Rain at last!

On the weekend we received the first rain of the year in Ouaga. After weeks of sunshine and 50°c temperature, finally the sun was hiding behind the clouds and Ouaga was covered with droplets of water. But let me tell you, when it rains, it rains hard. As we were quite excited at the beginning we started abit of dancing in the rain. After getting fully drenched and feeling cold (for the first time in Africa), and laughed at by the neighbors, we decided to get inside and watch the rain from there. Just when it had finally stopped, Guillaume and I took a ride on a motorbike that we had borrowed from a friend to go around the neighborhood. Of course we weren’t quite lucky with the day we had chosen for this activity as we had to stop afew times for the rain to slow down to be able to continue. Nevertheless, it was one pleasant weekend.

Simple yet pleasant moments don’t just happen on the weekends. During the week, I often find myself smiling about something really little but pleasing. I guess one thing that I really really enjoy here is the human connection/interactions. Back home, when I get on the bus or in a cab I am either listening to my music or minding my own business. I rarely know my neighbors and don’t usually say hi to people on the street. Well, here is quite a different story. All neighbors know each other and pay visits often. In the morning and at night time you always here people saluting one another. There is all sorts of conversations while you are on the bus or in a cab. Every morning when you arrive to work, you say hello to all co-workers and they do the same.
Maybe another way to put this is that here it seems like you are always part of a bigger group and there is never only you. Whereas back home we are more focused on our individual lives. If my neighbors don’t see me here for a day, they will be concerned and knock on the door to see how I am, whereas how many times have you heard stories of people dying in their houses and nobody noticing till weeks later??

Well, sometimes the visits do get out of hand and you find yourself locking the door so that you can be alone for awhile…So of course this sense of community and less individualistic approach has its own down sides. If you are the eldest or the richest in the family, you are obliged to provide for others and that can include immediate and extended family members. Its simply expected. My co-worker is always concerned about what he needs to put aside at the end of the month to send to his family in the village.

Regardless of the downsides, I do enjoy the visits from the neighbors, salutations on the way to work and the communal approach that is so evident in the African lifestyle. There is really not much to share, but as they say “vous êtes invités” to what there is to share.
pic: me and neighbors