Last days :(

So I am as of Saturday, back in the UK!!!!!!
From here, i would like to tell you about our last few hours in Burkina, saying goodbye to our second family and home!

Culture day consisted of presentations given by each organisation on cohort 12, from Djigi Espoir, Arche, HSB, HSB ISD, Kabella, Reo and us, Tigoung Nonma!
We all showed our videos from our teams and spoke out to everyone to show them what we achieved whilst in our 10 weeks here in Burkina! Afterwards, our host families all gave a word, and spoke of how they felt, appreciated us and the work we have done here, how they lived with us and learnt about our culture. 

We ate of course! A huge feast was served, with two huge pigs, fries, rice, spices, sauces and refreshing cold beverages! We said our last words and shared our last few hours with our teams, before the night began...

Francis, Cyrille and a few other of the guys hosted a house party for all us volunteers, as it was our final night in Ouaga before heading home to the UK. The house party i beleive was at Francis' Auntie's house. 

I must say i got rather drunk. I think everyone was pretty hammered on cheap whisky, vodka and lots of beer! I remember dancing all night, sweating so much but just kept going, dancing our last dances listening to Burkinabe dance music :( over hall it was an awesome night, awesome to see everyone and have a hell of a party!

All us girls dressed us in our pang material (not all the girls are here though) We pre-drank a little at the hotel where the Kabella and Reo girls were staying. 


THE HARD PART.

Once we all were packed and ready to go, mine and Oscar's host brother presented us with some gifts. :( Maric is such a sweet guy, always been the best big brother and the coolest. He gave us some traditional farmers hats, with tassles and decoration of leather and straw and also some traditional Burkinabe pang for us both. Was the kindest thing he could've done and I was so greatful.

Maric gave us a lift to the airport with Emily, we arrived around nine o'clock. All our national volunteers were already there waiting for us to say our final goodbyes. All still, a little hungover but still made it anyway. :'( Emilie couldn't make it as she was sick and said she hated goodbyes anyway. I was so sad to hear that but i know how she feels. Cyrille and Farida made it anyway, and Madame Zoenabou with her UK volunteer children, to say goodbye to us all :(
I ran to say good bye to Farida again, and couldn't let go of Cyrille :( I love them all so much and couldn't bare to hear them say "Don't forget us, please come back!" 

 I was a little sleepy, waiting for a few hours at the airport :( 

It was very hard, but we got on that plane, and after SOOOOO MANY hours of crappy sleep and AMAZING airplane food haha, we finally made it back to the UK, at Heathrow airport. 

Here's a little sneak peek at us on our first day, I can see we've changed so much from just looking at this photo:

Finale!

 LAST 2 WEEK!

We hosted our own open day on a Saturday, throughout the whole day serving food from our very own, amazing catering service at Tigoung Nonma. We had a few activities planned but unfortunately they couldn’t all go to plan as we had a power cut all week, there were a few misunderstandings with the budget and timings for the event. However, I think we all enjoyed it and was nice to get everyone involved and most importantly, exhibit our Tigoung Nonma shop.

So we had music all day from our DJ, Monsieur Kevin who is also an artisan for TN. We had dancers perform and musicians play for us all. We organised a photo booth just for fun, and had the backdrop as our UK flag and Burkina Faso flag, with many accessories and outfits for people to try on and wear to express both cultures. I also made a piñata for the children in the neighbourhood, which went a little crazy as the kids were way over excited as soon as they understood it involved many bon bons! Caitlin was going to make, teach and serve cocktails but because the power was out, every freezer was off, so there was no ice for miles and we searched EVERYWHERE. So rum and coca mixers went down pretty fine instead, as well as Brakinas. I also had my henna, so did designs for people who requested. Mostly it was the Burkinabe women as they found it fascinating!

The shop was well presented to exhibit all our new products, including many purses, necklaces, gym bags, leather briefcases and more. We had many pang material also for men and women on show, oh and all our batiques. Madame Zoenabou stayed within the shop all day greeting new customers and welcoming all our volunteers!

Anyway here a few photos from the day:

For our final week and last full day with our national volunteers, they proposed we spend a day with them but at one of their houses to host a meal or us, serving their best food from Burkina (and also, my favourite :D). Cryille, who I should mention is such a gentlemen, invited us round to his lovely home. When I sat on the patio right outside his door, I actually could breathe for once in Ouaga. His family had surrounded the whole garden with so many plants, it was so beautiful to see and amazing to feel. There were mango trees, palm trees, and GRAPES! The power was on for a short while, so we finally could have some ice for our drinks! SO, Caitlin could also crack open some cocktail making skills! We made pina coladas for most people, tiki cocktails and mojitos! We also had quite a bit of rum left, so decided that a drinking game was a good idea…at the time. We had a dance, a laugh and enjoyed our time together as it is soon to be over :( 

Arche hosted a Fun Day also, including many sports activites for all volunteers and the kids in the neighbourhood to join! They started the day off with giving us a tour of Arche, as the grounds are quite big, filled with gardens, ponds, offices, classrooms, homes to some of the workers, a park and some pig pens! Was lovely to walk around outside where the Arche team do all their gardening work, it was such a beautiful hot day as well. The pigs were the cutest but still very smelly and Tom also invited us to the classroom, teaching us a little bit of Moore haha, well trying to…

The sports began with a treasure hunt especially for the kids to be invited into Arche, and explore the place, finding hidden bon bons! They then set up the maquis and hosted their games and sports, with a DJ also playing music throughout. Djigi also showed up to cater and support the event as well as us representing Tigoung Nonma, with a little stall presenting a small range of our projects from the shop. There was a little down pour later on towards, but we all just sheltered in their meeting room, which is a small cemented hut with a straw roof, very traditional. 
After the sports had been played, it started getting dark so the Arche team were preparing for their open cinema night for the kids again, showing another Disney film; The Crooks. Was so nice to see all the people happy at Arche and enjoying themselves, especially people with certain physical and mental disabilities, who were so lovely to meet! The kids also had a laugh being a part of something in their village, which was all worthwhile working towards.

Djigui Espoir hosted an open day too, promoting their restaurant and having everyone together to celebrate their work. I was so surprised to see what they had on offer on their menu. I had a chocolate crepe!!!!! And it was amazing. The drinks were very cheap, they had all the spirits including different flavours of vodka and rum! They had a few dancers perform, and hip hop singers also, and so the Djiugi house was pretty much a party. We had a really good time, had a good drink and then decided to go clubbing with all the national volunteers!

The time is near and we only have 4 days left now, our week is all about celebrating and having a good time with our new friends out here before saying goodbye!

SEE YOU SOON ENGLAND!