Another week another blog

Another week another blog things here seem to be slowing down quite a lot which is frustrating we have reached a point where having spent nearly 6 weeks applying for funding we have received nothing in response which is quite de-motivating. So now we have the choice do we continue applying for funding and grants for the rest of our time here with the chance of probably hearing nothing and going home feeling as though we didn’t do anything or should we try and find something more achievable to fill our time?

So the decision I have made is to focus on two main goals for the rest of my time those are making the sponsor a Espace Bambino child to go to school a reality and the second goal to try and get Tigoung Nonma some sort of certification or affiliation to a fair trade organization.

Sponsor a child is still at the idea stage at the moment as were not quite sure how to put the idea into reality. The main issue is getting the money here and making sure that the people giving feel confident that there money will be going where they want it to. Bank transfers in Burkina are expensive and HSB don’t have a just giving page or anything similar. International Service are unwilling to help which is very frustrating as there happy to spend the governments money sending us to Burkina Faso but then are unwilling to help us turn our ideas into realities. The majority of monetary transactions in Burkina Faso are done through the western union so this may be our only option on the money front.

The beginner’s English lessons seem to have stopped, we plan them then nobody from Tigoung Nonma turns up which I find a bit annoying as much as I try not to. It’s difficult to try not putting your own standards on somebody with a different cultural background as in Burkina it isn’t seen as a problem to miss something because you’re tired or something else comes up. For this reason I,m trying to not take the lack of attendance to heart as learning English isn’t a particularly useful skill for day to day life in Burkina Faso.   

To try and break up the monotony of waiting for the slow internet too load we had a day cleaning the office walls and choosing photos to make some new displays to try and create a nicer brighter work environment for HSB. HSB’s landlord is very difficult and refuses to let them re paint the walls as he says he will do it which obviously hasn’t happened yet. Their landlord also refuses to let HSB install grab rails and other aids to help them get about and use the toilet which I find completely ridiculous.

                                                      Our little helpers with cleaning the walls.

Introductions

So the department of international development tell me Burkina Faso are 'trail blazers' in working toward the millennium development goals. They now have 50% of girls in primary education which is an achievement but I still think they have a long way to go especially regarding disabled children. In this weeks blog I've decided to share with you some of the stories of the disabled children I've been working with at Espace Bambino. As my experience leads me to believe that Burkina Faso still have a long way to go before they achieve the millennium development goals.    

                                                                                     

Faridatou Nikiema – age 8

Faridatou has been suffering from mobility problems since she fell out of a tree at the age of four. She had a severe break in her left leg but her parents couldn't afford to pay for her to have hospital treatment or even see a doctor. As a result her leg became infected and she developed septicaemia. Her parents brought her to HSB, where they were given enough money to take her to hospital and receive medication for the infection. Unfortunately by this stage not much could be done for her leg, which had healed into a club foot. She manages to move around quite well but would benefit from further physiotherapy. Faridatou is currently in her second year of school, where she is doing well, and her favourite subject is maths.

                                        

Abdoul Razak Tapsoba – aged 7

Abdoul has suffered from mobility problems and frequent epileptic fits since birth. He is one of four children and his parents are extremely poor, and cannot afford to provide him with much care. His epilepsy prevents him from attending school, as he regularly has fits and has been injured from falling over when he loses consciousness. The injury to his right arm above was due to falling down and burning himself on a cooking fire. In spite of his lack of education he is very intelligent, and enjoys the books and toy cars at Espace Bambino. When he first started attending he was nervous and quiet, but his confidence has grown and he now enjoys interacting in group activities and playing with the other children. Abdoul needs to take medicine daily at a cost of 5,500 francs (£8) per week, paid for by HSB. His parents are trying to raise money to buy him orthopaedic shoes to help him walk, and a specially adapted chair for their home.

Kristine – aged 3

Kristine suffers from hydrocephalus, which is a condition where her brain is unable to expel fluid, causing her head to be enlarged. She also has spina bifida, which prevents her from walking, and suffers hearing problems which has led to underdeveloped speech. She had an operation at a young age to help her spine, and in the future will require a second operation to drain the fluid from her brain and insert a shunt, which will hopefully prevent re-occurance. Kristine is one of six children, and the family are extremely poor, her father is unemployed and her mother makes 500 francs (around 80p) for 3 days work helping a local woman brew beer. Mainly the family eat millet, or the neighbours might provide them with food, but some days they won’t eat at all.

Abdoul Dera – aged 3

Abdoul suffers from albinism and has had multiple mobility problems since birth. He is partially deaf and is unable to walk or speak, and also has trouble being in the sun as his skin burns easily. He has some problems with his sight and occasionally suffers from seizures. In the rural parts of Burkina Faso it is a traditional belief that an albino person is created by a spirit, and is sub-human. It is not unheard of for Burkinabe witch doctors in the countryside to buy albino children and kill them as sacrifices, which makes them a target for being snatched. Abdoul’s parents can’t let him play outside unless one of them can go out and watch him.

Bit of a heart wrencher this week but I feel that these children’s stories should be shared I’d like to introduce more of the children but that would be a very long blog.  

Safari

Last weekend I went on my very first safari which was pretty awesome. The safari took place in Nazinga ranch which has around 700 elephants in it. On the way to Nazinga ranch we visited a village called tiebele where they have a hill on which they place women’s placentas after they’ve given birth as this is meant to give the child good health. 

                                      Tiebeles meeting place and the beginning of the placenta hill.

                                         Trying out the panorama setting on my camera

                                                       Getting charged by elephants

                                                           

                                               Watching the Baboons while having breakfast.

                                           

A few pictures I have taken this week.

                                         3 very cute kids that live near me.

                                          Making a farm.

                                          My new friends.

                                             

Thats all for this week I hope you enjoyed its taken me a long time to get online.

Lucy 

International Superstardom

All is still going well in Burkina Faso. We seem to be getting more power and water cuts the closer we get to the end of May which leads to some very hot nights without fans. Luckily our house doesn’t seem to get as many as the other volunteer houses perhaps because not many houses in our area have electricity so it doesn’t make much difference turning it off. I’m hoping once we get into June and it starts to rain the cuts will become less frequent.

So It is official I have made it onto Ougas news as confirmed by some of the other volunteers who saw some very close up shots of mine and Felix’s faces on T.V unfortunately I didn’t see it myself. Between this and singing with the reggae band I’d like to think I’m well on my way to Burkina Faso superstardom.

It’s been a while since my last blog so this is another long one. We have another Bank holiday today amid slight confusion as some teams are working and some aren’t due to the bank holiday been officially cancelled by the president at the last minute. The President stated Burkina Faso has too many bank holidays for such a poor country. This has led to some confusion but the majority of people are still taking the day off including the staff of HSB and Tigoung Nonma.   

                              Me, Alex and Megan trying our hand at singing in a reggae band.

                                                            The HSB volunteers.

APEE School

Last week we visited Burkina Faso’s only school that specifically caters for children with disabilities. There is very little chance for disabled children to go to standard schools in Burkina due to bullying and not getting enough support by school staff. This school was set up in 1991 by a remarkable group of parents who formed APEE (Association des parents et Amis d’Enfants Encephalopathes). The school has NGO status but running it is far from cheap it costs about £170 year to send a child to the school which for most families is simply not affordable considering the average wage in Burkina is $1 a day. The school was a truly happy place with the kids put into classes on their ability after been assessed and observed in an induction class at the beginning. For the older kids who had severe learning disabilities there were craft workshops where the boys were busy making Pape Mache bowels and the girls were busy making jewellery and cards. These products are then sold by the school with the children receiving a percentage of the sale. We are hoping to go back to work at the school for a day.

Send a child to school

While at the school we met Koffi, Koffi is a boy HSB give a bursary to in order for him to attend this school. Until Koffi's mother brought him into HSB's drop in centre Koffi wasn’t going to school at all. Now Koffi has the chance to receive an education in an environment where he won’t be bullied because of his disability. HSB pay for 2 children a year to attend this school as well as funding several other children to go to main stream schools which is significantly cheaper. HSB would like to be able to send more children to school but unfortunately they don’t have the funds. This has led to the idea of a sponsor a child campaign to see if we can provide more bursaries for the espace Bambino kids to attend this really fantastic school. Watch this space for more updates.   

School work shops

The school workshops are still going ahead with more success than the first one.  Smaller groups of kids seem to be the key. Hopefully in a small way we are helping to promote more tolerance of disabled people among the kids who are taking part in the workshops.

                                                       
                                                    

Bob Marley’s Birthday

Last weekend it was Bob Marleys birthday which saw a lot of the volunteers going to a live reggae night which was incredibly fun until they ran out of bottled water. There are quite a lot Rastas in Burkina so Bob Marleys birthday was quite a big event, it was a truly enjoyable night. Unfortunately it struck me how few Burkinabe women there were at this event the majority of women there were white and there wasn’t very many of us. I don’t think it is very socially acceptable for Burkinabe women to go to such events.

Tigoung Nonma

Last week we went round the hotels to see if we could sell of Tigoung Nonmas products or find any shops who would be willing to sell them for us. The trip was quite positive with one hotel asking us to come back in June with some of the leather products as there will be more tourists then and they would put some of the leather bags and cases on display for us. 

                                     Giving the staff of Tigoung Nonma an English lesson
                                            

Espace Bambino

Espace Bambino is going well HSB have a new driver so hopefully more kids will be able to attend.  Jenny has started to profile and make a folder on all of the kids partly for putting them forward for Bursaries and partly as a record for ourselves and future groups to be able to see the names, ages, disabilities, likes and dislikes of the children who attend Espace Bambino.

                                                          Sophies Castle in prgogress.

                                  Jens little favorite Christine. (potentiel for child steeling)  

                                                                       Koffi

News Letter

Over the last week Jonny has being creating a newsletter for HSB and Tigoung Nonma for past volunteers and partners of the organisations. If anyone is interested in receiving the newsletter then let me know. 

Baptisms

Yesterday I attend my first Baptism Burkina Faso style. The people were so incredibly welcoming letting us into their homes and giving us food. We didn’t actually see the Baptism as they were in the morning we were just at the after party’s. Everyone seemed to be having a great time at one of the Baptism parties the party was been thrown by a Muslim family for their catholic neighbours. The children all found our presence quite exciting me, Sophie and Jenny all had about 3 girls each plaiting and playing with our hair for quite a while as well as been climbed on giving piggy backs and just generally been used as sources of entertainment. All round a very enjoyable experience.

                                                           Getting our hair done.

                                                    The girls in the baptism dresses.

I think that is all for now.

Lucy

Learning not to rush

Sorry about the delay on this one the Internet connection is pretty terrible here so uploading to my blog is only possible in certain places. As well as this I am starting to convert to Africa time which means learning not to rush or expect anything to run on time. It’s actually quite refreshing to be in a place not completely governed by times and schedules where everyone seems to take their time over life and they don’t feel the need to rush through it. All is still well In Burkina we are still treated like celebrities by the local kids who never seem to tire of following us shouting Nisarra and wanting to shake our hands. The past week or so has been filled with welding, wheel chair basket ball, school work shops, crocodiles, hippos a weekend in BoBo and Espace Bambino.

So where to start...

Since my last blog quite a lot has happened.

HSB

At the moment we have been doing quite a lot of applying for funding which is a frustratingly long process involving a lot of staring at our computer screens waiting for them to load. So far no joy on any of the applications but were trying to stay positive and keep on applying and emailing. HSB is not a sustainable organisation as it has few income generating outlets and all the services they provide are free. This means HSB are constantly relying on donations from its partners and limiting the work they want to do due to lack of funds. They need a long term sponsor who would enable them to gain some form of stability not the constant uncertainty they currently face. I find this quite frustrating as the services they provide such as espace bambino and the drop in centre are such great services for disabled people in Burkina Faso and with more funding they could do so much more. The office they currently have doesn’t even have adequate facilities for wheel chairs and the landlord of the property refuses to let them make any changes such as grab rails and ramps.

For Tigoung Nonma the prospects look brighter as they are providing an income generating outlets with their crafts and also a catering service they provide. Last week we took a trip to the American embassy as the America embassy does sometimes give grants to income generating organisations. The American Embassy is of course the biggest Embassy in Ouagadougou and manages to still have a very impressive lawn despite it been near the end of the dry season with water cuts being quite frequent. Unfortunately we didn’t make it past the gate. It is still frustrating with Tigoungnoma though as everything they make is really amazing but unfortunately there are a lot of artisans in Burkina so they struggle to sell their products.  

Other than that last week also involved a visit to the HSB welding work shop staffed by five disabled guys who make wheel chairs, hand bikes, convert scooters into tricycles and also anything else they get orders from. The welding work shop still has quite strong links with the Swiss founder of HSB who has provided them with equipment and often provides them with orders as well. The welding work shop is the only way HSB can make money, however it is difficult for them to make the workshop profitable as there are a lot of welding workshops in Burkina Faso. Whilst there I was let loss with a saw and managed to saw some pipe a bit wonkily.

                                                               

                                                           Got my concentrating face on.

Espace bambino was on as normal on Thursday with a different batch of kids with differing disabilities who we were trying to keep entertained. I’ve found it quite sad to learn that the children here don’t really understand colouring and will just scribble all over the picture. So I have taken it upon myself to adopt a colouring prodigy we managed to establish outlining pictures so far so I pretty certain in no time I may have a full blown colouring expert on my hands.

During the morning there is a free physiotherapist provided by HSB that all the kids are able to see. I decided to watch some of the Physio taking place but I wasn’t able to watch for long as often the children would be crying and screaming in pain as he moved their limbs and muscles. It was also quite sad to learn that a lot of the children have become disabled due to illnesses such as polio and malaria all of which could be prevented. After watching the session I was informed that until recently the Physio wouldn’t do any exercises with the children he would simply sit there with them and pray. I suppose this perhaps shows the general Burkinabe attitude towards disabled people.

Wheel Chair Basket Ball

On Thursday evening all of the volunteers from HSB were invited to take part in a wheel chair basket ball match against one of the two wheel chair basket ball teams associated with HSB. So with no practise we went along and had a really good time. The other team took it very easy on us as we were complete beginners and humoured our attempts at bouncing the ball while trying to wheel at the same time which is actually really quite hard. There were some quite hilarious moments including Felix falling out of his chair backwards much to the enjoyment of the crowd, unfortunately there is no video evidence of this event. One of the hardest things was trying to shoot as you’re quite a lot lower than normal. In the end though we were victorious I’m fairly certain we were allowed to win and it was not due to our amazing basketball skills.   

The weekend

This weekend involved a Jazz festival at the French Institute and sitting on Crocodiles. The French Institute is really nice, great fun and free except for slightly over priced beer, it was strange to be back in amongst predominantly white people as that is a pretty rare experience in Burkina.

Sunday dawned and we were off to the crocodile park where you buy live chickens then head to a lake where a guide tempts a crocodile out of the lake with the chickens and then feeds it to the crocodile we then all took turns to sit on the crocodile and hold its claw. I was a bit conflicted on the chicken front but couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get that close to a crocodile. The Crocodile seemed very docile and barely moved at all but I did think while holding its claw how easily it could take my arm off. However I think the crocodiles have been very well condition to know if they lie there they get easy food given to them.

                                         

Week 4

The beginning of the fourth week saw us getting to attend a workshop in a local school delivered by HSB. The aim of these workshops is to raise awareness amongst the kids about disabled children and disabled people in general as very few disabled children go to school as some schools won’t accept them. The workshop was delivered in Moore so our participation was limited I think we were more there as an added attraction to come to the workshop as the kids here really do enjoy staring at us. The workshop was in several parts including a speech by a disabled athlete, a true and false question session where they are asked questions such as ‘should a blind child be allowed to go to school’ and a game where the children are all given different disabilities then asked to carry a cup of water without spilling it. All was going well until the game where the children just became too rowdy and excitable and the rest of the workshop had to be called off. Unfortunately due to the language barrier we weren’t able to add much to the workshop and potentially just antagonised the session by causing a lot of excitement. All the children were very intrigued by us and two girls kept standing behind me touching my hair. Before we left some of us decided to go and shake hands with the children through the classroom windows this was perhaps a bit of a mistake as I was slightly concerned at one point I was going to lose my arm. Felix made the mistake of going into one of the classrooms where he got mobbed and ended up with several children attached to each arm. Luckily he made it back out in one piece. It was a shame they were unable to finish the workshop but it was an interesting experience and I think it really does help the children learn more about disabilities and disabled people both of which are quite taboo subjects in Burkina. We have more school workshops coming up so hopefully they will be more successful.

Soladaire Festival

Tuesay dawned and we headed to a soladiare festival where Tigoung Nonma had a stall. The festival was a bit of a let down for Tigoung Nonma as there were very few people there and it turned out to be only for a day when Tigoung Nonma were under the impression the festival would last for a week. Whilst there we watched the opening ceremony unfortunately my understanding was quite limited due to my lack of French. It also became a bit awkward when the local news station who were there filming decided to spend a fair amount of time filming the ‘Nisarras’ sitting at the back. On the plus side I may well have made my Burkina Faso T.V debut.

Espace Bambino

After a bank holiday on Wednesday it was time for Espace Bambino again. Unfortunately this week HSB’s driver informed them last minute he would be unable to drive to pick the kids up. This was due to him getting a new job as HSB have been unable to pay him. This meant there weren't as many kids than usual which in a way was good as it meant we had more time to play with them all.

BOBO

This weekend myself and 7 of the other volunteers took a trip down to Bobo which is a town in the southwest of Burkina about 350km from Ouaga. Bobo lived up to expectations involving hippos, traditional villages, walking round a forest, the old mosque, the grad marche and drinking in a bar which we found out after is renowned for been where prostitutes hang out.

 A lady in the old village of Bobo who was making millet beer a drink frequently drunk by Burkinabes.

   

 The river next to the old village of Bobo with no running water in the village the locals are forced to wash themselves and thier clothes in the dirty water. 

A five hour bus journey back and we were back in the crazyness that is Ouaga ready to start another week.

I will try and keep my blog posts more frequent from now on.

Lucy