The girl that would be Hope
Probably over a month ago now, Maimouna, Joseph's other wife, had a baby. Of course they ask the nassara for the name. However, I have learned now, the name has to be a French name that they have already heard of. I had wanted to name the baby Hope.
No. Too strange. They wanted a French name.
I named the baby Zoe.
No. They've never heard of the name Zoe.
I think Im going to give up, and I think they are just going to call the baby by its Gourounsi name, which is Elibou.
But this is the problem here in Micro. They want to stay with the tried and true, even with something so absurd as baby names. And even more absurd, they want a French baby name, an imported name, a colonizer name. A French imported colonizer baby name that they have heard of before. That is the problem with this country.
I gave 20 dictionaries to the primary school the other day, that Id bought with money one of my old French teachers had raised. I should have felt like Santa Clause I guess. I more just felt used. This feeling I cant shake lately. That I am letting them use me somehow. That it is all a big joke on me. I feel it, it lingers. Then Im hanging out in the Marche with my counterpart giving vaccinations and one of the cute old chefs comes by and asked me to go talk to people about clean water in his quartier. And then Im energized again and like Im doing something. My cat helps my mental health too I think. Im not sure what Im going to do with him when I leave, Im a bit torn.
This morning I went to Koudougou with 3 representatives from the village. This was a big step forward for me, trying to implicate them in my programs more. This would not have happened a year ago. We went and spoke with an NGO who could help us plug up the damn in the village which has been leaking out all the water the villagers use to cultivate crops. Then we went to another NGO which gives money to a certain type of committee for developing the village in general. Then we went to the place they test people for AIDS.
Ive been trying to get a theater troupe together recently, which, has been slow going as people are not showing up to the meetings and I get frustrated because Im giving up my time. When I give up my time and then my time is used extremely ineffectively it really urks me, but anyway. I was hoping to get them to do a play about AIDS for World AIDS day and then bring in the AIDS exam people to test people in village. I think its not going to work out though, as they want 60 bucks for gas and who knows what else. That was pretty disheartening.
Well anyway, happy thanksgiving.
No. Too strange. They wanted a French name.
I named the baby Zoe.
No. They've never heard of the name Zoe.
I think Im going to give up, and I think they are just going to call the baby by its Gourounsi name, which is Elibou.
But this is the problem here in Micro. They want to stay with the tried and true, even with something so absurd as baby names. And even more absurd, they want a French baby name, an imported name, a colonizer name. A French imported colonizer baby name that they have heard of before. That is the problem with this country.
I gave 20 dictionaries to the primary school the other day, that Id bought with money one of my old French teachers had raised. I should have felt like Santa Clause I guess. I more just felt used. This feeling I cant shake lately. That I am letting them use me somehow. That it is all a big joke on me. I feel it, it lingers. Then Im hanging out in the Marche with my counterpart giving vaccinations and one of the cute old chefs comes by and asked me to go talk to people about clean water in his quartier. And then Im energized again and like Im doing something. My cat helps my mental health too I think. Im not sure what Im going to do with him when I leave, Im a bit torn.
This morning I went to Koudougou with 3 representatives from the village. This was a big step forward for me, trying to implicate them in my programs more. This would not have happened a year ago. We went and spoke with an NGO who could help us plug up the damn in the village which has been leaking out all the water the villagers use to cultivate crops. Then we went to another NGO which gives money to a certain type of committee for developing the village in general. Then we went to the place they test people for AIDS.
Ive been trying to get a theater troupe together recently, which, has been slow going as people are not showing up to the meetings and I get frustrated because Im giving up my time. When I give up my time and then my time is used extremely ineffectively it really urks me, but anyway. I was hoping to get them to do a play about AIDS for World AIDS day and then bring in the AIDS exam people to test people in village. I think its not going to work out though, as they want 60 bucks for gas and who knows what else. That was pretty disheartening.
Well anyway, happy thanksgiving.