on curfews, work and weekends

3 Topics this time. Here we go.

Since sunday, the curfew has been denounced. Meaning: we're allowed again to go out for binge-drinking after 19 o'clock - not that I felt a urgent need to. Anyway, it's also a sign that things are getting back to normal! In all honesty, my last post on security wasn't truly honest. Last week, we've still spent a couple of nights listening to gun fire (well, ok, if I'm really honest now: I tend to listen about 5 minutes, before falling asleep again), but after a reconciliation session between the president of Burkina Faso and a quite high number of officers and soldiers from the army, there has been quite a change as they seem again to spend their nights inside their barracks. No more gun fire at night - which is still better. 

Anyway, to make sure we had at least a weekend in quietness & peace, we went onto the motorbike to Koubri, famous for it's nuns, yoghourt and an 'auberge'. The nuns and yoghourt are bound together, as the former produce the latter, and for sure: they do that very well. We stayed with the nuns (well, at their hotellerie) for the first night. The auberge (called Bouginvilliers) was another interesting place - Belinda found her favorite spot at the ponton next to the barrage, while I went for a ride with the bike. I truly had a great time exploring the country side - such a difference with the city I'm living in now. And I loved talking to people, just sitting outside together, as if there was no tomorrow and no yesterday. One remark though: the landmarks of high voltage power lines, rising up higher than any building - and yet, it is so strange to realize that none of the villages is connected in any way with them. There're just there, standing still, a mere sign of a world which is developed. But they bring nothing to these people. 

somewhere near Koubri

Not that there's a bridging line with the last topic: work. But still, for some who may doubt: that's taking most of my time here. After the first weeks which went quite slowly, I get involved a lot more now. There's a tremendous job lying ahead of me, on both the level of organizational development as ICT. Every day I learn, and get a better idea of what's needed to move forward. Still, my ideas are in an embryonic state - and I'm trying not to act wiser as I am. Will write further in detail on that in the second half of this month - in Dutch on the blog of my partner Daidalos (click here) and on this site.