June 22 - Mosquitoes

This is what I found on my foot this morning. Apparently, this is what happens when you wear open shoes at night... Thank goodness for anti-malaria pills.

I'm just going to put this out there: Why is it that even when you try to cover up as much as possible, mosquitoes always seem to find your vulnerable spot? They're like ninjas!

Needless to say I will be wearing nothing but repellent from now on - even on my feet – covered or not. And Barb, thank you for the Cortaid you gave me a few months ago – it's really helping with the itching.

On a more serious note, Nathalie – the secretary at AVOH - has malaria, thus the reason why she has been out of commission for the last few days. This worries me because she is pregnant. According to the WHO malaria presents risks to both the parent and the unborn child. I found this online:

"Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to malaria as pregnancy reduces a woman's immunity to malaria, making her more susceptible to malaria infection and increasing the risk of illness, severe anaemia and death. For the unborn child, maternal malaria increases the risk of spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, premature delivery and low birth weight - a leading cause of child mortality." ("Lives at risk: malaria in pregnancy" April 25, 2003, Available at: http://www.who.int/features/2003/04b/en/ (Retrieved June 22^nd, 2008)

She has been going to the antenatal clinic to receive care, but the problem is that she is the only administrator at AVOH. All we can do now is pray that her baby is born healthy and full of life. Friday she came to work (despite my telling her to stay home and get better) and since she wouldn't go home I asked her to teach Ismail what to do to catch up for her. He is going to be picking up the slack when she's having the baby, after all – why not start now? She then went home early but I'm pretty sure she went back that evening, after I left, to finish catching up. She is so persistent it amazes me.

On top of that, Axelle got malaria as well. So now I am officially surrounded by it. Thankfully this is not her first encounter with the sickness (it is not Nathalie's, either...) so she was able to catch it before it got serious – we went out last night to buy her some medicine and this morning she feels much better... Thank goodness – we (as in interns) cannot afford to get sick because we only have a short period (3 months) to fulfill our demanding mandates.

This is why I took a picture of my foot – so I (and all of you) never forget to wear repellent... Because as far as you think you may be from catching something, it still manages to hit dangerously close to home... Your colleagues, your room mates, your family. And don't forget to take your anti-malaria pills for goodness sakes!

On a funnier note, we have officially named the "gremlins" (the neighbour's kids... see Picture with kids next to motor bike in previous month's blog) our "best worst memory" of Bobo... I will never forget them, no matter how much I may try to!! I think seeing them is just God telling me I really don't want kids any time soon – reinforcing my view!

On the food side (I AM a foodie after all), I am still a happy camper, but am beginning to really miss Canadian luxuries like Salmon, shrimp and good ol' AAA Alberta beef. Yet more things to add to my list of things to do when I get back. I ate a cheeseburger yesterday and it felt good – my first (and most likely last) "fast food" experience over here. It was a small restaurant/bar and the burger was decent considering there was no meat and fake cheese in it. Reminded me of McDonald's, actually! Now I can officially say that I am no longer fantasizing about Big Macs... What was I thinking, anyway?!

As for new words: "Bicyclette" can now be used as an adjective for anything that is sub-par or below usual standards... thus "poulet bicyclette" means chicken with absolutely no meat on it, and "cuisinier bicyclette" means a cook who doesn't do his job – i.e. doesn't cook and clean much -but when he does he ruins everything from dishes to clothes. I ate "Carpe bicyclette" on Friday for dinner – nothing more to say about it except that I can still feel bone remnants stuck in my molars. Hopefully you catch my drift.

On the work front, I have two different versions of the brochure and am finishing the third today – I also have the mission statement finished and will translate it into English, which I'm doing for all of AVOH's marketing material. I'll try to publish a copy of the final brochure later on this week for you all to see it. On the school front, I'm almost finished my internship report now. I really like the idea of finishing everything a few weeks ahead of time – which is what I did for all of my exams this semester because of the internship... No stress this way!

A few weeks ago I got an e-mail from the WUSC coordinator in Burkina – Angele Touchette – letting us all know there is a Canadian journalism student (Sebastien) who will be coming to BF to create a documentary to educate Canadians on the development initiatives in BF. I obviously jumped all over it and I am happy to say that Sebastien will be staying with us for the next week, and will be visiting not only my association but Axelle's as well – talk about connections! This means that Monday and Tuesday (hopefully) he will be coming to work with me at AVOH and Wednesday he'll go to FDHO with Axelle – he has a third association he will visit just outside of Bobo on Thursday and Friday, most likely. Then he goes to Banfora, about 100km's from here to continue collecting data for the documentary. Gosh I hope AVOH makes the cut - this would give them so much great exposure, especially considering they've only just become partners with WUSC – CECI – UNITERRA. With that said, Sebastien will be staying with us at the villa until Friday... What a great way to spend a week in Burkina!