Lungren changed her flight a couple times I think, as she didn't feel
ready to go but finally she headed off to France. Unfortunately that
was while we were away so we didn't see her off. Apparently Air France
was fantastic with Gramma Lungren, makes sure she had a wheelchair and
that she was comfortable. Clark has also headed off to Central Africa,
two canes in hand.
The 25th was a very long day. First waiting for the plane to arrive,
then finding out it was nearly an hour late, then waiting, watching
all the other people get off before finally spying my mother and
sister. It was nearly 11PM by the time we got them settled at the
hotel… with Benny of course. I went back to get them the next day,
after they had a swim and a good lunch. Then we showed them the REAL
Burkina. Lol.
We got back to our house and just hung out a bit. We left on Wed
(after much difficulty getting a rental truck) to go to Nazinga for
Benny's birthday. We didn't really celebrate it as we had planned the
party for the farm on Friday night. We did a tour on Thur and saw a
lot of baboons, a few elephants, coba, and warthogs. When we got back
to the camp, it was strangely empty of animals, normally there are
elephants in the water hole. The weather was really bizarre too so
that might have been it. Finally just before we left, they arrived at
the hole, but the kids were too tired to even want to look. We had
lunch on the way out then, drove to the farm.
We had Benny's party Friday night. We were waiting for Derek and
Myriam but they were quite late so we started the paddywhack machine
without them. Uncle Derek did help with the Royal bumps tho. Benny got
some nice presents including a remote control police car and
basketballs. We left on Saturday back to Ouaga. I took Felicia and
Bryanna around Ouaga a bit on Sunday - a good day to go as there is
practically no one. As it was just haggling for some cloth was very
tiresome for them. The heat does get to you even if you are used to it
but coming from winter in Canada makes it even harder.
Benny was sick on Sunday with a high fever, so Gramma stayed home with
him. We had planned to go to Gorom on Monday but with Benny sick,
Loren thought it best to wait. So we super dosed him with cipro and he
was better Monday afternoon.
Tuesday we left, stopped in Bani (arriving at noon - not ideal!) and
saw all the mosques - most of which were damaged from the Sept 1
floods but it was neat to see them. I had been there in 1998 and there
was only one at the time which foreigners weren't allowed to enter.
The guide called ahead to Dori for a guide for us. Ali took us to
Oursi to see the dunes and the marsh. We ended up stuck on the side of
the road half way between Gorom and Oursi with a radiator full of
holes. The driver had been a little hard on the truck and now it was
overheating. So we stopped at a village which had probably never seen
white people up close before (only ever in 4x4s whizzing by). So we
were surrounded in the car while the driver and Ali, and village men
chewed tabacco to fill the hole. The kids found that a bit tiresome,
you feel a bit like a caged animal, especially when the French they
know is limited to 'donnes-moi bonbon/argent/cadeau' (give me
candy/money/gift) and 'ca va?' (how are you?). Finally we refilled,
and were on our way.
The kids had fun at the dunes, rolling down the hill. We watched the
sun set then returned to the lodgings. We stayed overnight in the only
lodging in town basically - which were a bunch of straw Peul huts… you
have to crawl to get in. Because of the sand, my bed was on a tilt,
which was actually good for me to sleep on, except I couldn't turn
over. We turned in early, although probably only Ben and I slept well.
The next day we tried to get in to see the Museum in Oursi but you had
to drive up a sandy hill to get there and our truck got stuck
(actually just the driver didn't know how to put the vehicle into
4-wheel drive). So we headed to Gorom. We sent the driver with the
truck back to Dori to get it repaired by a guy that Loren knows there.
(Loren was highly amused that we phoned him to tell him we were having
problems, and that we wanted the number of the same mechanic his dad
had used when HIS family was visiting Gorom). We went to ride on
camels and sleep in the desert. We bought nice blue and purple turbans
for the occasion (also good for keeping sun and dust off).
The kids had great rides - it was about 12km and took over 2 hours to
get there - they had comfy camels with a couple guys sitting behind
them holding them on. Felicia had the ornery teenage camel, my mom had
a really old one that you had to whip to make it move faster than a
plod, I had a bad saddle which left me with a welt on my butt - so I
got down about half way and walked the rest of the way. It was hot and
dusty but my butt felt better that way!
We arrived, and they prepared a big bonfire and a meal of spaghetti
made with a very fat chicken. By the time the meal was ready, the kids
were asleep, so we ate and prepared for bed. Given how hot it was in
the day, you couldn't imagine how cold it was at night. We only had 1
blanket for the 5 of us. I was okay as I kept my turban on and I used
another turban as a sheet. Felicia ended up using Ben's t-shirt as a
head warmer. Mom was on the end and was not a happy camper - it was
cold. She was better once I finally convinced her that wrapping her
head was going to keep her warmer than putting her head under the
blanket. We slept on a mat, and started evenly spread out but when I
woke up at 2 AM, I was in the same place and the other 4 were huddled
in a small group about a metre away. The kids were warm, it seems but
I know neither Felicia nor my mother slept well. The only time I was
really cold was about 5:30 AM when it seemed to turn really cold. To
keep warm, the camel "shepherds" make a hot bitter tea. I woke up at
2am and had a cup which turned out to be a mistake as I was awake til
4 with all the caffeine.
On the way back we phoned the driver to come get us. Only Felicia and
Ben took the camels back. I got some great pics and video of them
racing along. When we finally got back in the car, we were too tired
to even think about going to the market. The driver promptly got us
stuck in the sand again so we had to get out before we could leave. We
finally got on the road about 10, got to Dori for 11 to drop Ali back
off and eat lunch. We arrived at Kaya, about 100k from Ouaga, making
good time, when something large and metal fell off the car. The driver
stopped and put it in, then did 70kph all the way back so taking an
extra hour to get back. We were beat when we got back!
Felicia and Bryanna left the following night. It was pretty hard on
Benny to see them go. But he still has his Gramma here. He is feeling
like he misses Canada and his friends. I know this will pass since he
was completely fine before they came, in fact he was comparing how
much he liked Africa compared to Canada and Burkina was marginally
ahead. He is feeling sad to the point where he told my mom that he
thinks I love Loren more than him because I'm putting what Loren wants
(for us to be in Burkina) ahead of what Ben wants (to go to Canada).
Also Ben is kind of acting up lately, he's been taking money to buy
stuff and trying to sneak it out. He said he found the money but I
know he took it from the dish of change I have for him to go buy bread
in the morning. Mostly he buys candy to share with his friends but I
don't think it's about candy since Felicia brought a whole cupboard
full from Canada, and the other day he bought a sponge (he said he
needed it for school). So now I have to deal with him lying and taking
money as well as the Canada issue. But then he's 8 so I'm sure this is
just the beginning of more complicated issues to come.
It was hard having my family here. My mother and I don't tend to get
along well to start with - although I told her about the comment I
made in my last blog about her not coming to see me, but Ben so I had
a built in babysitter (Felicia told me some people thought I was being
derogatory towards her and that she might be offended but I was being
more self-depreciating and it wasn't meant to be insulting). She
thought it was funny because there is enough truth in it to make it
so. Anyway, we have had a big fight already but did manage to come to
some understanding as we usually do eventually. But mostly it was
stressful because I wanted so much for them to understand what I like
about being here but couldn't figure out how to show them. I felt like
if I couldn't all they would see was how dirty and difficult life is
here, and all the stuff that Benny was missing. It didn't help that
Felicia was sick when they got home. I appreciated them coming but I
found my two weeks off anything but relaxing. They seemed to enjoy
themselves anyway, and my mom seems to still be enjoying her stay. She
gets out for walks when Ben is at school; although the surrounding
neighbourhood is a little limited it's pretty different from home so
I'm guessing it's sort of interesting for her. I found a girl who
speaks English to take her around to the market and downtown a couple
days, and I hope to send her with Ben one afternoon to see the
crocodiles and to do a couple other short day trips before she goes -
the zoo, the museum, etc.
Since the trip, work has been hairy. Somehow, when you are gone, you
end up doing an extra 2 weeks work in advance of leaving, and an extra
2 weeks when you come back. That's some wonky math in my books.
Anyway, it was a ridiculously busy week. We did a trip to Youga, in
the south of Burkina. Normally we take the road between Manga and
Zabre but that road is so awful normally, and we had to get the car
out of the country to renew the "laisser-passer" (permit for having a
foreign car in the country) so we went through Ghana. It took us
nearly 6 hours to go as we got lost. Then there was no border crossing
at Youga so my passport currently indicates that I'm still in Ghana as
I've not been stamped back in. Turns out that we can get a
laisser-passer in Zabre without leaving the country and they also had
fixed the road (sort of - now it takes 90min to drive the 100km
instead of 2 hours) so our trip to Ghana was a complete waste of time
and caused more problems than it solved.
I've been having a few problems with the guy they sent me from Ghana,
Andrews. He is constantly bothering the guys who are doing the
workshop. He is always watching them and making sure they are doing a
good job but he's constantly getting in their way too. He had me come
out to look at it because he didn't believe they would be able to get
the shelving in after the building was enclosed. I told him they can
be taken apart. Then he was worried because there was a beam in the
middle of the room, wouldn't that get in the way of the shelving. I
told him it was going to be holding the shelving up so no, it was
fine. Apparently while I was gone to Gorom, he thought that the
contractor (Loren) was putting in too many air bricks, that because
they weren't solid, we must be getting ripped off. So he had them put
in solid bricks at the top. Unfortunately this now means that all the
heat will be trapped in the top part of the building and the fans will
be pushing hot air down. I have no idea why Loren listened to him and
it's all mortared in now so unless I get them to rip it out, that's
the way it's going to stay. Now he's wondering why we don't have the
green lacquered roofing like the house. The reason is that it's double
the price but doesn't reduce the heat within the building enough to
justify paying double. We didn't buy the cheapest stuff but couldn't
justify paying an addition couple grand for the best stuff. It's his
attention to detail that makes him good at what he does but he's
stepping outside his area of expertise and is starting to create
problems because of it. I don't know him well enough yet to deal with
him effectively. I already made a huge mistake criticizing him in
front of Pauline. He was using our cleaning lady to serve his friends
dinner on a Friday night. We got a Ghanaian girl so she could
understand what he wanted and cook Ghanaian food but her hours are
quite specific. I was not happy with him and felt I needed to correct
it quickly. I apologized afterwards but it wasn't the best way to
start.
As if dealing with Andrews and Ben and work and my mother wasn't
stressful enough, Loren is preparing for his trip to Central African
Republic. He's taking Dembele with him which will be good since I
think he finds it frustrating trying to get the guys there to help
him. With Dembele he has someone he can count on who knows what he's
trying to do. I'm not really happy about it but it's hard to begrudge
when it's such a good opportunity, for both of them. The money is
really good and it gets Loren's CV a big boost, having worked
internationally and with the European Union. More I feel bad for Ben
since Loren's leaving with coincide with my mother leaving, and I have
to go to Ghana right after. I asked Carol (Loren's mom) to watch him
as it will be a hard time for him, and she will but then she's leaving
too a few weeks after to go back to Canada for 6 months. It's going to
be a difficult time for him. But I think I can use it as a teaching
tool as well. This was the sort of thing I think Loren had to deal
with all the time growing up, a constant stream of people coming in
and out of his life. It will also be challenging as it will be hot
season and tempers can be short when it's that hot. We're trying to
get the air conditioners fixed beforehand so at least sleeping can be
comfortable. Otherwise we might be sleeping outside!
Now that I have a better internet connection, thanks to work, I will
try to get some photos up.
Anyway, Happy Valentine's to those who celebrate it. It's almost as
crazy as Christmas here with booths set up all over the place for
wrapping presents.
