Go Time!

Howdy again.

Go Time has definitely summed up the past few weeks since I got back from America. It was very hard to leave the good life, but now that I’m back in the swing of things, all is good.

We’ve started school as of last week. They built a new classroom which opened only a few days late. It looks great, and writing on a new blackboard is quite an exciting experience (hey, small pleasures here). All the 8th graders are happy because it means that we have two classes of about 70 instead of one class of 130 as they had last year.

Things are going full speed ahead at the elementary school. We’ve gathered sand, bricks, and gravel. The Parents’ Association has traced out the outline for the new kitchen, and all appearances are that they’ll be able to start building this week. The Parents’ Association President is very motivated, and everyone wants to get things rolling soon. Next will be the latrine for the teachers. The garden will have to wait a couple of months as it’s not yet gardening season; they’ve used the land for growing corn and millet all summer.

As some of you may have heard, there was some terrible flooding in Ouaga at the beginning of September. 150,000 people lost their homes which were literally washed away with the rains. Mud brick houses don’t put up much of a fight. Many people are still living at temporary campsites.

On a more up-lifting note, there was recently a huge article in Newsweek about Burkina. Victoria’s Secret (yup, that Vicki’s) has made a deal to buy organic cotton from mostly female growers in the Southeast of the Country. The article talks about the huge strides Burkina is making in the areas of women’s rights. It was published a couple of months ago, but more recently, Pres; Compaore was named as the head mediator of a peace-making team in Guinee. Check out the Newsweek article here.

That’s all for now.