Salut mes amis

  In just over five months I will be going to Burkina Faso for eight months as part of my undergraduate program at the University of Waterloo. I am an International Development student and in September will be starting the final year of my program. Of course, traveling half-way around the world means there are plenty of people that I'll be leaving behind. My hope for this blog is that it will help me to connect with people who are here in Canada for the coming year as well as with my classmates who will be spread across the world over the same eight months. I've got plenty of topics I want to cover eventually, but for now I'll just get started on the basics.

  Early September I will be leaving for Burkina Faso with two of my classmates: Jeannette and Kevin (you can read about their experiences and travels as well). Kevin will be working with an organization called SEMUS in the town of Yako (about 100km from the capital city). Jeannette and I will both be working in the town of Gourcy (only about 30km farther) with the Association Evangelique d'Appui du Developpement or AEAD.

  Gourcy is in the northern region of Burkina Faso, basically at the edge of the Sahara desert. The climate there is very hot and dry for most of the year with a wet season (which is still very hot) during our summer. The majority of people in Burkina Faso (about 90%) practice agriculture for their livelihood which is very challenging with the dry and hot climate. This past year has been even more dry than usual and as a result the region is expected to have a severe food crisis in 2012 because of low crop yields.

  AEAD has traditionally been working with adult literacy in Burkina Faso, but due to the significance of farming in the country they are trying to establish an agriculture program. This is the project that Jeannette and I will be trying to start while we are there. We will be focusing on different challenges including soil ecology and erosion problems and deforestation.

  I decided to call this blog "Ca fait deux jours". This is a common phrase in Burkina Faso translated literally as "It's been two days" but used by people to say that it has been a long time. Considering my track record for keeping up-to-date combined with intermittent internet connections in Burkina Faso, I have a feeling that this will be a common theme with my blog posts. Nevertheless, in the coming weeks and months I'll be posting more information on my travels and activities along with current events that I wish to share.

  A bientot!