Getting Comfortable

My week usually starts out by making trips to the water pump with my bicycle to fill up the 200 litre water storage container (a big plastic garbage can) at my house. I try to speak the local language with the women at the pump -- its a great place to learn. And the more I talk to people, the more I learn about the activities and needs of Karfiguela. I talk to the women at the pump a lot because there is always a long wait for water. As it turns out, there is a huge need for at least one more pump in the village. There is only two right now, which prompts many women to use the canal water for washing and laundry. The canal water is extremely dirty and also carries some nasty parasites, making it less than ideal for regular use. I am going to research the cost and methods of an additional pump, which could be placed between the school and the clinic.

In Senior Seminar last spring Dr. Lyon frequently asked the question which is more difficult, formulation or implementation?. We speculated that is was implementation. After the last month I am certain that it is implementation. It is easy for me to look at my village and formulate ideas about what would make life easier for the Karaboro people and income generating activities that they could use to meet their needs, but explaining the ideas and motivating the people to try them is a-whole-nother cup of tea. So my tactic is to let them do most of the formulating and I will help them implement their ideas.

I have two women's groups in my village and they both want to make soap. So I have been researching different methods and I successfully tried one out last week. I am also working with a man in Banfora to produce lye, the essential ingredient in soap that is difficult to access in Burkina. If we are successful the women could produce soap without having to go outside of their village for the ingredients.

I have also been trying to teach the store proprietor in Karfiguela how to calculate Cost of Goods Sold so that he can generate quarterly financial statements. Karim has a lot of natural business sense, but he is illiterate, so its going to be a challenge! One day last week we inventoried his store together. He understands the logic behind what we are doing and he is very eager to analyze the information to improve his store.

In my spare time I visit the cascades and the domes, which are 2 km from my doorstep. The cascades are wonderful this time of year, as it is the hottest season in Burkina. The Domes are a grouping of stunning rock formations that are reminiscent of Utah. I also have been playing my flute and reading under the huge mango tree in my yard. Its mango season now as well! Life in Africa isn't so difficult after all.