Final words...

Now that I ave been back in Canada for a few weeks, I thought it would be interesting to reflect on my African Adventure.

First and foremost, this experience has been incredible, I am so thankful and fortunate and humbled by the past few months. From learning to appreciate consistently running water (remember - I had to bathe out of a saucepot on several occasions) to enjoying my friends and family and no longer taking them for granted, I have come back enlightened. Don't get me wrong - I am NOT granola - I am rather a more appreciative person of the luxuries we enjoy every day as Canadians. Like I said, running water for one, reliable electricity for two, and food, roads, transportation etc... Are things I become very excited about these days.

So - let's recap on the past few weeks. I would like to start with the plane ride home. Needless to say, it was long. I slept 5 hours in a total of 72 hours, and needed to down a can of red bull the minute I arrived in Montreal. In Ouagadougou (where we had to catch the plane to go to Paris from Burkina), the flight was delayed eight hours because of an air traffic control strike in Niger, where 50 of the passengers on our flight were coming from. In the end they decided to force 200 passengers to wait in Ouaga - from 9pm to 6am - so that 50 passengers could arrive by bus from Niamey, Niger. Interesting logic: deal with 200 people's connections in order to accomodate 50 more passengers... Don't ask - I've tried to analyse and deduce every possible reasoning to no avail. Bref!

Once we arrived in Paris, we had only missed our flight by one hour and there was another flight leaving in two - so we decided to grab some grub... Interesting observation: There are no bakeries or patisseries in the Paris airport! Silly! The flight to Montreal was very emotional for me... Especially when I landed, put the SIM card in my blackberry, sent my dad and Victoria text messages and got calls right back. First from Vicki, telling me she bought me mini-wheats with maple syrup and sangria, and then from my dad welcoming me home... What a great way to land on a plane... With two of your most favorite people in the world welcoming you! My wonderful aunty Kim and cousin JJ picked me up at the airport and brought me to my grand parent's house in Laval, where we enjoyed the famous Maisonneuve family spaghetti and meat sauce.... With garlic toast! Yummmmmmm!

After catching up with my family I drove my car (I left it to my grandparents while I was gone) to Victoria's house in the island of Montreal... How I missed driving! I was then welcomed with a big "WELCOME BACK AFTON!!!!" from Vicki's balcony - her and her room mates... How cool is that?! They then treated me to a fabulous Montrealais evening... Walking down Parc and St-laurent Ave. to a trendy little lounge with great music and an even better ambiance. I thoroughly enjoyed my first evening back in Canada! After the lounge Vicki treated me to good ol' Montreal thick crust pepperoni pizza and fairmont bagels with strawberry cream cheese... Talk about gourmandise! Everything tastes better after you've been in Burkina-Faso for three months I tell ya.

After driving home and arranging a few things (and baking cookies, obviously...)I drove back to Montreal for a mini-family reunion on Sunday the 3rd. What a wonderful day. My family and ice cream cake... Who could ask for more?! I was overwhelmed with emotion when I saw everyone... Waterworks! We then spent the rest of the day in the sun on the fleuve St-Laurent - football, lawn bowling and my dad's 12-song playlist on his i-pod... He still hasn't added any other songs although the capacity is close to 500 songs.... How I missed him and his querks.

That evening I plunked myself into my parent's guest bed and slept like a baby, after drinking a cup of hot water with lemon and catching up with my dad and step-mom... Life is good.

Since getting back to Ottawa and my appartment I have been running around, trying to secure myself employment and register for fall classes in university. I also cleaned my house upside down - I've been spending a vast amount of time with Fergie, my cat - she missed me.... and I missed her too. What a cutie. I've also been walking everyday in continuation of the habits I developped in Burkina. It's great for clearing the head. I've also been enjoying my wonderful friends.... Vicki - what would I do without you?! Adora - come back from LA! We've been without each other for too long!!! You all know who you are.... Thank you so much for making my return to Canada so great - You really know how to make someone feel welcome!

As far as future plans, I know I will be returning to Africa. I love it there and it is so different from Canada and the global North in general. Travelling has always been in my blood, but in that same respect it is always nice to have a home base as beautiful as Canada. I know I will sound like a broken record when I say this, but we are SO LUCKY! Canada is a wonderful rich (in several different ways) country full of opportunity and prosperity - our poor are considered rich in Burkina!

I would strongly suggest a trip alone to Africa to anyone who has either made a big decision, will be making one, or who has simply had a bunch of changes in their lives... You are forced to think and take care of yourself and realise that there are people in the world whose problems go right down to the basic necessities of life like eating and drinking... It kind of makes you think twice about getting mad at your brother or sister for ruining your favorite shoes, or crying over that guy or girl who broke your heart. Although these are problems, they are so insignificant in the larger scheme of things. This is what I've realised over the past few months. I just have to do my absolute best to remember these lessons as I carry on with my life in Canada.

In closing, this trip has ultimately changed my life. I can only hope I've become a better person as a result of this trip. Although it was extremely difficult to leave AVOH and Mme. Drabo and Nathalie and Assita and Herve and my room mates, Axelle and Yohan, it was so nice to put my two feet on Canadian soil once again. Burkina-Faso was my address for three months, but Canada is my home. I know I will absolutely go back to the continent - maybe not Burkina right away, as I would like to experience other parts of Africa, preferably on the coast, like Ivory coast or Ghana. This is the beginning of the rest of my life.

Some Random Pictures

These pictures were taken in Nasso, about 15km's outside of Bobo-Dioulasso, two weekends ago. Siriac, our good friend over here, invited us to have lunch with him on Sunday with a few of his good friends in the most beautiful setting... We enjoyed a communal platter of rice and braised chicken... Yummy! It was like a pic nic and I ate with my hands (like a real African), and as you'll see from these pictures, je m'ai debrouille!

Grocery stores... Make me happy.

Axelle and I were in Ouaga this weekend (we left on Saturday at 7am to come back on Sunday at 3pm), and we stayed at a hotel downtown that her friend manages... He is Burkinabe but went to school with Axelle in Quebec, where they became very good friends. He let us stay there for free (Thank you Omar!!), and insisted on us coming back to stay this week for my last week in Burkina. What a great guy. We will surely be taking him out to dinner this weekend to thank him.

About a block away from the Continental hotel (where we were staying), is the big Marina Market in Ouaga. A grocery store!! I was so excited that I insisted that Axelle and i go inside to take a peek. At this point, my willpower is fully charged and ready to fight the urge to spend.

This grocery store must be the largest I've ever seen in Burkina... it is two stories, with a third storey not in use... they're probably waiting to expand their product line. It took me a good 30 minutes of browsing (with a big huge smile on my face, might I add...) just to finish window shoppng the first floor, which is all food and drink.

The second floor is full of housewares, from pool tables to dishes to cooking toys (I call them "toys" because they are to me what Barbies are to a 10 year-old).

An hour later, we emerged from Marina Market in euphoria, with m&m peanuts and at-home waxing kits in tow. how I miss big box stores like Loblaws and Wal-Mart!

After returning to the hotel room, waxing like there's no tomorrow and eating m&m peanuts, Axelle went out for the night and i decided to stay in and rest. I'm glad I did, because I wouldn't have survived the next day... A 4-hour car ride which included me working on my final report the entire time... What a weekend! After finally getting home at 10:30pm, Axelle plopped into bed (she had slept an entire 5 hours in three days), and I kept working until about midnight...

This week is incredinly important:

Monday I have to finish the Marketing plan and perfect it with Mme. Drabo (no, she still hasn't been able to sit down with me and go through the entire final product. Very annoying - she's spread herself too thin). I will also be sending the final report to my organisation (which I finished Sunday evening).

Tuesday we prepare for the meeting on Wednesday all day. Documenting any and all the contributions I've made suring this internship, making sure all ends are tied tightly. This is when I will reinforce any suggestions I've already made regarding developing or improving the organisation... One of them being the fact that Mme. Drabo needs an assistant of some sort...

Wednesday morning at 9am (5am Ottawa time), I have my final internship meeting with the regional director for WUSC in Burkina, with Mme. Drabo, her advisor, the administration and other executives from AVOH. It will be good. I can't wait.

Wednesday night I will surely be preparing for my departure on Thursday... I've already sold my cell phone to Nathalie (with the two SIM cards) for 10,000 Fcfa's, and I've also given her a few pairs of shoes and pieces of clothing that I know i will never wear in Canada. She was very happy when I gave them to her and I know she will use them much more than I, or any of my friends in Canada would.

Thursday we leave Bobo for good. I have to admit i will really miss this place: it is like Ottawa... In comparison, Ouaga is like Toronto, and funny enough, the distance between Bobo and Ouaga is the same between Ottawa and Toronto - 375km's. Bobo is clean, quiet, and beautiful. Lots of green and gorgeous landscapes, as well as enough people and businesses to keep it interesting, entertainment-wise.

Anyways, I could write pages and pages on how wonderful Bobo is (perfect climate, great people, etc...) but I'll save that for when I see you all. Not even 10 days!

Wish me luck for the meeting on Wednesday!!

July 17th - A Day in the Life of Afton in Africa...

I was talking to Jan on msn the other day, and he asked me an interesting question...
"What's a typical day for Afton in Africa like?"
So I figured I'd share my answer with all of you!

6:30am (or 7, depending on whether I hit snooze or not...) - Wake up, get ready for the day
7:20 - Drink fresh, 100 percent natural organic mango nectar, made at AVOH (my little association that could...)
7:30 - start walking to the main street (about 0.5km's away from the villa) so we can catch a collective taxi
8am - arrive at work
2pm - eat lunch
3pm - keep working, or if everything is done go to Escale - the pool I'm signed up at - they have wifi!!! OR go to the cyber, where the internet connection is amazing and I always get a bunch of work done.
5pm - run errands then take collective taxi home...
6pm - take a walk - buy a bunch of bananas .and hand them out to the kids on the side of the street - they love this...
7-8pm - make dinner, do some work on the computer (Internship report, e-mails, blog, etc...)8:30pm - prepare for bed (sit-ups, push ups, etc)
9:30 - bed time!!

So nothing especially interesting, just a regular day except that it's in Africa... Any deviations of my so-called "regular" day have already been documented via this blog... So you know the rest of the story!

July 15 - Afton’s 1 and only Scary Experience

When I get the chance to talk to my friends and family from home, they're always so sweet – asking me how I'm doing, how my work is going, letting me know they follow my blog and are proud of me, and they hope I stay safe. I also get the odd, "are u like, scared ever?" Today, I answered yes to the last question, and this is why:

 

It started raining while I was at work - it was 4pm... I waited until 6pm - the rain did not die down at all - and I figured I should probably plan on getting home in the rain, via taxi. I had never done this before, and the majority of people here just stay put during the rain, including taxis, which means getting one was a challenge. And this storm was bad. At 9pm my colleagues finally got a taxi to pick me up. The driver seemed pretty happy to see me, as we went through the usual salutations, "ani tele, somogo odo, nkakene, here, barika..."

 

On the way home we picked up two more passengers... as is the way of the collective taxi in Burkina-Faso... and half way home I realised I only had a large bill on me (2000cfa's, and the taxi ride is supposed to cost only 300cfa's)... In turn, I asked the taxi man if he had change, and he said, "how much", and I said, "well, seeing as this taxi ride should only cost me 300cfa's - I know this since I do this same commute in collective taxi every day - you should give me 1700cfa's in change", which he then brushed off and continued driving.

 

I finally got to the main street of my house and asked him to stop, thinking he definitely didn't have any change... Since he just wanted me to give him my big bill so he could "get me the change". I asked him to stop so I could get change from a corner store in my neighbourhood... I got out of the taxi and the taxi man got out as well... which was fine, until he followed me into the store, where he started yelling at the clerk in Dioula (the language here) after I asked if he had change for 2000cfa's.

 

This is when I reminded the store clerk that I AM HIS NEIGHBOUR and always buy stuff at his store and that I simply want change to pay the taxi man the proper fare....

 

At this point the taxi man was still yelling...

 

I finally said to the taxi man, "I am paying you 300 - which is 100 cfa's over the regular fare because it's raining and I live a little further than downtown.... that's all you're getting - I make this same trip twice a day and pay 300 - nothing more - so that's all you're getting"

 

To which he replied, "No I don't want 300cfa's! No! I picked you up from aaaaaaaall the way over there and brought you alllllll the way over here!! Blah No No No No blah blah blah"

 

So then I asked him how much he wanted me to pay, to reason with the mad man (which he was lucky I did – usually I don't even think about going up in price while negotiating here)... and he yelled, "600CFA'S!!!" In turn, I yelled, "va chier!"

 

Amongst obscenities, I said, "Tu penses que je suis conne?? Que j'avais ne hier? Je fais ce trajet chaque jour et je paye 300 aller, 300 retour! Incroyable! Je n'ai pas le temps ou la patience pour ca voici ton argent et je part!!" (Which means, "Do you think I'm stupid? That I was born yesterday? I make this commute every day and pay 300 there, 300 back. Incredible! I don't have the time or patience for this – here is your money I'm leaving!") And I placed the 300cfa's on the table (because he wouldn't take it when I handed it to him), and tried to walk out of the store, which is when he tried to stop me – physically – from leaving the store. This is when I started getting scared.

 

And I said, "ne touche moi pas!"("Don't touch me!")... And kept walking, trying to seem confident.

 

I then walked out of the corner store (he followed me), then picked up my pace as I got around the corner of my street. I didn't even look back at this point and BOLTED like a mad woman... two big bags in tow... I don't think I've ever run that fast in my life. And after ringing the doorbell eight million times, looking behind me etc... I got into the front gate and safe into my house.

 

I was so shook up I was as white as a ghost and couldn't stop shaking. All I could think about as I was running was the fact that I am in a place where no one really knows me – where I am a stranger. This taxi man could have done I don't know what to me, but someone up there loves me and is protecting me... Thanks auntie Lise and Sylvie.

 

Hence I am safe and sound.

 

Needless to say I was already precautious over here –this little experience has just made me one very paranoid Canadian. I now have mixed feelings about leaving next week... The beautiful greenery of Bobo alone makes it worth the 18-hour trip from Canada, but I'm glad I'm leaving next week... I don't feel completely safe anymore. After close consideration, the verdict remains the latter.

 

 

 

July 11th (technically 12th, it's 1:30am)

It is now Thursday and Mme. Drabo - the president - Just got back. And it is also 8:30pm at AVOH - I've been here since 7am - and we are still catching each other up on all the work we've been doing. Whils I was here getting printing suppliers, she was in Ghana getting packaging suppliers... C'est manifique!So everything is almost done... We have beautiful packaging, straight from Gahana (and MUCH cheaper and better than the stuff available in this country...) and new improved labels, logo and brochure, all ready for the printing press! What a great achievement. Talk about employment satisfaction. But it's not over 'till Afton gets on the plane - I have to hammer out more events - that AVOH can send representatives to - for the list in the Marketing Plan.

Also, Mme. Drabo had a bunch of work for me to do the minute she got back that couldn't wait - she managed to gain a few exporting partners while she was over there, and needed me to translate some contracts for her. I finished them (good thing I brought my lap top with the north american keyboard that I'm used to) a few hours ago and just took a break from going through the marketing plan with her. So far she loves it and is impressed with the amount of information and research I did... Afton=industrious!

Let's just hope my work.... works!I'm hoping to get a few things done before I leave... It's only two weeks away now! The first thing is, of course, to perfect the marketing plan... That is the crown jewel of this whole experience and I will undoubtedly keep it for future reference. As for the rest, well - I want to launch a website (very basic), get anti-virus for the computers, and refresh Mme. Drabo's IT knowlege... on Word, Exel and internet - before I leave.

Woops - I'll update more in a bit I have to get dropped off at home - they won't let me walk because it's after dark.

*** skip to one day later***

The same evening I wrote the last "mini-udate", I got dropped off at home around 9pm and literally got in, took a shower, changed, (ate leftovers), and went to bed. Systematic exhausted sleep mode. It felt good, to be honest. Today I sent off the contracts I translated as well as translated a few more documents - namely AVOH's list of production equipment needed (which they will send to various NGO's and organisations wanting to donate and help the association) and an e-mail Mme. Drabo wanted to send to an english exporter in Ghana.

We also bought the anti-virus today... We got a great deal considering Mme. Drabo knew the father of the owner of the IT boutique, and remembered him when he was a little "Bobolais" in the middle of our negotiations. On a non-work related note, my Canadian compatriots are in Bobo staying with Axelle and I for the weekend! Aski, Cat, Sarah, Joanie and Allassane are staying in the villa until Sunday, when they go back to Ouaga (and Sarah goes back to Yako)... it's definitely a packed house, but a fun one nonetheless! Tonight, on my walk, I decided to finally buy some food from the lady who sells it on the corner of our street (considering I walk by her every night and she asks me every night, "tu ne veut pas gouter mademoiselle?!", my pruchase was overdue...).

It turns out that for 200fcfa's (0.44$CAN), six people can eat incredibly well! She had made fried bananas (not plantains... so they were really sweet) and "beignets"... a doughnut-type thing. Tomorrow I will be tagging along with our guests to Banfora, an oasis outside of the oasis that is Bobo. a gorgeous clift, waterfall, beach, etc... (keeping in mind this is a land-locked country - thank you glaciers!). We leave at 6am (6 of us in the car, with Allassane, the chauffeur, driving - should be fun for 40 mins!!) and will be back in Bobo for 3pm, just in time for me to get to work for a few hours.

As I sit here at my desk at 1am in Bobo-Dioulasso, it is raining (armageddon) and somehow I find it so peaceful... Everyone in the house is asleep except for me, and Im having the greatest conversation with my sister in Bermuda via Facebook chat. "La vie est belle quand tu es en bonne sante", my taximan said to me today when I asked how he was. It means, "Life is good considering you are healthy"... Word.

So that's about it for this evening. I will surely update some more as this weekend progresses (I WILL be dancing tomorrow evening...) and as next week (my last full week in Bobo!) begins.

Until next time be good, be safe, and take care.

Gremlins and more Galore!

The first picture explains itself - Afton = gremlins magnet. The second I just found funny, considering the fact that this truck - parked about 50 m from my house - hasn't budget since I got here... "The legend continues" is what the sentence painted on the front says.
The third picture is of Youssef, Axelle and I riding home - yes - all three of us - on my p50 motorbike. Hilarious. Axelle and I ended up asking Youssef to let us down early so we could walk (arm in arm - like a couple of little kids) home and look at the magnificent stars.
Funny but true!