Giraffing

It's hard to believe, but my service in Burkina is ending next week!  A lot has been going on here and I can't begin to explain the last month.  It's been crazy and stressful and the best way to deal with stuff that's stressful is to visit giraffes!

The last remaining self sustaining herd of West African giraffes (also know as the Niger or Nigerien giraffe, scientific name: giraffa camelopardalis peralta) is located in south western Niger. This subspecies is currently classified as endangered, but the population is on the rise because of conservation efforts.  Another article here.

(heads up: Niger and Nigeria are different countries; Nigeria is directly south of Niger)

View Niger in a larger map  (supposedly the blue pin is Niamey and the green Kouré, but from the view on my computer they're off)


Last Wednesday two friends and myself set out for Niamey.  The bus ride was uneventful, but hot ... really hot.  We arrived at the Sonef bus station in Ouaga at 4:30 am for our 5 am departure. The bus initially looked very nice since it was the air-conditioned model where the windows don't open because it's air-conditioned.  Unfortunately, later that morning when it started getting hot we discovered the air-conditioning, and the air fans in general, didn't work.  The only ventilation was two roof vents in the front half of the bus... we were sitting in the back.  Hottest bus ride ever.

We arrived in Niamey with no problems, found the Peace Corps Niger office and settled in at their hostel.  Niamey observations:

1) there are more cars than motos (Ouaga is exactly opposite)

2) the women cover themselves more (made Burkina's ladies look like harlots in comparison)

3) the taxis function, are clean and there is no haggling over price

4) it seemed hotter, but I could be getting soft with my Ouaga living

5) there were hardly any street vendors; in general people were very respectful and it was a no hassle trip

6) (not Niamey) once we crossed the border into Niger the number of largish trees dwindle almost none

OK giraffes...  We hired a car to take us out to Kouré the next day.  At the giraffe "center" we paid something like a park entrance fee and pick up our guide.  Then we drove out to find the giraffes.  Our guide climbed a tree to spot them and then we headed off road.

and then ...

We ended up seeing 20 or so giraffes.  At first we came upon a group of 7 and then we followed them on foot as they joined up with a larger group.  They didn't seem concerned about our presence, although they appeared to be asking "what do you want?" a fair bit.  Only one spooked and started to run as we approached.  The coolest behavior was watching them rub necks.  It didn't look like they were fighting even though it was two males, so I'm guessing they were really good friends.

necking behavior

mom and baby

how thin can the neck appear?

I really like the picture above because it nicely demonstrates the giraffe's bizarre gait.  They start their movement by moving the front foot and then the back foot of the same side.  Which means that they are constantly shifting their weight from side-to-side as seen in this photo.

like cows, they were constantly chewing

With a little help from the giraffe, Jen was almost the same height... almost.

This one with the cockeyed horn is an older female.  For inexplicable reasons she was my favorite.

Photos generously provided by John Barbour (out of over 200 taken, these were the only usable ones).

Running with Bats

While staying in Ouaga I've started running again.  I stopped in Ouahigouya because there's a pack of dogs in my neighborhood that are quite scary and give chase.  In fact when I leave Burkina I will take many memories with me as well as an intense fear of strange dogs.

Luckily I have found new motivation to run ... large fruit bats.  The bats are located in Bangr-Weoogo Park.  The first morning I went running this week I noticed huge dragonflies flying above my head, then my eyes latched onto dozens of bats.  I was really out of shape on that run and barely had enough energy to focus on running.  The second morning though I tracked down the nesting trees of the bats.  There must be thousands of them in the park.  Walking under the trees one is assaulted by intense quantity of noise and the water dropping on your head may not be water.  The third morning I went running and my camera came along for the ride.

flying around

hanging in the trees

more flying

the bats' tree homes

a bat wing with my foot for size comparison

Computers

I've been in Ouaga for the past week organizing lesson plans, scanning my own lessons onto the computer and writing-up reports for Peace Corps.  Part of my coming to Ouaga was to take a break after the end of the school year.

Last year a super awesome small enterprise development (SED) volunteer, named Casey, started a project to order computers from the US.  He did an incredible amount of work which ultimately let to the arrival of 150 affordable computers from the Seattle company InterConnection in the middle of May. (Computers are expensive here because of customs fees etc.)  Before ordering the computers we collected money from organizations and teachers who wanted to buy a computer, some for the first time.  In Ouahigouya we ended up ordering 21 desktop computers and 14 laptops for my school, teachers and administration.  It was a lot of work, but Peace Corps helped transport the computers to Ouahigouya.  Unfortunately the monitors are still in Ouaga for the moment.  

Casey and all the computers at the Peace Corps office

Computers ordered by Yamwaya and area teachers

The proviseur (principal) of Yamwaya, me, and the intendant (our money guy).

Wrapping up l'année scolaire 2009-2010 (Part 2)

This morning I just experience my first overt:  "Could you change the grade of a student as a favor to {insert name}?"  It was a fellow teacher asking me to do it and they took an underhanded approach.  They said that Action Social (THE Burkinabé advocacy group for those without a voice) was involved.  Yeah right! I think a group that advocates equality would have better things to involve themselves with.

The end of the school year is fast approaching.  The grades are almost fixed and finished and tomorrow is full of teacher meetings.  Football games are underway, danses have happened and there was even a defilé on Friday evening.  The closest thing in the US would be a beauty contest.  In this case the girls dressed in traditional clothing and walked down the "run way" carrying traditional objects (bowls of milk, spindles, baskets, calabashes etc.).  I was asked by a colleage, Noëlie, to take her place as a judge. 

pre-defilé entertainment

the "husband" of the 1st place girl reading the sands

trying my best to judge the following categories: 1) traditional clothing; 2) expression; and 3) beauty and harmony of traditional clothing

 

Noëli and myself

Wrapping up l'année scolaire 2009-2010 (Part 1)

As of this week I have finished my work as a teacher in Burkina Faso. I've given, graded and handed back my last devoirs (tests) and entered the grades into our computer grading system. The last event of this school year is our conseil (teacher meeting) on June 25^th.

Overall I am happy that things are wrapping up here and I'll be coming home soon. At this point though I now understand why some volunteers choose to extend their service a third year. Everything becomes so much easier the second year (except the insane heat!).

Here are some of the events and happenings since my last post in February.

Potato Festival in Titao 

The Ouahigouya area is known for potatoes.  We were literally over flowing with them in March!  To celebrate the farmers and the potatoes the city of Titao has a Potato Festival.  The festival includes a lot of speeches and stalls upon stalls of potatoes.

Making Soap

This year I did my very best to incorporate experiments and "real worl" applications in my physics/chemistry classes.  The most interesting was a soap competition in my 1ère class.  In this class we started organic chemistry and the last subject covered is saponification (the reaction for making soap).  So I divided my class in half; forming two "teams" of 35 students.  The students chose the soap recipe and then I bought the supplies in Ouaga at Faso Chimie (see below).  I also made them write lab reports.  Unfortunately, quite a few of the cheated by copying each other or plagiarizing books/internet.  My last act as a teacher was giving out around 15 zeroes for cheating.

Outside the store - perfume bottles

Chemical storage

dyes

plastic bags filled with buerre de karité (shea butter)

Recipe used:

• 1 kg NaOH
• 2 liters palm oil; 2 liters shea butter; 2 liters coco oil   
• ~ 200 g  sodium carbonate
• 250 ml sodium silicate
• perfume

Both groups used the same recipe, but their results were different.  The first group didn't stir the soap well enough and as a result there were little white spots of sodium carbonate in the soap.

mixing the soap

pouring the soap in a mold

cutting the soap

Bike Helmet - Home Sweet Home

On the morning of January 15th I was getting ready to leave for school like any ordinary day.  What happened next, however, was not ordinary.   It all started when I heard birds making bizarre noises outside my front door.  I investigated and caught my fire finches in the act of building a nest in my bike helmet, which was hanging on my handle bars.  Not only had the built a nest ... they had laid an EGG!!!!  For the most part the nest was composed of dead leaves, sticks, duct tape, etc.  (smart birds to use duct tape... except for the whole nest in helmet part!)  There was one item though that didn't fit in ... a snake skin!  (Sorry no picture, camera battery died)    

The fate of the egg:  I transferred the "nest" into a calabash and left in on my chair outside.  I was worried that the parents of the egg would forsake it, the egg would hatch and I'd be forced watch a helpless baby bird die.  Very dramatic.  Luckily a big gust of wind blew the calabash over, cracking the egg and saving me from making any decisions at all.   The end.

2009 Wrap-up (part 2)

December (cont.): After the parade on the 11th life started getting back to normal. Classes were supposed to start again on the 14th, but there were strikes on both the 14th and 15th in recognition of the murder of a journalist several years ago. I was ready to teach on the 16th, however, the students continued the strike. Everyone was finally at school on the 17th. At this point though, I had given up. So in then end, hardly any teaching was achieved the whole month of December.

On the positive side, one of the teachers I work with took great initiative in converting our grading system to a Microsoft Access program. Now instead of filling out carbon copy report cards and calculating averages by hand, the computer handles everything. Starting up was a little rough. We found several problems and bugs along the way that we managed to iron out with help from the program's author. Yamwaya is now the first lycée in Ouahigouya to have electronic reports cards.

After struggling to try to teach I decided to take a "break" by going to another volunteer's village to watch her group of women tie dye. It wasn't hippy tie dying for sure! The women dye sheets of fabric known as bazin (I'm not sure on spelling), which is a very nice cotton fabric with ornamental designs woven in, but they do their most business dying the old clothes of villagers so that they look new.

getting ready

folding the fabric

 

dying the fabric

 

finished product - so pretty!

Vacation: The last week of December, I went to Orodara (in the southwest) for Christmas. A group of us then biked to Banfora. The first night we stopped in Bérégadougou where we were able to take a tour of the SOSUCO sugar factory. This was also my first time trying sugar cane. Wow! It was fantastic. Too bad we only have sugar beets in the lower 48. To be fair, I haven't tried sugar beets; guess I should do that.

Christmas pizza!

road to Banfora

 

 

we passed a fire that was very close to the road

 

sugar cane

 

sugar factory

 

trucks loaded with sugar cane

 

washing the sugar cane

 

sugar cane field

After Bérégadougou, we biked to Banfora Falls and the Domes, two of the "must see" tourist attractions in Burkina. At the falls we discovered giant mango trees, Rastas selling artwork and of course a series of waterfalls. Then we hiked over to the Domes, rock formations that look a lot like bee hives. Amusingly a group of Burkinabè tourists were there and the ladies of the group (2 of them in fancy dresses) climbed a dome for a photo shoot.

unbelievable mango trees

 

the falls

 

the Domes (see the beehive resemblance?)

 

photo-op

 

all the lovely ladies

We then biked to another volunteer's village a couple kilometers away. Her village loves her so much, they through a 1 year anniversary party! It was a lot of fun and non-stop dancing was involved. Unfortunately that night I froze sleeping in a tent directly on the ground. I traveled light for this trip which meant no sleeping pad or warm clothes (I did bring socks).

party

 

dancing

 

balafon music

 

I loved the face of the girl in the middle

 

women do EVERYTHING with babies on their backs - even dancing

 

cows eating mango trees - So this is why the trees look like mushrooms!

The next morning we completed the bike ride to Banfora, but not before stopping a Lake Tengrela. There we all got into a rickety wooden boat with two guides and went to the far side of the lake to see hippopotami (or hippopotamuses – both are acceptable). Our guide keep knocking the side of the boat with his oar to inform the hippos that we were there and to get them to surface. We saw 5 of them! It was really nerve racking being in a boat just 20 - 30 feet from them and having them look straight at us. Did you know that hippo ears are really, really adorable? There was a woman washing clothes not far away, but the guide said that she was safe. He also mentioned that hippos and cattle are friends, but definitely not hippos and horses. Something about a horse breaking a hippo's heart...

Hippos