Glorious Week - Day 309

Seems like time just goes by faster and faster. This week was no exception.

I know, I know, all you francophones faithfully reading my blog, will complain that this blog should be in French as I usually alternate from one language to the other. I am making an exception this time, as it has been brought to my attention that there are some bureaucrats working for the NGO who spy on the volunteer blogs to keep tabs on us. It would be MUCH simpler to just ask us how we are doing. We do have email here, but I guess by limiting the contact with us, it will limit their sense that we are actual people and not just a "volunteer".

I found this out recently. We are being spied upon. Very a propos since I am currently halfway through Orwell's 1984. I guess Big Brother is watching! Half of me thinks this is a good thing, but the other half of me thinks this is VERY CREEPY.

Another thing was brought to my attention, my is blog listed as a volunteer blog on their website in London. Funny. Nobody asked me if that was ok. Not an email. Nothing. I never told the NGO I was going to be a blogger for them. I am not a blogger for them. I am a blogger for me. If they want to read my blog, fine. no problem, read my blog. But don't appropriate my personal work for your own gain. Specially without asking me first. If I wanted to be a blogger for them, i would have used their blogging software, and not created an account on a public blog system.

So... all this, resulted in the NGO reading Monday's blog, where I talk about the medical fiasco I went through.  Somebody in the office in London called somebody in the office in Burkina and I ended getting a nasty email from one of the program directors here in Burkina, in which she called me a liar and in a round about way, a trouble maker.

I am sorry... but I was not able to breath. I was not lying. I  have proof of all I have said in the previous posting. It was all true. And since, the office in London thought it pertinent to call the office in Ouagadougou and never bothered to contact me, at all, well... add this to long list of disappointments and bad management I have seen in 2010. Like I said, I assume contacting a volunteer would be too difficult since it would make us into actual humans and not just human resources. (Maybe I should wait until I get back to Canada before reading the 2nd half of 1984)

The long and short of it, my breathing is almost back to normal. I am almost completely weened off the Prednisone, and I am not using my rescue inhaler more than once a day at the moment, and I can feel the strength in my lungs coming back slowly. So, I am fine. Shaken up, scared, and wondering what will happen the next time there is a medical emergency, but I am fine. Inchalla.

Bon... maintenant, je continue en français, parce que je veux changer le sujet, et passer à autres choses. Cette semaine, comme je l'ai mentionné lundi, je suis à Ouagadougou. Je suis venu en mission pour enseigner des cours d'informatique à un des partenaires de l'ONG pour laquelle je travaille en ce moment.

J'ai eu probablement la plus belle semaine de toute ma vie.

J'ai enseigné 7 heures de formation par jour de lundi dernier à vendredi. En tout, j'avais presque 30 étudiants, divisés en 2 groupes, des débutants, et des avancés.  Parmi mes débutants, j'avais des étudiants qui n'avaient jamais touché à un clavier, qui ne savaient pas comment faire apparaître les lettres sur l'écran, d'autres ne savaient pas c'était quoi internet, etc.

Au bout de la semaine, ces même étudiants, envoyaient des courriels, faisaient des documents Word, Excel et Powerpoint! Ils ont appris a gérer les virus informatique, à faire des recherches avancées sur Google, etc. C'était tellement beau de les voir travailler. De voir sur leur visage, une joie d'apprendre... d'être heureux de rejoindre le reste de la planète d'un point de vue technologique.

Il y avait tellement de sourires dans ma classe cette semaine. J'ai eu droit à de multiples mercis en plus de leur accueil si chaleureux. Quand j'y pense, j'en ai la chaire de poule. J'ai vraiment eu l'impression d'avoir fait une différence dans la vie des ces gens. Enfin.... j'ai l'impression d'avoir accompli quelque chose d'important.

Je vais garder un très bon souvenir de cette expérience. Quelle chance j'ai eu! Je me trouve vraiment, très choyé en ce moment.