Flashbacks

I am done working at the pre-service training where I spent 3 weeks staring into the face of what I was like a little more than a year ago. Coupled with glancing at the calendar and my graduate applications it had the effect of revealing the changes I've experienced.

I would say that working at training made it even more evident than my trip home. It is hard to judge how you've changed when reuniting with an environment that has changed just as much or more. Working at training was the last item on my long list of goals that I wrote during my first 3 months in village. I turned in all my graduate school applications last weekend. This feels like a turning point.

So now what do I do with 8 months? I am trying to be realistic--a skill I thought I had mastered from living in Africa, but you know, old habits. I have World AIDS Day coming up this December. We are going to test 100 people for free, do safe sex workshops and paint a mural. In February I would like to do what we call a Hearth Model which is an 8 day nutrition workshop for mothers of moderately malnourished children. I think we are going to try to do a family planning theater tour for Women's day in March. I want to do a Malaria theater tour in April or May. Lastly, I might teach English in July before I leave. I guess I want to build hand washing stations sometime between all of that... So much for scaling back?

I guess I am going to have to relearn how to manage a busy schedule. Every calendar day is my last of its kind in Burkina. You know, no pressure...
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Airtel Burkina Faso.