Ouagadougou - Day 255

Date: April 30th, 2010
Distance: None
Country: Burkina Faso
Song of the Day: Where is My Mind? - The Pixies

I woke up early and headed to the embassy for Ghana. They said come back at noon, but I figured it would be ready early. When I got there they looked at me like I was insane. I guess when they say noon, they mean exactly noon.

I headed back and hung out with James for a while. He is a cool guy. He is running this sesame seed exporting business here in Burkina Faso. He works with the local farmers all over the eastern part of the country. Training them on how to produce a product to western standard, also how to measure it correctly. Frankly, this type of business is probably more effective at promoting growth here than most of the NGOs put together. Giving food aid or building infrastructure, while generous and with good intention, teaches nothing. It is by interacting with western business that the local people learn ways in which to improve their lives. In other words, they change their mindset about what is possible. So good luck to James in his business venture.

James also gave me a ride back to the Ghana embassy. Rene came along for the ride as well. They were right, my visa was ready at exactly noon. After that we headed over to the Burkina passport office. It is where you can get a visa for 5 partner countries, Burkina, Benin, Togo, Cote D'Ivoir and Niger. I already got Burkina, but I will be going through Benin and Todo, so it would be good to get that out of the way. While we were there, James started helping out a group of VSO volunteers from Ghana. They were here for a bit of vacation, and lived quite close to the Ghana and Burkina border. So they wanted to get a 12 month visa, so they could head to Burkina when they were feeling bored in Ghana. They were having a hard time getting what they wanted. What was available and the time it would take kept changing. James stepped in and talked with the passport officer, who he knew, and talked the guy into getting everything ready by 4:00 PM. That was when my visa would be ready.

Now that we had time to kill, the whole group of us went out to lunch. It was a lot of fun talking with everyone. Travel is wonderful for all the strange encounters you find yourself in. I even got an invitation to stay if I was ever in nother Ghana.

After lunch the group broke up. James had to pick up a girl at the bus station. Rene went to wander off around the city. It was his last day in town. I went with the guys from VSO back to the passport office. Everything was ready, so I am set for visas all the way through the rest of my trip through west Africa. I said goodbye to the people from Ghana and headed back to James place.

I hung out with James for a bit. When Rene got back, we headed upstairs to his place to help him pack. Almost nothing was ready. Then again, a lot of stuff was staying. (Why would you bring crappy forks home?) Rene was being pretty scattered. We had to push him to get stuff together. Get everything going in one pile, and everything staying in another.

By 11:00 PM, most of the stuff was together, but Rene was pacing around. He said he couldn't go without finding the title for a novel he wanted to write. He couldn't describe what the novel was about, but did decide the title should have two words. A few minutes later he asked us to give him some time alone, so he could finish. We were happy to oblige.

Things went well for about an hour, until Rene came rushing downstairs. He was almost ready, but had lost his passport. It didn't take long for James to find it though. From there we got all the stuff into the car and took off for the airport. We said our goodbye's to Rene and made sure he was able to get on the plane. Rene, good luck man! Have fun back in Puerto Rico. I hope a bit of time back home is what you need to relax.

-Dravis