Details

So you've now either read the first post and wondered why it ended so suddently, skipped the first post because it was too gushy, or skipped the first post because you already knew what it had to say. And so I present the second part.

On May 10th, I leave Charlottetown, PEI, for Paris, France. From there, I somehow get to Frankfurt, Germany, where I will meet up with Katie, Linden, Graham, Chelsea, and Josie, who will be getting off a very early flight. The six of us will then spend just under two weeks as tourist, visiting Frankfurt, London, and Paris. On May 23rd, I meet up with Emily, who will be coming from visiting Dublin, and we fly together from Paris to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso is located in Western Africa, bordering Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Benin, and Togo. It is landlocked, and has three main rivers running through it, the Mouhoun, Nakambé, and Nazinon. Former known as Upper Volta, the country was a French colony until 1960. Currently operating as a Parliamentary Republic, Burkina Faso is lead by President Blaise Compaoré, who has been re-elected every election since he first took head of the country in 1987 after a coup d'état. Current law states that he will not be eligible to run again in 2010, when the next election is scheduled to occur, because of his repeat holding of the position. The official language of the Burkinabé (inhabitants of Burkina Faso) is French, though tribal languages are also common. The literacy rate in the country is very low, and the country has a strong arts scene, hosting prominent international craft and film festivals. Ninety percent of the population relies on subsistence agriculture, with most of this being in cotton, peanuts, shea nuts, sesame, sorghum, millet, corn, rice, and raising livestock. The country is considered to be very stable, safe, and welcoming.

Emily and I will be working with an organization called Bridges of Hope for 10 weeks, based in the Boura region, near the Ghanaian border (Google Maps has it, if anyone is curious: search 'Boura, Burkina Faso'). Both of us will be doing assesments of local organizations to determine what Bridges of Hope can do to further their work. Emily will be working with small local businesses and organizations, and I with local schools. Bridges of Hope is an organization based out of Lethbridge, Alberta. Emily learned of the organization at a conference in Ottawa, and decided to set it up as an RC internship. RC requires international placements to be in pairs, so I am unbelievably excited to be travelling and spending this summer with Emily. On its website, Bridges of Hope describes its vision: " To enhance the capability and productivity of indigenous organizations, leadership, and people who are committed to poverty relief and community empowerment." The organization describes its guiding principles as being based in dignity, respect, and capacity building.

I'm going to make a point to direct you to Emily's blog, she has also been writing some background information, and we should both end up providing different views of similar experiences, which I guess will be interesting. I'm also going to point out that I have listed links to the blogs of my classmates' travels, on the side of the page.