Burkina Faso

The Trip

In April, my team went to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso for team retreat; and I was able to stay on an extra week for holidays! This marks my second African country in my passport. Already, it is more used than my first passport - which marked solely my missions trip to Mexico! The trip by car was made in about 7-8 hours (with a time zone change) and I rode with the Tjosvold's - and increased my African-ness with a bus ride home! (more on that later) Just before we arrived at the border of Burkina Faso, we saw the semi-truck village - the line of semis stretching for miles!

At the time of travelling to our retreat, there was a dispute over transportation taxes, which resulted in certain food supplies being stopped in transit. When we left for Ouaga at the end of March, Niamey had been out of flour for weeks, until just a few days before we left. These trucks had been camped here since before mid-February. They have little cots and tents set up, there are laundry lines strung between trucks. It was quite the amazing sight to see! I was quite amazed that the truck drivers would stay that long with their produce instead of driving somewhere else to sell it - but I guess it was already prepaid by store owners in Niamey. Apparently also the African mindset is "If I stand here long enough, perhaps they will change their minds". I have no idea of the current position of the dispute, but some of the trucks are getting through - so perhaps this theory works??!?

Upon crossing the border between Niger and Burkina Faso, the contrast between the two countries is noticeable - green!!

Burkina Faso is a greener country than Niger -there are trees everywhere and most times as far as the eye can see!

It was so refreshing and then . . . .

blue water!

I have not seen blue water since leaving Canada. (Niger water - puddles and marshes - and the Niger river are all various shades of sandy, muddy brown.) It was such a joy to see, the sight alone startling my eyes! (I am sure once I get home - I will giggle with you all that I called the above 'lake' blue!)

The other sight which startled me was the larger towns that we drove through, the highway traversing through the middle of town. We had passed through two before I could put my finger on the difference - for though definitely African I had an internal sense that something was different from Niger. I sat in the car and mulled through some adjectives in my mind and came up with: cleaner, less garbage (note: I am still in Africa - hence the 'er' and 'less'). Until without thinking I blurted out 'more organized'! I shocked myself with my westerness and ethnocentric thoughts! Though I have grown accustomed to and live in relative chaos - in terms of the physical landscape, my heart automatically grasped at something that looked 'familiar'. The buildings were set back from the roads, trees lined the roads, and looking down the roads perpendicular to the highway on which we drove - the lines and rows of houses seemed more clear cut. The jumble of huts and market stalls did not encroach and spill out onto the highway.

(On a side note: my friend laughs that I took one look at the town and declared it organized!! It is still most decidedly African!)

But, I have been told that the Burkinabe lean more to the 'clean line' idea in construction. In fact, as we drove through another town, we saw an odd sight: a field with power lines gridded out in a huge square. We tried to grasp the relevance of this, when it occured to us that the power line grid was already installed in a new neighbourhood that had yet to see construction!!

This would be an odd and amazing foresight in pre-construction for Canada . . . . much more so shocking in Africa!

Ouagadougou

We arrived in Ouaga after an uneventful trip and some beautiful and different scenary.

Some sights still looking familiar to Niger:

people in the back of trucks and on top of bush taxis.

the African version of strip malls (as I like to call them).

And an even more familiar, yet strange sight:

Ouagadougou (pronounced: wah-gah-do-gu) is the capital of Burkina Faso. As I researched a bit about the town (for holiday activity ideas), I discovered an interesting history to the city name:

The name Ouagadougou goes back to the 15th century when the Yonyonse and the Ninsi tribes inhabited the area. They were in constant conflict until 1441 when Wubri, a Yonyonse hero and an important figure in Burkina Faso's history. He then renamed the area from “Kumbee-Tenga,” as the Ninsi had called it, first to "Sogomogobogoyogowogodogo", meaning "palace of the worshipful camel-faced bushboy where people get honour and respect" and then to “Wogodogo” meaning simply "where people get honor and respect." The spelling Ouagadougou is based on French orthography.

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Ouagadougou

Retreat

The team retreat was one week long and was a time of refreshment for myself and my colleagues - spiritual refreshment and also relaxation. We had a few speakers who spoke on team building skills and another speaker who spoke to us on the book of Ephesians and how that related specificially to our ministry. I am still processing and applying all that she taught us during the week, but her words were challenging and affirming in what we do here!

The relaxation for our team was a great few activities that are unavailable in Niger . . .

we went to a theme park (for Calgarians - think Calaway Park, only smaller scale and of course, African style). There were about 3 rides working - a little car derby for the kids, the merry-go-round and bumper cars! There was also a huge trampoline area and a games room - the kids all piled into the ball pit while us adults played fooseball (ah, fond memories of camp! and a not so fond memory of breaking my finger while playing once in college!!). The teams split 'hockey team style' - those who cheered for Alberta teams and those of us who cheered for the Montréal Canadiens. I of course joined the Montréal Canadiens team (for those of you who do not know - this is my hockey team!!!)

All 8 team children - can you find them all??!?

and we went bowling!! This was such a fun activity, I could have stayed all night. It was 10-pin bowling, which was a slight concern for me - I have never done this style before . . . given how much of a klutz I am, I've always had a slight paranoia that I would not release the ball correctly and break all my fingers! I am happy to report no broken fingers! I even got a strike!!!

Holiday

The first few days of my holiday, there were also two team families who stayed in Ouaga as well. Us ladies went shopping to an artisinal market place - which is about 3 times the size of the marketplace in Niamey - stalls of beaded necklaces, clothes, instruments, baskets, woven cloth, leather boxes, wooden animal carvings, silver jewllery, canvas paintings - the crafts and colours were astounding!!

This week I spent at a mission guest house further out from downtown, so I walked out to the main road and took a taxi each day into downtown. I wandered around the shopping stalls and artisinal markets. I fended off the forward Burkina men - who reminded me of Jamaican wanna-be's (with dreadlock hair and the black/yellow/green/red knitted caps). They all thought that I had come to chat with them and offered to be my tour guide for my time there - motorcyle trips around the city included! I ate most suppers in restaurants - loving the chance to try some new food and new restaurants.

My favourite find of the week was the crèperie! While studying in Québec, my favourite past-time on Sundays was to walk around and explore Vieux-Québec, usually ending with supper at a crèperie for an amazing crèpe filled with omelette ingredients (bacon, eggs, cheese, mushrooms, etc...) This crèperie in Ouaga had a similar type meal and I even stuffed myself full with a dessert crèpe! I ordered the strawberry filled crèpe and decided that I was on holidays so splurged the extra 500 francs (~$1.25) for chantilly sauce. Not until I watched them prepare my crèpe did I realized that I had spent 500 francs for whipping cream out of an aerosal can!! sigh. It was still good though!

Following my crèperie indulgence, I went hunting for the National Music Mueseum - the current downtown location under construction, I was following directions painted onto a board at the primary location. The directions indicated that the mueseum was on a main road that I knew (on route to my guest house) the first right after the water canal. This I also knew. The taxi, however, took a different route from the crèperie and dropped me off a few kilometres from the water canal. Not wanting to pay 500 francs for a taxi to take me just up the road, I hiked back to the water canal and then retraced my steps to the first right (as I had been unsure exactly which road was the first right following). It was about 3pm - high heat point of the day - and I was sweating by the time I arrived at where I thought the mueseum would be . . . and it was not! I finally found someone who gave me directions - it was further down the road in the other direction. So, I hopped in another taxi and sped down the road - only to cross another water canal (hmm, the directions did not say after the 2nd water canal - just the water canal!).

I finally found the mueseum, walked in, paid my fee for a tour guide . . . . and discovered that the extent of the mueseum was one room!!! It was interesting though to see all the instruments - different types of guitars, drums and xylophones! My tour guide excitedly explained where each type of instrument comes from in the country - based on the wood available in each area. He showed me how a few were played, he explained which ethnic group used it and for which purpose. Some instruments were for marriage and funerary ceremonies, some for dancing, one was used during the town debates by the male elders - played in the background for the duration of the debates to create a calming presence. Some instruments were played by the women only, some by men, some by women past menopause and some by children. The xylophones are made out of wooden 'keys' with calabas (vegetable gourd) bowls of varying sizes underneath to create the vibrating sound in different tones. There was one large xylophone (about 6-8 feet long) that was played by three people - who dance around the perimeter for the playing, striking the wooden keys as they circled. This would be an amazing musical feat to see and hear!

Bus Trip

After my week in Ouaga, I took a bus back home to Niamey. Now, if I was in Canada - this would be the end of the story. However, I am not in Canada, and the bus ride trip is worth a story on it's own!!

I am thankful that I was riding on a Greyhound size bus and not a bush taxi! (Though just as crowded, the bush taxi is smaller and usually entails live animals inside as well - thankfully the bus did not have animals.)

The bus was to leave at 6am and I had to be at the bus station at 5 am!! I am not a morning person, so waking up at 3:30 am to make the bus was definitely a challenge! My taxi driver (pre-booked the day before, who knows the guest house without needing directions) arrived and was a pleasant man - even knowing a little Fulfulde, so we greeted each other in said language!

I had called ahead the day before to reserve a ticket on the bus, but needed to wait until 5am for the ticket office to open to purchase and receive said ticket. That done, I stationed myself beside the door of the bus. As we had not received assigned seats, I assumed that the seating would be first-come-first-serve. And knowing the 'crowding' mentality (versus the line-up mentality) - having just fought my way to the counter at the ticket office - I decided I wanted to be close enough to receive a front of the bus seat so I would not get motion sick during the ride.

To my increasing amazement, there was minimal crowding at the bus door - though one lady stationed her belongings up at the door (given I was about 2 feet away - quite the feat!) - much to the grumbling of all others around me. They finally opened the bus door, but there was no rush! The ticket agent called out the names of people in the order of ticket purchase - likely to manage said crowding mentality; however, I had a moment of panic knowing that I was unlikely to receive a forward seat. Thanks to my foresight of pre-booking my ticket the day before, though, my name was about the 8th called! I walked in, grabbed a seat about 3 rows back and a window seat! The back of the bus and underneath was crammed full of luggage piled in like a puzzle! The bus was finally filled - and in a moment of un-Africaness, pulled out of the bus depot 15 minutes early!!! The bus was about as full as I think it could possibly get. However, on the trip through the city, the bus driver stopped and let on passengers standing by the side of the road!

The price of my bus ticket also included:

• an entertainment director
• a refreshment director

The entertainment director - within seconds of leaving the bus depot - put in a tape of loud African rap music. (Keep in mind that this was still 5:45 am - I had been hoping to get back to sleep! Though, I did manage to nap, just not ever really hit deep sleep) Throughout the duration of the bus ride, he changed the tapes. As everyone began to wake up, various young people (about 2-3 young guys) throughout the bus treated the entertainment as karoke!! Including the young guy beside me! As he be-bopped along and sang in rather amusing falsetto (high tenor . . . which he was not!). I wish I had a tape recording to share with y'all!

The refreshment director toured the aisle from time to time with various bottles of pop, juice and small plastic sacs of water - I kept expecting him to break out into: "peanuts, popcorn, hot dogs"!!

Aside from the border crossings, the bus stopped once - 10 minutes in a town about half way to the border in Burkina. It was about 8:30 am, so I figure this must have been the breakfast stop! Most everyone piled out of the bus and trickled back in over the stop. After about 8 minutes, the bus driver started blaring his horn to call back the remaining passengers back to the bus (though, how they knew this is beyond me - for there were two others buses, who started blaring their horns about the same time). When he figured most everyone was there, he started the bus and took off - having to stop again after about 20 feet - to pick up the straggling passengers running down the road. Upon viewing this - I determined to not get out of the bus unless absolutely necessary and to be one of the first back on following all necessary debarkements (at the border crossings)!!

Once we crossed the Niger border, I had such a feeling of peace crossing back over into land I knew, recognized and loved! The first village stop, for the Niger border, is the Fulani town where I work - I know the area well and it felt like home after two weeks.

We pulled into Makalondi and the bus driver informed me we would be there for a few hours as the border police inspected every bag (I wished I had packed differently instead of just throwing all clothes in haphazardly - knowing full well what was on top was not preferable to public viewing). I was well relieved, that apparently because 3 buses showed up at the same time, not all luggage was checked - just seemingly the bags under bus. It appears that the baggage handlers sorted the luggage in Ouaga - personal belongings inside and marketable luggage underneath. As it was 1pm, I was thankful to not have to spend 2 hours under the sun! I was just as disconcerted though, that when I went to go buy a coke for refreshment, the bus driver offered me a beer to drink with him! (How many of these did he have during the voyage??!?) As we pulled out of this town and headed towards Niamey, the mid-afternoon heat got to my neighboring passenger - who promptly fell asleep and then fell on me during a turn! The elderly man behind him shoved him until he woke up. The young man then asked the man why. And though I do not speak their language, based on tone and body language, I am positive the response ran along the lines of "Young man, you are sleeping on the white lady!!! Smarten up!". He looked at me sheepishly and promptly fell back asleep - again to fall back over onto me on the next turn, only to be shoved awake again by the man behind! After this, the remaining ride to Niamey was uneventful.

As the bus topped a rise outside Niamey and I could start to see the outlines of the city, I had the same feeling of peace and joy of coming home!

Burkina Differences

Though I have mentioned a few differences between Niger and Burkina throughout the post, there are a few more worthy of mention:

• animals: throughout my two weeks there, I barely saw any animals. We all commented on this difference, during the first week of team retreat, we saw one donkey! During my second week, I saw 7 more donkeys and 1 goat. (Though, this was likely a higher count, due to the road outside my guest house being the daily route of one said donkey cart.)
  I am sure that this seems like a fairly high number - and compared to American standards, it is for sure! But, as I see anywhere between 25-100 animals per day in Niamey, a significant difference!

motorcycles and bikes: Ouaga and Burkina Faso seem to be the capital of motorcyles and bicycles!! They are all over in mass quantities - they even merit a lane of their own. Which unfortunately has priority over the vehicle lanes - so while driving, one has to be careful in turning right and crossing over said motorcycle lane! Even the parking lots are built to favour the motorcycles - and the sides of the roads are lined with hundreds of parked motorcycles.

cleanliness: the amount of garbage on the roads was significantly less. No garbage breezing through the streets, no empty lots turned into impromptu garbage dumps. Less I paint the picture though that Ouaga was clean, note that the operative here is 'less' - it was just cleaner than Niamey!

last but not least, the stores . . . there is one called Orca! Similar to our Linens and Things or Pier One in style. Though how these people can even relate to what an Orca is, I have no idea (apparently this is a South African chain, so the whale makes sense as a whole, but not really for landlocked Burkina Faso!).

Oh - and as you can tell from the above pictures . . . all taxis are variations of green (including lime green!). My favourite colour. So, that was kinda fun. Though, all taxis are in a constant state of disrepair. Some had no inner door panels, some had no door handles. One taxi sported a disconcerting sound - which I can (from experience) explain as a broken axle. It is sad when I (a non-mechanic) can identify the mechanical problems of a car. The sad thing is knowing that even if I could explain it to him (no - I don't know the word for axle in French) he would likely not do anything about it. So, I just prayed that the axle would not give out on my trip and I would thus make it to my destination safely!

It was also disconcerting to have one taxi roll into a gas station - add 2,000 francs ($5 dollars) to his gas tank (is that enough to get me to my destination?!??) and then realize that the gas was pumped in all the while the car was not turned off!! Apparently, you don't have to turn off the car engine while pumping gas in! yikes!

I am sure that I could continue listing the differences, but the long post must end somehow, sometime. So here, I take a breath and end my tale!

(Note: pictures of Ouaga team activities and artisinal market - courtesy of Chantelle and Tjosvold's - my camera was disappointingly not working after our arrival!)