My morning as a voyeur

I pulled out my camera this morning to pack it for my Thanksgiving trip to Kathy’s house, and decided to snap a few photos from my house.  Just a few updates from village.  I’m still trying to hide the fact that I have a camera from the children and from the villagers- everyday I hear “I demand water to drink, I demand a book, I demand this or that…”  from the children, I don’t want to add “take my picture” to that.  So I had to snap these in secret from my window.  I felt a little like the lead man in “Rear Window” spying on my neighbors from my window, but you got to do what you got to do.

First, here is an update on my house.  I finally got some furniture!  Bought a bookshelf for clothes and a mattress.  Rob brought me a chair since his PC tour is almost over, and Roger brought me a small table which I use as a little desk.  The kitchen has received only one improvement, the most amazing fry pan in the world, but nothing to write home about.  My house is finally starting to come together as a home. 

      

And here are a few pictures from my window.  The millet and sorghum have been harvested so I can actually see the neighboring compounds.  The first photo is a man putting new thatch on his roof.  Apparently now is the time to make thatch, and everyday there are men weaving thatch under the big tree in central village.  The second is children passing my house as they walk to school.   

Then there is the Cheif de village, that’s him in the orange hat under the tree.  A new Gourounsi radio station just came to our area, so every morning he and a group of men sit under his tree and blast the radio, which I can hear perfectly from my house.  I don’t know this woman, but she stopped to talk to another woman (you can’t see her, she’s in her courtyard) on the path while walking by.  I love this picture because it’s everyone Burkinabe woman- bright color pagne skirt, carrying things on her head, and lots of sass.   

 

And the head lady!  I found out she lives in the compound behind me and was lucky enough to catch her in action!  This is her walking into her house. 

Lastly, my best friend Angina, the little girl and has asked if I’ll be her mother and if she can sleep at my house.  She came to see me off this morning.