On culture shock

First of all, a reminder of my contact info (if anyone has an urge to write a real letter or send any care packages – apparently air mail takes 3-4 weeks, surface mail 6-12 months)…

Laura Sauve

01 BP 1243

Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

 

And my phone number is +226-76-12-61-61; we are 4 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time, 7 hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time.  There are some cheap phone cards available in Canada and the US.

 

 

I just read a great book – “The Sex Lives of Cannibals: adrift in the Equatorial Pacific” (its actually a bit worrisome that I have already finished 2 of my 8 books and its only week 3!)… anyhow, this book is about an American couple who go and live in Kiribati, which is an isolated Pacific Island country.  The author progresses through the stages of acclimatizing to the Pacific and culture shock (including the difficulties of returning home) and his way of describing it is very funny – and I can relate.  Sitting here on the veranda, looking at the frangipani tree and other bushes in the yard, hearing roosters crowing and drums in the distance, I could imagine I was in the Pacific again… but then, the drumming fades and I can hear the muzein call the faithful to prayer at 1pm – definitely not the Pacific! Its funny how after the months that I spent in the French Pacific (about 11-12 months in total between the different trips), that part of the world seems so normal to me.  In time I will probably feel like that here.

 

Here in Burkina Faso I am still in the absolutely lost stage of culture shock.  I now know how to get by shared taxi – there’s always room for one more! – to the internet café, the post office and the market, as well as the tubab (foreigner) market (“Marina Market”) with expensive imported items from (where else) France.  But the social conventions, the fitting in part – not so much.  I am seen as enough of a new foreigner that all the neighborhood hawkers that hang out in front of Marina Market pounce on me whenever I walk by. Unfortunately for me, they hang out in front of a place I walk by fairly often.  At first I tried to be polite and just smile and say “no”… but somehow that seems to encourage them.  But if you ignore them completely, they chase after you and call you an ugly racist. Ugh. But I’ve noticed that they ignore the toubabs who have obviously been here for a while (I guess as a lost cause).

 

There are very many beggar children.  More than I’ve seen anywhere else before; I guess this shouldn’t be a surprise in the 3^rd poorest country in the world and I’ve mostly spent time in “middle-income” countries.  I can’t walk 10m without being accosted by another one.  Some are so thin, so dirty, so hungry. It breaks my heart.  But if you give anything to one, you get absolutely hounded for more.  And the money may not go to their own food but to a grown-up’s pocket anyhow.

 

I am hoping that once we get working, we will meet our colleagues in the hospitals and in the other NGOs.  Getting to know people and working should help us start to feel more established.  It will also help my conscience to start doing something to help the children of Burkina Faso.  The other pressing issue is that I need to start learning Djula.  That is the key to being able to talk with the women in the market, and in the taxis, etc.

 

I’ve acquired a funny friendship with one of the boys in town.  Mohammed sells postcards to tourists; on different days, he’s told me he’s saving for school fees, bike repairs and soccer shoes.  It doesn’t matter where I am downtown, Mohammed tracks me down.  Sometimes he unfortunately brings with him a crowd of bigger teenagers, which I hate.  But since the other day after his friends were harassing us and I finally swore at them and told them to take off – including Mohammed – he’s been less intrusive and has kept the bigger kids away.  He came with me to the market yesterday and “helped” me find things (though it was easier on my own) and then we went to the toubab market to get a few things, and he flagged down a taxi for me.  In fact, having a friend like that to help find things and to practice Djula with may be helpful down the road. I’ve already got quite a few of his postcards.

 

I mentioned in my last entry that my aunt was very ill; she passed away on Friday.  Please remember my dad & his family in your prayers as they pass through this difficult time.

 

On culture shock

First of all, a reminder of my contact info (if anyone has an urge to write a real letter or send any care packages – apparently air mail takes 3-4 weeks, surface mail 6-12 months)…

Laura Sauve

01 BP 1243

Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

 

And my phone number is +226-76-12-61-61; we are 4 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time, 7 hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time.  There are some cheap phone cards available in Canada and the US.

 

 

I just read a great book – “The Sex Lives of Cannibals: adrift in the Equatorial Pacific” (its actually a bit worrisome that I have already finished 2 of my 8 books and its only week 3!)… anyhow, this book is about an American couple who go and live in Kiribati, which is an isolated Pacific Island country.  The author progresses through the stages of acclimatizing to the Pacific and culture shock (including the difficulties of returning home) and his way of describing it is very funny – and I can relate.  Sitting here on the veranda, looking at the frangipani tree and other bushes in the yard, hearing roosters crowing and drums in the distance, I could imagine I was in the Pacific again… but then, the drumming fades and I can hear the muzein call the faithful to prayer at 1pm – definitely not the Pacific! Its funny how after the months that I spent in the French Pacific (about 11-12 months in total between the different trips), that part of the world seems so normal to me.  In time I will probably feel like that here.

 

Here in Burkina Faso I am still in the absolutely lost stage of culture shock.  I now know how to get by shared taxi – there’s always room for one more! – to the internet café, the post office and the market, as well as the tubab (foreigner) market (“Marina Market”) with expensive imported items from (where else) France.  But the social conventions, the fitting in part – not so much.  I am seen as enough of a new foreigner that all the neighborhood hawkers that hang out in front of Marina Market pounce on me whenever I walk by. Unfortunately for me, they hang out in front of a place I walk by fairly often.  At first I tried to be polite and just smile and say “no”… but somehow that seems to encourage them.  But if you ignore them completely, they chase after you and call you an ugly racist. Ugh. But I’ve noticed that they ignore the toubabs who have obviously been here for a while (I guess as a lost cause).

 

There are very many beggar children.  More than I’ve seen anywhere else before; I guess this shouldn’t be a surprise in the 3^rd poorest country in the world and I’ve mostly spent time in “middle-income” countries.  I can’t walk 10m without being accosted by another one.  Some are so thin, so dirty, so hungry. It breaks my heart.  But if you give anything to one, you get absolutely hounded for more.  And the money may not go to their own food but to a grown-up’s pocket anyhow.

 

I am hoping that once we get working, we will meet our colleagues in the hospitals and in the other NGOs.  Getting to know people and working should help us start to feel more established.  It will also help my conscience to start doing something to help the children of Burkina Faso.  The other pressing issue is that I need to start learning Djula.  That is the key to being able to talk with the women in the market, and in the taxis, etc.

 

I’ve acquired a funny friendship with one of the boys in town.  Mohammed sells postcards to tourists; on different days, he’s told me he’s saving for school fees, bike repairs and soccer shoes.  It doesn’t matter where I am downtown, Mohammed tracks me down.  Sometimes he unfortunately brings with him a crowd of bigger teenagers, which I hate.  But since the other day after his friends were harassing us and I finally swore at them and told them to take off – including Mohammed – he’s been less intrusive and has kept the bigger kids away.  He came with me to the market yesterday and “helped” me find things (though it was easier on my own) and then we went to the toubab market to get a few things, and he flagged down a taxi for me.  In fact, having a friend like that to help find things and to practice Djula with may be helpful down the road. I’ve already got quite a few of his postcards.

 

I mentioned in my last entry that my aunt was very ill; she passed away on Friday.  Please remember my dad & his family in your prayers as they pass through this difficult time.

 

transportation

Well, I can hardly believe 3 days have gone by since my last entry.

Most of our time has been spent continuing negotiations for the houses. Most require some repair & cleaning before we can move in. And there is always lots of negotiations about the terms of the leases here. But I think things are coming together with my own house (I’ve more or less decided to live on my own) – the one with the mango tree. I may be the first to be able to move in. My garden will need some serious work once I move in – right now, the only living plant is the mango tree. I want to try to have some tomato, lettuce, herb plants as well as decorative things like hibiscus and bougainvillea. I’ll be hiring a gardener to help that get established!

Transport is going to be a challenge, as I will be living 4km from the hospital – that’s a long walk! And I’m not sure how easy the taxi will be; though its cheap – only 200CFA (about USD$0.40) for a ride within town on a shared taxi. Today will be our first trial with that, as we had to give back our rental car this morning.

In fact, 2-wheeled vehicles are much more common here than 4-wheeled. The roads are filled with scooters, mopeds and bicycles – and the occasional donkey cart! – with relatively few cars. I think it will be much safer on bikes here than, say, Baltimore. I sort of wish I had brought my bike – but it didn’t seem sensible to pay $250USD bring a 15 year old, beat up bike that is worth 1/10th of that amount. So, once I’ve paid my rent & deposit if I have money left, that will be one of my first major purchases.

Yesterday we went to look at the future site of the COE (Center of Excellence); it currently is not so dusty as in the first photos we saw and has a pond, with cows wandering through (will attach photos a different day – when internet is not so painfully slow).

Dana, Allison & I went to the market yesterday to get some pots. With only 3 of us, we were virtually ignored – which was really nice! The market is like a series of rabbit warrens, with everything imaginable for sale. And I’m learning to bargain – a necessary skill here!

There has been almost no rain in a week; some of the surrounding farming areas are already concerned about losing their crops. In this subsistence agriculture-based economy, a drought now can mean famine next year at this time. This morning it looked like in might rain, and it was so cool I needed a sweater, which was actually kind of nice. But only a few sprinkles fell, not even enough to dampen the ground.

I just received word that my Aunt Marj in Ontario is gravely ill; its hard to when those things happen when one is so far away. I am thankful that I was able to see her for a visit at Easter when I was last in Toronto. My thoughts and prayers go out to Marj, her family including my dad & his sister.

Exploring le grand marche

I’m trying a new tactic – instead of trying to type the blog entry on the blasted French computers, I’m going write my entries at home and then bring my own computer to the internet café and cut & paste it in.

In my last entry I put my snail mail address – I am not sure how well the Burkinabe postal system works, although our Burkinabe colleague who has been helping us get settled assures us that it is pretty reliable. In some neighbouring countries, you can expect to receive less than 50% of the mail but Aziz says its much better than that.

The big adventure of Sunday afternoon was our trip to the market. Lesson #1 – never, ever go as a group of 7 foreigners to the market. We were followed & hounded nonstop. It just gets so tiresome!

There’s an interesting system here. Sometimes a person will attach himself to you (it is never, ever a woman) and follow you. If you stop to look at anything – say, containers for water, they will then either try to drag you to every stall (or shop) containing water containers or alternately, they will sometimes just turn up with an armload of water containers from various merchants. I think they must get a cut of the proceeds. The only thing is, they get pretty annoyed if you don’t buy the item you were looking for. Or sometimes, it’s the item they decided you want. The women sit quietly and never harass even the passing foreigners; they just take your business if you decide to work with them.

The market was really interesting, full of fascinating sights and smells, and I look forward to exploring more on my own now that I’ve been there once. I love the chaos of the market. And it wasn’t threatening feeling like some I’ve been in (like in Peru). The place is a veritable warren, one could get lost for days. The stalls are piled high with every imaginable good, there was everything from incense stalls to pots to CDs, and many cloth stalls, and even stalls selling caterpillars (to eat!). Some of the women had fish, laying out ‘ripening’ in the sun and they would fan them to lessen the fly infestation. The vegetable situation was pretty good, since it’s the rainy season… beautiful peppers, eggplants, tomatoes (like the Mbarara market!) but also green beans and some local vegetables like jaxate, which looks like a green tomato but is a variety of very bitter eggplant. But I definitely need to learn some Jula for using at the market, as many of the people in the market only speak that language.

Sunday night we ate in a great restaurant, called Deux Colombes (2 doves). We were the only customers, but I think it was the nicest meal we’ve had yet in Burkina Faso. I had steak, green beans & potatoes lyonnaise and it was just lovely. (Many of the restaurants are adequate; not brilliant). But still no good coffee.

Its actually less hot than I expected. Its the rainy season here, and reportedly it usually rains every day though it hasn't been. Despite the guidebooks warning about this time of year being humid and hot, it seems pretty nice. I think the climate here is nicer & cooler than in Ouaga. The streets are wide and tree lined, and the shade they afford certainly helps.

Anyhow, take care & I hope to hear from you soon!
Laura

House hunting

BLOG Draft

We have spent the last few days looking for houses around Bobo Dioulasso. With the dust in the air in the dry season, even houses that have sat empty for just a few months look long abandoned. However, I think we have homes for everyone.

I’ve been waffling on what to do. One of the couples has offered that we could share a place. But their chosen house is only 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. So it might be a little crowded with all my various visitors. Also, then we wouldn’t have offices, etc. Also, I’ve lived along for so long that in some ways I’m not a very good roommate, because I always feel like I’m imposing on the others by being in their space. (it’s a hangup I have). And yet on the other hand, do I really want to live by myself here, where it’s a hassle to go out at night?

The house I have my eye on as 4 bedrooms & 5 bathrooms, and has a bathtub. It also has a decent sized kitchen and is well maintained – better than many we looked at. The garden has a lovely mango tree, though is otherwise isn’t much to look at – it will be a project to work on. Also, it’s the furthest house from everything. That’s the main disadvantage. But, none of the houses are within walking distance of anything, so we will all need some form of transport.

I am a little worried about the social isolation here. I am sure that with time, we will make other friends (and its just me being my usual worrying self). But of the 4 PAC docs, 2 have their spouses here and 1 is bringing a Malian village with her – they may arrive as soon as next week. (She lived in that village for 2.5 years – really, its just a family that is coming, not the entire village).

On the streets of Bobo, I must say that the sellers of things are certainly persistant though I’ve learned that if you refuse to make eye contact or look at whatever they have, often they will go away. I’ve sort of befriended one persistent little guy named Mohammed; he finds me whenever I am downtown. He always tries to sell postcards or necklaces. So far, I have 2 cards and a necklace. But, he may be a good little guy to help out in finding things around town etc.

Our temporary house has a lovely sitting area, and we have some breakfast foods and tea and are going to get some food in the market today so we can start cooking at home.

Thank you to those who have emailed – I am going to try to start responding to emails, now that I can hook my own computer up to the internet café’s network – so I can work on them at home.

My address:
01 BP 1243
Bobo Dioulasso
BURKINA FASO

And my phone number is +226-76-12-61-61 – with a calling card its not too expensive to call, and I’m going to try to call people once and a while.

Take care!!
Laura

everyone has arrived safely

Well, we're all here now - even Kitty (the cat that Leah & Dustin brought) made it without delays or problems. Tomorrow we have another Ministry of Health meeting, and then Thursday head back to Bobo to finalize housing, etc.

Dana & I explored downtown Ouaga today, which was interesting. Its dusty, busy & hot. There are quite a few stalls with tourist crafts, although the market from yesterday had higher quality items. I had wanted to get some kitchen stuff, but while I saw where they were sold, it was getting dark, I was hot & wanted to go home, so we put it off for another day. Some people are really friendly though I find some of the endless sales pitches tiresome. Its funny, because while 95% of the shopkeepers just motion towards their shops and smile if you don't go in, there are these touts that will follow you around for blocks. Dana, who spent 9 months in Cameroon, said that compared to Yaounde, these guys are laid back and respectful. She's a master at bargaining though - I definitely need to learn from her, as I have no skills in that area. (I think that the shopkeepers can tell I'm halfhearted about it). I think I just need a little more time to acclimatize.

Outside of the touts, most people are really nice though... our cab driver told us all about is wife & 3 kids, etc.

I'm glad we're going to be living in Bobo, even though there are much fewer big city amenities there. Its much more laid back atmosphere will be much easier than the hustle & bustle of Ouaga.

Dust storm!

Craziest thing... I know I'm in Burkina Faso, on the edge of the Sahel now!

I was sitting here doing my bills when I noticed a 'blip' in the power (I'm running on batteries right now as +++ power surges)... the wind was whistling, and i looked outside and the air was filling with dust, clouds of it streaming by, blocking out the light - its almost dark outside though sunset is an hour off. I can hear stuff flying around on the other balconies (at least, I think that's what I hear)... tried to take a photo, but it really didn't show well, and now the air is filled with dust and I don't want to open my door.... very eerie (and bizzare that I can enter a blog as it is happening)... its also pouring rain now, with thunder and lightening... dramatic!

Bye for now - want to disconnect from the LAN too...

Ouagadougou

Saw a little of the capital, Ouagadougou today. It is very flat, with very few buildings over 1 story, even in the center of town. And much hotter and drier here than in Bobo - 35C today here. Besides venturing to the bus yards to look at a charter bus for bringing us and all our stuff to Bobo (between the 5 that are arriving, they have at least 25 pieces of checked luggage, including 3 bicycles, their carryone and a cat), we ended up seeing quite a bit of the city as we drove from the artisanat center.

The Artisans Village is a tourist place where artists can sell their stuff, and they pay a percentage to the center. I suspect the prices are overblown, but some of the stuff is nice, including paintings, woodwork, iron, etc. I found this great women's project, from Bobo Dioulasso where the women make stuff - rugs, purses, dolls, even clothing - out of recycled plastic bags. Its SO cool! So I got their information and I'm going to find them next week. I bought a 12" ceramic vase, decorated with leather and snakeskin that was really unique. And got furniture ideas for my house. But I think there will be much better deals to be had in Bobo, away from a tourist market.

Its interesting dealing with the ministry; when we arrived, they assured us that they would help with transport. And then 2 days ago, via the driver the story changed, several times, and suddenly they need us to pay for the gas, then for a rental bus, etc, in order to help us with the transport... So, we are arranging our own transport; as their story keeps changing and they keep wanting more and more money from us. I wonder what that portends for other stuff in the future...
Anyhow, its all very interesting. Its good for me to see how David copes with these things (he is our administrator who I am here helping, and who has lived and been organizing projects in Africa for 5 years). I keep thinking if we have more discussions we can work out these details, but he just moves forward on things.

Its nice to have good internet access here; hopefully it will be the same once we are set up in Bobo, with ADSL. I hope everyone is well at home.

adventures in Bobo Dioulasso

I wrote a long entry a couple days ago, but as I hit"publish", the computer ate it... painstakingly typed on a French keyboard with an extremely slow connection, I was too discouraged to try again... but now I'm back in Ouagadougou at the Sofitel, awaiting arrival of the other docs. What a difference from the fanciest hotel in Bobo!! So, after a refreshing swim and hot shower with good water pressure and a passable cafe au lait, I'm prepared to start typing again.

Its been a great few days, and I'm very happy to be here; though the task ahead seems even more daunting now that I'm in Burkina. Its obviously very poor, and the beaurocracy will be formidable.

David (my colleague, on of the "vice presidents" of BIPAI) and I have spent the last few days getting oriented to Bobo Dioulasso. We've arranged for a short term rental house for all 6 of us to stay in while we look for permanent housing (David will still stay in the hotel). Its a 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom place, laid out much like our place in Lima, with a central area with sitting room / dining room and on each side, bedrooms. But there is a lovely patio with a tiare hanging over, too.

I will welcome the day when people recognize me as someone who lives there, for right now, we're SO conspicous - everyone with something to sell comes running over to us, people try to draw us into their stores, its non stop. There are lots of young boys trying to sell things, from fruit to postcards to packets of kleenex; very few girls. The streets are lined with men hanging about, some trying to sell stuff. But you definitely get the sense that most of the girls and women are at home doing the work there.

A lovely young man named Aziz has been helping us look for places. There are lots of places, but most are in disrepair and have clearly stood empty for some time; some are downright uninhabitable. But I have my eye on a cute little 3 bedroom place that has a lovely rooftop patio. Not much garden, so I'd have to get some pots to grow some tomotoes etc. But its in relatively good repair and the former tenants have just moved out. If I take it, will put some photos up.

Last night we took Aziz & his wife & daughter to Bobo's best restaurant to thank them for all the help. A funny thing happened there... the restaurant is run by nuns (remniscent of Govinda's) and one of the nuns had a familiar face... and a disinctly polynesian outfit on. Would you believe that there is a Futunian nun from Noumea working in Bobo!!! I didn't have time to ask if she was cousins with my friends, but you never know. How crazy is that!

Anyhow, I'm going to cut it short here. I could go on indefinitely!
Take care & please keep in touch
Laura

Safe arrival in Bobo Dioulasso

So, I guess this is for real, because now I'm in an internet cafe in Bobo Dioulasso. The internet is VERY slow, so I will mostly be using my blog until i have DSL at home but please email or send comments!!!. And its a French keyboard so some of the keys are in different places - so don't be surprised if you see a "Q" where an "A" should be...

The voyage was fine, if long. One of my suitcases was "accidentally" taken by another passenger but it was returned right away thank goodness! It was heavenly to arrive to the Sofitel with its comfy bed, marble bathroom and nice hot bath - and air conditioning! And we have a driver from the ministry of health with us for thez whole week, which really makes things easier. People here are very nice although as in all resource^poor settings, as a muzungu (foreigner) we are freqently approached both by kids selling postcards etc and just asking for $$.

Its the wet seqson here and so the legendqry dust isn't as bad, and the drive here was loevly and green. Although they are repaving many km of the highway so there are a fair number of detours. And its not neqrly as hot as I'd feared. Bobo is not too big, and we're staying in a hotel in the center of town, not too far from the market thqt has a lovely pool and courtyard restqurqnt though i don't think the food is the highlight.

Tomorrow me, David (the administrator who's unfortunqte job it is to organize 52 docs going to 7 countries), our driver Pierre and our local contact, Aziz are going to look for houses; we saw a pretty nice 4 BR plqce today with a lovely courtyard but it is a bit far from town.

I am glad to be here, and looking forward to getting more settled and unpacked in my new home. We won't start seeing patients until after a meeting that is scheduled for Sept 7 & 8, so we have time to get the lay of the land. By then my french should be a little less rusty too! I did half of the translating at a meeting this morning; its tough to retrieve all that from my rusty memory banks!

anyhow, take care & email lots & I will pass on my local contact info when its available:
Love
Laura

53 hours (!)

Well, time is flying by. I leave the country at 10pm on Tuesday, August 8th. Holy cow!

This is "Team Burkina" - the 3 women I will be spending the next 1-2 years with. Leah, myself, Dana & Suzanne (and Leah & Dana's husbands) will be on this adventure together. I couldn't ask for a better group. I've really enjoyed getting to know them - and those folks going to all the other countries - while here in Houston.

I've spent a lovely weekend with Rob, went to Galveston & swam in the ocean since it will be a long time before I can do that again. We ate lots of seafood, and even some Texas BBQ.

This week was an adventure, as I scrambled to get things done... open a bank account, buy last minute supplies, get my wisdom teeth pulled...! That was defintely not part of the plan for the week.

I received a lovely going away gift from Brigid (one of my Public Health school friends) today - a knitted iPod holder and a craft kit. Brigid was teaching me to knit at the end of school, and I've been wanting to have a craft to work on over this year.

My next post will likely be from Burkina, and I'm not sure when I'll next be able to write but please keep in touch!

9 days to go...

Well, I'm leaving in just over a week - I leave August 8th. I am alternating between feeling excited & ready to go, and wondering if I'm a fool for jumping in & doing this.

I'm going early to try to set up housing, etc for our team before everyone arrives (with another BIPAI staff person). It seemed like such a reasonable thing when they first asked if I wanted to do it... but my to-do list is getting somewhat out of hand!

We've had a few social occaisions, including a fancy dinner with the CEO of Bristol-Myers-Squibb (who are paying for most of this program) and a casual, texas BBQ this evening.

I've been feeling a bit lonely, for, as lovely as everyone here is, there is still a diference between friends you've just met and well-established relationships. And I know that will be all the more difficult once I leave! So I think its also a little anticipatory angst. I'm hoping my friends here won't forget to keep in touch with me.

Anyhow, need to get to bed as tomorrow will be very busy.
Laura

vaccine day

Well, we've finished our first week of orientation, and have been left with a fairly long "to do" list of things to finish before heading off to Africa. I got my shots done with today, so the arms are a bit sore (needed meningococcus, polio, typhoid & tetanus / whooping cough / diptheria). And I signed myself up for a year's supply of mefloquine - hopefully I tolerate it as well this time as I did in Uganda.

Also did a bit of shopping for last minute things, like permetherin spray for my bednet and a yoga DVD! and I also found some 'Allo 'Allo DVDs... its the craziest British comedy.

I alternate between being really excited & apprehensive. We'll be working in the hospital HIV clinic initially - we think - and eventually find a place for our temporary clinic. Its exciting to be starting something up from scratch, but also scary.

I'm really enjoying getting to know my colleagues, headed across Africa next month. Its a neat group of people that decides to pack up their lives for a year! Anyhow, speaking of such, I'm meeting my Burkina team for dinner. Take care!

More details are emerging about our assignment in Burkina Faso. Its exciting that we will be starting a brand new clinic. But this next few months will be extremely challenging - its going to be quite a job to start up an HIV clinic. At first we'll be working in the local hospital (we think) until we have a temporary clinic. Our "center of excellence" won't be open for a minumum of 1 year.

Houston has been pretty hot - above 30C so its good practice for Burkina!

on the road again... First stop: Houston, Texas

Welcome!

I've decided for this year-long (or longer?) odyssey to help start HIV Clinics in West Africa, I would start a blog rather than try (and never get to it) to write personal emails to everyone. The upside of being a nomad is the great people I've met all over the world. The downside of being a nomad is that those great people are scattered all over the world!

We're here in Houston, acclimatizing to the hot weather and having an orientation & tropical medicine course. There are about 50 of us here, going to 8 countries - besides Burkina Faso, the AIDS Corps will be working in Uganda, Swaziland, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Tanzania and China. Mostly I've just seen our suite hotel & the classrooms so far, though will have to venture a little farther out later on. The group seems great, and we had a lovely BBQ last night.

There are 4 of us going to Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso; Leah, Suzanne, Dana and myself. My colleagues seem great, and I think we will each bring different but interesting perspectives to things. I'm the only one who hasn't yet been to West Africa - and also the sole ID specialist.

I won't have much to report while here in Houston, but hopefully will be able to contribute regularly once we head off.

Before I left Canada, I had a great but brief visit with my dad & sister, and a lovely few days in Victoria; the photo shows some of my best friends - Carys, Trinity, Karen, Simon, Jamie, Patric & Victoria), at our favorite restaurant, Pag's (or Pagliacci's for long). We've spent many long meals there!

Please do write frequently - I think having news from home will be a lifeline while we get our bearings.

Take care!
Laura