Letter to Jen & Frank, 17 Jan 06

Hey guys how's it going? Talked to Steve the other day and he caught me up a little on the New Year's Eve's activities. Sorry to hear Miriam broke her finger, not surprised, but it's too bad anyway.

Today, for me, had it's ups and downs. It started out okay, if a bit slow, with continued vaccinations against elephantitis. During our tour of the village, we happened upon the Dolo market. Dolo is the locally made beer/wine like substance made from corn. It's pretty light, but can take its toll. Anyhoo, turns out my village has a huge market for dolo sequestered in the trees behind the normal market. I have a new stomping ground to check out for next time. :)

Came back and had a leisurely lunch of yams and piment sauce (spicy). Not bad. At 3 pm, I had a class with the local high school girls to talk about AIDS and so I prepared for that for about an hour. Thinking I was pretty prepared, I headed over and verified there was a classroom available. Got there, arranged a class, and gathered the girls that came for the discussion. Started out pretty well, and then the girls just started acting dumb. They insisted they didn't know the answers behind their hands as they giggled and smiled at each other.

The thing is, these girls had been discussing AIDS the year before and the stuff they suddenly went stupid on was too basic for their history. For example, what the acronym AIDS means?

I dont' have to take that shit. I told them if they couldn't be truthful, then go home. I told them I was finished if they couldn't be serious and open about this. They sobered up and realized I was actually going to leave. They then started asking other questions honestly and we began discussion once more. After a little bit of time, I decided I was finished with them. They then asked if I was upset about their behavior. I said yes and then I told them I was too busy to waste my time answering questions they already knew and they needed to think of better ways to act if they wanted to have anymore discussions with me. I wasn't in To for them, I was there for the rest of the community and I had too many friends already in Burkina solely for the purpose of helping the betterment of women in Burkina. I told them not to waste my time or my friends, we're not here for crap like that. These girls are the future of their country and if they want to waste opportunities to better themselves, then I'm not going to stand in their wasy and try to convince them otherwise. There's tons of women and girls who need more help than these girls in highschool. Theres a great number who don't even get to go to school at all. So I'll start working with them instead if I can.

I know I probably should have been more patient, but I know when I'm wasting my time and today was that.

After that, my day lightened up a bit as I got to talk to fellow volunteer on the phone and vent a little. I was tempted to chill out w/ some whiskey, but I'm chilling weel enough now, now that I vented to you too. :) Sorry! I'll let you go. Take care and keep in touch!

Always, Laura