More Protocol and a Protest

More Protocol and a Protest – Saturday, January 10, 2013

 

Yesterday was spent doing protocol, which basically means going around and talking to everyone important in the town every time you do a project.  We went to talk to delegates, the mayor’s office, the sous-préfet, and the préfet about a survey that we are going to do as part of our needs assessment.  The préfet is in charge of the district that Guider is in, basically like a county.  It includes all of the towns where the seven people in my cluster live.  They told us dozens of times during training how important it is to do protocol.  One of the PCV trainers told us about how one time she didn’t do protocol before she did a map project – where you and the community paint a world map on the exterior wall of a school.  Apparently, some officials were offended that they were not consulted before the project was done, and the map was painted over. 

 

Someone from the sous-préfet’s office here even got mad at my post-mate because he didn’t tell anyone that it was the 50^th anniversary of the Peace Corps.  Apparently they thought they should have sent a representative down.  The same guy was also mad that he didn’t tell them the ambassador was coming to Guider – something we didn’t know about until after he left.  In other words, you have to do this every time. 

 

The other thing annoying about protocol, other than the frequency that you have to do it, is how long it takes.  We left the house around 9 AM and didn’t get back until almost 4 PM, most of that time spent waiting around in lobbies.  However, everyone we met with was very friendly and supportive, telling us to come to them if we need anything.  They were also happy to hear that we will be telling them the results. 

 

Though we carried our moto-helmets everywhere that we went, we didn’t get a chance to use them once.  We found out why after we finished our meetings and headed to the market.  All of the moto-drivers were on strike.  One guy told us he left his moto at home, because if drivers were caught working, the other drivers would beat them.  We talked to a few people, but were still a bit confused by the reasons behind it.  Some people said it was about police corruption, others about new rules being put in place by the préfet.  One guy told us that there had been a checkpoint across the bridge to stop people who weren’t registered as moto-drivers.  Either way, we had been carrying around these heavy, bulky helmets everywhere and had to walk to all of the different offices, which are really spread out. 

 

At the market I got a carved bowl made from the husk of a melon and the stuff needed to make foleré wine.  We didn’t stick around too long though.  The protest was starting to get pretty heated.  There was a bunch of people running around with sticks, riding around on motos with sticks, and a lot of shouting.  It covered quite a big area too.  It probably took us more than five minutes to walk through it all. 

 

That evening I start making my foleré wine.  It’s pretty easy – just put 200 CFA worth of foleré flowers, 1.5 kilos of sugar, 7 liters of water, and a pinch of yeast in a bucket with a lid and a hose running out of it into a bottle of water.  It will be ready in 4 weeks! 

 

 

Today is the Broncos first playoff game against the Ravens.  I really wish I could watch it.  Between Peyton Manning on offense and Von Miller on defense, I definitely think we’re going to win.  Go Broncos! 

 

The Avalanche started practicing too, which is awesome.  The articles I have read said that my two favorite players, Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene, are both out there and looking good.  This hockey season is supposed to be a really exciting one too.  Since it is only 48 games, the whole season will be played in conference, with a lot of games against rivals.  Hopefully that can bring back some of the fans the NHL lost during this stupid lockout.  Time to go see if the laundry is dry.