Bereba-Dedougou

Guest blogger: Dani, a math and science teacher in Yaho (30k north of Bereba)

Sept 2 (the rest of day 3):

When those of us who weren't lost finally arrived in Bereba we were greeted by a soccer team who accompanied us into the village. In the village we met with the Chef (chief) and a welcome committee consisting of some other officials, Ali’s neighbors and others she works with. After drinking our welcome water, we headed straight to the library where the kids were ready and waiting. All of the kids there had done the library’s summer reading camp and most of them had been back a few times to check out new books.

We played a reading based version of BINGO with the students, designed to help them recognize and remember letter sounds. First the students had to make their own BINGO boards by using the sounds put on the board (ai, eu, cha, etc.) then we called out the sounds. To win, the rules are the same as BINGO, but the students had to correctly repeat the sounds back to us for it to count. Games like this are always a huge hit because students here so rarely get to do anything “fun” in a learning setting. The second round we made it a little more challenging by asking students to put two sounds together to make a word. Just like back home, camps and activities like this are really important to make sure students don’t forget too much over summer break!

After the time at the library, we were invited to share a drink with the Chef. We all talked a little bit about our villages and learned more about Bereba while our driver went in search of our lost compatriots. Then we were able to head to the house for the night, where we ate (a lot), showered and passed out after our 130k day (or 150k for some).

Sept 3:

That morning we were delayed slightly by rain, but used the extra time to carbo-load on some leftover rice and sauce from the night before. We left by about 7am and had a perfect, cloudy morning on our side after the intense sun of the day before. After about 20k of dirt road we were back on smooth pavement, cruising for the next 100k. This was only my second day on the tour, and I have to admit, two 120k+ days in a row are not the best way to start your week. Regardless, we kept on at a pretty good pace and the lack of sun really made a huge difference. We pulled in to Dedougou at about 2pm and our host, Daniel, had a hot meal ready for us!