Traditional dress usually entails a cotton wrap around the waist, head, and draped over the shouler for the women. The red, black, and white tissue is a traditional Mossi (one of the biggest tribes in Burkina) design.

Mamata and Rouki

Adissa

Alida, Dimanche, Taladi, and Carine

This probably would not be allowed at a high school in America.

The two girls in front painted themselves with chalk which is a traditional custom as well.

We also had a “Modern Dress Day” the day before.

Here is the textbook (IT for Beginners) that myself and some other volunteers created and published for a first year computer course.

This is the woman who gave the sanitation and environment session speaking to the students in our school cantine.

We also had some trash cans made for the school by cutting metal barrels in half and adding legs.

Odiou, Emmanuel, and Hubert making moringa nurseries.

Alida, Ramata, and Elenore: Three of the sweetest, brightest teenagers you will find on any continent.

The moringa nurseries under a tree at the school. The students have taken good care of them and they have since grown really well and are almost ready to be planted.

Kaitlyn and a chaperone from village with the 10 sixth graders and 10 juniors at my high school. They look miserable but I promise most of the rest of the time they were smiling.

The girls played an icebreaker game to learn everyone's names. The younger girls were shy for the most part but the older girls did a great job of getting them to speak.

Completely unrelated and nowhere near as cute, this was a pile of sand and dust that I swept up just from my living room after a dust storm this week. I guess many people in Africa have dirt floors instead of concrete but they often become one and the same here.

Pat and I standing in front of the entrance to the festival grounds.

As always, there were lots of spontaneous drum circles.

There was even a fashion show. Here, Fatimata is modeling a hand-made traditional cotton wrap. I couldn't tell the difference between any of the women's wraps except for the fact they were different colors.

I'm not exactly sure if this guy was modeling an outfit or just some crazy who hopped on the stage. Either way, I want what he is wearing.

Yempabou is sporting a fashionable blue boubou and cane - a perfect ensemble for doing some light sand-reading.

These are finalist dishes for the food competition - benga (beans and rice), and toh. Exquisite.

Next came the donkey races. Donkeys run surprisingly fast with children on their backs. I hit on a trifecta in 8th but lost it all on the longshot in the 9th. (Note: no monetary bets were actually made and amazingly no children were hurt.)

Pat, Luis, Nick and I in front of the Welcome sign. Findie.

There was also an archery competition. This hunter reminded me of an ewok, right down to his cuddly features and cold-blooded efficiency.

If you look close enough you can see the arrow slicing through the air towards an Imperial Storm Trooper (or round target on a dead tree.)

After archery was the wrestling competition. Two men enter, one man leaves.

Based solely on my clear advantage in nutritional intake over the last 30 years of my life, I had considered entering the competition until this guy got in the ring. He outweighed everyone (including me) by a good 50 pounds of muscle and ended up dominating the competition.

As with any good festival, once the sun starts to set (or usually to rise) the dolo flows like wine. My favorite thing about enjoying the local beer is drinking out of the calabashes (giant wooden bowls).

Every year, they sell a Women's Day pagna (tissue) with a design specific to that year. The women and men buy the pagna and have it tailored in whatever fashion they choose. Here are some examples of the different styles.

During the ceremony, in between speeches on themes such as respecting women and preventing deaths of women during childbirth, there were cultural animations of traditional dance and music. Here is a dance group of young Mossi girls wearing the traditional Mossi "flag" and traditional cotton skirts.

Of course there were lots of drums.

Cheer, Cheer... The ceremony closed with a parade of schools and organisations.

Luis and I with one of our many "tanti" friends that day.

Much of the afternoon was spent in the back of a pickup truck with about 10 tanties. Luis and I, as usual, had no clue what we were doing but had caught a ride with some women who were heading to this village for the ceremony so we hopped in.

After the ceremony, lunch, and the driving around, the women then danced for about four hours straight with no breaks.

While the women danced, Luis and I entertained the kids by being white. We had a solid group of about 20 just staring at us and not saying a word for several hours straight. Clearly, Luis and I are just that interesting.

Luis and I with the tanties who let us tag along with them. African women are the greatest people on Earth. They deserve a lot more than one day of appreciation. Sadly, they are lucky if they get even that here.

This was taken just outside of a town called Banfora. The landscape is much greener and hilly in the Southwest.

Sugar cane. There are fields of this near Banfora that seem to go on for miles.

The Domes of Karfigula - this is a really cool rock formation outside of Banfora.

One of the these domes has a lot more hair; the other is at least a bit more photogenic.

The Cascades of Karfigula - these waterfalls are also just outside of Banfora.

The water from these cascades is used to irrigate the sugar cane fields.

Hippo Lake - also just outside Banfora. Here I am contemplating whether it is truly a good idea to get into a small wooden canoe and traverse a lake in search of the most dangerous creature in Africa.

In between our heads, you can see the family of hippos not too far in the distance.

It was pretty intimidating being so close to these enormous monsters and having absolutely no option to escape.

Our guide would have probably been happier if the hippos would have lightened our load a bit.

McDonald's!! Though not quite the Golden Arches, Banfora is famous for having a restaurant called McDonald's that coincidentally serves hamburgers. Luis demonstrates the proper technique of a protein deprived PCV.

We ended up in Bobo-Dioulasso for a New Year's Eve celebration with a big group of Volunteers. Bobo is the second biggest city in Burkina and is the economic capital of the country. It is even more modern feeling than Ouaga.