Only 8 more days to go… time is going fast now. Tomorrow I am going to Ouagadouguo (capital of BF) to do some tourist shopping! This will be the second time that I will visit the capital and it will be good to spend a day in ‘city atmosphere’; because while they call Ouahigouya a city, you cannot actually call it that way: there is only one main road where there are street lights. The rest is sandy streets with no lights and most people have to get their water from a waterpoint in the streets.
Most of the anthropology students will return at the VU on 3 april. Well, I will be in the airplane at that moment! So I will not be able to attend the first class of Graduate Seminar and listen to all your stories about your experiences!!! This is why I have made a short ‘evaluation report’ to share my experiences anyway.
The first month was full of new impressions, everything was so interesting and wonderful, even though it cost me a lot of energy. I was warmly welcomed by the contact person in Ouahigouya and his family and in fact I have spent most of the period with them. I have lived in a small house on their court and they have been like a family to me.
Because I stayed with an African family; I got to know their culture pretty much from ‘inside’. I had to learn some of the local language Mooré because not everybody spoke French and I did not meet any white people for three months (except some times at a hotel, but I did not get to talk to them much.)
The family lives in the city of Ouahigouya, but they were born in village nearby; and they still have many relatives there. I decided to do my research in this village, called Nimpouya, and a neighbouring village: Risci.
In February I started to feel more ‘adapted’ to the food, the climate, the customs of the people and the life here in general. I could greet people in the local language; and understand a little of what they were saying.
I started to do profound research in the villages. There are two main ethnic groups in the region: the Mossi peasants and the Peul pastoralists. There is no electricity or running water. Because in the rural areas people only speak local languages, I have worked with an interpreter.
In March I got more and more problems with my interpreter. In fact, he assumed that after three weeks my research would be finished. Because he had a daily job as well, it got more and more difficult to find time for my research. Finally this resulted almost in an argument by the second week of March. I felt very frustrated, misunderstood and angry. I had the feeling that I did not control the situation anymore; and I did not know what was happening to me. I started to wonder why I chose Africa as my research site in the first place and I seriously wanted to go home!
The situation with my interpreter, in combination with the constantly rising temperature (during the day over 40 degrees! ), the food, the people and their way of communicating, the environment, the language… All the things I found so wonderful at first; now I was completely fed up with everything! This feeling lasted for almost a week and it felt like this week would never end.
But, fortunately, it passed, of course. And in the last weeks I could enjoy most things again, although the feeling of homesickness did not go away completely. Now that the end is near, I realise what a wonderful and unique experience this has been. It gives me a certain dramatic state of being: every time I pass something, I think this might be the last time I see those things. I have taken many pictures and have written everything down in my diary. This will hopefully help me after my return home, to deal with this experience.
See you all soon! Bye, Rosie
