Heal the World

A concert, a surprising class assignment, and a road trip

Heal the World — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

On December 20th, for some reason, Sean Paul (a famous singer for those who need a reference) came to Ouagadougou to put on a concert. His style can be described as a popish reggae. The concert was at the national football stadium “Stade du 4 Août”. This is a very large venue and I expected the place to be packed. Then we got to the concert and remembered that we’re in Burkina and no one has any money. The lowest-priced tickets were 5000 CFA (US$10), a great deal for a Sean Paul concert but still way too expensive for the population here. One advantage to there being no people was that we could walk right up to the stage.

The concert itself was OK. There were no warm-up bands. It was pretty much just the main event. Sean Paul does not speak French, and Burkina Faso does not speak English. This little situation made it quite comical when Sean Paul would yell for the crowd to “put your hands up” and “jump” and asked questions like “do you love Sean Paul?” All questions and commands were promptly responded to with a resounding “quoi?” (What?). Stop talking in English and sing.
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On to brighter subject, like scaring my students to within an inch of their lives. It was not on purpose. I was checking their listening comprehension and oral skills. So I called each student up and asked them simple questions: Write your name, name a factor of education, what is a job for a woman, and what do you want to do after school?

My students were so petrified that I could see them visibly shaking while I was asking them questions. They were not even being graded on this exercise. I think maybe they thought I would yell at them or something for not being perfect. One girl was so worried she crossed herself when we finished.
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For Christmas I took a trip down to Ghana with some friends. The difference between Ghana and Burkina Faso, where development is concerned, is staggering.

The stark contrast between the two nations is captured perfectly at the border crossing. There is similar land on either side of the border, similar size villages on either side of the border, and one major difference --- different countries. In the Burkina immigration office there is one officer seated at a desk armed with a pen and a large notebook so he can handwrite all the names and passport numbers of people leaving and entering the country. On the Ghana side (even at 4 in the morning) there are at least six immigration officers with four computers with a passport scanner for processing people entering and leaving Ghana.

Ghana is at least 30 years ahead of Burkina and that could be due to many things, one of the largest factors being access to an ocean. A small bag of water in Burkina cost 50 CFA (roughly US10 cents), and in Ghana a small bag of water cost about US6 cents. Burkina, while one of the poorest nations in the world, is pretty much the most expensive nation in West Africa.

Ben Roberts
Teacher, English Language Institute, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Oh Burkina

Heal the World — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

I've been teaching in the Burkina Faso school system now for three weeks. The three schools that I teach in are private. I don't really think that means much more than they cost more to go to. One of my classes has 62 students in it while the other two each have about 20.
Some of my students do quite well in class and actually appear to belong there. The others are incredibly far behind and to be honest I don't have a clue how to catch them up. I see each of my classes for three hours a week one day during the week.
The large gap in ability is thanks to the system these students are coming up in. You can completely fail English every year and as long as your other subject scores are good then you move up in level. That means you move up in every level, including the subjects that you fail.
Spent the weekend up in the North again . . . The landscape is changing rapidly. Sometime this "winter" I'll get back up there so you can see what the dry season really looks like. Also had to ride the bus back after sundown -- slightly un-nerving. Not nearly as bad as my trip up which consisted of a driver who was much more in love with the horn than the breaks.
He was a big fan of laying on the horn from about a mile away from his target. Once we were roughly 10 feet from whatever it was we were passing (mostly donkeys) he would rapidly turn then immediately over correct at about 50 mph in a Greyhound-size bus. Good times, especially on unpaved bridges with 30 or so foot drops to either side.
Ben Roberts
Teacher, English Language Institute, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Guess what's coming for dinner

Heal the World — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Sunday night was a cross between a biology class, a lesson on what to do with gifts from friends in West Africa, and a murder/dinner. First the gift: A friend from the Peace Corp was given a gift from a business partner in her village. It was a small white and gray rabbit (we all know where this is going). Let the learning begin. This was not meant to be a pet. It was of course meant to be dinner. One issue we had was that no one knew how to prepare a live rabbit for dinner other than making it dead (and how could we kill him, he was so cute).
As none of us knew how and had never before skinned a rabbit we were stuck and one member of the group threatened to cook beef instead. We couldn’t have that. This rabbit was meant to be dinner and dinner he would BE! So I went on youtube to find out how to skin, gut, and butcher a rabbit. With my 10-minute crash course on preparing rabbit for dinner we had some leverage in the negotiations for what to do about dinner. The hook went like this “I brought someone who can skin the rabbit if someone else will kill it” my friend reported, making me sound like some sort of expert.
So many choices for how to kill “pot-roast” (Should have named him stew. It would have been more befitting his fate). I’ll spare you the details but needless to say he ended up dead . . . He was tasty mixed up with some veggies and spice. No one got sick (other than the guy who got malaria, but that’s not because of the food) so I would say that I did a pretty good job at guessing how to skin and gut Thumper.
Anyway, I am enjoying learning all kinds of new things during my stay. I believe the next item on the menu is hedge-hog, I’ll keep you updated.
Ben Roberts
Teacher, English Language Institute, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

The Dog Mafia

Heal the World — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

My friend Greg lost one of his dogs the other day. Yesterday at 6 a.m. I got a phone call about the dog.

First of all, my French is OK but not on the phone. Secondly, my French is even worse at 6 a.m. This is where it gets sketchy. The person on the other end sounded like they were using one of those voice changing devices or something. They ended up sounding like they had just sucked down a tank of helium. They did say that they have the dog, though, so that was good news.

Later the guy stopped by Greg’s house (without the dog). Now the negotiations start. Why we needed to negotiate to get the dog back I’m really not sure other than this is Burkina. I’ll do my best to put the conversation into a script form.

Me: Do you have the dog or have you just seen the dog?
Dog Mobster: Yes
Me: Yes what?
DM: I saw the dog the other day. It fell in the canal.
Me: Is the dog dead?
DM: No, he’s not dead.
Me: Well, where is the dog?
DM: It’s with my cousin. How much are we getting paid?
Me: We can pay, but can I see the dog?
DM: No.
Me: Then I want to see the dog to make sure it’s OK. Then we’ll talk about payment. Can you bring the dog here?
DM: No.
Me: Wait here. (I went and retrieved Greg) Greg, they have the dog but don’t want to show it to us.
Greg: What are they holding it for? Ransom?
Me: Pretty much.

I tell the guy we’ll follow him to his cousin’s house to get the dog. When we arrive at the complex, a courtyard with three small mud-brick single-room houses, we are greeted with the faint smell of poop and chicken, of which there were plenty of both. Negotiations round # 2. The dog exits one of the houses and runs to Greg. A good sign, considering we thought he was dead.

Dog Mobster 1: Here’s the dog.
Dog Mobster 2: We have had the dog for two days now.
Me: Yes, thanks. So what do you think is a good price to pay you? (This is a cultural thing here. No one will give a price. They will normally just ask the customer what price they think is good then tell them they’re wrong until we arrive at the correct price)
DM 1: Well it wasn’t me who found the dog. It was these two other guys down the street.
DM 2: Yes, there were two more people who found the dog. We just watched it here.
Me: Great (not important and most likely not true) so how much? How about 8,000 CFA (about $17).
DM 1 and 2: Well, it wasn’t us who found it. There’s more people. 8,000 CFA isn’t enough.
Me: Then how much?
DM 2: OK, how about 5,000 CFA a person because there are more people.
Me: How much in total then?
DM 2: 20,000 CFA.
Me: (High pitched screeching sound -- a local move denoting disapproval and/or surprise at a statement) That’s too much. No, we’ll do 15,000 CFA, but that’s it. Greg, grab the dog, let’s get out of here.
We grab the dog and hand over 15,000 CFA, most likely half or all of a monthly salary for these guys, unless of course they do this dog ransom thing every week. In any case it was fun, although completely ridiculous.
Ben Roberts
Teacher, English Language Institute, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Teaching, and the rain aftermath

Heal the World — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

School started this week and it is a joy to see our students again as well as being able to get back into the routine of teaching. We will be tutoring in the evening M-Th. Around the 1^st of September, there was some massive flooding here in Ouagadougou. We received 12 inches of rain in 10 hours and a dam broke resulting entire sections of the city being demolished. 150,000 people are homeless and the threat of malaria and cholera outbreaks from the standing water, lack of clean water and medical care is very real. The Main hospital was flooded and many people lost everything they own. Children are being turned away by the doctors even though they are really ill because they can’t pay. The sheer numbers are daunting. This is the worst disaster since the early 1900’s. Over half the capital is affected and water is reportedly being pumped in from the next biggest city. Personally, we are doing well and other than the periodic losses of electricity and the loss of water pressure we have not been directly affected. Please pray for this situation. This week, we will find out which of our students have been affected.

Natalie Rizvi
Teacher, English Language Institute, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Getting on a bus

Heal the World — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

I managed to take a quick trip up north to visit some Peace Corps friends . . . Adventure: Taking public transportation long distance in Burkina Faso. It was necessary to take the bus up to Dori, about a 260 kilometer trip, so roughly four hours. If you are on the bus and the person next to you needs you to hold something you hold it, goats, food, glasses, babies, whatever. Bus babies tend to pee on you, and no they don't wear diapers, so I was on my guard for bus babies. What I ended up with was some one's shopping, so just glasses for me this trip. The buses I took were pretty nice. It is however one of those things where the "service engine" light is constantly on but, naw, forget it, no reason to check on that it will just be back on next week. Every time the bus stops loads of folks run up to sell products like fried dough, eggs, veggies, fruit, you know whatever. Good times . . .
In the dry season the area is very desert like with little vegetation . . . It's in a geographical area called the Sahel. Pretty much the Sahara expands and contracts with the dry and wet seasons, the areas that change (going green, then very brown/red) are the Sahel. So right now, for my trip, it was very pretty.
With horizons of green hills and fields full of tall millet you would never know that in the next few months that area is going to look like Mars. Anyway, there was loads to learn on this trip. Most notably the local language (pronounced “fa-ful-day”) . . . So here's your lesson for this installment: "fo-fo" is hey and thanks, very useful phrase.
Ben Roberts
Teacher, English Language Institute, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Lucky

Heal the World — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Apparently getting nearly 1/3 of the total year's rainfall in 10 hours is a bad thing . . . Ouaga got way to much rain the other day and we had some flooding issues. Five people have been reported dead and 150,000 have lost their homes. There are two main roads near my house, one to the north the other to the south. The one to the north got washed out in certain areas less than a mile from our house. The main/national/only hospital was flooded and they had to evacuate patients from the some of the wards.

All this took place roughly a mile from our house near the lake. No damage here at the house however, lucky us. One power supply station was flooded so there have been extra supply problems with electricity. We really only lost power for the day of the storm and part of the next day. Water pressure returned yesterday. The storm was on Tuesday/Wednesday. We have been dodging rain since then, just kind of waiting for more problems I guess. I'm pretty sure the storm that hit us will soon turn into Hurricane Fred and if it doesn't then the east coast of the United States should consider itself lucky as well.

In other news the bank is almost as much fun as the market. We have a "repose" I believe is the word we have been using here. That is a three-hour naptime from about 12-3. So at the bank come 2:30 there's a long line of people waiting to get in. Oh, and the main bank we normally go to got flooded so all their customers were re-routed to the smaller bank around the corner, yay. If you happen to leave more than four inches of space between you and the person in front of you in line, you will be immediately corrected by the 30 people behind you for not moving forward. I rather liked this bank however, because I was not greeted at the front door by an AK-47. I'll take the crowd over the gun.

Ben Roberts
Teacher, English Language Institute, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Call me Dr., Nurse, EMT, PA, or maybe just slightly worried Ben

Heal the World — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Around 12 o'clock three of our students decided it would be fun to have asthma attacks and pass out. The first one was in my class. The kids said, "Mr. Ben, she's knocked out" or some version of that in French. Well, good, I thought let's get her inside. So we half drag her unconscious body into the hallway to try and cool her off. It's loads of fun (not) watching a teenage girl struggle to breath on the floor while you don't have a clue what's going on and are trying to figure out what's going on by speaking your second and not-mastered language.
So with the help of other students I hear that she has asthma. Well, good, we know what were dealing with. I get my teammate who has asthma for advice . . . We get her inhaler and force a few pumps down her hoping she's breathing enough to get the medicine into her system. So as I sat on the floor with my hand under the girl’s neck to open her breathing passage, thanks CPR class from at least three years ago, and wondered if she was going to wake up, I paused to say a quick prayer in between checking for breathing and a pulse. Not really my idea of fun, but to be honest it did make school much more interesting today. So she woke up after maybe one more pump from the inhaler.
I went back to my class to watch them finish their little test. So about 15 minutes later . . . girl number two, also down on the ground breathing irregularly and unconscious. Great, so let the Inquisition begin: Does this girl have asthma? Reply: We don't know . . . Yes . . . Well, where's her inhaler? . . . She doesn't have one . . . They give me a random . . . My thought process, if she's about to die I'll give it to her, but otherwise I'm not thinking that's a good idea . . . then turns out she does have an inhaler . . . At this point this girl is convulsing a bit . . . So act number two of trying to get a pump of medication into some half-dead person's mouth . . . We get a puff into her mouth, she starts to open her eyes but they aren't focusing at all, just moving all over the place. Eventually they focus, good news, and she starts to wake up. I deposit her in the air-conditioned room.
About 10 minutes later (there is another one) this time downstairs . . . so I run down for girl number three, also passed out, so back to holding the back of her neck so her airway will be open. This one comes around pretty quickly, praise Jesus.
So three crises averted. Got to play tennis this afternoon at a small playground. The court wasn't real (way too short, and asphalt) . . . however there was some guy there who saw me play and gave me an invitation to play in a tournament tomorrow night . . . good stuff .
Dear any nurses or doctors reading if you have suggestions for how to deal better with passed-out asthmatics please let me know.

Ben Roberts
Teacher, English Language Institute, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Help!

Heal the World — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

As luck has it, Ben is sick today with a high fever and stomach problems, and Crystal is at the local clinic for stomach problems. That leaves me, Natalie, and Anne-Marie to teach the five classes! We combined three into one, and that’s the one that I’m teaching, with Natalie teaching her normal class, and Anne-Marie taking over Ben’s class. Whew! God has truly blessed us with the ability to recuperate from the losses we’ve taken.

Veston Di Donato
Systems Support, English Language Institute, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Such is Africa

Heal the World — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

All was going well on a beautiful Thursday afternoon in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. I was teaching English to the French-speaking students that I still couldn’t remember the names of . . . I just didn’t understand how teachers back home could have all their students names memorized in under two weeks! Anyways, all was going well, the students were focused on their work, and I wasn’t having any problems with them being off-task. Then disaster struck. It wasn’t a gradual diminishing effect, it didn’t having any prior warnings such as flickering light . . . All of the sudden, every piece of networking equipment that could make a whirring sound audibly shut off. I looked up at the wireless router that normally flashed blue lights in order to display connection status, and it was black.
The batteries on the laptops were good for about 1.5 to three hours, and that was a generous estimate. With the Internet down, we could no longer use Rosetta Stone, which meant that I was going to have to resort to using a more battery-intensive program that ran off the CD-drive. All in all, we had five classes left in the day, and only enough battery for about two of the 45-minute classes.
We ran them dry, each and every computer was drained of its life by the end of the two classes.
So for the next three classes, we practiced our vocational skills, mostly by singing in front of the class. Yes, I did have to sing one or two songs . . . and because I didn’t really know any Akon or Lil’ Wayne (that’s what they wanted me to sing), I was forced to resort to the age-old tactic of singing a song that I had written. It wasn’t actually half bad, and the classes actually clapped for me once I had finished.
We just received the Internet back on Saturday night, very late, so if some of you are wondering why I haven’t been posting, that’s it, we haven’t had internet, or for that matter, even time, to post. I apologize for the lack of information that has been relayed, but I had to explain, even to my mom, “Such is Africa”.

Veston Di Donato
Systems Support, English Language Institute, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso