Two weeks, two pigs and too many visitors…

In two weeks, I have been busy everyday, all day, installing and trying out programs for the Bereba village library. In two weeks, I have bought two pigs to keep me company. But in two weeks I have realized that their company will not be needed as I had first anticipated, since from sun up to sun down, I have more visitors than I can handle.

My work – In the “I Can Read 25 Books” program, we now have more than twelve students who have signed up, two of which have already read over seven books. For each book the student reads, they are given a sticker on the poster sheet hanging in the library, after discussing the book with Dounko, Ivette, or me. In this way, not only are we able to confirm that the student actually read the book, but we can get a better idea of what type of books interests them. At first I think the students were very discouraged by this program, thinking it impossible to read twenty five books in two to three months. But as one student signed up, another followed and so on. Story time every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday has been relatively successful, considering my battered French pronunciation skills. But we haven’t had less than 100 students each day since I started and the kids are becoming more comfortable with me as I with them. They have begun to respond better, whereas in the beginning they didn’t respond at all and Dounko no longer has to stand at my side every second for the hour and a half session. With the book club I have started, I was scared that I wouldn’t even have enough students sign up to complete one group. Well, before the end of my first week, I had three whole groups waiting to do the book club for a total of 36 students, and a list for a fourth group started. I chose Halombo, for our first book and so far it has been a hit, since it is based on a true story and takes place in the neighboring village of Kari. My first meeting with the first group went as well as it could have gone. The students were and hour and a half late for our two hour time slot. But when ten out of twelve arrived and 11:30 (originally set to start at 10) the discussion was interesting and a bit heated as Dounko and I stayed for the allotted two hours originally scheduled. For the younger students, along with story time, we have started drawing classes every Thursday morning and afternoon. We have even opened it up to Saturday night since there are four younger classes at the primary school, each class with an average of 100 students and in the library we only have space for 25 at a time. In the very little spare time I seemed to have in the last two weeks, I have been busy taking pictures and talking with local producers of dolo, (the local beer here) and koura-koura (a ring fried peanut butter treat). On my next trip, I plan to get the writing of these books down on paper and to put sentence with picture in both French and Dioula. As for all the work I have done here, I still feel behind as I know there is still so much more to do and so little time to do it in. There rests less than a month and a half now and again I find myself asking where did January and February go?

Bacon and Babe – Bacon, is my first, very clever and extremely tough girl piggy who squealed her way - all the way – to her new home. Now, if you have never heard a pig squeal, than I hope you never have to because it is the loudest, most disturbing sound you will ever hear. Fingernails on a chalk board will sound like Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” compared to this noise. On her first night, in the first twenty minutes in her new home, Bacon had already figured out how to get out all by her self. The problem was there was no door for her to push open or destroy, and the wall of bricks surrounding her were significantly higher. So can pigs really fly? No. But they can jump and climb a little. When Blandine and I found little bacon wandering around the yard, not only were we floored but completely clueless on how to catch the very quick and stubborn little bugger. After about twenty minutes of chasing, stumbling over our own feet, Bacon was back in here home, tired and not happy to be captured again. I went to bed thinking Bacon would be there to greet in the morning. At midnight heard the hooves of my little rascal pounding fiercely back and forth outside my widow. As late as it was there was no way I was going to go out and try to catch her in the pitch black of the night. Plus, I figured there was no way she could get out of the yard. I was wrong. When I woke up, Bacon was gone and Blandine and I had found that she had squeezed her way out through the shower hole. An hour later we found that Bacon showed up at Blandine’s house and her mother noticed there was one to many piggies eating out of the trough. After an hour of chasing (none of which I had to do, thank god,) Bacon was back home and done with trying to escape. But in order to try and keep this little piggy comfortable, I decided to get her a brother. Babe, is Bacon’s little brother, and a I say ‘little’ because even though Babe is bigger in size than Bacon, in the first five minutes of meeting, Bacon showed Babe who’s boss. Both are calm now and eat constantly. I think they will be fat and plump by the time I’m ready to go home. Saying goodbye will be hard being that I already know the fate that awaits them.

Blandine, me and…. everyone else - The people of Bereba are awesome. In my first week, I was brought more food than I could eat and shook more hands than I could count. But after two weeks of constant attention, I have realized that I need more than an hour to write everyday - without interruptions. On Saturday, in order to finish some much needed work, I finally said NO, to the 11 or so students that showed up at my door, that I could not visit this morning. They were welcome to come back in the afternoon or evening to visit. All stood there for a few more minutes, maybe puzzled that I had not offered them chairs to sit down, but eventually left and left me able to finish my work. So, upon my return to the village, in order to successfully finish my independent study credits and my volunteer goals with FAVL, I think I will let word spread through the village that I can not be disturbed in the mornings. I hope that visits in the afternoons and evenings won’t cease company from coming completely due to this request, but as Burkinabes are most understanding, I have no doubt that all will work out well.

In a fortnight, I have learned that pigs can’t fly, activities with children and students take work, dedication and time and that “Non” is okay to use in your vocabulary.