Read These – December Edition

Recommended reading:

• What do we really know about microfinance? Here’s a summary. Clifnotes: it’s complicated, but people in poor countries act a lot like people in rich countries.
• The difference between you and the average other person in the world? 4.74 degrees.
• Kiva starts doing what we thought they were doing all along by creating Kiva Zip; its new (actual) one-to-one lending platform (like Zidisha).
• EAT, LEARN, MOVE - three awesome 1 minute travel videos.
• Hayley’s post (with some great photos) on her trip to Loropeni, a UNESCO world heritage site here in Burkina.
• A brief bio of the new Burkinabé ambassador to the US.
• Digitizing a West-African written language (already on the iPhone!)
• American politics have seemed remarkably partisan to me over the past few years, but I have often read that it only seems more partisan, and that party politics has always been a bitter affair. Then I saw the graph in this post by Nate Silver, where according to the DW-Nominate score, we have seen the most extreme liberal/conservative positions, as well as the largest short-term shifts between them in at least the past 80 years (earlier data was not presented). Party affiliation aside, this data scares me.
• Democracy Journal’s book review of Poor Economics, by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. It sounds fascinating, and covers exactly where a lot of my interest lies in development work.
• David Damberger explains why Engineers Without Borders admits its failures in development (and even creates an annual Failure Report).
• Reusing fecal waste for fuel in Ghana.
• The top Twitter trends of the year - #egypt was  the top hashtag.
• A pretty good summary of why it’s so hard to get a cheeseburger around here.

Making Liquid Soap

I recently ran a liquid soap training as a promotion for a friend who recently opened up his own soap supply store (more on this later). After borrowing a few materials (three buckets and a spatula), all that was left was to buy a little salt, a chemical called Tansigex and add some water.

The process is dead simple: 7.5L of water in bucket 1, 7.5L of water plus with 1kg of dissolved salt in bucket 2, and 1kg of the mysterious Tansigex in bucket 3.  I’d love to tell you what Tansigex is exactly, but Google searches only brought up references to other Peace Corps Burkina Faso blogs (obviously we’re in a self-reference loop here). Then just whip the Tansigex and alternate adding a cup of salt and fresh water while continuing to stir. Let it sit overnight and the melange will result in ~13L  of soap. If you choose, add colorant (we chose green) and a cap or two of perfume to make it smell nice.

Total material costs, including bottles, was 2,650 CFA (~$5.90). Since this was a promotion, we gave the soap made during the training to the ladies for free. When they sell the soap, total revenues will be between 4,000-5,000 CFA (~$8.90-11.10) depending on the mix of large and small bottles (small 0.5L bottles sell for 200 CFA and large 1.5L bottles for 500 CFA (~$0.45-1.10). Not a bad margin, and a great way to help prevent disease. Wash those hands people!

Negotiating an Engagement

Last month, my buddy decided it was time to pop the question to his girlfriend. Little did I know that here in Burkina Faso it’s not as easy as just buying a ring, getting down on one knee and asking. Instead, a long series of events must take place, starting with some negotiations between the two families. Negotiations, that I was somewhat inexplicably asked to attend.

My friend’s family lives mostly in Niger, so he instead gathered up his cousin, two older gentlemen he called “uncles” and me (Burkinabé often call what we would call cousins “brother” and family friends “uncle”). We headed over not to the girl’s parent’s house, but instead to her grandparent’s house instead. Age carries a lot of weight here, and it is the family elders who decide such matters. In fact, at 28, I was at least ten years younger than anyone else at the meeting. Those who were only middle-aged mostly kept quiet, and I sat solemnly in place until told to take photos (maybe this is why I was asked to come?).

So what was being discussed? I’m not entirely sure actually since it was all done in local language, but thankfully they threw a few French words in here and there, and eventually numbers. Numbers, that I induced (and later confirmed) were in regards to the amount my friend should pay for a dowry. Unbeknownst to me until an hour into our discussion, at the other end of the family courtyard, a circle of women were having the same conversation. A male representative went over to solicit input at one point.

The conversation seemed serious, but was never contentious. I did my best to stifle a chuckle when one of the family members pulled out his cell phone to do some dowry-related calculations. It just so seemed out of place in what otherwise had a very old and traditional feel.

After another hour or so, an agreement was reached, and a huge bag of kola nuts and a few large denomination bills were slid over to the girl’s family. Success!

Friday Photo: Minister’s Visit

Each Friday I’ll serve up a photo and give you the story behind it. This week, a group shot from the minister’s visit to the east.

The Minister's (front row, second from left) visit.

A couple weeks back the Minister of Youth and Employment (which my micro-finance organization is a part of) came out to the East to announce some programmatic changes to how the ministry will be run in the future. The main theme was decentralization, which I understand to be a nationwide initiative to get more money and programs out into the regions rather than today’s disproportional share of resources staying in the capital.

I like this photo for a variety of reasons. Believe it or not, this was the best shot out of the four that were taken, and perfectly illustrates a number of cultural-isms relating to photos:

1. It is almost impossible to get everyone looking in the same direction at the same time (and for the photographer to organize them).
2. Pictures here are usually a serious affair so most everyone seems very solemn.
3. A few of my colleagues on the left, however, were caught in their more natural state of laughing and joking. I wish this came through more often in photos as most here are incredibly outgoing and expressive.

Burkinabé Cuisine: Attcheke

Showcasing Burkinabé cuisine one meal at a time – today, attcheke.

Attcheke, a manioc cous cous-like dish served with a few onions and green peppers is another carb filled typical meal here in Burkina Faso. The meal is often garnished with a fish for 200 CFA more, and my favorite version is from a restaurant in Ouaga that mixes in a bit of mayo that makes a nice sauce. The example above is from a kiosk next to the town square in Fada, though I added some of my own tomatoes and onions to make it a little less carb-dominated.

Cost (including fish): 450 CFA ($1).

World AIDS Day Mural

World AIDS Day, held on December 1st each year, is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV/AIDS. In sites all around Burkina, Peace Corps Volunteers along with community members painted murals to signify the event and to create an opportunity to educate on HIV/AIDS.

After attending the sessions, participants were able to put their hand-print on the mural as a sign of their pledge to educate and promote healthy lifestyles. We emphasized the theme “Campaign Zero” (zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS related deaths).

The wall at the youth center turned out looking great, and in our two sessions we had over 130 attendees. We received a lot of local help, and even met a Burkinabé volunteer who acted as a spokesperson and did an amazing job during both sessions. Check out the finished product and a lot more photos below.

Friday Photo: Commuting

Each Friday I’ll serve up a photo and give you the story behind it. This week, my bike commute setup.

Each morning I have a 2km (about 10 minute) commute into my office, which is located downtown near the central market. I strap on my messenger bag to my bike with an incredibly convenient rubber strap. In fact, I strap all sorts of things to the back of my bike with it – packages, my luggage when traveling, etc. I leave the strap permanently tied to my bike as I discovered the perfect tension level so that I don’t have to constantly tie and untie the strap. It’s the little things sometimes.

Golfing in Ouagadougou?!

I recently had the chance to check out Burkina Faso’s one and only golf course - Golf Club Ouagadougou. It was of course a bit different than the golf experience back home, but that’s what made it so much fun. Here are a few observations:

• Every shot is hit off of a small mat that your (obligatory) caddy carries around.
• Golf is a lot easier with every shot off a perfect lie (no rough either).
• Ditto without big trees or elevation changes.
• Having a caddies and ball spotters is quite handy (no lost balls).
• Shots get quite a bit of roll on the hardpan.
• The ‘greens’, made of sand and oil, are really tricky (and slow). Thankfully there’s a nice margin for error with a generous downward sloped area around the cup.
• Nice to have a ‘green wiper’ guy who smooths the green’s sand before your putt.
• The driving range wasn’t that much worse than a cheap course back home.
• Must convert distances in meters to yards.
• Water hazards are blue-painted rocks arranged in a circle.
• The bunkers had really nice sand.
• French golf vocabulary uses almost all of the same terminology as English.
• This is the only time I’ve ever had to stop mid-shot due to donkey cart crossing (check out the last photo).

We ended up playing just nine holes, but that’s about the maximum amount of time that I can handle being out in the sun anyway. Total cost was about 12,500 CFA for the green fee, club rental and tips for the caddies (~$25). I probably won’t be playing again anytime soon (especially on my Peace Corps salary), but hope to get out again at least one more time during my time here. Recommended to anyone who has even the slightest interest in golf, if only for the novelty of it all.

I’ll leave you with this exchange with my caddy on the 8th tee box:

Caddy: Try not to go left – there’s water over there.
Me: Really? Water? Like a pond?
Caddy: Well, dry water.

Mid-Service Conference & Thanksgiving

Photo Credit: JK

My stage (training group) just finished up what is known as our Mid-Service Conference (MSC) in Ouagadougou last week. It was a great chance to get together and see how everyone is doing, talk current/future plans, make sure we’re healthy, and eat some great food. For the holiday, our administrative officer invited us over for board games and brunch, while our country director had us over later for the main event. Turkey, ham, empinadas, green been caserole, pumpkin/apple pie, and just about anything else you can think of were had. Coupled with a few leisurely days in Ouaga where I played tennis and even golf, I momentarily thought I was back in the USA (look at all of that sweet, sweet grass in the photo)!

Friday Photo: Grandmother

Each Friday I’ll serve up a photo and give you the story behind it. This week, a portrait of a grandmother.

My colleague just got engaged, and I took this photo of his fiance’s grandmother at one of the events leading up to the official engagement announcement. More details on the (very long, though interesting) process soon.