Merry Xmas

I'll start off by apologizing for this quick and easy post but my limited access to electricity and internet sort of dictates it's necessity.

Just got back from Christmas mass here in the small village of Ziou in southern Burkina Faso.  There was more dancing and singing than preaching and even the preaching was so animated it was entertaining  (despite me not understanding a single word of it). Anyhow, it was pretty wicked to watch how a small community, in a remote corner of the world, celebrates Christmas.  Here’s hoping that you're  in good health and surrounded by friends and family in whichever corner of the world this message may find you.

A huge "Happy Holidays/ Merry Christmas!!" shout out to you from West Africa!

R.K.

P.S. Someone seriously needs to send me some eggnog. The rum's been taken care of…

Ready to Rock

Hello and welcome/ bienvenue/ velkommen to the development diaries; thanks for checking it out! Three years in the making and I’m finally overseas with Engineers without Boarders as a long term volunteer. I’m presently undergoing my month long in-country orientation as I gear up to start my placement with a partner organization at the beginning of January. Over the next year or so I’ll be sharing my life, both professional and personal as I work and live in beautiful Burkina Faso, West Africa. 


Looking back the last few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. After two amazing years living it up in Norway, I had to bid farewell to my troll-loving Aquavit-drinking friends, pack up my few worldly belongings and set sail back to Canada. Once in Montreal I had a few days to spend with friends, have a few drinks, play a little poker, shake some hands, kiss some babies and piss off the folks. Before I knew it, it was time to pack up again, this time I was heading to that God forsaken hole in the ground commonly referred to as Toronto. Spent a month undergoing an intensive learning experience, drank a lot of whiskey, slept very little and met some truly amazing people who I miss already. Finally it was off to West Africa, more specifically Ouagadougou, Brukina Faso where I find myself presently, waiting for the dust to settle, writing this under a Karite tree.

From late October to late November, myself and five pretty amazing and “awkward” kids were put
through the ringer, also know as EWB’s pre-departure training. Led by our fearless yoga-bashing truck-loving teacher, Robin, we were bombarded with case studies, project presentations, frameworks, personal development plans, frameworks, a behaviour change project and more frameworks. It was pretty daunting at times, but with a little team support, invaluable coaching from Robin and a hell of a lot of scotch we all seemed to make it through just fine, albeit a little tipsy. The purpose of this intense month of training was to expose us to the tool-kits and critical thinking we’re going to need as effective change agents during our time overseas. A lot of it was new to me and although it could have felt overwhelming at times, we were given plenty of opportunities to apply what we learned in the form of assignments and mock role playing.  The challenge now is to valorize and internalize it so as to apply it to real world Africa that’s about to step up and smack us in the face.

 SMACK.

Touched down into hot and humid Accra, Ghana, had a nights rest and then started the laborious trek north to the Burkina border and on into the capital city of Ouagadougou. Two days and several taxi, trotro and bus rides later I finally arrived, dirty, hungry, exhausted but excited.

The next few days I met up Florian as well as power couple Boris and Alanna, and the rest of the team. Florian and Boris are pretty wicked dudes, which is surprising considering they’re both French (Quoi? Je rigole!). Florian will be acting as my coach, manager and drinking buddy during the next year or so. He was the team lead for EWB’s water and sanitation sector and now, luckily for us, has brought his considerable talents over to the agric side. Boris shares the team leadership and drinking buddy roles with Florian and has been working in the Burkina agric field with EWB since 2007. As such, he’s got an impressive wealth of knowledge concerning the sector, our strategy and the major players involved. Alanna is ex-EWB and now works as a teacher at an international school in Ouagadougou. She had invaluable tips on what not to eat, where not to eat, a few precautionary practices to avoid getting malaria and what to do when I inevitably do get malaria…because you know there’s a mosquito out there somewhere just waiting to stick it to the white man (Yeah, that’s right, I’m considered a white man over here, get over it). Rounding out the group are all-stars Etienne, Rosanne, Charles and Naomi who, after first impressions, all seem quite lovely. Also joining the team last week was Nasser Zongo, a local Burkinabè volunteer who we’re very excited to have on board.

First Impressions

Ouagadougou is bustling, with hundreds of motorbikes, scooters and cycles rallying for road space against their four wheeled counterparts. It both excites and worries me as I know I’ll soon be part of that two and four wheeled helter skelter, I only hope I don’t end up gutter-bound road kill (No worries mom!). Despite the chaotic traffic, there seems to be a higher degree of efficiency and organization here when compared to my experience last December in Tamale, Ghana. Busses tend to leave on time, meetings seem to start on time and the whole city is divided up into an aesthetically pleasing grid pattern. A jaunt through the main market, Le Grand Marché, and you’ll notice that vendors are neatly divided up into sections: the arts, clothes, electronics, food etc.  This may just be speculation, but I reckon the Frenchmen dig their frameworks! The French influence also extends to food in the form of mouth watering pastries and the smell of fresh baguettes cutting its way through all the exhaust.

For the last week and a half I’ve been staying at “Le Centre National Cardinal Paul Zoungrana”- we

call it “Chez Zoun” for short – which is a bit of a sanctuary from the noise and smog of Ouagadougou. It’s part of the Catholic Diocese and was originally built for religious retreats and ceremonies but is also open to social groups and NGOs. As far as I’m concerned it’s absolute luxury. Imagine a compound set in an orchard with blocks of concrete rooms littered about. Each block has about 6 private rooms with a communal WC. My room has electricity, a ceiling fan, bed, desk and its own shower and sink. Oh yeah, and the tap water is drinkable (what the what?!). Anyhow, trying not to get too used to this as I’m sure my actual living quarters will be quite different.

All the Burkinabès I’ve met so far seem quite open, friendly and honest, which comes as no surprise seeing as how I’m in “the land of upright people”! As I’ve been in the same area for the last few days, I’ve managed to build a few relationships although they’re still quite superficial. I’ve made a few friends like the two girls who run a little resto kiosk and “Le Docteur de faim” who happens to make the best burgers ever! There’s also the security guard who gave me a detailed recount of Burkina’s political history and a few merchants along rue Babanguida who now call me by my proper name instead of “Le Blanc”. Well, you have to start somewhere. In an attempt to get to know the people and understand the culture better, I’ve taken to wishing good day/evening/night to everyone I happen to make eye contact with. It seems to solicit some enthusiastic banter so I reckon I’ll keep it going. I’m also struggling with the Burkinabè French accent so the more conversation there is, the easier it becomes. Ou bien? 

Business Time!

It hasn’t been all fun and games. The past week and a half has involved a lot of sector learning as well as an in depth look at the agric team’s strategy for the next two to three years.

Sector learning is key as it involves identifying which companies, organizations and NGOs are involved in Bukina’s agricultural operations. It’s a foreign environment for me, so to find my bearings, I’m working on a stakeholder analysis which will define the players and their respective roles. I’ll also be gauging their contribution, impact, influence, mindset, expectations, motivations and incentives related to EWB’s strategy.

Understanding EWB’s strategy in Burkina’s agric sector will enable me to better position myself within my partner organization. This in turn will make for a more effective working relationship and efficient use of resources leading, hopefully, to big-time impact! To accomplish this, I’m working on a “What needs to happen” study. It will define the current state of the sector and a step by step, year by year accounting of the associated activities, risks, resources and milestones needed to advance the strategy.

Pretty wicked eh?!  So I know you’re on the edge of your seat right now, wondering what exactly the agric strategy is, who the major players are and what precisely our projected effect will be on the sector. Well, in the spirit of “always leave them wanting more” I’ll quit now and dive into the nitty gritty of it all in my next post. Hopefully by then I’ll know who my partner organization is and where in Burkina I’ll be setting up shop.

Make sure to stay tuned! Until then, stay classy!

Cheers!/A+/Snakkes


R.K.