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.