Friday February 26, 2010

Just a very short blog because not an awful lot to say - but I am going to Bobo-Dioulasso this week-end and will let you know how that went on Monday.

It seems that a few things are progressing in St-Sauveur - I think I might have sold my car and my house in the last week.- nothing signed yet but offers on both so I will keep my fingers crossed.

Here however nothing is progressing - work is at a standstill and I do not put much hope that anybody will be able to help this particular organization. I hope to be able to meet with my Program Manager next week and get affected to another mandate. I have been trying to meet with him for the past 2 weeks but his father passed away so I have to be patient. I think I am getting rather good at being patient because not much esle to do.

The weather is getting hotter every day and we found a quaint little maquis were we go for our daily beer and converstion with some locals - a doctor, a journalist and an engineer. I would not venture eating there but the beer is nice and cold (but the flies are really at home there too). The doctor is a real card - loves to talk and you have a hard time getting anything in to the converstion - he likes the monologue type of conversation but he is nice.

Not being able to go out at night is a real pain however - I am going to have to figure something out soon because this is home for me.

That's all folks - not much to say. Hopefully next blog will be a bit more entertainning with my visit at Bobo.

A few odds and ends

As I was going through my pictures I remembered that there are some that I did not share with you when I could not download my pictures into the computer.

The night of Feb 12th we went to the Centre Culturel Francais and we saw some amazing artwork - recycled materials gave this

and there were these gigantic puppets where the puppeter stands at the base of the puppet with two sticks in his hands to activate the arms.

During an evening at the "Jardin de l'Amitié" we were entertained by clowns on stilts (they like big)

And there is my work and my office space

And lately it has been so hot that this is what I long

Work is pretty slow today - lack of electricity for a couple of hours and lack of work gave me a chance to write this blog - can you tell I am bored ???

Saturday February 20th 2010

Not too much to say this week – I fear I am getting into the daily routine that is not so exciting or new anymore. I did hire a night watchman – his name is Issouf. As a set up cost I had to buy him a bench for when he sits outside my gate and a reclining chair that he can sleep on once he comes inside the gates at around 10 pm. – he also had to buy himself a machete just in case we have any intruders. They actually can kill an intruder here with not many consequences – the police just put it down as death by unknown cause.
Talking about the police my neighbour Thérèse and I went to put in our deposition regarding our attempted mugging last week. They actually have a little desk at the entrance with 2 chairs and a little note book (looks more like a grade school notebook with very narrow lines) were he took down our names and passport numbers and a little blurb about what happened. Not sure how the information gets passed along to other policemen and I did not ask not wanting to insult anybody.
So now that I have been here for a grand total of 6 weeks (seems like so much more) I have in my employ a helper Rose (5 mornings a week) who does everything except cook for me and a night watchman Issouf (7 nights a week) who is also a cook so maybe one day I will get him to cook the odd meal for meal. Total cost a month is 37,000F CFA ($83) - but still about 25% of my take-home pay.
Another service I signed up for is garbage disposal – I realized not all my garbage got consumed (by who knows) and for approx 1,000F CFA a month ($2.50) these two women come and pick up the garbage with their donkey once a week – not sure where it gets dumped but I am assuming they recuperate what they can and then burn the rest. I wanted to take a picture of them but they did not want – maybe next time.
It is also getting hotter here by the day and night – average temperature during the daytime this week was 106˚F and 91˚F at night. The fan is working continuously but really only circulating hot hair. I think the trick is to take a shower in the middle of the night and get in bed under the fan right away to cool off somewhat. Because when it is so hot I sweat bullets all the time and must drink at least 3 litres of water a day. And I am told it will only get worse – can’t wait. I am sure I will enjoy winter so much more in the future.

I ordered my furniture 1 month ago and still waiting - I think I got had.

I am not too interested in talking about work this week – not yet sure if it is really a viable organization and my week was rather frustrating so I will refrain to talk about it until another time when I will be more cool headed.
That’s it for me this week – hope all of you are doing well and in good health.

Videos from Boromo

Boromo Elephants are amazing

Wow what a wonderful experience going to Boromo to see the elephants.

First the ride to Boromo – we took a bus ride of some 2h30min and the bus line TCV is definitely the best. Nice clean bus with air conditioning and even a movie during the trip. Quite impressed. The road was also good. Once we got there we were met by Abrahim who escorted us to our “hotel” with his donkey and cart – the cart was to put our luggage but since we only had small packs we decided to just walk along with him – 15 min later we were in this quaint little place called “Sama Camp” with huts and some rooms for guests. (

Sidebar: Although Boromo is a lot smaller than Ouagodougou it also has some of the same garbage and smells – and the people are also somewhat in your face asking to buy their wares or asking you to give them a gift of money. The kids run after you screaming “Nassara, Nassara” wanting to shake your hand – and maybe hoping for a little something ($$) ...

We left our luggage at the camp and off we were to see the elephants. Rented a couple of motorcycles (2 passengers per) and followed Pierre (my neighbour) who was our guide since he had been there already for 2 days. The roads were terrible – sandy and full of potholes so reduced speed all the way. The 8km trek took us 45 min (slow, slow) with a few nervous moments trying to keep on track with the road and not slip sliding away because of the sand. We finally got to our destination and stayed for approx. 4 hours – no elephants in sight so quite the disappointment. We got back to Sama camp and had a great supper with great conversation. Our host is named Salif  (he was the interim boss as the owners went away for a few days) - a social worker in Boromo who deals with issues such as excision, family violence and sensitizing the population about precautions to take against AIDS/HIV – a burkinabé man preoccupied by women issues – sooo interesting. Of course we asked him a ton of questions and he was so open with us about their challenges, their misconceptions and their somewhat backward ways that he was dedicated to change. A great evening, with great food and of course some good wine to celebrate the occasion.

The next morning – prior to leaving again with our motorbikes to hopefully see the elephants – we had breakfast and we settled our accounts with the hotel. Since we had invited Salif to supper the night before we wanted to pay for it but then we were privied to a very heated domestic argument. Abrahim did not want us to pay for Salif’s meal since Salif was the “interim” boss – but his wife Assita was fairly verbal in the fact that it was the arrangement – they argued to the point where Assita broke down in tears screaming at hear husband – we did not understand everything that was being said but we got the message – the husband rules and the wife is not suppose to argue. Not wanting to get Assita in any trouble (i.e. a possible beating from the husband) we called Salif to guide us on what was the proper thing do you under the circumstances. He settled the issue by us paying and all was well at the end – giving us the assurance that Assita was not going to pay dearly later on.

Back on the motorbikes we finally got to the spot where the elephants usually are seen (at around 10h30) and we had the most fantastic spectacle. There must have been about 30 elephants no more than 50 feet away from us on the other side of the bank of a narrow river. They gave us quite the show for about 2 hours - playing, breast feeding, eating of the branches, bathing and even a mother disciplining one of her teenager elephant’s for having been to ruff with a baby elephant. It was absolutely amazing. I will try to put the videos I got on You Tube once I figure how to do it.

We then came back to Ouaga via a different bus line - probably more indicative of the average African travel experience. Old bus with seats that are worn down, no ventilation expect for open windows. Coming back into Ouaga was a bit depressing because the sand and smog where so thick you could hardly see more than 500 feet in front of you – but that is Ouaga.

Back home now – the shower was well deserved – the one problem with Sama Camp is that they don’t really have showers or toilets. They have a communal shower stall where you bathe with a water bucket – and the toilet is another stall with a hole directly into the pit with cockroaches crawling/flying around. But it is a great place for a night (but maybe not 2) unless those little inconveniences don’t really bother you.

My next blog will probably be on Friday – will let you know how my week went.

February 12th

I know it’s been a week since my last blog but ...


Another week - more challenges and some interesting stuff.

Let me start with the challenges to finish off with the interesting stuff.

First of all I hired a young woman (Rose who is 23 and studies at night to complete her high school) as a helper around the house. The process in doing so was quite interesting as I met with her mother and a neighbour and herself - they were interviewing me as much as I was interviewing them. When it came down to asking how much it would cost for Rose to work for me 3 mornings a week at approx. 3hours a day - I never got a price. Rose did not say a word during the whole time and the mother repeatedly said that Rose was not her child even though she gave her birth - but was also my child as we are all children of God - and since I needed help then Rose was just happy to help me even for free if that was the will of God. So I never got a price. After some fact finding I was told to pay her 10 000F CFA a month since she was working but 30% of the time for me and a helper gets approx. 30 000F CFA a month. $25/month for somebody to clean the house (albeit a small house) - do my laundry and maybe even some cooking. I feel I am exploiting the system but then I was told that if I gave her more than others would feel bad or jealous or whatever and that I should respect the going price.

Then there is work - I will not mention the organization's name in my blog because I do not want my blog to pop up when people search the net for the name of the organization. But as most of you know they give post graduate courses and some short term training courses - but the problem is that they do not have any customers i.e. students - they are broke and are not paying their staff (since 2004) except for a token something a month (the difference accounted for as debt) - they are in debt over their ears (I have never seen red like this on a balance sheet) and have no one to finance them. Their parent co is in Cameroun and the Board of Directors have been trying to get some financing since 2006 with no success. They have asked the founder to come back to help them in this endeavour but he is over 80 years old by now and I have a feeling his network has retired some time ago. the average age of the support staff is 54 and the average age of the "management/coordinators" staff is 62. They have not had new blood in the place for ever. They themselves have very little competencies and they hire university professors to give the course material. In 1994 the CFA was devalued in half so the management of the time decided to double the salaries - so now they are stuck with salaries that make absolutely no sense for this environment and would even be considered generous by North American standards. They have been declining in enrolment since 1990 and have not done an awful lot to renew their course offering - which evidently is not interesting too many people. Their campus is absolutely decrepid - made out of mud for all purposes and suffering every rainy season (which is coming up). Did I mention they have no money - they have 4 students and the course finishes in October - but although the students have paid in full their tuition there is nothing left to pay the university professors to give the courses. Their General Manager is very autocratic and demeaning so the staff do not want to work for him - the atmosphere is the pits. And they think I am going to make a difference... to which I repeatedly tell them I am no miracle worker. They still think I can pull a rabbit out of a hat with millions of US$ attached to its ears. This is one challenge that I think will be my Waterloo and theirs. If anybody has any suggestions I would really appreciate it.

Another challenge in this wonderful city are the smells - as it gets hotter the smells get more pugnent - the pollution gets thicker and the Harmattan sands just make it yuck. I hardly pee I sweat so much and I drink a lot.

Last but not least new challenge is the security. My neighbour Thérèse and I went out last night and even though we came home early (8h30 pm) we got attacked by 2 young men on their motorcycle trying to steal our handbags. Thérèse got the worst of it as she was knocked to the ground and got 2 nice bumps - one on the head and the other on the arm - everything here is dirt roads with rocks and garbage so when you hit the ground you it hard. I only got a few scrapes - when they charged at us a second time since the first time they got nothing - but they eventually fleed with nothing - The sad part of it was that we were about 100 yards from home and it happened just in front of the Mosque - there was a guard sitting on the stairs of the Mosque and he did nothing - absolutely nothing. I guess the lesson learned is that we cannot go out at night with handbags at least - but maybe not at all. But we are fine and we will be much more vigilent in the future. I will be hiring a night watchman hopefully this coming week - my priority for the week.

The interesting stuff is that we went to the CCF (Centre Culturel Français) and there is an exposition of art from recycled materials and gigantic puppets - I will send pictures separately as my connection is too slow right now - but it was really nice. As I was taking pictures some guy told me I owed him 200F CFA per picture - they will try anything.

Tomorrow I am off to Boromo where there is a national park with wild elephants - so my next blog will be about that.

Happy Valentine’s Day to everybody.

La vie à Ouaga n'est pas facile

I have been here for 1 month - the first 10 days somewhat secluded form reality, living is a hotel with good food and slowly grasping some of the burkinabè challenges. But now that I am settled into my own house and daily routine the constant reminders of my new life are somewhat overwhelming. As I walk to work I come accross little childrenwho are begging for a few pennies to eat - they are thin, dirty, sickly looking with an empty food cannister around their neck hoping to sollicite some money for their next meal and a nassara is always a good target - and you wonder when their last meal was. But then you consider the dilemna - if you give them a little money you are sure there will be more of them the next day, and more and more and more as èthe word gets around - so you find yourself having to say no because they are part of my daily treck to work and it would be neat impossible to sustain. You say no and you hold back your tears.

When I get to work things are a bit easier - but most of the support staff whose pay has been cut since 2004 are also hungry and tired and demotivated, especially the men because they cannot support a family on the little they get - and they stay because they have no other opportunity, many having been with the organization for 10- 20 -30 years.

The one general observation I have is that they have a difficult time getting organized in their tasks. There is little coordination between them so they duplicate efforts and are inefficient. In accounting there is no filing cabinet and there is paper all around from 2000 to now and they look, and look for things continuously. They also lack financial analysis and make ad hoc decisions that are often detrimental to their financial survival.

The technology here is also all old - old computers (1990's), old polluting cars (1980's), old TV's and antennae. old phones, old printers, old old old. The Europeans and Chinese dump all of their old technology here and I think the Africans pay a hefty price - they actually pay for the old technology that has long been obsolete and paid for already and they pay because they are held back and have no means to compete - and they pay because the pollution is disgusting and they have health problems because of it.

When my day is finished I start the treck back home - the dust and pollution and the heat make for a not so enjoyable walk. Again I go by the so many micro entreprises that are in such abundance you wonder how they all survive and you think that life is not fair - especially here.

It would take, according to the UN, 0.7% of GNP of developped countries to eradicate poverty around the world - and the reality is that we fall far short of that goal - how does that work? and why is it so?

Another challenge here is to get quality - my bed broke today and again I had to call on my very good neighbours Pierre and Thérèse to help me fix it. Pierre is real handy and Thérèse is a gem of a person. I do not know what I would have done without them. They have made it so much more bearable for me to get settled in - so tonight I am having them over for supper to thank them for all their support. We will be trying out my new dining room table which was delivered last night. It came with 4 chairs but already 1 broke so I hope the carpenter will fix it. I am still waiting for my commode and hopefully it will last me for 2 years - but I do question the quality ....

Another challenge is that we have daily power outages and many a night we dine with the flashlight - it's a good thing we have propane burners to cook on. But when the fan stops working it does get a little hot(ter).

But all in all I like it here - I just hope I can make but a small contribution.

If there is anything you would like me to write about let me know.

Feb 2nd 2010 - 2nd day at work

Well I started work yesterday and office hours are suppose to be from 7h30 to 15h30 but they seem more like 8h30 to 15h00 with a lot of talking in between but not an awful lot of work. They are having a hard time attracting students to their classes. The staff at IPD-AOS is comprised of 4 people in the management group/instructors and 14 support staff including finance, accounting, cook, reception, marketing, photocopier attendant, librarian, admin assistant, maintenance, and not sure about others. And right now they have 4 students ... I think I already figured out on how to save some money but not sure about their labour laws here.

First day was to familiarize myself with some of the history and challenges. Today I was formely introduced to the staff and as they were asked to question me it was clear that they expected me to contribute to their organisation by going to the Canadian Embassy for funds. I told them that I was there to help them in their strategic planning efforts, that it seemed to me that the ultimate goal of IPD-AOS was to become self sufficient in the long run and that together we had a find a way of attaining that goal - but that the solutions were going to come from them - and I only was going to provide them with some tools to facilitate their thinking process. I was not going to find funds but would help them put together a plan and if they needed funds that they in fact would be responsible for doing so. I think they were in a little bit of shock to know that I was there to transfer my know-how but they were responsible for the outcome - not what they expected but hopefully they will see that it is the best way of ensuring their long-term viability.

So already I am getting the Director to accept the Organisational Development process which needs to involve everybody - and in the meantime he is to look into the feasibility of providing night classes which may interest those who need to work during the day and willing to increase their competencies at night. There is a lot to do - but as I mentionned to them that if failure is an option then we go that way but if it is not we need to start putting together an action plan which they will need to implement - time will tell on how that will go. Hopefully they still have enough pride in the organisation that they will do something positive.

I also tested my first Maquis for lunch and had some Riz Gras with piece of fish - basically a big bowl of rice fried in oil with some vegetables and a piece of fried fish - not real good for the diet but it was tasty. Keeps you full for the rest of the day and for the modest price of 400F CFA (not quite $1). But really clean and good Maquis are hard to find - most have furniture from the 1950s, a pack of flies roaming around, some hungry cats meowing and not sure about the cleanliness of their utensils or plates - but I had to try for the experience (not to be repeated very often).

Well that was my day and even though I didn't do much I am tired - the heat really takes its toll on the level of energy one has.