Greetings!

Well, it has been just over a month since I left Canada for Burkina. The last month has been full of new things and some mixed emotions. While there are some things I really dislike about Burkina (most of them stemming from the fact that we are foreigners and almost everyone tries to take advantage of that) I really do love it here.

I think the most rewarding thing for me so far is that our neighbours are starting to get to know us. At first, when we walked down the street all the kids would come up to us saying “Nassara bonbon!”- a mix of Mooré and French which means “white person, candy”. Now, even though we could walk between our house and the office in about 3 minutes it takes closer to fifteen minutes. First we stop to talk to Pierre, an older man who is the guardian for our housing compound. He is sometimes difficult to understand because when he speaks in French his sentences will often trail off at the end and we are left guessing what he is meaning to say. Nevertheless, every time we enter or leave our house we take a few minutes to catch up, ask him a few questions, or just let him know where we are off to.

Next we pass a house with some neighbour ladies around our age. Christianne has come over for a few evenings, usually with one of her sisters and her niece Adela who is three. Christianne is still in high school, but if she is able to go on to university she wants to become a doctor. Across the street there is often a group of older women. We amuse them with our attempts at Mooré greetings and generally leave them with both groups laughing at our confusion over something that was said. Further along we come across a group of younger women around our age who are doing each other’s’ hair. Usually we only see this group on our way back to work after the lunchtime “repos” or on our way home in the evenings. The same goes for the group of men that we pass a bit farther along who are usually playing scrabble. We will stop to talk with each group for a few minutes. We’ve been invited a few times to play scrabble, but have not yet attempted to join (although we joke about how we should be allowed to use English words as well as French). A bit farther we come to another group of women and kids. One day during lunch we sat with them for a while and they tried to teach us how to properly greet people in Mooré. I remember about half the lesson, but every time we go by there we attempt to go through the lengthy process of saying good morning and asking about their health, family, and everything else.

Along the whole route we will also shake hands with anywhere between ten and twenty kids. While some of them still ask us for candy (generally the ones who are younger than five), most of the older ones now know who we are. They greet us by shouting “Jeannette! Kat-ee!” (I started out by saying that my name is Katelyn, but the “ay” sound seems to be a challenge so I changed it to Kat-lyn. Now, for the kids, I just go with Kat- ee.) They still shake our hands and usually attempt a few French phrases while we attempt a few Mooré greetings.

Once we make it to the office we continue with the greetings, although luckily for us these are generally all in French. Basically anyone who is just outside or anywhere inside the office courtyard merits a greeting. In our office itself we will then greet anyone who is already there before taking a seat. This process is repeated when leaving for lunch, returning after the “repos”, and leaving at the end of the day. While it can make for a lengthy process, I appreciate the time that everyone is willing to put into greeting each other and showing that they really do care about how you are doing. I think that this is something which we are really missing in Canada.

Next time you meet someone, even a stranger, try taking the time to greet them. Ask them how they are doing. Ask about their health. Ask after their family. Ask how their work is going. The few minutes it takes to ask after someone may just have earned you a new friend or taught you something new about someone you think you already know.