Why keep public buildings locked?

Another project as part of my, ‘why do you keep your public buildings locked?’ strategy is getting a public grain store open, bearing in mind we are now in harvest season and people have tiny living spaces that are unsuitable to store grain. 3^rd adjoint has a key and another committee list for one, next bureaucratic level up (cf. county level) the sous prefet has another, tells me I need to write to blah, I draft the letter, queue for 2 hours to see the SP, he then tells me he has the key for grain store 3, but it has some items in it. We get the caretaker who opens it up. It is FULL of school desks and benches waiting to go to schools (bear in mind most schools have no tables and benches and we have just started the new academic year). Then I have to get back in the queue and wait another 2 hours to say ‘yes, this would be suitable if he can organize removal of the desks’. I have to go back in a month. I know it is pathetic and terrible, but at least I have the energy and the nassara (white person) authority to try, and I do shame them even if it is only temporarily.

 

It was interesting for me to talk about what is and isn’t working and gave me confidence in that I seem to have an innate sense of how to wing it and keep moving forward with small yet appropriate projects. The programme team saw me on national television as part of the Bogo Fete des Femmes Rurales event (where I was supporting ten local women’s groups) attended by a governor. I didn’t speak of course, but I do remember cameras being there. I just didn’t think they were national TV!

 

After the Far North the North West region felt like Wales. It is still the rainy season, but mountainous, cloudy, quite cool, very green, lots of trees, flowers, waterfalls etc, but still inadequate clean running water provision, people starving with insufficient access to land to grow things. The people are shorter, stockier and blacker than in the Far North and speak a sort of pigeon English. I didn’t like it as much as where I am, but it should be sunnier and dryer when FP and I return in December. I stayed in this extraordinary hotel which was a tacky, over the top, mish mash of architectural designs covered with tiles. Apparently the President is going to stay there next month.

 

Health wise I’m fine – my craters have healed and the bad burn I got on my neck lying flat in bed with a candle on my chest trying to read a book (we have been without electricity in Bogo for 3 weeks this month) is healing up nicely and keeping savlon on it to keep it moisturized seems to have done the trick.