We called Stephanie on Saturday after extensive research into international phone cards. It seems these are many different plans that appear to be designed to be as complicated as possible to make it difficult to compare. This, I suspect, is yet another shining example of creative marketing. There are plans designed for calling Burkina Faso line phones and different ones for calling cell phones. The obvious card issue is the per minute charge. Looking beyond the obvious there are other charges. Some cards carry an annual fee. There are some with monthly charges and some with weekly charges. We looked at one-minute rounding, two-minute rounding . three-minute rounding and even four-minute rounding. This rounding concept is not really explained anywhere. They must assume it to be fairly straight-forward but I think they should tell you anyway. They do not. We found cards with PIN numbers and some without. Then there are other hidden fees and surcharges than need to be evaluated.
We settled on the nobelcom.com plan which seems to be the best deal for our projected usage To put this into perspective, we have the Time Warner all-in-one plan for our home phone for domestic calls just about for free after you factor in the costs of cable and the internet. The rate they quoted to add international calling, when I inquired, would be six times the cost of the nobelcom card for three hundred minutes.
Once the international phone card decision was made, we waited for one of the times Stephanie had said would be available to take our call. After some confusion over which number to dial (the 800 number is more expensive than the local number we were provided with), we punched in the 31-digit sequence required to reach her Peace Corps-issued cell phone and counted the rings until she picked up.
She said her host family is doing better than some others in that they have a house with a shower inside. She lives in a small bedroom in a single-story house. The bed fits in her room with a few feet to spare on either side.
In addition to the family of four, there are several other people who Stephanie suspects may be cousins living with them in the clay house. She ran down the names and it sounded like there may be as many as 10 people living under one roof.
Emma is the trainee living with a host family across the street. Kathy mentioned how that was her grandmother’s name.
The host family is catholic. Stephanie has not been to mass with them yet but is looking forward to going to see how mass in French compares to mass in English. One of Kathy’s co-workers thought it might be faster to learn Mooré if she attends mass in that language.
Some of the training takes place in classrooms at ECLA which is a non-governmental organization or NGO that is an acronym for Etre Comme Les Autres or “to be like others”. ECLA has a "care and support" medical center and several schools that teach skills like cabinetmaking, carpentry, sewing and handicrafts. Its activities range from ARV treatment (Antiretroviral treatment) to emergency assistance. One of the primary activities of this organization is to work with PLHA or Persons Living with HIV/AIDS. ECLA works to satisfy that group’s needs with an integrated and global approach. Having learned this, it seems logical that the Peace Corps would coordinate the training of each generation of volunteers with such an organization.
The Burkinabe in Ouahigouya speak French and Mooré. They smile a lot and laugh a lot. Stephanie and Carolyn, another Peace Corps Trainee are working with a Burkina woman to become more fluent in French. Nadesh, the 14-year-old daughter of the host family is also helping with her French.
There are outdoor shelters called hangars that the Peace Corps uses for some of the training. The trainees can be outside where the temperatures are more comfortable than they would be indoors. The hangars have slim wooden columns supporting a structural frame with a thatch roof overhead to provide shade for the concrete benches below. Language, medical and cultural training begins at 8 a.m. Monday through Friday with 2 language sessions on Saturday. Lunch lasts an hour and half before the afternoon sessions begin.
The food in Burkina Faso is very good. One of the recent meals she ate included fish, cucumbers, onions and tomatoes. She eats green vegetables once a day.
The Peace Corps provided the trainees with filters for water. Stephanie has been careful not to drink any unfiltered water and has not experienced any unpleasant side-effects as a result. She said others have not been as lucky.
The first night in Ouahigouya, the trainees were invited to dinner at a local physician’s house. The host gave a speech in which he mentioned the avocations of some of the visitors from across the ocean. At one point he said, “There is a beekeeper among you and also a basketball player”, referring to Stephanie. When he mentioned that she was from Syracuse, a cheer was heard from another trainee toward the rear of the room. Stephanie found out later that the person cheering was a young lady named Jennifer, also from Syracuse.
Stephanie was disappointed to learn that the information about jewelry she was given while preparing for her trip was not accurate. She said she could have taken some of her favorite jewelry with her after all. Her host mother let her borrow a pair of earrings. She is preparing a list of items that we may wish to ship to her that will include specific items of jewelry.
Stephanie said she gets to bed by 10 or 11 p.m.
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