Travelling & Volunteering #1: Volunteering in Burkina Faso - experience I will never forget!

BURKINA FASO TREK - MY LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE I WILL NEVER EVER FORGET!

What would you answer if someone asks you “What is the best thing you have ever done in your life?”?

Travelling would definitely be on my top list. Especially when it is combined with another passion - volunteering. When you are forced to be outside of your comfort zone, when you are challenged every day, when it’s tough but really rewarding at the same time, when you feel that you are making a difference, when you are left speechless, when you know that you will never come back the same… You might just go for a short trip but what you experience, learn will stick with you forever.

One of the most memorable trips was volunteering in Burkina Faso (West Africa). Two groups of volunteers travelled to BF together with BuildOn - organization which is building schools around the world. It was an opportunity of a lifetime to join them and contribute to building a school! I am so grateful that I could take part in this trek!

Burkina Faso (BF) adventure started in a capital Ouagadougou – a big city full of contrasts. On the one side of the street you could see poor kids trying to sell you water bags and on another side you could see BF citizens in a new BMW.

I love travelling but before Burkina Faso all my trips were in Europe. Oh boy, I missed out on so much.. We should explore the world, ALL the continents, throw ourselves into completely new cultures and challenges; jumping into the ocean of new experiences without fearing the unknown makes us better and is the best university of life.

How did the trip start?

Once we arrived to Ouagadougou we spent one night there and afterwards travelled 2,5 hours on the bumpy roads, to the east north of the Wage to two villages: Tensoba Kiema Silmiougou and Poessin since our group was split into two parts to be able to build two schools. When we arrived to the village, all the villagers were waiting for us, we really felt that it is a very important event for their community. After an extensive hand-shaking (you have to shake hands in a special way with everyone) they started to sing traditional songs and dance. We immediately joined them and had lots of fun hitting our buts (:)) to each other. They were laughing, not sure if we did that properly but we all had fun. After that we started official opening ceremony where all the villagers & we signed school convent.

Since people don't know how to write they were signing with their fingerprints!

One of the conditions is that school should attend 50% girls and 50% boys to ensure equal possibilities to both genders. After the ceremony we all went to meet our BF fathers who even gave us new names and later on brought to the house where we stayed.

The way to our new home was full of thoughts, the whole environment was so different, nothing we have ever experienced before, you did not know what to expect and what will happen next.

New home! No electricity, no running water, no comfy sofa but all the things we were used to at home did not matter

When we came to our new home we could see how happy they were to host us. BF is the 4th poorest country in the world: they had no water, electricity, they had no material things but the care, love & sincerity they showed to us has no price and we will always be grateful for that.

So how did our day look like?

Every day we had to wake up early but we did not need alarm clocks, roosters did their job perfectly. At 7AM we were all meeting to have breakfast, and then heading to the work site to build the school. Everything we were doing together with the villagers: digging the ground, making metal constructions, mixing sand, cement and water to make the bricks and pumping water. Africans are so strong, it was impressive to see how fast they are working, even though ladies had babies on their backs.

School building is not an easy task...

After a hard working day we were having lunch and discussing about our experiences & observations. Afterwards we were meeting some villagers and having cultural workshops, such as shea butter and cotton making, as well as how they weave it to make clothing.

Let's make some cotton! (a very long and slow process if it is hand-made)

Weaving - men's privilege (guys, would you like to try? :))

It was particularly interesting to know more about gender roles while having separate talks with women & men. Villagers gave some questions to us as well and their facial expressions were indescribable when we said at what age people usually marry in our countries and just one woman. They were fully shocked! After the work day ended we were having dinner and after that going home to spend some quality time with our host families. We had a lot of fun while playing games and colouring books, which we took for them. The whole family was so interested; they have never seen these things. Instead of playing with toys even very little kids have to take care of animals and their younger siblings (even a 4 years old might be carrying baby the whole day!).

Kids carrying babies.. The whole day.... And without complaining..

We also talked to their parents about the importance of education and that their kids should go to school and realize their potential, be able to read, know different languages, travel, get to know other cultures. My host family fully agreed with that and promised that all their kids will attend the school. It was really emotional when you could see how grateful they are for all the support we gave to them. It was just one week, we even did not speak the same language with the family but it feels that we became part of their family, part of their community and I really left part of my heart there.. I will not forget them and their eyes full of hope, gratefulness & belief that their kids will have better opportunities in life. The whole village was all the time repeating how important school is for them and that it will open the doors for their kids to the new world where illiteracy does not exist. They were blessing us the whole time and showing such a sincere gratitude for the help we provided to them.

What did I learn?

This trip had a huge impact on me and the way I look into life. It is incredible how one trip can change you. My luggage was lost in France so I got it the last day, having almost no clothes and other personal belongings without a possibility to buy anything, made me realize how little we need and that the best things in life are not the ones we can buy.

The most beautiful sky I have ever seen.... The sky full of stars... We were taking "shower" outside and even if we had just one cup of water to wash ourselves this was the best shower in my whole life! It is priceless you raise your head up and see this beauty above you..

Experiences, people, nature, adventures make us rich, not the best phones or laptops. BF people did not have anything but they live in such a harmonious community which is based on support, care & help to each other. When we were talking with the villagers we immediately started to ask questions like “how do you share profit if you are making everything together?” and it sounded so strange for them because they share everything they have. It seems money concept or “it is my” does not exist there.

So often we are running around, trying to solve different issues and we forget to look around and appreciate how much we already have, show to people around us how much we love & care about them. This trip really made me think about the purpose of life, does a new phone or luxury vacation make us happier than a kid who got an opportunity to go to school? I do not say that we all should start going to build schools during our holiday but we definitely have to be grateful for what we have and share at least tiny bits of kindness to those who need it, it will make us rich & will feed our soul. I have experienced so much in this trip, each moment was so special and life-changing. It helped me not only discover a new & really unique culture but also by going out of comfort zone and challenging myself to get to know better myself. I am so grateful for that and I will never ever forget this trip.

In case you want to get to know more about amazing organization BuildOn: https://www.buildon.org/
Maybe you will go on a trek as well! Please share your experience if you will!

Please share your stories, adventures and how travelling changed you/the way you see the world! 😊

I am really looking forward to my next trip but haven’t decided where it will be.. What would you suggest?

Happy travels, wonderful people!