call again if I don't pick up the 1st time. I tried figuring out who called me one night and promptly lost all my minutes on the phone, which equated to about 5 minutes. When I get to the village I'll let people know what days of the week and times to call, so I can get to an area of reception. Hopefully that will help people out in the states. Supposedly there are some international phone cards that are like 10 cents/min. But I'm nto really sure what's available.
I realized I might have worried some people with some of my previous letters. I'm sorry for causing concern. Sometimes these letters take the place of my journal and my source of venting come out through the letters as a point of relief for myself. That being said, living here isnt' terrible and it isn't great. For me, it seems like a really long trip on duty in the AirForce. I still get told what to do and when. The food sucks. During the training, we're treated a little like morons and we do things repetitively. I don't enjoy any of those aspects. I do enjoy learning the local language, learning the technical information for my job and how to do it. I do enjoy the people of Burkina in general. All together there are days here I can see being here for years, and there are days here where I keep track fo the dates and the clock closely.
Having received the care packages from my family and friends has been a truly uplifting experience. My feelings about friends and family much more secure, despite missing them just as strongly. I've been keeping track of who writes and keeps in contact and I'm definitely working hard at sending everyone a good letter as soon as I can.
I'm thankful to all my family and friends who are supportive fo me during this job & work. Albeit sometimes, I feel like I dont' really deserve to be here. It sounds weird but true.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE :)
Today is a relatively cool day, it's about 95 degrees. When it feels sweltering, that's when the temperature is about 107 ro so. April & May the temperature is supposed to stay around 115 or so during the regular days, so I really look forward to that. It should be pretty funny when I go to Wisconsin next June following that weather. I'll probably be wearing a Parka while I'm there. :)
Oh, not that I had any fashion sense whatsoever before, I got a traditonal Burkinabe dress ensemble made for the Swearing-In party. It's really bright and gawdy and the clsoest thing to a rainbow flag I could get on my budget. I'll take photos to be sure :) I also bought these pants taht are literally made of scraps of different material - a total random mis-mash of fabric. Really crazy looking, but totally fashionable here. I'm starting to enjoy the pretty fabric & the vibrant dress here.
It's almost 10am right now & I'm getting hungry for lunch. There was a Peanut Butter Jar in one of the care packages & I'm so excited to have some for lunch, along with a protein bar! Yeah!! I can't wait! The protein bars are awesome.
Socially I think I've relaxed quite a bit with most the folks in my training group. Despite the forced homestays we ahve now in Courcy to improve our french. Our group goes to one of the only bars around and plays musci from our Ipods on their speaker systems. It's been a great source of release when your finished with a day of boring briefs. We usually grove untile the lgiths go out at 1am and then head home. Admittedly, I'm on of the more staid individuals and I usually head hoem by 12am, but for a few hours every few nights we dance our asses off just for the joy of it. We usually draw quite a crowd of locals that watch us dance weirdly, but we don't care.
One of the main motivators is that we know, after Swear-in, we won't be able to do this together or maybe at all for at least 3 months. So we gotta do it now, while we can. I even got some of the girls to swing dance and salsa with me a little. :) Times like that make it easy to forget where you are or why, but sometimes, that's a good thing :)
I never was much of a heavy-weight when it came to drinking and here is no different. Usually one satchet (which is a little bag fo whisky, about the size of 2 shots) is plenty to keep me going for most the night. I'm such a cheap date.
I just got a deck of UNO cards and an astronomy book from my Mom & I'm really pumped to look at the stars tonight with it. UNO is a great game to play w/locals cause it's easy & easy to teach.
I need to get ready for class, so I close this letter by hoping the best for you guys and good health to everyone. Thigns overall are pretty good and I'm beginngin to like it much more here. I think soon, I'll love it here. Hope to keep in touch and take care of yourself. Hopefully talk to you again soon!
Love,
Laura
posted by laura @ 7:20 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Letter to Joy and Elbert, received ll/14/2005
25 Oct. 2005
Dear Joy,
My first full day in village will be a memorable one. I started today @5:30 am, getting up with the donkey, dogs and pigs. The sun came shortly thereafter. I woke up cold and put water onto boil while did some calisthenics, just outside my door. I finished my wrm up as the water boiled and enjoyed some peach tea and ganola bars for breakfast. Taking my time I studied some Moore, before leaving @0700 to (salever, I couldn[t read this word, editor) my neighbors before starting work @7:30. Upon arrival at work, 200' away, I happened upon a group of men trying to open the pharmacy door that has been newly barricaded W/steel bars criss crossing the entrance. Unfortuantely the new cement job wasn't measured correctly and the baars weren't able to come off. I offered them my hammer and they proceeded to dig into the fresh cement and remove the base of the barricades, to start all over again.
As I watched, the Chief nurse, my counterpart, shows up a bit late and we headed off to an adjacent village to perform vaccinations against a water transferred bacteria. I don't remember the name ,but the village was 12 kilometers away and biked by ass off to keep up with the nurses scooter. I'm not allowed to ride or drive scooters or I'll get administratively seperated. Anyhoo, we vaccinated 279 children at this village and them came back to TO in the afternoon went to the elementary school and vaccinated about 560 kids there. I thought my day was done then, Nope, just as we were returning to tally up all the #'s and go home, a woman comes in carrying a child, about 3 or 4 years old, who had fallen off a scooter while it was moving. The little boy's head had a major cut upon the top of his head and was bleeding profusely. About 2 - 3 inches of his skull was visible along with a good flap of skin missing. His face, shirt, and most of his body was covered in blood. Madame Sowedego took charge and directed the infant to the suture room. The child was screaming and kicking. So much pain for this child was ahead. Knowing, I'm not supposed to handle anything bloody, I help anyway, after putting on some gloves, the child, being in so much pain is hard to handle, so I grab his legs o help hold him still so they can operate on his head. No painkillers. This child endures a slow kind of torture to help put him somewhat back together. It takes 3 people to hold him still while the "surgeon" works stitching his head. A good portion of the top layer of skin is gone on his cheek and right arm. After about an hour, the power goes out and we have to use a flashlight to finish the last stitches. the child is exhausted and his father is very distraught since he was driving he scooer. Tonight the child is in the infirmary. I honestly don't know if he'll survive, I think he will with the amount of fighjt he showed, but here, with the facilities as they are, I don't know.
I have to say today, is one hell of a way to start my Peace Çorps Volunteer, I hope I can live up to it. My heart goes out to that family, that child will take awhile to recover.
Tomorrow is near, and I'm writing by lamplight. Wish me luck or the next day and from then on.
Peace
Love
Laura
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