7 July 2007 Saturday, Kpalime again

7 July 2007 Saturday, Kpalime again

I found out my post on Thursday! It’s in Agou Avedse! I’ll be working with an NGO named CADO. It’s actually really close to the training site village. I just met and am sitting next to the volunteer I will be replacing in 6 weeks. Yowzer. So, this week has been a pretty big week. Besides discovering where I will be for the next 24 months, we did our first “causerie” on Friday. I was really nervous because we had to discuss a health issue such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, nutrition, hygiene, etc in front of a large group in FRENCH. We didn’t really discuss any specific topic. We just told the parents that we are starting a health club for the kids and will discuss any topic they want us to discuss. They chose HIV, hygiene (washing hands, washing vegetables properly and covering food to avoid flies, etc), how to wash clothes? and sports. Tomorrow, we meet with the kids for the first time so we can figure out what our health club will be all about. We are going on a field trip on Thursday the 12th up to the northern region of Kara to see a traditional healer, a dispensaire (clinic) and other volunteers in that region. Okay, but more about my post. Here is what I know:
It’s in a small village of about 3000. The volunteer says the village is very welcoming and also very used to “yovo’s” which is, in my opinion, a derogatory term for white people.
There are a lot of Belgians because the NGO is organized by Belgians, hence why the village is used to "yovo's".
It sounds like I will be translating for them a lot (French and Ewe apparently). Ewe is the local language spoken here and I only know 4 words so far.
There is a baker in my training site, which is close to my post site, who is interested in working with a volunteer because she wants to enrich some of her cookies or bread for healthier treats. I am super excited about this because I was hoping I would be able to do some baking up in here. And her goods are good.
There is an orphanage and a dispensary that I will be working with. I am super pumped about the orphanage.
My house is apparently nice and there is a bucket flush toilet inside the house! This means no latrine (no 50 foot hole with critters crawling up my...).
When I find out more, I will post more. But, in the meantime, Mission Learn French and Ewe has begun. I hope everyone is doing well. Oh, could anyone do some research on Heaven’s Gate, the religion, because my host mother told me her brother is a preacher for them and I was curious to know if this was the same group as the Heaven’s Gate in the states where everyone committed suicide and wanted to climb aboard a comet. Just e-mail me. Oh by the way, I don’t check myspace at all, so please do not post anything on there. It takes too long for me to log in. I may not be able to post next week because of the field trip we will be on, so tootles until the next post. Hugs and kisses to all you sons of bitches!