from Tofu with love

My best friend in Burkina, Roukie invited me to her home in the capital to celebrate Tabaski with her family. Tabaski is the second biggest Muslim holiday where they sacrifice a lamb. They are celebrating  the selfless act of Abraham and his son. In short, God asked Abe to sacrifice his son, Ishmael. Abe said ok and when he informed his son of his duty, Ishmael nobly accepted. In order to reward their willingness to serve and obey, the Lord switched Ishmael out for a lamb. Yay, now they don't have to eat their first born on Tabaski, a lamb will suffice! Here are some pictures from the party. PS they eat and or use every last but of the lamb. NO WASTE UP IN HERE! Be warned some are graphic.  The lamb in question skinning it the innards  making the dressing for the salad  washing the meat  trained butcher Nudia, Roukies daughter  Roukie, her husband, and I

Since I love weighing babies/ making sure that they are well nourished, I'm in the maternity everyday. This means that I find myself in the back birthing room quite often. I must admit that I enjoy watching child birth- not in a sick twisted way that usually accompanies a statement like that. It's kind of like watching a game (basketball, football, etc.) You're rooting for the object- in this case a baby not a ball- to go through the designated area. Not too different from a hoop or a goal post. The midwives look at me a bit sideways when I actually start chanting go, go, go, GO in escalation! Or when I cry wooohooo! when the babe makes it safley in the catcher's mitt. I like to think that I'm only encouraging the mom to be aggressive...b-e a-g-g-r-e-s-s-i-v-e. At least it will be a good story for her to tell the kids. I was in labor with you for 5 whole days, in the blazing heat, while a crazed American screamed nonsense at my vagina for you to come out...  Like ...

Violence truly scares me. In my adult life I’ve never felt the need to hurt someone physically because they pissed me off or wronged me. That isn’t to say that I’ve never intentionally tried to annoy or hurt someone emotionally. When I get to that intense point of anger I always think to myself how can I be the bigger person, how can I make the other feel really low? Physical contact never crosses my mind.  (I'm not talking self defense here, I'm all for that) Maybe because I’m bigger and stronger than the average woman, it just never seems like it would be a fair fight. After you put your hands on someone you automatically lose in my book. So when this situation of violence occurred at my site, with my friends I was completely taken aback. I was hanging out at my village pharmacy one evening while the Cecile (the pharmacist) and Fati is getting ready to go home. After Cecile locks the door she hands Fati a bag of ochre. The guard of my health clinic come runn...

This is a short list of some of the crazy things I’ve seen in my village.  Disclaimer: I take none of these situations lightly. Not for the faint of heart. I’ve witnessed many deaths, infants to adults. Seeing the actual moment when the person loses consciousness and the body becomes a machine slowly shutting down is an experience hard to explain.   If spirits exist I believe that I’ve seen the when a spirit leaves the body. The point when the pain seems to be irrelevant, breathing becomes mechanical- almost pump like, and they stop responding to external stimuli. After this point the family usually realizes that their loved one is gone. I’ve seen a mom strap her unconscious twitching toddler to her back and take him home. The child was beyond treatment. The nurses seem so numbed by death. They face almost every situation with such a frank cavalierness, it’s almost frightening. I wonder if this is an inevitable state that everyone dealing with death on a re...

As I sit at my health clinic weighing babies, I hear a commotion coming from the birthing rooms.   As the two midwives walk out casually laughing I hear a man violently yelling. Because of the cultural differences (or and unknown inability on my part to read obvious social cues) I have no idea whether this situation is serious or not. I ask the mid ladies what's the dealio and they tell me to go in and see for myself. Had I known that this story ends with me storming out of the clinic wiping away a cocktail of angry-helpless- furious tears I would have…nope, never mind. Sometimes my curiosity leads me to fault. Ok back to the desperate screams from the back room. In the dingy birthing room, I see a young frantic looking woman clothed in nothing but a t-shirt laying on the rusted operating table. I’m sure that she would have gotten up and walked out of the room had a woman- I’m assuming her mother- not have been holding her down. An old man who is either her husband or fat...

Okay, I have to admit that I haven’t been updating because when I got back from the States I was in a bit of denial about being back in Burkina. (I had an amazing time in the States by the way thanks rents) As of now I have 7 more months in country. I’m looking forward to leaving Burkina to start my next adventure. I am pleased to see the progress I’ve made while being here. I spent the last 5 weeks at site without leaving once! Personal record. Below are a couple of entries that I wrote while during that time. 2/27 Hot season is practically here. Ahhhh You know it’s approaching when the heat wakes you up around 5am. This morning I woke up to heat miser singeing. I grumbled around my house cursing the heat while I got ready start my day.   Sweat trickled down my chest from the slightest exertion. I started to make the usual porridge that I have every morning but the thought of turning on my stove literally made me want to kick a baby. I settled for granola and an or...