Attached you will find the Bike Tour Summary for 2011.  We've included statistics, daily summaries, quotes from the rider blog, photos, and notes for 2012.  If you would like to plan OR host the Tour in 2012, please email Ali (alison.a.wallace@gmail.com) or Chris (chris.s.davis@gmail.com).   The Tour is tentatively scheduled to be sometime in August.

I recently came across the book Team Challenges: 170+ Group Activities by Kris Bordessa in the Transit House. I am currently searching for ice breakers and small group games for Camp G²LOW and found a few that are worth sharing that could be done rather easily here.

Are there any buildings in your village that have a bat infestation? Have you ever noticed any weird odors as you walk through your courtyard or past your CSPS, schools, youth house, etc?

There's a common misconception among many villagers that bat-proofing has to be costly or hurt the bats, but in reality it's only 9,000 CFA to smoke them out and patch the walls! It's an easy project to do and hygiene is a high priority for everyone. Click the title and scroll down to access the one-page handout. You'll learn what materials you need, what steps to take, and how to finance it.

Ever wonder why toilet seats in Burkina (and everywhere else in West Africa) are always broken/falling off/destroyed in a way that just doesn't seem to make sense? A university in southern Wales has figured it out, and taken the initiative to prevent this problem on their school grounds. Maybe we should add popularizing these posters to our project framework? Here's the link to the article at BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-16983788.

Swansea University puts up toilet instruction posters

Camp G²LOW (Girls and Guys Leading Our World) is an already well-established national camp happening annually in 22 Peace Corps countries around the world. Burkina Faso became the 23^rd country to host Camp G²LOW in August 2011, starting the first edition of Camp G²LOW at the regional level in the cities of Kaya and Boromo. Our goal is to add two more regions each year until it reaches the national level with a two week long camp: one week of boys and one week of girls. This year, in 2012, we hope to expand Camp G²LOW to include not only Kaya and Boromo, but also Léo and Fada as well. That way the camp will touch four different regions of the country.

Last summer my village and I started a project in which we provided households with gutters designed to catch water.  When I first started to talk about the gutters, many of my neighbors mentioned that they were familiar with the concept because catching water on your roof is a common practice in Cote d'Ivoire. 

Worldwide malaria deaths may be almost twice as high as previously estimated, a study reports.  The research, published in the British medical journal the Lancet, suggests 1.24 million people died from the mosquito-borne disease in 2010.  This compares to a World Health Organisation (WHO) estimate for 2010 of 655,000 deaths.

But both the new study and the WHO indicate global death rates are now falling.

This is a very interesting artcle about some of the issues facing Educaiton volunteers in Burkina.

Attention all PCVs in Burkina Faso!

"The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things"...most precisely, the La Campagne Burkina Verte trainings here in Burkina Faso.

Pack your packs for Pepiniere Preparation Training People (Can I get a few more p-words in there?)

Juggling is a fantastic skill (not a talent!) that most anybody can learn with a little time and practice. Ask anyone who knows how to juggle and they will almost certainly harp on about its many benefits, ranging from improved motor skills, patience, and rewards! Let’s take a closer look at some of the GREAT reasons to learn how to juggle: