In Burkina Faso, all PCVs offer periodic presentations called sensibilisations. Now say that word with a French accent. There's a lot of vowels, non? Admit it, the pronunciation takes a bit of practice. Joan, I can just hear you saying this word. So what is a sensibilisation? Well, the colloquial definition would be, as my mother says, "to knock some sense into you."

 

So I did my first sensibilisation. I used the coffee grounds from the French Press. Yes, the same French press that I toted over 7,000 miles from Dallas (knew it'd come in handy for something). Placed those used coffee grounds right on the base of a canna plant. Yes, canna . . . the flower/plant from rhizomes, just as in Dallas.

 

Initially my family said "Whoa!" in French, of course. Whoa doesn't really translate to French, but I certainly got the gist of their meaning. I explained that the coffee grounds were good for plants and flowers. And then, a mere three days later, viola. A canna bloom. Any my mother (my sister) showed the bloom to my host father and repeated my words to him, "Bon pour les fleurs." Sensibilisation complete.

 

In my current host family the mother is only eight years my senior. So we call each other grande soeur and petite soeur. I've never been a petite anything. Well, maybe a petite fool, but even that's arguable. Anyway, I never know the culturally appropriate term for her? My mother, my sister, my mother my sister? Roman Polanski, where are you when I need you most?

I have a pagne. In fact, I wore a pagne. What's a pagne? It's a gorgeous piece of fabric (think large beach-towel size) that can be used for all sorts of things: bath towels, sheets, fabric for tailors who create the most gorgeous clothing designs you've ever seen. The pagne can also be wrapped via some native-and-talented fashion to form a skirt. So, yes indeedy, I wore a pagne . . . and nothing under it. Hey, it was wash day and sous-vetements were limited. So what happened next? Hmmm. Difficult to say, but it had my mother/my sister shaking her head. Was it the wind? Was it the bike ride? Was it my lack of pagne-rolling/tying skills? Do I need a pagne-rolling sensibilisation? We can only speculate.