Skip to content

Monthly Archives June 2008

Sapone and bye-bye Burkina

This month has gone by very quickly, but I also feel like I’ve been in Ouaga for quite awhile. I leave on Friday morning for Ghana. There, I’ll spend two nights on the beach in Kokrobite, and the last night in Accra before catching the flight to NYC. My mom is coming to meet me [...]

Posted 26 June 2008 † Caitlin § Burkina Faso § Travel ‡ Comments (0) °

A (not my) Big Fat African Wedding

Last Saturday I was invited to go to a wedding with a friend (Ouaga’s least annoying musician/artisan rasta type.) I wasn’t really sure whether I should accept or not, since I wasn’t entirely sure that “I want you to come to my home and meet my family” wasn’t code-word for “I want you to come [...]

Posted 18 June 2008 † Caitlin § Burkina Faso § Travel ‡ Comments (0) °

“Polygamy” or “Trying not to Judge”

I am learning about polygamy through two channels: my host family, and my research. In the family, polygamy is weird in how not weird it is.
I didn’t really get the whole situation straight until recently, because it’s sort of hard to figure out who’s who in a Burkinabe family. Why? Well, in West Africa [...]

Posted 11 June 2008 † Caitlin § Burkina Faso § Gender § Travel ‡ Comments (3) °

Conversations with Rastas and a Five-Year-Old Girl

(anything written in English was obviously said in French.)

#1 – Setting: Avenue Kwame Nkrumah
Unattractive Rasta: Maybe you and I could get together.
Me: Uh… I have a fiancé.
Unattractive Rasta: That’s okay. When you are young in Africa, fidelity isn’t a virtue.
Me: Uh…
Unattractive Rasta: You need to taste Africa!
Me: Uh…

#2 – Setting: Zaka (a bar with live [...]

Posted 07 June 2008 † Caitlin § Burkina Faso § Travel ‡ Comments (1) °

Things I Like and Things I don’t Like in Ouagadougou

I am cancelling today’s scheduled complain-a-thon (the short version: it’s too hot in the desert and our bus back from Gorom-Gorom was practically flooded by rain) to write a more balanced list of “Things I Like and Things I don’t Like in Ouagadougou”
Things I Like
1. Street Vendors that aren’t Artisans. Selling anything from bananas to [...]

Posted 03 June 2008 † Caitlin § Burkina Faso § Travel ‡ Comments (1) °