Ouaga and Anticipation of Village

(my younger host brother and I doing as we do)
So with a few last good byes and a few sachets of shared gin I parted ways with Ouhigouya. I now am currently residing in the socio-political-economic hub of Burkina- The great city of Ouagadougou. It is indeed a bizarre experience returning to the grinding machine of a modern city after appreciating close to a monastic life for the past 3 months. It seems harder to think in this environment - the air is thicker here and there is a constant hum. I'm happy that the whole process of prepping for my affectation will be a brief process.

I can't express how unreal this city is. In a land of subsistence agriculture I can go down the street and buy frozen ice cream. The below picture is an above shot of the Marina Market- Ouaga's foremost food emporium. The expression on my face is one of confused excitement but that mood quickly changed when the nature of the place began to sink in. The notion of food being sold in a building, let alone organized in little rows is something unimaginable. Every PCVF (basically camp councillor for us stagaries) has told me that I will really miss this taste of the west after 6 months at village, but some how I doubt that. I cannot express how much I simply want to train in my solitude. I don't want to ride in cars. I don't want to shop in air-conditioning. I don't want to have the comforts of the states.


At the same time I can not be completely critical of this city. I can buy french poetry and note cards here. I can use the Internet here (thus revealing myself as exceptionally hypocritical with the method I chose to deliver this tirade) and through this, connect to the world. In Ouaga, there are tools available which are simply beyond the means of people in village. I just wish that these tools were available without the environmental and spiritual price tag city life. Striking a balance between the enabling, empowering qualities of modern life with its darker side is something I'm really working on here. I still enjoy my Ipod, I still use computers but I also recognize the link between consumption and brutality (thank you propagandhi).