from Tofu with love

This past week I attended my mid service conference. It's basically a 3 day conference in Ouaga where we share our feelings/project ideas and get medical/dental check ups. No cavities for me mom!!! Healthy as a 40 year old ox and all cried out from emotional over share, I finished the conference and strolled right into Thanksgiving! Since my whole stage was in town (Ouaga) we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving family style. Our Director of Programming and Training (Paul) invited us over to his pad for a tday pot luck. All of the decent volunteers prepared various dishes like stuffing, tofurkey (guess who made that one), green beans, and a poo load of desserts. Paul supplied 2 imported turkeys and other yummy eats. This turned out to be a surprisingly fun and happy day, we even played a bunch of Christmas music at the end of the night. I hope that everyone else had an amazing Thanksgiving. Although I had a great time I would love to come home to the states for Christmas. I am exc...

10/17/2012 I've tried to ignore the way people here view themselves in terms of skin color. It is similar to people of color in the states (but less discrete). The deeply rooted self hatred is apparently universal. The other day my friend asked me if I use the same lotion on my face that I use on my arms. I told her yes, why do you ask? She then said that my face skin in prettier and clearer than my arms. Unlike my face my arms have zero acne so I know that it wasn't the texture that she was referring to. Clear in french here means lighter. This conversation reminded me of all the women here who use skin lightening lotions everyday and wear make up 3 shades lighter than their actual skin tone. Can you imagine what this kind of behavior can do to the psyche, not to mention the health risks involved. It is upsetting that our universal idea of beauty excludes so many kinds of people. Whenever I encounter someone who says "I can't stay in the sun, I'll get too black...

10/08/2012 Because Bike Tour and Camp Glow I was out of site for a while. Although they both were great summer programs I never want to be out of site that long again. Being back after that long crazy summer is in a way refreshing. The guilt of being away is gone, it's nice to be back with friends at site,  and I'm back on my own schedule. I started MCAT prep again. Before I left my French was shaky at best, it's still shaky now but I am a lot more comfortable and confident with it. With this new found confidence I am more comfortable starting projects and speaking in front of large groups of people! I did a neem cream (cheap and easy to make anti mosquito repellent) demonstration the other day and it went well. I remember when I was so afraid to do any sort of public speaking. Despite this new found success I really do need to work on my local language. French is a lot easier to me than Moore (and I'm not even good at French.) The mid wife that works at my health cl...