Dear Susan

Here's a letter I was planning to send my sister, but again for same reasons I'll post myself.

Dear Susan, 1 June 06

I want to tell you of my 1st concert going experience in Africa. It was a doozy. I heard about the conert from my villagers and how huge it was gonna be. The name of the artis is Alpha Blondie and is supposedly 2nd in importance in regga to Bob Marley, at least to the Africans. He's from the Ivory Coast and has been singing for the ast twenty or so years, but this the 1st time I've ever heard of him. Well, unbenownst to me about a 1/4 of the music that I've been hearing is by this dude.(kinda like the Bahamas, there is music blaring somewhere near you at all times).
Well, I had no real intention in going until my fellow volunteers had plans to go and do some work on the same project as me while in Ouaga, so I changed my mind.

The concert was on the 25th of May and we met up in Ouaga around 3pm and the went out to eat and meet some other local rasta friends, then go to the concert.
Our meal was pleasant to the fact our party was made up of 5 volunteers and 4 rasta friends we have met and known from previous outings.
We headed to the Stadium(soccer stadium) and arrived amidst chaos. Hawkers of tickets galore and veners of all wares waiting outside for our money. this scene wasn't too crazy becasue most everyone had a place to go , inside the stadium. Thankfully, instead of cars, there were thousands of motorbikes and scooters coverig the area surrounding the stadium.
Ticket prices varied from 1,000cfa(~$1.80) 5,000cfa(~$9.00), to 10,000cfa($18.00). we decided to stay native and paid for the cheap seats. The difference in placement went from the stands, the stands with seats, and sitting in the soccer field next to the stage. Obviously the majority of Africans paid as we did and most of the people sitting on the grass next to the stage paid $18 to sit next to a white person. I thik our group, beside on other white dude we saw, wre the only Nasar's not sitting in the grass field. I would have liked to touch the grass of the field just once, but I didn't want to pay 10,000cfa to do it. In relative currency, 1,000cfa could be thought of as $10, 5,000cfa as $50 dollars and thus 10,000cfa as $100.
Anyhoo, there was 30,000 people in the stands when the 1st act came on at ~8pm. a succession of about 10 local artists came on and off for the following two hours, playing their most popular songs and quickly departing. The stage placement was off centered towards on goal. Facing the opposite mjoriey of the cement built stadium. This wuld have been fine if they had more than once set of speakers. and maybe a video screen to watch. The police force was very evident in their presence showing their force in #'s and attitude. They controlled all doorways and stood gaurd along the running track surrounding the soccer field.
The field was maybe a 1/4 full, the entire concert, so the was about 50 yards of empty space between the people in the stands and people on the field and stage. The 4 main speakers were all near the stage, so from where we were sitting , we could carry on a decent conversation without raising our voices. The local artists recongnizing the vast space between them and the majority of their fans would make an Olympic style victory lap around the stadium during their one or two song program, pretty much forgetting that their wireless microphones didn't work that far from the stage. Nonetheless, it kept the crowd interested and was a nice gesture.
Alpha Blondie finally came on a little after 10 pm and played until about 1130pm. He had an actual horn section and everything. His band rocked.
The thing that was really cool about the concert, was the crowd. Yep, there was plenty of weed being smoked, and nope not by me. I loved watching 30,000 people dancing to abandon. It was cool and nothing like the reserved concerts of the U.S. Everyone, except my of course, knew all the songs and sang them right along with him, that was fun too.
The stuff that sucked was the door gaurds. Me and kelly got up to find a restroom outdoors, but they wouldn't let us leave the stands. No one was allwed to leave until the concert was over. Nice theory for crowd control, right? OMG! So waht do think people did. The all pee'd on the stairs next to the exit dors. Right there, next to the gaurds, in open view. Needless ot , I held it to the end. However, whenevert the mass exodus began, almost everyone slipped and slid on all the piss covering the stairs of the exit. I was so mad. O was cussing in English at the ridiculous idea oforcing people to do that. Ugh. Sometimes Burkinabe's can be too much. 30,000 people's piss covering the exit flooring of all the exit stairs of the stadium. What if there'd been a fire? Utter fools.
Anyhoo, the slip and slide exiting was just the beginning of the fun we were about to face on trying to leave at the same time as all the other Africans. All I can say that it was most literal use of cluster-fuck I have ever seen. Envision 20 or so thousand scooters, cars and taxi's all leaving at the same time w/o any traffic control. I was climbing over scooters while people were riding them just to walk away from the stadium.
The crush of the crowd excerbated the chaos as there were no sidewalks. I kep all my valuble in one pocket WITH MY HAND IN THAT POCKET to fend off pick-pockets. That didn't deter them at all. I had one person, durig a particular crush of the crowd, try to dig AROUND my hand to get in my pocket. Needless to say I didn't take kindly to that so I ended up shoving about 4 people away from to gt him out of my pocket, yelling at the same time, "Pas me touchez!" (Don't touch me). That was undrestood and someong yelled "Voleur"(thief) and one of the shovee's scrambled away. Thankfully, the crowd thinned out and we found a blessedly cheap taxi ride back to our hostel.
To be caught as a thief in this clture can be life threatening to the thief. It's a serious offense and the locas take it personally. Sometimes, chasing the offender down and beating them to death. Many times an accused thief will run directly for the police station just for protection from the angry mob following him.
The reason I didn't yell, "Voleur" was because I'm white and the race relation would have made me seem racist. Anyway, nothing of mine or my friends were stolen that night. What a night and what a letter, but I wanted to give you the best impression of the concert and events I could.

hope you enjoyed it.
Take care.
L

June 1st, Letter to Joe and Kerry

Here's a letter I wrot to Kerry and Joe, but have been unable to send, and thus decided to go ahead and post it myself.

Hey guys how's it going? I find myself on the cusp of heading home for vacation, but I still have the need to write of my on going experiences so I don't lose them to my own memory.
I haven't written much lately thinking I can save it for later in the states but my thought are piling up and the relavent feelings are beginning to diminish.
My imperative for writing again is the revelation of turning a emotional and mental corner while here in Africa. The trials I've dealt with that gave me mental and emotional stress have been put in bette perspective, at least for the time being.
There was a period of about 3 or 4 weeks following my bike-a-thon in April where my workload was close to nothing and my motivation had become stanant, I began the evil thoughts of coming home. I knew I could stick it out, but for what reson had become unclear.
I decided to visit some fellow volunteers that are most adjacent to me on the 18th of May. I hopped transport for the 150 or so kilometers trek(110 miles~). I spent the weekend visiting Kelly, Elizabeth, Amanda, and Joelle. Ther are all w/in 30 km(20 miles~) of each other and are able to visit each other at least twice a week. This was my first visit to thei region of Koudougou, which is also my region capital.
We stayed at a Catholic Mission(w/real nuns and everything) and it felt so great to vist w/them. The mission made feel as if I was at a day camp in the states. It was surrounded by densely forrested woods and no braying donkeys in earshot. It was incredibly peaceful and serene.
The environment eased our minds as we filled the weekend with each others company and constant font of conversation.
My personal duress was mirrored in both Kelly and Joelle, as they both complained of lack of work. Amanda's motivation was also in question, whereas problems with the bureau was constant in all. Our discussion gave me new ideas and motivation. Elizabeth lasting impression on me was to focus on the good things close to you and not desire the things too foar wasy to enjoy. That thought helped me look at my own village in a brighter light.
The corner i've turned has helped me see this village as my home a little bit more and helps realize the futility of wishing for things I can't have. Wishing for things in the states has kept me from injoying the good things here, I believe.
I hope I can continue to find the good conversations here and motivation that has derived from them.
By the way I have a new project that deals w/a fantastic tree that's called Moringa. It's amazing, with all it's qualitities. I'll write another letter about it later. There's too much to put in one letter for now.
Well, that's enough for now. HOpe you all are well. Can't wait to see you all In Wisconsin. Take care.

Love
Laura

I've got one or two more letters to post. I'll post them hopefully before leaving;
take car.
Sorry this last one was quite cheesy. :-)

Letter to Mom&Dad - May 5, 06

Today started out wonderfully with some serious overcast and aggressive cloud movement that brought fresh, cool air and a nice shower. I watched the clouds streak by as the moist cool air heralded a future onslaught. To me, a perfect day to stay in bed and nap as the rain pelted my tin roof home. The front came and left by 10:30am, but soon afterward I was rewarded with a bought of diarrhea which I'm currently battling.

It has noticeably colored my mood and a really nice day has turned into a sort of malaise as I feel a fever coming on despite the Ibuprofen I just took. This bout, the first in about 2 months, doesn't really come at a convenient time, but of course when does it ever? I'm going to take some Ciproflaxine and hopefully that will take care of it. If not, I'll have a few days of misery until I can get the Peace Corps doctors to prescribe me something better. Perfect time to lose weight, right before Wisconsin, huh?

Some of the PCV's see it as the African crash diet. Stop washing your food and hands and presto! You've lost 5-10 lbs before you know it. This time was, of course, not on purpose, but hopefully will pass without too much hassle.

It has begun to rain earnestly and somewhat regularly here. Maybe once or twice a week. Still they tell me "rainy season" hasn't officially started, nor have we had any "good rains." That should be interesting whenever everything becomes officially wet.

My job has slacked off with the regular work of sensibilizations, but I've taken up a new task of surveying regionally close villages for potential volunteer sites. That should take up a couple of weeks and fill the void between now and Wisconsin. I'm also planning on visiting some other volunteers just for kicks when I can.

Next weekend I'm going to start making reservations in Chicago and coordinating with Peace Corps about my leave. Supposedly they want paperwork 3 weeks before you leave. No surprises for them, I guess.

Take care
Love, Laura

NOTE: See more detailed travel plans in previous posts!!