Visitor from Canada

This past weekend our INDEV field placement coordinator, Grainne, came to visit us here in Yako. She had just been in Ghana to see Adam and Margaret then moved on to Burkina. Her and Clémentine (our WUSC coordinator) arrived Friday in the later morning and we started off right away with a meeting between our bosses, Grainne, Clémentine, and the three of us students. We talked mostly about what the three students last year had achieved and how their work was being continued now. As Grainne has some challenges with French, Kevin did a fair amount of translating throughout the meeting.

Friday afternoon we went to visit the périmètre maraîcher in Tindila. (And we actually came up with a relatively decent translation for a périmètre maraîcher: market garden). The group of GCIUS students showed us the work that they had done so far for the garden. The pickets had been set all around the 4 hectares and they had started to put the fencing into place. They explained a bit more about the project itself. For example, to decide where the wells were going to be dug, they hired an expert from Ouagadougou who helped with understanding the elevations and characteristics of the ground. The wells are going to be dug as far as they are able by December. As we are only getting to the end of the wet season now, part of the group will be returning in April (the end of the dry season) to make them a few meters deeper.

Saturday morning we had another meeting with everyone to discuss our mandates while we are here. Jeannette and I are writing ours together as we are doing a lot of the same work while Kevin has his own project. After taking into account all the changes that were recommended, I worked on re-writing our mandate on Monday and made a calendar of the rest of our time here and the tasks we are hoping to accomplish each week.

Grainne was heading back to Ouagadougou on Sunday morning and Jeannette was going to be joining her for the rest of her time in Burkina- partly as a translator, but also because they had coordinated a meeting with another organization which she really wanted to meet. In the end, Kevin and I decided to tag along just for the day to take advantage of the pool at the hotel in Ouaga where Grainne was staying. I’m definitely happy I did that because the water was great! While the two of us headed back to SEMUS Sunday night, Jeannette and Grainne continued on to Léo on Monday to meet with a cooperative of women who make Shea butter and various soaps and where there may be an INDEV student in the future. They also met with a couple of other organizations in Ouaga where future INDEV students may also be working.

Tuesday we had another of our big rainstorms, but that is likely one of the last ones we will see. Unfortunately, the wind and rain were not very nice to the périmètre in Tindila. The trenches that had been dug for the fencing (which are about 40cm deep) had been filled in with some dirt, but had not yet been packed in. As a result, the rain washed out the dirt and a bunch of the posts and the fencing that had been installed all tipped over. It will take some work to get them all back in, but at least they shouldn’t run into that trouble again now that the rain is pretty much finished.

I hope you are all having a great time back there in Canada and are enjoying my updates. I love hearing from you as well. And if any of you want to visit, we now have plenty of room and an extra mattress in our house (as Kevin has now moved out). J