Bike Tour of the Central North! DAY ONE- LOAGA!!!

Calder " ArabaCalder" Bethke was the first host for the Bike Tour de Faso 2014 in the Central North region. Loaga is a mostly Christian village, where Calder works with Catholic Relief Services as an agricultural and small enterprise development volunteer. Being a legendary tree hugger and self proclaimed plant fanatic, ArabaCalder's village was LOUD and PROUD to tell us about his exquisite farming skills, wonderful work ethic, and amazing local language! With his fantastic Moore and glowing smile, it's no wonder everyone in the village was excited to welcome Bike Tour to Loaga. Volunteers arrived to Loaga on August 31st by bus, prepared to do a discussion on hygiene and gender the following day.

Sundays are a big market day in Loaga. They even had games and a raffle! Here volunteers Leanne Demery, Kara O'Brien and Calder "ArabaCalder" Bethke show off their winnings!

 Peace Corps Volunteers and GAD committee members Kara O'Brien and Leanne Demery share a welcome drink and fashion sense in the local Dolo Den.

Men in Loaga are fishing for a fanta. If you hook the ring on the fanta, you get to drink it! 

ArabaCalder's cat, Puma, shares the PCV and Burkinabe enthusiasm for roasted peanuts. 

It was nice to have the opportunity to greet the village and participate in the big market day festivities in Loaga, but as you know, Bike Tour isn't all fun and games! ArabaCalder and his counterpart Jonas, organized a group of men and women to come and listen to our presentation on gender equality and hygiene. The discussion on gender equality focused on keeping young girls in school, equality in the work place, equal opportunities for men and women, shared house work, and supporting and encouraging the women and girls in the community to stay in school and work when they are older to help support the family.

Peace Corps Volunteers Fynn Myllr, Faith Toran, Leanne Demery and ArabaCalder draw out posters to help explain the gender talks. This way, those who cannot read may still follow the discussion and hopefully the posters better translate the ideas about equality.

After the discussion on gender, there was time for questions and answers before moving on to hygiene. Some of the women were interested in how to keep their daughters in school when they get pregnant. We encouraged the families to help the young girls care for their child while they continue their schooling, because pregnancy doesn't mean one must end their education. The men were interested in the idea of helping their wives clean the courtyard and work. Everyone agreed that they would like their daughters to stay in school and work one day.

 ArabaCalder taught his community about hand washing by playing the spicy pepper game. Here he asks a man to touch spicy pepper powder with his hand and then touch his eye. The man refuses. Then he rinses the mans hands with water and asks again. The man again refuses. He then helps the man wash his hands with soap and water, and again asks him to touch his eye. This time he agrees. The spicy pepper is representative of microbes and how using just plain water does not wash all of them off, one must use soap as well. The volunteers also helped to explain why running water is better than sharing a bowl of water to clean your hands with, by acting out a skit. Following a few questions and answers, ArabaCalder then taught his community about the "tippy top" handwashing station. Three pieces of wood, some string, soap and a jug of water and everyone can wash those microbes off! Then all 76 people who attended our lesson helped put in a tippy top at a local restaurant. 

Volunteers and community members help put in the tippy top at the fish and atcheke lady's restaurant so that people can wash their hands before and after they eat.

Thanks for hosting Calder ArabaCalder Bethke! And great work!