Ni Tagali bana ka ban

So this is the end. After my two years in Burkina I'm packing my bags again, this time for Mali. I don't feel like I've really gained the distance yet from my time here to have any epiphanies revealed- and I get the sense that if I try to give some some kind of summary I risk dissolving into platitudes. Anyways, I think I'll start with a few quick stories about what I've been doing here in the last few months.

First, after nearly a year of planning, budgeting and logistics we've actually succeeded in creating a library in the big L. To speak frankly, I'm truly pleased with how it turned out. Unfortunately, I lost quite a few pictures from the early stages of the implementation, but take my word that the whole project turned out to be quite monumental. When 2 months ago we cracked open the doors on the building bequeathed unto us by the Burkinabe government the only inhabitants were dead bats; the only furnishings rotten onions; the only coloring on the walls that ubiquitous 2cm thick layer of orange dust that coats all things neglected in this country. After we swept the 3 times, destroyed all the wasp huts, and washed the entire building we set ourselves to the task of drawing our world map. The help of 10 students and the surveillant with primed the walls, drew are grid and painted out the important parts of the planet earth (Micronesia and Polynesia were excluded because seriously). You can judge for yourself weather it looked good or not (see below) but I was pretty happy with it.

As for the books I think we managed a pretty good mix of moder African authors, comic books and teen reading to try to cater to the student body. I got a nice set of spicy reads from some Ivorian authors that include title such as "un voyage d'amour" and "la tentation". They all have covers of scantily clad teint-clair girls (light skinned) being embraced by well chinned lovers. Nothing is beneath me if it gets the kids to read. I also got a nice collection of classics such as Dumas, Guy de Maupassant and Satre. I'm really hoping we'll see some improvements in the test scores of the students over the next few years. A lot of the resources are catering towards test review both directly and indirectly.

Furthermore, We equipped the library with a nice set of tables, chairs and desks to really create a space for private study away from the crazy pressures of home life. All told I'm pretty happy about how the project went. The community really responded well and seemed enthusiastic; they gave me a chicken and a traditional outfit as gifts for the opening ceremony.

Also a note to the donors: I will thank all of you formally- I've bought all the postcards for the personal thank you's but as it's hella expensive to send leters (and print photos for that mater) I'm running late. You can expect them to come in July when I get back to the states. But in the mean time, all of you should know I've done my best to connect you guys to the students by telling stories about you and explaining the reasons why you've donated. I should also apologize to the republican donors for our decision on what to name the library.

In other news on the 29th I ran the Ouaga-Laye marathon which was pretty memorable. We started in centre ville and turned around the airport and the grande marche before heading off on the road to Ouahigoya. Thankfully it wasn't too hot that day and the organisers managed to get people running before 6am. Last year the runners didn't start until after 8 which as you can imagine was pretty terrible for people finishing around 12. I'm not really sure why they decided to hold it at the end of the hot season- it seems like they are enough challenges to training in Burkina without adding 48c temperatures and no more food (it's been finished since the heat started) to the mix. Anyways I had a crew of peace corps friends that followed me pretty much the whole way in a 4x4 which was really nice, and girl that was first among the women last year ran it again with me this year. I was pretty poky but i refused to walk any of it- even if walking might have been faster than my jumping-in-place manner of jogging. That night I had perhaps the best meal of my peace corps service which included fried calamari, leg of lamb, garlic mashed potatoes, ice-cream and a Manhattan.

I've prepared my bags for Mali and honestly I'm ready to go. I'm definitely going to miss my friends (burkinabe and american) and some aspects of life here, but honestly I feel the need to move. I know that all of my gripes about life here (corruption at the local level, lack of initiative from the burkinabes, scorpions in the shoes) probably are gonna be just as bad in Mali, but I think there's something revitalising about moving. I moving at a precarious time because both here and in Mali there is a new stage starting up and I have a chance of being overlooked during my transfer. I'm not too worried about though because honestly I don't feel like I'm going to need that much support coming from my background here.

I managed to pull off 'intermediate high' as my score for my final language test in Jula. I was pleased with that but not my score of 'advanced low' in French. I blame the fact that many of the questions were quite bizarre. I should have the foundation I need to learn Bambara quickly in Mali

It's world cup time now and I've been watching the games with my mates here. The US/England game was pretty stressful as I knew that our continued sovereignty hung in the balance.

I also got caught in a dust storm on my way back to my house the other day. I happened to have my camera on me so I took some pretty nice blair-witch footage. Hope you all appreciate it!

Anyways, that's it. I'll write another post once I install myself in Mali.

K'a sira diya