So, when I accepted my assignment to come to Burkina Faso as a community health volunteer I knew that the amenities would be slim. I had prepared myself to live in the most basic circumstances for the next two years of my life – most likely without running water, electricity or internet. However, when I got my site assignment my plans changed. I found I was going to one of the few villages wired for electricity. What luck! What chance! Actually, I requested it if at all possible (knowing myself too well) but I didn’t actually think Peace Corps would listen! So here I was, moving to a village with electricity and bound and determined to get it set up as soon as possible. Before the former volunteer left in early December I asked her to put our house on the list to be “hooked up”. I thought I was being so proactive. There would definitely be electricity in the house before I moved in on December 17th. I had already been in the country long enough to be a little skeptical about a time frame for anything to happen, but I hadn’t been here long enough to know to NEVER hold my breath. So I got to site and through the emotional torrent that is your first few days I soon realized that there was in fact no electricity in the house (not hard to catch once I got out of bed long enough to finally notice I needed my headlamp). But there was hope. The power lines were already strung all around the village and there was an electrical pole already directly across the dirt road from my house. So to me it appeared that things were already halfway done and I would just need to edge toward the end product – electricity in MY home.
Now don’t get me wrong, I know I can live without electricity; my first two months in training assured me of that. I was one of the select 6 of my training group of 31 to be placed with a village homestay family. So practically from the word “GO” I got to experience village life, and you know what, I survived it. So I figured that if I could live two months like that, then I could live the next two years the same way. However, when electricity is an option and it is literally staring you in the face from across the road, all I can say is that you want it, bad! So the next 10 months became my electricity saga, my attempt to try and get my American demands to turn into Burkinabe actions. Not an easy task.
As my family can attest, I am a girl who knows how to get what she wants. I can be persuasive, argumentative, persistent as hell and probably downright annoying – but I usually achieve my ends. I know this makes me sound like some kind of manipulative psychopath, but for the most part this trait has been used to get an unfair grade changed or stay on someone’s good side, nothing crazy! But this should also explain why I approached my electricity dilemma with such confidence. I was certain that I would get what I wanted and fast. Oh Anna, you are not in Kansas anymore.
As a good volunteer I employed the help of my counterpart, my Major, or the head nurse at my clinic. Even though I was confident, I knew that two heads are better than one and that I would probably need help with the translation (god knows they didn’t teach us electrical installation vocabulary during French class in high school). So I walked into the mayor’s office with my Major shortly after arriving at site and asked when the electricity would be available in my house. It started off as a conversation with one guy, that then included another, and then another until one of them bluntly told my Major that it was just not possible. You can imagine my shock. Not possible? What do you mean not possible? One thing that you do not tell an American is that something is not possible. Everything is possible, the real question is how much will it cost? Again, my American brain was still too in control. My mystery mayor’s office guy told me that the reason they couldn’t connect my house to the electrical grid was that the pole was too far away from my house. I almost laughed out loud, because my house is about 15 yards from the aforementioned pole. In addition, because of the “road” (dirt path to be more precise) in between my house and the existing pole another pole would have to be put in so that the wires would be high enough for a car to pass under. Ok, so I see a ray of hope – all we need is another pole and then we are back in business. So my Major, smart man that he is, asks how much it would be for me to pay to put in the extra pole. Again my mayor’s office guy says that it is not possible. What is with this guy and this phrase? Does he not know how much he is pissing me off? So I ask why is it not possible? I have to wait until they (the state, electrical company, the powers that be…I don’t really know) come and do the grid extension and put in more poles. When will this happen? Within the next two month. So now I am optimistic. I have a time frame and my “not possible” turned into a “wait a while”, so I was determined to be patient. Good thing I didn’t start holding my breath!
Low and behold, a few months later the poles were still not installed. Every time I went into the Mayor’s office to ask about the ETA on the pole extension I would get a vague brush off – in a few months, in a matter of weeks, soon. After 4 months at site I decided to try another tactic. My boss, the head of the Peace Corps health program and a very powerful woman in Burkina in her own right (she’s a doctor and married to the 4th most powerful man in Burkina), was coming to conduct her initial site visit, which she does with every new health volunteer during their first few months at site. My plan was to use her influence to push the process along. I knew that they may not listen to me but they would probably respond to her. And Oh did they respond to her. Almost every public official seemed scared of her and ready to do anything she asked, including my Major. She put the responsibility on his shoulders to get my electricity situation figured out and he took that seriously. As soon as she left he started working on my behalf to get this done.
By the time I got back from my first round of training and my family vacation in Ireland ( June 2011) my Major had discussed the electricity matter with my family and got a plan in the works. The plan was that the village would finally let us pay to put in our own pole on our side of the road. Since the pole would service our whole family compound we split the cost of installation 50/50, me paying half and the family taking care of the other half. I paid my family for my share and let them deal with the details of getting it done. For the next few months I was in and out of site, mainly going to Ouaga to plan the Peace Corps 50th Anniversary Fair. Each time I came back a new small step was accomplished. First the hole for the pole was dug, then the pole arrived, then the small cement block house for the electrical counter was built, then the pole was up and finally the wires were strung and the counter installed. By the time all of this happened it was early September. The last step would have been to install all of the internal fixtures in my house, but unfortunately my measly monthly salary did not allow me the funds to accomplish that last step before I had to leave for the bike tour and the fair. When I finally got back to site it was early October, almost 10 months after I had started this process, and I was determined to get everything installed and hooked up ASAP – I had waited long enough for my electricity! So within days of getting back to site I bought all of the necessary materials, had the Major contact the electrician and got the installation scheduled. The “electrician” came on Sunday morning, October 2nd at 9:30am and was done by 1:30pm. When that first light flickered on and my surge protector lit up it was one of the most exciting moments I’ve had in village since arriving. It has been a little hard to tear myself away from my electricity during this first week but the novelty will wear off soon. Life will go back to normal but with the added convenience of a light at night, a fan during hot season and an outlet to charge my electronics (which keep me sane). I know, I am no longer a true “roughing it” volunteer, but I still think I get some credit for moving to West Africa. Enjoy those amenities people! They are a privilege and you really do miss them when they are gone! But for now, I am so glad to have electricity back in my life!
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