Letter to Mary&Jeff - Feb 27, 06

I hope you guys are doing well and that school is going well for the kids. I'm glad I got to talk to you despite having to wake you up to do it. It's kind of fun to talk to people at that time of day. People's responses are less censored:)

I just returned from some in-service training and I feel much more relaxed upon returning to village. The first 3 months were a hard adjustment and everything I seemingly tried didn't work. Well, now that I'm back, I'm more prepared for everything to not work and try other ideas instead.

Also, even though it's still over 3 months away, vacation in June back to the states doesn't seem so far off and impossible. I've bought the ticket and now I have another goal and reason to stay. The ticket was too damn expensive not to use.

So far my time in village, this month, has flown (relatively) by. March, I hope, will be the same. I have a couple bike-a-thons against AIDS that I'll be doing and these should be fun. I'm trying to put on one locally and really hope I can get it done with other volunteers coming to help. Wish me luck. I really want this project to work.

My schedule has become pretty busy, but I'm trying to keep up the folks at home. I miss you guys a ton and I hope you're jobs are going well too. I haven't had a bunch of time to reflect on my last month, but the best I can say it, today and this week have been pretty good and I'm hoping it continues for a little bit longer, before the spell breaks. I'll let you go for now. Take care and see you in June.

Laura

Letter to Jen and Frank, 4 Mar 2006

Dear Jen and Frank,

Hey guys, hope you're having a good 2006. Mine has improved a bit over the last month. I think mostly due to the fact that I'm busier. The days where I had no appointments felt like forever, but my current schedule for the month of March has me traveling a bit and getting prepared for a big project in April. So, I'm content at the moment. I hear stories of volunteers that literally do nothing for the entire 2 years here. They sat at home, reading how-to books or just not working with anyone. Sounds impossible by normal work standards, but our jobs are so autonomous, we really only HAVE to talk to our bosses once every 3 months and that's it. Our jobs don't have any measuring standards or solidified goals to attain. We don't have to train a certain number of people or do a certain number of projects. In fact for some volunteers the goal of simply surviving is their ultimate goal while they're here. I have to admit, that yes, that's one of my goals, but it doesn't give me reason to stay.

My main reason for staying is that I'm just plain ornery, but what helps me day to day is just getting stuff done. Planning activities and doing them has kept me going and has kept me reasonably content.

My village has begun to accept me a bit more and is willing to do some of the ideas I suggest. Which is nice to see, but I think they are still waiting for me to bring a bucket full of money to pass out to everyone. Well, I hand out chewing gum, that's enough for now.

I really can't imagine just living here without doing something with the community and then just leaving. Seems absurd, but some volunteers do just that.

You'd think the caliber of person who joins the Peacecorps is pretty high, and thus you could trust other volunteers easily. Unfortunately not so, when I arrived last August, I guess there was a volunteer who had been stealing other volunteers' stuff at the hostel in the capital city. There's a hostel that's for volunteers only and it's a nice place to stay and relax while away from village. Anyhoo, this volunteer(there were some ideas on who) stole Ipods, cellphones, and money while staying at the hostel. Pretty shitty if you ask me. Ipods? What and who the hell is that person gonna sell an Ipod while here in Burkina:? Like 10% of the country has electricity and I bet even less know what one is. Anyhoo, this person has supposedly left and everyone has chilled again at the hostel, but it's definitely left a bad taste in people's mouth about trusting other volunteers.

Ah well, that's it for now. Have you gone skiing lately? How's everyone out in Cali? Oh, FYI, my sister, Kathy just had a new baby. His name is Kenneth Allen, pretty good name I think. That makes 9 nieces and nephews. I'll never need to have children now. :)

Tell Frank I said "Hi" and I hope he gets his passport soon so you both can come visit me. :) Take care. Hopefully see you soon.

Always,
Laura

Hey kids

I just returned from a pretty cool training week doing sensabilizations in villages on AIDS. We stayed in a central larger village and biked out to different villages with our Burkinabe counterparts and staged sessions on AIDS for the local villagers. In the afternoons we had class(mostly for the Burkinabe) on how to do your own AIDS awareness training and how to work with NGO's(non-governmental org's, namely people like Plan International) Anyhoo; I thought it was some valid training and got a lot of prep work done for my own Bike-a-thon of sorts.
My Bike-a-thon(BAT) is on my birthday and I'll be inviting a bunch of volunteers to come down, do some of the same session we did with the villagers and then end everyday by drinking quite a lot of non-alchoholic beverages.....he he, just kidding. It's a pathetic excuse to get people to visit me, I know. You guys are invited too, really, come on over. ;-)
Thankfully the local BAT is keeping me busy and letting March slide quickly by. It's almost been 8 months and I wanted to thank all you guys for keeping in touch.
I just recieved a package from Lee and Steph(thank youuuuu!), and it was dated the 3rd of March, so I guess whatever problems with the mail have been cleared up. The phones are still a problem however. Seemingly, I can call out easily enough, but you can't call in, or at least not very easily. All I can say is keep trying and if I happen not to be at the telecenter, usually my friends come and get me and I'll be there within 10 minutes. I better send this off, Take care and keep in touch

Hey Campers!

It's been a while since I posted personally, but I've been a bit lazy with that and some letter writing so thanks for your patience. Quick and dirty of what I've been up to for the last month.
2nd week of February I went to Ouaga for a week of training with fellow volunteers of my class to reflect(bitch) on our times in village so far. Actually a pretty productive week that flew past with sessions and visting friends. At the end of the week we put on our own version of Mardi Gras and toasted up the holiday quite nicely. It was made even sweeter by an excellent Cohiba Cigar, complients of Bert, and a bottle of Jack Daniels I found, luckily. Very ice week overall.
3rd week of February I headed up to Gourcy again to visit and reconnect with my host families of training. It was a nice short visit that pleasantly surprised everyone I saw. I plan on another visit in June.
The last week of February and leading up to now I've been in village preparing for a local bike-a-thon campaign that is supposed to remind and educate people on prevention of AIDS. A bunch of volunteers will be coming to my village and helping out with the event. It's conveniently programmed to occur on my birthday. ;-) I know, it really is just a pathetic excuse to have people visit me on my birthday, but the ploy is working so far. :)

Overall the last couple weeks in village have been blessedly buzy and relatively productive, so I've been pretty content. It's odd not to hear the expected rant, but be sure there's plenty more to come in the future. I have written a solid one and sent it in the mail just recently so enjoy! But I don't think Susan, my sis, wants to post it. :)

That's it for right now, I'll try to post a little more later on the excellent packages I finally recieved from Xmas. They were soooooooo good. Still recieving ones sent originally in November.
later

To Mom & Dad - Jan 30, 06

How has the weather been holding? This last week has turned humid and there's actually some cumulonimbus clouds in the sky teasing the idea of rain. As you can tell my ability to spell has fallen off drastically.

This month and the next are supposed to be the coolest months of the year yet. In March, it's supposed to turn warmer and in April and May, positively sweltering. I'm not looking forward to that timeframe at all. I'm afraid I might literally melt. Of course, immediately after that I'm planning to head home for the wedding. I believe I may need a parka while in Wisconsin, my blood will have thinned so much:) Forget about getting in the water.

The package you sent was really great and restocked my pantry for a good 2 or 3 weeks. I was pretty happy to see the box and letters from you guys. The calendar has already been but to quite a lot of use to help explain long range plans I'd like to do with the community.

Today was a pretty good day overall. Got a few things done that needed to be done. Had a meeting with all the staff of the clinic that went well. Afterwards we played a little soccer just outside the clinic. The chief nurse brought everyone some cooked meat to share. It was nice. They were all quite surprised I could juggle a ball, but I was hindered a bit with an in-grown toenail. Today was a decent day and hopefully tonight, I’ll get a good night’s rest to finish it off.

Next morning: Nope, not so much of a good night’s sleep, but today my supervisor is coming to visit and she’ll be talking to the chief nurse and my counterpart, the secondary nurse, along with the health committee. I’m not sure how long she’ll be staying so I’m going to head to the market to buy some stuff to prepare for lunch, just in case. I’ve been kinda looking forward to her visit, mostly just for a break in the monotony. Her arrival is an event in my calendar and thus something to look forward to, despite if it’s a good visit or bad.

In another week or so, I’ll be heading back to Ouaga to have some more training. Mostly the week will be filled with a bunch of bitching and moaning of the problems and frustrations everyone’s having in village. One long week of venting, which should be nice:) I’m mostly looking forward to the social interaction, obviously. I know after that week my French will be worse and my Moore all but forgotten.

Take care and see you in June!