"With all respect, Sahib, you have little to teach us in strength and toughness. And we do not envy your restless spirit. Perhaps we are happier than you? But we would like our children to go to school. Of all the things you have, learning is the one we most desire for our children."
~Urkien Sherpa to Sir Edmund Hillary,
the first man to summit Mt. Everest

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Rains and Travel

I’m writing today from the northern oasis town of Ouahigouya. This is the city where I spent three months during training two years (already!) ago, and it is where I’ll be much of this summer. This time though, I’ll be on the other end of the information exchange, acting as one of the PCV trainers. The new trainees arrive tonight, and everyone- Burkinabé staff and PCVs- is excited to meet them!

Update from village: Due to my extensive travel plans this summer and the early start to the rainy season, we have decided to postpone building the kitchen at the elementary school in my village. Most of the villagers are farmers, and right now they are busy planting fields of corn, millet, cotton and peanuts, so construction of the kitchen would have been a side project. Rains will start in earnest soon, making construction nearly impossible. Additionally, since I won’t be there to be a part of the process, we’ve decided to postpone building the kitchen until the ‘Rentrée’ in the fall. No worries, though. The money is resting safely and will be available as soon as we are ready for it. We may even benefit from falling prices on construction materials after the rainy season.

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