My very own mud hut in the middle of the family compound!
My adoptive father in front of the mosque where they pray
Two other volunteers and me taking a break from language training
Daughters of the family pounding mill, the staple food
Woman in the kitchen
Women working and resting
My bucket-bath!
My private bathroom!
My sister Marimounata high in the trees while on our hunt for " karité" (shea)
My brother Souleymane showing off his huge bundle of "karité"
Picture of baby Megan! She is the most beautiful baby ever!!! She laughs and smiles all the time. Plus unlike most babies/children here shes nice and fat and healthy!!!
Boy riding a cow!
Several of the damn roosters that have no sense of time and cock a doodle doo at all hours of the morning... beginning at 2:30 am
My family compound from a distance!
sunRISE... this is the view i get every morning from mu hut.
Woman (in my family but cant remember her name) at the well. Lifting water out...
pouring into bucket....
carrying bucket.
Harouna on his bike heading off to Ouahigouya to sell live goats (in the basket)
Men using the help of a camel to cultivate the fields
baby Megan sleeping...with a kitten
To (theres the little "chapeau" symbol over the "o") and sauce which is the basic staple food everyone eats here
Entering Komsilga, my training village
A barrage, one of the beautiful sights i see during my bike ride to and from Komsilga
Harouna (my brother and the fabulous chef who cooks my meals!!), his son, me, and Nafi, one of my little sisters.
One of my sisters and one of my mothers. In the backgound you can see part of the mil the family is busy cultivating.
Kait, Brian and myself preparing the banana bread (with M&Ms!!) during our cooking session. As you can tell we were all thrilled to finally cook our own food!
baby Megan in her mother Aissa's arms enjoying applesauce from my care package
Nafi ALSO enjoying the applesauce
A group of us trainees playing ball against the locals
My new local outfit! Very comfortable....
Cultivating in the field with the men of my family. Very hard work!
Myself and some of the women in my family at the ceremony honouring our host families at the school in Komsilga
my host father and myself shaking hands while I hand him his certificate
the after party took place at my house where we all watched as women and children sang, danced, and played the drum on the “calabasse”
Pictures of me playing the calabasse.(It's basically like an empty gourde they use as a drum)
My sister Mouna next to the family’s mosque…just to show how much the scenery has changed since I've been here and the rainy season has started!
Leah (also from Cali) and I at the hotel before heading over to the ceremony
My dress (made locally) for the swearing in ceremony!
Kait, my host brother Harouna and myself at the swearing in ceremony in Ouga
Group of GEE at the swearing in Ceremony
Myself and Diallo, one of the GEE teachers at the ceremony
My house in Pobe Mengao
My kitchen/living room area!
Other view of the living room!
My bedroom
Sita showing me “mil” which is now super tall
One villager showing me an elephant foot print imprinted on an rock
Sita and another playing music on a rock that is completely hollow and sounds like a drum!
me on a rock on the outskirts of Pobe
The pump where I get my water every day
The primary school in my village
Pobe Mengao's Marche (market)
Pobe Mengao's main road
My neighbor the baker prepping the bread
The baker removing bread from the oven
Amidou grilling corn in the courtyard
My neighbor Amade and my puppy Dounya
Sign for PAM (World Food Program) at the school. The free meal students receive at lunch is often times students' only meal of the day.
Djibo's version of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Delicious!
Me holding up the chicken I bought for the Obama party! Would later watch this chicken killed, plucked, and eaten!
Plucking the chicken for the soup, which turned out to be delicious
Sita celebrating HOPE
Sita used a car battery to charge his boom box so we had food AND music
Group of us toasting Obama's victory!
Construction of Sita's house
Sita making cement (mud and water)
Children singing
Children dancing and singing
Sacrificed goats during "La Fete du Chef" in Pobe
La "Fete du Chef" in Pobe
Villagers getting water in Pobe
Children playing in water
The pig we ate for Thanksgiving at the Rose's
Thanksgiving at the Rose's
Classroom in Pobe
At the mosque in Pobe
Baptism (naming ceremony) in Pobe
US Ambassador's visit (with my neighbors)
U.S. Ambassador's visit
With the U.S. ambassador at my house in Pobe
The U.S. ambassador visits my house!
Hiking Trip to the Dogon country in Mali
Dogon country in Mali
Hiking trip to the Dogon country in Mali
A fierce hunter in Mali!
Mali (December 2008)
A village ceremony in Ende (Mali)
Village ceremony in Ende (Mali)
My kitchen/living room
Mamadou at the library in Djibo
My friends at the post office in Djibo
Harouna sitting behind the counter at the store in Djibo which has become my life support!
Hanging out with the horse of Pobe at the buvette
How do the women do this???
Madame Guigma, my homologue, and her family
Madame Guigma, my homologue, and myself
My local butcher
The local mechanic in Pobe
"Eaterie" in Pobe
Sadly, a common scene in Burkina Faso, trash everywhere.
My buddy the boutiquier
The pharmacist in Pobe
Man in the marche in Pobe
Man selling carrots in the marche in Pobe
Woman selling vegetables
Two old men hanging out in Pobe
Pobe's TOTAL gaz station
man spinning cotton thread into the cloth used to make pages
one of my favorite little boys in village, Abdou
Young students in Madame Guigma's classroom
womens day in Pobe
Representatives from womens association showing off their goods
Hamidou and I representing women with our matching pagnes
Women's Day in Pobe (amazing hairdo!)
My neighbor Ramata with Sita's new wife
Sita, his aunt, and his cousin
Me in a field of GREEN
Taking the "ferry" across the water in Kourpelle
The boat driver
a fisherman showing off his goods
a man getting his bike off the "ferry"
view from the top of the gold mines
The gold mines
Sita's aunt giving me a rooster!
Dunia and I hanging out outside of Pobe
