So I’m back in Pô ready for more soap-making with my Club de Commerce. Gonna set-up a table to sell liquid soap and the vegetables from the school garden. The Club went public with the beginning of sales of stock shares to non-club members. Very exciting. And obviously soap sales have gone well in my absence during In-Service Training. Thanks, Neal.

What did I learn at IST? I learned that the PC project-reporting-process will take an immense amount of time. Nevermind the projects . . . merely the reporting. I learned that development funds are available, but they are not easy to get and can take a long time to arrive. That the best restaurant in Ouaga is Gondwana, pronounced gotta wanna, as in you’ve gotta wanna find this place but it’s really worth it . . . and as in you’ve gotta wanna spend a week’s pay on one great meal – $39 and worth every penny.

We had lots of time to plan projects with host-country counterparts, in my case, Yaya. I love saying his name and frequently begin questions addressing  him directly. Yaya, is it true that goats are evil garden-demons that scheme and work in teams? Or, Yaya, what's the French word for projector? Oh, projecteur! Hmm. Here’s Yaya with his certificate after our completion of counter-part workshop. Yaya is a new father. Felicitations! What’s the traditional baby gift in Burkina Faso? Soap! I find this interestingly ironic. Of course, baby clothing is also appropriate here, just as in the U.S. So Yaya and I worked together for several days, heads together, me trying to understand his French; and we made our plans for the next 19 months. We discussed a calendar for the bamboo project . . . among many other bamboo issues. There’s so much work to do. There’s not enough time. The days are too short. And hot season seems to have arrived early.

IST also included sessions on health and safety. These PC classes often involve skits or games. It’s hokey, but I’ve grown to love ‘em, and they are often genuinely informative. Last week we played Jeopardy during our Safety & Security session. Answer: “Call your Saftey & Security Officer” ding, ding, ding, Response . . . in the form of a question: “What is ‘following any theft or burglary?’”  Next answer: "Receipt of an SMS regarding Code Orange consolidation.” Response: “What is ‘in the event of a political or civil emergency?’”

One of the Jeopardy questions, or answers I should say, was: “Taliban slogans are painted on the Bureau in Bobo.” We all looked at each other . . . questioning eyes . . .  no one really having a good answer . . . or question, I should say. Tick-tock-tick . . . you know the tune. Finally, one of my favorite PCVs innocently poses: Aesthetic Emergency?

OK. Now is it just me? Is this a had-to-be-there moment? Do you have to know Keith to know how utterly fabulous this is? Or, is this truly a brilliant answer? Did my team really win? And that hat on my head . . . Mao or Castro? We can only speculate.