Technically, Burkina is considered to have two seasons: rainy and dry. However, the dry season is often divided into two or three sub-seasons. The south of Burkina receives more rain than the north, with light rains starting as early as February and running through December. However, the majority of the heavy rains fall between May and September. In comparison, the north typically has a shorter season from June through August (with a few light rains in April or May). The rain is essential for the subsistence farmers of Burkina Faso. However, like all things, one wants neither too much or too little. No rain = No grains = No food. Excess rain = Drowned-dead plants = No food. With the advent of global warming, the rainy season has gradually been shortening and shifting and the rains have changed from almost daily light rainfall during the rainy season (l'hivernage ou la saison pluvieuse) to extended rain-free periods broken up by torrential downpours.
At the beginning of l'hivernage, the temperatures are still high since it's the tail-end of the dry season. Even without a meteorologist though, the arrival of rain can be anticipated. The humidity combined with the heat makes the temperatures nearly unbearable (especially for a first timer living without air conditioning). It appears to settle down upon you oppressively and gives you wonderful things like prickly heat (heat rash) and leaves you changing your clothes, especially underwear for women, a few times a day. Then from a distance, you can feel a cool breeze and see the forming of dark, ominous clouds (the best kind). In a country with few modern buildings (mostly one-story houses made of mud bricks), these clouds are actually very far away. Anywhere between one to six hours later, the winds pick up, bring dust and rattling your tin roof (if you're lucky; if you're not, thatched and/or mud depending upon the ethnicity in your region), and the smell of rain is in the air. Finally, the much anticipated rain arrives. The next day, greenery may carpet the countryside, and you think to yourself Burkina is like a Chia pet! This rain can be or it can last for over 24 hours! Though, as I said, neither too little nor too much is appreciated. In addition to drowning plants and flooding fields, heavy winds and rains can tear off roofs and collapse buildings. As the season progresses, the overall heat diminishes and the temperatures are milder, with the rains happening frequently (daily in some areas). If you are a Trainee, you begin to think to yourself it only rains on Sundays (your only full day off from formal sessions during Training).
Before you know it, the season tapers off in about September or October. This is the beginning of the dry season, and what I find to be one of its three sub-seasons: the mini-hot season. The first dry winds start circulating, and within a few weeks, what you thought were ponds or lakes in your village disappear completely, leaving behind dried out shallow depressions covered in hoofprints. The air is hot once more, but no longer humid. The plants begin to ripen and the HCNs prepare to harvest (recolte) from October to as late as December. Quickly, the greenery of Burkina disappears, and if it is your first time in a desert, it can appear barren, dusty and dreary. Though the savanna vistas become lovely and quite fantastic in retrospect and as your service progresses. One can almost imagine and wish that Dr. Seuss had been inspired by the West African scenery.
The temperatures start to drop in November, and by December at the latest, the Harmattan winds are in full effect, bring on the cold season. Carrying dust throughout the area. The dust storms can be fantastic and arrive quickly, or they can creep in slowly and diminish visibility to less than 20 meters. The air cools off and at night, the wind can bring temperatures into single digit Celsius (40-50 Farenheit). In your first year as a Volunteer, you might find this as a wonderful relief. If you are not a member of Posh Corps, then during your second (and third) years, this becomes a terrible time of coldness and dust, where you find yourself dressed like the host country nationals in your site, wearing a sweater, sweatshirt and/or winter coat. The cold typically leaves in February, though this year, it started to heat up in late January. This usually results in a light drizzle in February or March somewhere in the country (no guarantee it will be where you live) and signifies the end of the cold season.
The hot season is quite frankly unbearable at times. The nighttime temperatures outdoors can be over 40 Celsius (110+ Fahrenheit)! Very few people sleep indoors during this time of year. Nighttime becomes a time of activity since it's actually cool enough (yes, 100+ weather is cool... cooler than 120+ weather) to move around. People often stay up until the wee hours of the morning chatting and hanging out, before catching a few hours of sleep. During the day, the noon to three pm siesta is a mandatory part of survival, and also, the pre and post siesta bucket baths. The average person rinses themselves off at least four times a day to keep themselves relatively cool and clean. Once you think you can't survive this heat anymore (luckily its dry), the humidity settles in and you know that the rains are about to start. Bringing us back to the rainy season!
So, I survived this for four years, and you can too! That is living without modern conveniences like plumbing and air-conditioning. The key to the hot season is to remember that evaporation is a cooling process, and even wet laundry air drying around you will cool off your surroundings a little bit. So now, I hope you understand why I find it ridiculously cold in all of America and will be wearing long-sleeved shirts and sweaters if it's under 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
The downside to all this extreme weather, is of course the different illnesses. The rainy season promotes malaria and schistosomiasis. The dry season promotes meningitis and tuberculosis. More in-depth information about health issues in Burkina Faso later...
In other news... I thought I was done with preparing stool samples. Darn you, schistosomiasis!
There are two parts of the Peace Corps experience spectrum:
Posh Corps = Peace Corps experience of Peace Corps Volunteers who have access to electricity and/or running water. Some people also install DSL lines or even have air-conditioning!
Hard Corps = Peace Corps experience of Peace Corps Volunteers with neither electricity nor running running water, and/or have to travel (long) distances by bicycle to catch transport or find (cold, if they're lucky) water.
Peace Corps/Burkina Faso is moving away from Hard Corps and towards Posh Corps (though it's not as posh as some other countries) because of security issues. More information about Burkina travel warnings and restrictions can be found at the Ouagadougou US Embassy website. While fewer Volunteers are being placed in sites without electricity/cell phone coverage/running water, the majority of Volunteers are found somewhere in the middle of this spectrum, with one of the three modern conveniences. I find this unfortunate because these convenience-lacking locations are often those suffering from the most need. The communities don't have the political sway to get these conveniences installed. This keeps governmental and non-governmental organizations from trying to stay in the areas as well. Either way, if you are an incoming Trainee, be mentally prepared to have nothing: no running water, no electricity, no cell phone coverage. These modern conveniences actually take you away from the majority of Burkina Faso's population living conditions and set you even further apart from them, making integration and exchange more difficult. While I struggled my first year, having to bike about ten miles to make a phone call, and standing in certain spots of my village on top of a chair just to send a text message, it gave me a chance to bond more closely with people in my village and learn more about the surrounding area as well. I missed out on having some great memories with my stagemates, but made some fantastic ones with people in my area. I know it helped with the success of many of my projects, as well as helped people better understand the United States (goal two).
Amazing in Americaland: beverages (except those with (high-fructose) corn syrup or added sugars), bacon, meat
Undesirable in USA: customer service, preservatives, healthcare system
Still Missing Faso: friends, warmth, sunrises, sunsets, stars, tailors
This is one of my favorite songs from Burkina. It basically is saying that Burkina is a great place and that their proud of their country and love it! It's one of the few songs that uses traditional rhythms in the music. Long before I understood this song, I loved it!
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