October 3, 2009
I biked into my neighbor city today like I've taken to doing every Saturday. Arguably I should have stayed home and made the trip later on in the week or held off until the following week because my stomach wasn't feeling very well, but I made the trek in anyways.
My first stop was la poste (post office) to mail out a letter and take out some more money from my account. The way you do that here is by writing yourself a check and then cashing it at une poste.
I was still not feeling my best and I just biked for an hour and forty minutes up and down about ten rather intense hills, so I saluer-ed my buddy behind the counter after he called me up by name and went about my business. My buddy, Th. who works for la poste knows L.S., a fellow volunteer who lives in the city I visit each week and the two of them like to speak a little English. After calling to verify that I had the money in my account, I believe, he told me, in English, that it'll be a minute. Then, the young man standing next to me asked Th. a question (in French of course) and Th. responded, “I'm sorry. I don't understand when you speak French. You must speak English.” To which I quite literally laughed out loud. Then, to make the situation even better, the young man next to me responded, “Do I put the numbers in...?” To that I laughed even more. It was a much-needed release and interaction and one example of the friendly and humorous people you can find here.
Until next time.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Burkinabè Solidarity and Relationships
Le 28 septembre 2009
I've had a tutor now for about 2 weeks and things have been going well. N.D., my tutor is a younger man who teaches at one of the primary schools in my village and is concurrently taking classes at a university, eventually hoping to get his masters, I believe in business management. Anyways, our sessions last about 2-3 hours and consist of grammar using a book loaned to me by the Peace Corps, Ultimate French, and reading a text from a sixième history book aloud, going back through and asking for clarification of any words I don't know, answering comprehension questions following the reading, and then answering questions N.D. poses to spark conversation. The sessions work well because I'm working on 3 of the main facets of learning a language: speaking, listening, and reading. Perhaps I should try to incorporate some writing, too...
Today, N.D. let me choose a general theme from the book and then which text I'd like to read. I chose a topic under health about le sorcier (It roughly translates to sorcerer, but our definition of a sorcerer doesn't apply. A sorcier in Burkina is a tradipraticien, someone who practices traditional medicine.) After reading the text and asking some general questions about health such as is there a mix of people that use traditional and modern medicine her (yes), what are the most common illnesses (malaria, coughing due to dust, kids get earaches and also a sickness where they get a lot of bumps on their body possibly caused by the heat...), N.D. wanted me to talk more, so he had a question for me: When your 'husband' asks about Burkina and life here, what do you tell him?
I started off saying that when I talk to anyone in the United States about Burkina I often compare the two countries. I mentioned the basic physical differences included lack of widespread toilets, electricity, running water. Then I got into the more interesting and noteworthy things.
People take the time in Burkina to saluer or greet each other. Not only do they take the time to greet each other and the time to respond, but they listen, too. It hasn't turned into a meaningless habit often found in the US where someone says hello, how are you, simply because it's something to say when they fully intend on not listening or even caring about the response of the person asked.
If I were to have an accident such as my bike breaks down and I can't fix it and I'm on a road a decent ways from a village or town or city, it is a sure thing that a Burkinabè passing by will stop and help me. Back in the US it's by the luck of the draw and there is definitely no guarantee that someone will help me.
Another important difference is the emphasis placed on relationships here. Relationships have the highest importance: friends and family take priority, always. Too often I'm disheartened in the US to find people putting money as they're focus and primary objective and forgetting the complexity, compassion, joy, and meaning found from cultivating and maintaining good, strong, healthy relationships with other people. Now, I'm generalizing. This does not mean all American put money as their priority over family and friends, but it is too often the case and much more often the case than in Burkina Faso. Money is important in so much as it's necessary for survival, but that's where I think it should end. I think people forget that sometimes.
Lastly, we talked about poverty, notions of and differences between North American and Burkinabè poverty. When I visited R. in Bobo she actually brought the comparison and reality up in conversation and it has stuck with me. In coming here, R. and I had notions of poverty and what it meant: someone without a home or shelter, someone without food to eat, someone without money or with very little. Coming here and living here now for three and a half months we've found that everyone has a home, somewhere to sleep, and no one goes hungry, there's always food to eat. So, the third notion is the only that rings true: people in poverty here have little or no money. But something else worth mentioning is that on average people spend $2 a day, that's 1000 CFA. You could easily live on about 1000 per week on food if managing it well and especially after having a base and general supply of cooking supplies. I find it ironic that the US is one of the richest countries in the world, certainly richer than Burkina Faso, and yet the poverty is worse. The US has the money and the means to feed and house everyone and yet there are many homeless and many starving people. Yet, in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world, no one is starving and everyone has a roof over their head.
This leads me back to Burkinabè relationships and solidarity. Their solidarity is shown through how they interact with each other, saluer-ing each other and engaging in those conversations, helping people when in trouble whether they know the person or not (While biking into town last weekend I passed a woman walking and carrying a decent load only to be passed by a her sitting behind a man on the back of his moto. I'll bet good money that they didn't know each other and that she had not called him to come pick her up. That's just the Burkinabè way. And I like it.), and putting relationships with family and friends above all else. This part of their culture is inspiring and it's an example of how an underdeveloped, poor country can have important meaningful lessons to teach those in other cultures living in other countries, even those more developed. It makes me wonder if being more modernized is necessarily a good thing? Not always as the comparison between Burkina and the US illustrates.
I've had a tutor now for about 2 weeks and things have been going well. N.D., my tutor is a younger man who teaches at one of the primary schools in my village and is concurrently taking classes at a university, eventually hoping to get his masters, I believe in business management. Anyways, our sessions last about 2-3 hours and consist of grammar using a book loaned to me by the Peace Corps, Ultimate French, and reading a text from a sixième history book aloud, going back through and asking for clarification of any words I don't know, answering comprehension questions following the reading, and then answering questions N.D. poses to spark conversation. The sessions work well because I'm working on 3 of the main facets of learning a language: speaking, listening, and reading. Perhaps I should try to incorporate some writing, too...
Today, N.D. let me choose a general theme from the book and then which text I'd like to read. I chose a topic under health about le sorcier (It roughly translates to sorcerer, but our definition of a sorcerer doesn't apply. A sorcier in Burkina is a tradipraticien, someone who practices traditional medicine.) After reading the text and asking some general questions about health such as is there a mix of people that use traditional and modern medicine her (yes), what are the most common illnesses (malaria, coughing due to dust, kids get earaches and also a sickness where they get a lot of bumps on their body possibly caused by the heat...), N.D. wanted me to talk more, so he had a question for me: When your 'husband' asks about Burkina and life here, what do you tell him?
I started off saying that when I talk to anyone in the United States about Burkina I often compare the two countries. I mentioned the basic physical differences included lack of widespread toilets, electricity, running water. Then I got into the more interesting and noteworthy things.
People take the time in Burkina to saluer or greet each other. Not only do they take the time to greet each other and the time to respond, but they listen, too. It hasn't turned into a meaningless habit often found in the US where someone says hello, how are you, simply because it's something to say when they fully intend on not listening or even caring about the response of the person asked.
If I were to have an accident such as my bike breaks down and I can't fix it and I'm on a road a decent ways from a village or town or city, it is a sure thing that a Burkinabè passing by will stop and help me. Back in the US it's by the luck of the draw and there is definitely no guarantee that someone will help me.
Another important difference is the emphasis placed on relationships here. Relationships have the highest importance: friends and family take priority, always. Too often I'm disheartened in the US to find people putting money as they're focus and primary objective and forgetting the complexity, compassion, joy, and meaning found from cultivating and maintaining good, strong, healthy relationships with other people. Now, I'm generalizing. This does not mean all American put money as their priority over family and friends, but it is too often the case and much more often the case than in Burkina Faso. Money is important in so much as it's necessary for survival, but that's where I think it should end. I think people forget that sometimes.
Lastly, we talked about poverty, notions of and differences between North American and Burkinabè poverty. When I visited R. in Bobo she actually brought the comparison and reality up in conversation and it has stuck with me. In coming here, R. and I had notions of poverty and what it meant: someone without a home or shelter, someone without food to eat, someone without money or with very little. Coming here and living here now for three and a half months we've found that everyone has a home, somewhere to sleep, and no one goes hungry, there's always food to eat. So, the third notion is the only that rings true: people in poverty here have little or no money. But something else worth mentioning is that on average people spend $2 a day, that's 1000 CFA. You could easily live on about 1000 per week on food if managing it well and especially after having a base and general supply of cooking supplies. I find it ironic that the US is one of the richest countries in the world, certainly richer than Burkina Faso, and yet the poverty is worse. The US has the money and the means to feed and house everyone and yet there are many homeless and many starving people. Yet, in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world, no one is starving and everyone has a roof over their head.
This leads me back to Burkinabè relationships and solidarity. Their solidarity is shown through how they interact with each other, saluer-ing each other and engaging in those conversations, helping people when in trouble whether they know the person or not (While biking into town last weekend I passed a woman walking and carrying a decent load only to be passed by a her sitting behind a man on the back of his moto. I'll bet good money that they didn't know each other and that she had not called him to come pick her up. That's just the Burkinabè way. And I like it.), and putting relationships with family and friends above all else. This part of their culture is inspiring and it's an example of how an underdeveloped, poor country can have important meaningful lessons to teach those in other cultures living in other countries, even those more developed. It makes me wonder if being more modernized is necessarily a good thing? Not always as the comparison between Burkina and the US illustrates.
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