The little town called Bouroum-Bouroum

All right, this blog is going to be about my site visit to Bouroum-Bouroum. A nice little town about 6 hours southwest of Ouagadougou, Bouroum-Bouroum is green and semi-hilly, and nothing like Ouahigouya. Despite the fact that I love having internet and water readily available to me in my courtyard in Ouahigouya, I honestly believe that I’m going to like Bouroum-Bouroum so much more.

Starting from the beginning: I traveled to BB last Wednesday with my homologue (one of my future colleagues whose job is to help me find my bearings at site). His name is Marc and he spoke very little English, so we had fun working with my limited French. By the way I tested into Intermediate Mid French, one level higher—yay! Public transport in Burkina is insane—assigned seats mean nothing and elbows start flying when people scramble to get on the bus. It was hot and sweaty and uncomfortable, so nothing unlike the rest of my stay in Africa! Marc and I arrived in BB Wednesday night and I was immediately disoriented because it was dark, I had only my bike light, and did I mention that there’s no electricity in Bouroum-Bouroum?

I slept at Jillian’s house because it would have been culturally inappropriate to stay with mon celibataire homologue. Jillian is the other PC volunteer who has been living in BB for the past year. She wasn’t around during my site visit so I looked after her house and fed her dog while she was gone. I actually think her dog thought I was Jillian because he would follow me around wherever I went (he even came into the primary school’s director’s office during my meeting with him!). Silly Alaska. I definitely want to get a dog and cat when I get to site. One will be my protector and the other will eat the giant cockroaches.

Thursday was spent meeting community members and my colleagues. Unfortunately the director of the secondary school (where I’ll be working) and the mayor of the town weren’t around, so I’ll have to make those contacts once I return to site. I also got to see my house! I’ve posted a picture—it’s the brick house with the red door and windows. I will be the white girl behind the red door. I dig it. Incidentally, in BB kids don’t shout “Nasara!” at me, which is the equivalent of saying “Hey Whitey!” Instead, in more hushed tones they called me “Dubago" or something similar, the Lobiri word for foreigner.

I really like the location of my house because it’s about 2 km from the centre ville and market. It’s in a more secluded area where I’ll have more privacy, and the long road leading to my house is lined with trees and green bushes. Did you notice the huge tree in my backyard? My counterpart and I found a chameleon (pictured) en route to my casa. Isn’t he pretty?

I was disappointed that I couldn’t see the inside of my house—there was a lot of confusion because no one knew who had the key. I think my house has two rooms and a salon (or one room and a salon), an indoor shower, an outdoor shower, and an outdoor cuisinier. And when I say shower, I mean there’s a hole in the ground where my water will drain during my bucket bath. My latrine hasn’t been built yet and they haven’t finished painting the inside of the house or put up a fence around my property. But that should all be complete by the time I arrive at the end of August. I hope. I asked Jillian to try to make sure that the fence they’ll build around my house is also put around the latrine. I would feel awkward and uncomfortable if everyone could watch me walk to and from the latrine.

My house is right next to a Lobi compound—you can see the difference between my brick house and their mud/straw structures. I also live about 100 meters from the college (pictured), which is the secondary, or middle school, where I’ll be teaching. The subjects I’ll be teaching are still up in the air—I’ll let you know once I know. During my stay in BB I discovered that the primary religion practiced here is Animism. They say everyone in Burkina is an Animist, but in BB it truly is the people’s main religion. However, the next largest religious group is Protestant, then Muslim and then Catholic. The two largest groups that live in BB are the Lobi and the Mossi; thus the two most common local languages are Lobiri and Moore. Other languages spoken in BB are Jula, Birifore and Dagari. After learning French, I’ll be focusing on Lobiri and Moore.

Some interesting things that happened in Bouroum-Bouroum: A giant turkey chased me outside the mayor’s office. It then proceeded to chase me down the street after I got on my bike. Haha, I’ll see you at Thanksgiving.

BB doesn’t have any police force or post office.

I ate a meal with my hands for the first time in Burkina. I can’t say I was a fan of this experience, and it’s not because I ate with my hands. My homologue and I shared a plate of Attieké, which is like couscous with fish and onions. Not my meal of choice at any rate. But before we ate my homologue washed his right hand with water, then pulled the fish apart, then mixed it up with the couscous, then licked his hand, then mixed the dish again. I sat there feeling like George from Seinfield, thinking “It’s like you’re putting your entire mouth on the couscous!” But then I washed my hand and I ate the Attieké and it wasn’t half bad. I actually kind of like eating with my hand—I would just prefer to eat from my own bowl.

Oh! This is very important and obviously one of the most vital things I learned on my trip: Bouroum-Bouroum has Coke—cold cokes! They use a car battery and/or solar panels as the source for refrigeration. Glorious! I’m going to make friends with the people who work at the buvette so that they’ll always have the cold ones ready for me. My last night in BB my homologue and I had cokes under the stars in the absolute dark, listening to Celine Dion and Marvin Gaye on his cell phone. It was definitely a moment to remember.

I then spent a night in Gaoua, which is 25 km south of BB. It’s a much larger town that will serve as my source of internet and that will also be the place where I’ll pick up my mail and handle my finances. Gaoua will be nice for those purposes, but it’s too large and one of the most touristy places in Burkina. I much prefer Bouroum-Bouroum.

I then took transport back to Ouaga where I met up with the other trainees for a few nights in the capital city. I ate a cheese pizza, a cheeseburger, a hamburger, a chocolate crepe and amazing burritos at the house of the PC Director of Small Business Development (SED). Thanks Dan! I even got to use a real toilet and take a hot shower—absolutely refreshing. We went to the Ouaga zoo where we saw giant birds, some monkeys and crocodiles, and hundreds of bats—see the pictures! Bats are everywhere in Burkina, which is probably why all the trainees have been given 3 rabies shots!

Now I’m back in Ouahigouya with almost 6 weeks of stage behind me and 5 more to go. We start Model School next week. Eeek! I’ll be teaching Physics/Chemistry one hour a day, five days a week to Burkinabé students, in French. Should be horrifying. Or splendid. I guess we’ll see.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!