Howdy

Hey guys, hope all is well in the land of democratically run congress. As you can assume, I'm quite content about the results of the recent elections. All I can say is, "it's about damn time."
Anyhoo, this blog isn't supposed to be political, but it's been soooo long since something positive has happened, I just needed to mention it.
Anyway, Burkina. Yeah.
It's still here, still hot and due to the beginning of the dry season, really dusty. I have a constant sore throat and nasal congestion due to all the dust in the air. It's not quite allergies, but it's close.
So I'm in ouaga for mid-service training and it just finished. My impression of most of the training given to me by the PeaceCorps is pretty negative, and this last bit didn't change my opinion.
There is probably one thing I need to explain about the administration here and their dealings with my class in general. Supposedly, by coincidence, the previous country director set up our particular training in a new and never tried before format, in hopes of being seen as necessary for the event and thus allowed to stay with her job. PC didn't see it that way so she was replaced just before our arrival. Because of this, there was no continuity in the groundwork and final planning of our arrival and/or coordination of host villages. Resulting in most of the logistics, training and coordination for our particular class being incomplete. As a result much of our initial 3 months dealt with a constantly changing syllabus and schedule to make up for the mistake of putting most of us in homes that didn't speak French(Thus making it more difficult to learn french throughout training). Also our syllabuses were made up without prior coordinations of local services, so much of our training was theory and no practical application. Essentially we arrived in our assigned villages with just barely enough French to get by and no technical or practical experience under our belts(This last week was the first time I was given any official information or statistics regarding Malaria). I say this because it's true and not because I'm bitter. Also as a result of our misguided class, before the end of training, a third of trainees had alreay quit. Those type of number usually occur over the entire 27months, not in the first 3. So, yeah, in brief, our training sucked.

So why am I expounded on this now? Well, I guess to see the silver lining. Because, our training was sooooo screwed up, and the administration realized this, they went to the extreme to make the next classes better. And they did, from what I understand. In the following two groups of new trainees, I believe only about 2 people out of all them have quit. They have a stable environment and are extremely motivated by all the good quality training and organization of the bureau. I'm happy that these new guys are better prepared for their villages than we were, it may explain why I felt inadequate upon arriving at village. I felt, "where do I get off telling these people anything, I'm just going by common sense". Well, now, that I'm at the half way mark how do I percieve the slight given to our class by this bureau? I'm over it. I'm lucky to be in the class I'm in because of everyone who is still here has earned their stripes to be here. So, I can't regret the friends or the good times I've made. All, I can do is be thankful, that PeaceCorps can be better that what they showed us, at least to the classes after us, and that they too can learn from their mistakes.

That's it for now. Hopefully I'll post again in a couple weeks. Happy Holidays