My new home

So, a lot has happened in this past week therefore, I am tired a lot of the time especially because of the heat and no fans and getting used to the hours of sleep I have. For example my family on a week day usually go to bed around 12, and I wake up at 7 maybe 6 sometimes, instantly because of the heat. By this time they’re already either out of the house or preparing dinner for later. I live with another UK volunteer, Oscar who’s 19 and comes from Cheltenham, he’s a cool guy who’s missing his guitar mostly right now and just generally going out at home with his mates. I would like to say our host family are the absolute sweetest; there’s our new mum, Mama Mierre, Maric her son who is in his twenties and Agnes her daughter who is 23, Mama Mierres sister and nephew stay every now and then also, Age the 10 year old boy is always very playful so he helps when nights get boring! He also thinks I’m Jane from Tarzan, from when he caught me sketching and I’m obviously speaking English!

The food here is quite something. I pretty much eat with my hands now like everyone else in the family, plus it’s easier to pick all the bones out from the fish. We have quite big portions of la poisson, toe, rice and spaghetti. For breakfast it’s always bread and tea, or in my case hot chocolate maybe the occasional omelette! Oh and on one night when Mama Mierre was out, the eldest daughter, Agnes made us the traditional fish and chips which was gorgeous, she also let me help cook! Everyone mostly expects us to drink beer all the time and be really energetic which I try and keep up with, but I can’t drink too much as the “Burkina Beer” is quite a large bottle, just over a pint and goes straight to my head! Rhum (Rum) is very popular, with bissap it’s amazing, I think it’s the best mixer I’ve ever had, plus it’s like 40p for a double! Bissap is full of sugar, and tastes like a very strong blackcurrant juice- perfect for me!

As many of you are probably curious, my water supply is from one tap which is in the garden next to our kitchen which is a little house at the back of the yard. From this first week we’ve experienced 3 to 4 power and water cuts per day, however this weekend has been surprising! Without tap water, we use rain water to wash ourselves, clothes and plates. We always have water sachets to drink and at home they’re always kept in the fridge so that, I am very thankful for. The shower and toilet are located in the garden also, out of the way and have no doors, only a wall to walk behind. Its basic bucket showering and long drop toilet, which is not that pleasant when the sun goes down as all the cockroaches come out and play.

Everyone is very welcoming and always smiling, at first it’s the shock from just the colour of our skin, then it’s always curtesy to shake hands ask how we are, how are the family etc. Moore seems to be quite popular in my area, at first because I’m pretty much in the center of Ouagadougou I thought French would be preferred but as soon as you say hello in Moore, everyone wants to be your friend! We do get called nasarah, which can mean outsider is general but mostly white person as were pretty much the only ones!