Corn's coming in

Should be a good harvest

Science Camp

I spent the last week or so in Orodara for a science camp.  We (7 volunteers) each brought 4 students and 2 teachers from our villages and threw them all together in a great big beaker of education.  It was a little different than camp GLOW; there were fewer camp style games and activities and more formal classes.  It was a chance for the Burkinabe teachers to work side by side with volunteers to practice teaching methods and experiments.

When kids here ask questions, instead of just raising their hands they snap their fingers and say "moi, moi, moi".  I guess it can be hard to get the teacher's attention when there are 80 other kids.

Only 12 students?!?!  I can breath a little. 

We made some soy tofu.  It's starting to catch on a little.  You will see women selling tofu kabaabs in bigger cities.  I love it when I can find it because it's fairly cheap and preferable to the meat that is usually available.  I'm not a big fan of a lot of fat and bones.  

We also got the kids to make their own liquid soap to show how easy it can be.  When it was done, they all got an empty coke bottle's worth to take home.

 Here I am with my 4 students on the left and my two teachers on the right.  We were so young...

We split the kids up into groups so that kids weren't always with the others from the same village.  We were the team yellow extra terrestrials (they even came up with the name).

Most of the names were space related.  That is, in my experience, the scientific topic that interests the kids most.  They are so astounded by how big things can be and how far away stars are.  I guess American kids are similar.  By the way it translates from the Gouin language, the stars are the moon's children.  Aww

The whole camp together.  I like my positioning.  

Of course, not everything was classes and note taking.  We played tug of war, made smores (with care package graham crackers and marshmallows), played soccer and even watched movies on a projector.  They loved the Lion King and we watched some Planet Earth videos.

Finally some pictures where they smile.  Burkinabe are so serious in pictures.

Looks to me like that frisbee is her future, and it's gonna go far

I'll just show myself out

Laundry Day

This is all you need to wash clothes:

Bar soap, detergent, two bins/buckets and water and you can ash just about anything.  If there is ever a prolonged power shortage and the washer/dryer doesn't work, don't fear, Barry is here.

You have the soapy water and the rinsing water.  To make soapy water, add detergent powder (about half cup worth) and mix it around.  Agitate the water with your hand much like you would beat an egg.

Next you will want to soak the clothes in the soapy water, at least 15 minutes, some people do it over night.  I like to start with shirts while the water is clean, and then use the same water for the underwear.  I like to leave the bar of soap in the water too, so that is softens up.

Remember, the more effort you put in to washing the clothes every time, the faster they will wear out.  Because of this, I only focus on the armpits and collar of shirts and spot clean for stains.  The rest doesn't really need to be scrubbed.  

You will be using the shirt to clean itself by rubbing fabric together, in between your knuckles (the middle knuckles, not the punching ones).  Grab the shirt on either side of the stain or target area and fold the shirt over itself.  You should have a handful of fabric in both hands, and rub the shirt against itself.  Don't over do it, if you soaked enough then the stain should be out before 5-10 seconds.  I also use this method on underwear; with pants and towels I use the always reliable washboard.

Ring out all of the soap you can, plop it in the rinsing bucket and hang it up.

Turn your shirts and pants inside-out so that blowing dust doesn't erase all of your hard work and the sun doesn't rob you of your beautiful blues and reds (UV radiation breaks polyesters and cottons over time).