Nasara

Here in Burkina Faso we are called “Nasara.” The word means foreigner in the Moore language, spoken by a majority of Burkinabe. I am going to attempt to explain my experiences here so far, but keep in mind that pretty much everything here is probably different than what you might be thinking (unless of course you’ve been to West Africa). A lot has happened since I first arrived with the 49 other future volunteers in my training group. For the past month we have been living in a medium sized village 30 minutes south of the capital city Ouagadougou. Each trainee lives with a host family which is meant to help us to integrate and learn some necessary skills, like how to wash clothes by hand, navigate the market, and deal with neighbors/visitors to the courtyard.

A courtyard style home is pretty typical here. My family’s courtyard consists of 3 small mud and brick houses with metal roofs surrounded by a wall (which I can see over). One corner is walled off and divided into two open air stalls. One stall is tiled and used for bucket baths. The other stall has a concrete floor with a hole in the middle (yes, the latrine). My host mother (Paschaline, 29) and father (Prosper, 33) live in the largest of the 3 houses (which is not large at all) with the 4 youngest kids; Stephanie, 10 (I KNOW!); Melchie, 7; Willie, 7; and Deo 2. Melchie and Willie are not twins. Willie is actually a nephew who was adopted which is fairly common here. My older host brothers live in the medium sized, one room house; Celistin, 21; and Roland, 17. Celistin and Roland are actually my host father’s brothers who have lived with the family since their father died. I live in the smallest house which is McKenna-and-a-half long, by McKenna-and-a-half wide, and McKenna-and-a-half tall. I am lucky to have such a nice and clean dwelling, and mine is actually much larger than others I have seen. My family is relatively well off (we have electricity, but nobody in the village has running water). My host father manages the pharmacy and my host mother sells fish in the market.

In particular I get along with Celistin, perhaps because we are the closest in age, have the most in common, and of course I appreciate the fact that he speaks French very slowly for me. All of the other trainees who have met him really like him too. He is the captain of the Sapone soccer team and enjoys discussing soccer with the two guy trainees who live near me. He’s generally good natured and we enjoy laughing at all of the ridiculous things that happen when one culture meets another (mostly we laugh at me). Sometimes we trainees get together with our host siblings and hang out. One such trainee that Celistin and I had gotten to know pretty well had been out pretty late at night. He stopped by my courtyard completely lost and a little freaked out. To top things off, he was struggling with his French quite a bit. Celistin and Prosper had a BIG chuckle once I finally managed to explain that he needed someone to show him the way to his courtyard.

Paschaline doesn’t speak French as well, so it’s been harder to get to know her, but she definitely has my gratitude for all of her hard work. As is the case in this society, she does all of the cooking, cleaning, and overseeing of the kids. One day I had gone to the market with Stephanie and bought a pagne (the colorful, printed fabric that is frequently used for clothing). When we got back to the courtyard Stephanie immediately started talking to Paschaline in Moore, but I heard my name thrown in also. Paschaline marched right over to me and demanded to know how much I spent on the pagne. She then proceeded to tell me that I’d spent WAY too much. Next, she marched me to the market, fussed at the boutique owner, and made him give me some money back (1500 CFA, or about $3). It was all pretty funny to me, but of course I really appreciate that she looks out for me. She introduced me to this older lady and said that I was to buy my pagnes from her for now on.

My host family is very kind and supportive, but that doesn’t mean that my experience has been without culture shock. I feel like things here are about as different as they can get! First of all a lot of my fellow volunteers have complaints about the animals and the constant animal noises (this is a problem mostly at night/early morning). The entire village is crawling with dogs, chickens/roosters/guinea fowl, goats, sheep, donkeys, cows, and pigs. Animals (and their droppings) are allowed to roam EVERYWHERE. We still have not figured out how people can tell which animals belong to which families. Luckily, I’ve been sleeping with ear plugs for a while now, so that animals don’t bother me very much! Right now almost all of the female animals look like they are about to burst. This of course means that soon there will be a lot of cute BABY ANIMALS running around…might become a vegetarian.

Obviously the latrines have been a bit challenging as well. It’s not the worst thing, but I have yet to talk to anyone that was really into the idea of the latrines. My problem in particular is the copious amount of flies and cockroaches that inhabit my family’s latrine. They’re just sort of gross. Another annoying thing is remembering to bring toilet paper with me each time. People here do not use TP, but plastic teapots filled with water…and their left hands (hence the whole practice of handing things to people, shaking hands, and eating with your right hand only). It’s also a little unpleasant during the rain. Squatting on the ground in the rain and trying to stay dry, and keep your toilet paper dry is NOT fun.

Also, the food is not my favorite, but there is the promise of being able to cook for myself once I get to site in September. Meals mostly consist of a starch (rice, spaghetti, couscous, or something pronounced “toe” that is a corn-based paste) with a sauce of some type. Since Paschaline sells fish in the market, EVERY meal she makes consists of fish. I would normal be happy about eating fish regularly, but this is the fishiest fish you could ever have. Very bony and just gross. Needless to say I have already lost a little bit of weight from all of the biking, lack of interest in meals, lack of ability to snack, etc. Also, the sanitary practices regarding food preparation have managed to make pretty much every trainee sick with stomach/intestinal issues. At least we’re all in this TOGETHER!! More on the food situation in BF later…

I really must say that despite all of these challenges, I am having a blast. As you know, I really love kids and have taught all of the kids in my neighborhood my name. I find this much more satisfactory than always being called “Nasara.” They are also always willing to help me with anything and I try to repay them with occasional candy or snacks, and have given little gifts to my siblings. Most people here are very kind and enthusiastic about having us in village. Greetings are VERY important and we have all learned how to say the appropriate greetings in Moore. Sometimes Paschaline takes me to the market just to show me (and my Moore skills) off to her friends. It means so much to all of them that we make the effort to learn the local language. Somewhat unfortunately, the region of BF that I am going to speaks Dioula instead of Moore. Today was the first day that I learned the language! I have a lot of learning to do still in both French and Dioula. Our language lessons are frequent and intensive. I have already moved from Novice- High to Intermediate-Mid in French, but I am definitely Novice-Low in Dioula. Tomorrow I am traveling with my community counterpart to visit the village that will be my home for the next two years. I will be in the beautiful and lush southwestern part of the country. More on that to come…