I recently finished a three week training with the Peace Corps in Banfora, Bobo, and Ouagadougou -- three of Burkina's major cities. It included sessions on language training, finding resources, and how to plan projects in your community. It gave my work more direction, but I was also excited to return to Karfiguela.
I was elected by my training group to the AIDS Task Force. AIDS Task Force is a volunteer group that works to facilitate HIV/AIDS education in Burkina Faso. At my first meeting we discussed working with Coaching For Hope, which is an organization that incorporates HIV/AIDS into soccer games and drills. The idea is to educate populations using an already popular activity. I put a lot of my energy into writing a grant application for the project, and we received the funding! The training is going to be in July 2009.
I have not produced lye yet (which I'm going to try to make by sifting soft water through wood ash), but I did collect all of the materials for that project. In the mean time I have been hosting soap-making trainings with the two women's groups in Karfiguela with lye that I purchased in Ouagadougou. I am teaching them (and myself) how to make both liquid and hard soap to use and sell.
I will also be attending a Savings and Credit Club training with two women from my village in May. Savings and Credit Clubs have been very successful in Burkina. A group of women save money together and then loan out the savings to each other to start petite commerce. I am hoping to help the women organize at least one club in order to improve their money management skills and improve their resources for start up capital for small businesses.
