My friend Aminata

So, if you scroll back a month or so, I wrote about this forced marriage of a friend of mine if village. She's about twenty years old and very smart. She was originally friends with the previous volunteer and somewhat by defact became my friend. This last June, she just finished secondary education and is hoping to take an exam that will allow here to continue onto her equivalent of a high school diploma and possibly going onto university. I know that sounds odd for her to be 20 and still trying to get her diploma, but the way the school system works here, that's the regular age for finishing secondary school(which is about equivalent to our junior high up to about 10th grade). Anyhoo, She was forced to marry a man in her extended "family" or ethnic group, and become his 3rd wife. Which for many women in her close family was a tragic event. Usually, such marriages forces the women to quit school and be relegated to tons of manuel labor and birthing bunches of babies.

Well, after talking to the families, there was a side agreement for the marriage, that if she can continue her studies, then the marriage was approved. Which is cool, not perfect, but better than otherwise. This little tidbit wasn't well known, so I used my Nasara-ish pull and spread that fact wide and quickly to make sure everyone knew and that the family would be shamed if they didn't follow through on this agreement. I hope it works.

However I asked why did he want to marry her if she's going to be going off to school anyway, and he said that he knew that if he didn't marry her, she would go to school and get a job and never come back to that village. So instead, if she was married, she'd have to come back sometimes. He really does like this girl and in a very sweet but rather aggressive move, he wanted to make sure she didn't leave his life. Anything like that in the states would seem crazy, but here it was kinda cute. Thankfully after the wedding I went to visit the couple in his courtyard a few weeks later, and it was nice. I could tell they genuinely liked each other, and openly flirted with one another still. It was a relief to what her life could have been otherwise, so I can't say I'm upset for her. At least not until she takes her exam to continue school. Kind of odd, but totally Burkinabe.

A month later, a slight scary twist occured when Aminata came down with Malaria, a serious case, that threatened her life. I went to visit her during this bout and was genuinely scared for her. The women I saw battling Malaria in it's heightened state, was not the same one I saw the day before. She was bent at odd angles as her body was rigid with pain from the illness. Luckily, she arrived at the CSPS in time and was given the needed treatment. She went home the next day, exhausted but alive. Not all cases like that end up as well. I was pretty relieved.

She takes the exam to continue on with her schooling at the end of this month. Hopefully she's prepared.

Well, that's it for now, hope this finds you all in good spirits and health. Hope you all have a great upcoming holiday season. Take care, and I'll be back in ouaga in about two weeks, probably around the time you guys start recieving the letters.
Later!

L