In country training
on Wonderous Wanderland (Burkina Faso), 21/Feb/2011 20:02, 34 days ago
Last thursday we finally started the so called 'In country training or ICT'. The purpose of this training is to help us settle in, integrate, get to know the city and future work place, the Burkinabé culture, etc. 'Us' is the 9 new volunteers who arrived early last week: Martin& Allison, My(sie) and Kris(tel) from England. Jeanne, Nicole and Imed from Canada. And Kris and me from Belgium, of course :). Quite an international little group and all real fun to be with. The only disadvantage at the start was the ease and laziness (also on my part!) to just keep talking mainly in English to each other. However, the weekend has made a big change as VSO had arranged for each one of us to spent two days together with 'un ancien', a volunteer who has been here already for at least a few months. Kris and me stayed in the house of Laure,une Canadienne, who is working through VSO for one of the bigger NGO's here, SOS Sahel. Laure was really nice and she did her utmost to make us - real newbies - feel comfortable and show us around. So the weekend became 'Ouaga for dummies: how to survive'. Or better: how to take a taxi, how& where to shop, how much to pay for stuff, what& where to eat, etc. Honestly, no Lonely Planet or Rough Guide could compete in the slightest with the tips& how to's... from Laure :). One of the highlights during the weekend is that we got to see our future accommodation. And wow, some place it is! VILLA 43 (quarante-trois) it says on the little plaque besides the gate and it really lives up to its promising sound. It is absolutely HUGE, with 3 bedrooms and an enormous garden with terrace, our own mango tree, some other trees& plants, and definitely enough space for the chickens I want to buy - fresh eggs in the morning...yay! The villa is outside the city centre, near the airport, and only 200 meters away from Kris's work. As I work right in the centre - the political and financial heart of Ouaga - I will have to get myself some means of transport. Most Burkinabé chase around on their bicycles or mopeds so maybe next week I'll be one of them! Who knows.... Nobody wears helmets here and I will probably feel a bit silly wearing one at first but as My(sie) so perfectly put it:"You will stick out anyway, so it is better to stick out with a helmet on!":)We also had to go and buy all the 'small stuff' we need for the house. VSO provided us with a budget of 100.000 francs CFA ('seffa') each and a very short 'guideline-list' of things we might need. The obvious: plates, cups, glasses, cutlery, bowls for doing the laundry, bowls for doing the dishes, and the somewhat less obvious for us: as for example bowls and bins to store water in, in case of a water cut - which apparently happens quite regularly especially in the dry season (= the next 3 - 4 months). The list, in the end, seemed endless or seemed even to grow longer, but maybe walking around in almost 40°C had something to do with that. One thing is sure: it was not an easy task BUT we did manage to get almost everything (Thank you, Laure!) and we did it without killing each other and that in itself is quite an accomplishment :)!Another highlight was the visit of our work place. I work at the Ministry, which is closed during the weekend, but at least I already had a look at the building - and I took some pictures to share:This morning we returned to the hotel. Another week in luxury and than a dive in the unknown!!