C'est L'Afrique

Hello! Bonjour! An ni sogoma! I’m finally getting around to starting this long ago promised blog. I was caught up in the romance of writing actual letters on actual paper for a while but the threat of carpel tunnel and a very short attention span are nudging me back on the information superhighway. Don’t quite know where to start so maybe with the facts. I started in the Peace Corps in early June 2006 and if all continues to go well I will stay here in till August 2008. That’s a long time to be living in a shack in the middle of nowhere (e.g Burkina Faso, West Africa). Not a long ways off from Timbuktu. If you google it you won’t find much. Surprisingly (or not surprisingly) the most comprehensive resource for this sort of info is the CIA (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uv.html). Wikipedia also has a nice Burkina page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkina_Faso).

These are the facts that will best help you paint a picture in your head:
1) GEOGRAPHY: landlocked, sandwiched between Mali and Niger to the east, north, and east. The Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin are to the south. A gold star to anyone who has heard of all those countries (unless you’re a soccer fan).
2) SIZE: a bit bigger than Colorado.
3) POPULATION: 14.3 million (as compared to the New York metropolitan are which is 18.8 million).
4) ECONOMICS: According to a UN Index, Burkina is the 3rd poorest country in the world.
5) LIFE EXPECTANCY: It’s not surprising that the life expectancy is 47 years. That always freaks me out a little. If I were Burkinabé, I’d already be in the final third of my life.

Suffice it to say that they last year has been character building. So easy in some ways and so hard in others. No commute, no real boss, more free time than I know what to do with, no bills. The Peace Corps gives us about 8 bucks a day and this is more than enough because there is not a whole lot to buy around here. On the flip side of the coin, my list of complaints is so long and so tedious that I’m embarrassed to share it. It’s not a glamorous life. I have no running water or electricity. At first, this was charming like camping. Now that the honeymoon is over, I fluctuate between not noticing and wondering how a country runs this way. Running water and electricity bring hygiene, which brings health, which brings pretty much everything else.

Life for many people is difficult to a degree that would have been unimaginable to me a year ago. They live with the daily uncertainty of poverty and disease. I've been to at least 5 funerals in the last year. Before that I had been to one. The great irony is the ease with which they play the hand they're dealt. They complain endlessly, but in a sporting way that doesn't seem to weigh on them. I'm no psychologist, but my gut feeling is that Burkinabe are MUCH happier than Americans. What does that say about the relationship between wealth, longevity, and security and quality of life? Maybe affluence comes at the expense of emotional balance. How can you know happiness if there is never sadness to contrast it with? I think there is something to be said for the occasional feeling of living on the edge. I think stuff like adventure sports and substance abuse might be a way of re-creating this feeling. I'm learning some kind of lesson here but I'm still not sure what it is. Or maybe that's all just a load of crap.

Anyways, that was heavier than intended for a first post. My goal with this blog is to stay connected to all you people. In a nutshell, I'm happy and healthy. Despite my ramblings I realize now more than ever that America is a wonderful place. Everyone I love is there and I keep get tidbits of happy news. Babies are being born (congrats P & M, K & JH), people are getting married (congrats C & E, A & A), getting jobs, getting on with their lives. Keep me informed. Let me know what you want to know about what's going on here. I hope to hear from you soon!