How to beat the heat

April 3

So far the temperature has gone from 95 to 97 (34-37) throughout the day, so because I cannot live in the shower, and the water has apparently stopped flowing form the tap (I was told this happens often) I have used the old water bottles, I have to buy water because if I was to drink the tap I would probably end up dead, and filling them with tap water and freezing them. Locals are free to drink it however. I’ve got two bottles so far and I put one up against my back and the other one on my tummy or on my feet. It feels fantastic. But I’m hoping my body gets used to this heat sooner than later.

I feel guilty for not tell you anything about Burkina Faso’s history or anything so I thought that while I have ALL this free time before I can start my research I would catch you up.

According to most international measurements Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world. I think it is listed number four currently. About half of its inhabitants live below what the World Health Organization calls absolute poverty. And dying of hunger is not uncommon for this country. Few people have access to sufficient income, basic social services such as a hospital and education. Burkina is ranked number 172 out of 174 based on the United Nations human development index (HDI).

(electricity just went out…calling my Burkina men during this writing, all claim it’s the light bulbs and all have disappeared at 8 pm to find a friend of a friend who sells light bulbs.) the water and now it’s the electricity…but the water seems to be back on.

Burkina Faso was called Upper Volta until 1984. It was a previous French colony . It receives less than 600 mm of rain per year, which means producing crops becomes very difficult. And there are around 12 million people living here and about 20 percent of those people are illiterate. Burkina is extremely ethnically diverse with over 60 different ethnic groups. Burkina didn’t have democracy until the end of 1980, and evens till people do not have access to many basic rights. It is not an easy place to live and even if you have the means to live in a nicer home in a nicer neighborhood, which I am, electricity still goes out along with water. You cannot control these aspects no matter how much money you have.