Zogoré

It's time for a happy post. Yesterday I rode to Zogoré with a few other volunteers from Yatenga province. I thought it would be a small affair, but it turned out to be a full on fête. The volunteer in Zogoré did a fantastic job and obviously put in a lot of time and effort. Festivities included a woman's bike race, dance troops, speechifying, soccer games and the sensibilization that evening. Unfortunately since we had to get back to Ouahigouya the same day we weren't able to stay for the actual sensibilization.

race bikes - brakes not included!

women sitting in school benches waiting for things to begin

"Velo Club de Zogoré"

event security

the little girl up front had just finished tying a baby to her back before I took the picture

gendarme - notice the stick, it was used for crowd control!

dance troop - these guys were really, really good

I really liked watching the drummer in the fedora-like hat (back row left)

Start of the bike race. There was an accident right after this picture. Remember... no brakes.

dance troop #2 (performed while we we waiting for the racers to return)

The finish line

The winner (Erik's pick to win - good job!)

racers finishing - (remember no brakes) people had to grab the bikers to stop them!

J Lo shirt

calabash drummers

kids

bottle cap dancers

the bottle caps were tied to their legs and jingled as they stomped

acrobats (there are three guys here)

on the way to lunch behind a Shakira t-shirt

Obama t-shirt at the Zogoré marché

Start of the bike ride back to Ouahigouya.

Zogoré has a beautiful barrage ...

... and was a great place to fix a flat tire.

Sissamba sign

Sunset