Boxing up: fellow volunteer, Danish, prepares the sample order

Our last day working with Tigoung Nonma had been chaotic, to say the least. Danish (another volunteer) and I had travelled to the outskirts of town to order the final prints of the brand new catalogues that I mentioned in my last post. Like most things, this took longer than expected and we returned to the office just in time to grab some alloco (fried plantain) and chips before heading off to get the long-awaited taxi moto, bought using some of the money we had fundraised.

England-bound: and under the magic 30kg limit

Half of our team remained in the office to prepare the sample order for the friendly fair-trade company who are a potential partner organisation based in the UK.

The plan had been to use the taxi moto to get the order to the airport by the 5pm deadline. However, at 3.45pm we were still waiting for the accountant to arrive. We had to abort the plan and the rest of the team took the order to the airport by taxi instead.

When the accountant finally arrived, we received a phone call from our colleagues. Originally the order had been split into two boxes (each definitely safely under the 30kg weight limit).

However, one of the Tigoung Nonma members had tried to be helpful by putting all items into one large box. There was now no time to re-pack the order; we just had to hope it was below 30kg...

Momentous: finally signing for Tigoung Nonma's new vehicle

After three hours we arrived back at the Tigoung Nonma office, new taxi moto in tow, just in time for our leaving party. The others were also back from the airport  - with the news that the box had weighed in at an incredible 29.8 kg!

Our entire three-month project appeared to have come together in a single day. We left Burkina Faso proud of what we had achieved.

Returning to the UK was a bigger shock than I had expected. However, our de-brief weekend - organised by the International Service - was a really nice chance to talk to others who were going through the same thing.

The weekend was attended by every volunteer that had returned from their placement in April. We had all met at the pre-departure training weekend in December, so it was a fantastic opportunity to catch up and share our experiences.

Lunch: myself and the ladies of Tigoung Nonma having a picnic in the local woods

Over the first day, presentations were given from each team. It was great to see what each group had achieved and to have a taste of life in the other host countries.

Throughout the weekend we were given the opportunity to provide feedback to International Service and ICS, to enable continued improvement of the scheme.

The second day of the weekend provided us with ideas and sources of support for the 'UK action' stage of our placement. UK action allows us to share our experiences, and the knowledge we have gained during our placement, with UK citizens. We will carry out activities such as giving talks within local institutions, exhibiting photographs and writing to local media.

On completion of our UK action we will each receive a reference and a certificate for our achievements. I would like to thank ICS and International Service for such an incredible experience. I learnt so much and had such a great time that I am now applying to become a team leader!

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Before I began my project with Tigoung Nonma, a co-operative dedicated to helping artisans with disabilities, I never expected to find the work quite so challenging. During our first few weeks at Tigoung Nonma we decided on the factors limiting the growth of the co-operative and set our objectives based on our results. Being ambitious young people, eager to help our partner organisation, we set ourselves challenging objectives. We decided to do the following:

• create a new catalogue (available in French and English);
• set up online fundraising pages and marketing pages via social media;
• create and print new leaflets, posters and a banner for any exhibition outlets;
• host a disability awareness event, getting as many local non-governmental organisations, ministers and Burkinabe people to attend as possible; and
• re-open 'the Kiosk'

We had discovered that Tigoung Nonma's leading source of income had been their Kiosk - a small shack outside the office that until 2011 had sold food and drink. The business had been badly run and as a result had been closed a few months before our arrival. We set ourselves the task of re-decorating and creating a new business plan in order to re-open this valuable source of revenue.

The Kiosk: before... and after!

We re-decorated the kiosk in January, before it was re-opened, complete with new business plan, at the beginning of March. I am delighted to report that there is now a daily stream of customers and four young Burkinabe women now have work. To date, we have also fundraised about £2500. This has been the result of overwhelming generosity from family, friends and a small Durham University college.

New wheels: the new vehicle will be used to pick up and transport artisans' products

This week we will use £1500 of the money raised to purchase a brand new transport vehicle for the co-operative. The vehicle will allow the Tigoung Nonma team to pick up the products of each artisan from their homes, on the outskirts of the capital, therefore saving each member both money and time.

The vehicle will also be used to transport products to and from the airport and exhibitions, again saving money and preventing product damage.

I feel extremely proud that we have also managed to create a 76-page A4 catalogue and a 23-page A5 catalogue within the three-month period. They are both available in French and English and are complete with brand new photographs of the artisans' handcrafted products. A brand new banner has already been used for promotional use and we have also carried out promotion and marketing via Facebook. The Tigoung Nonma Facebook page was created in January to advertise products and publicise the co-operative.

Within the last month we've secured a sample order of over £1500 pounds from an international Fair Trade business based in the UK. The samples have now been sent and, if well-received, the business will become a long-term partner of the co-operative - advertising the leather products in their catalogue and making regular purchases.

Partners: Zoénabou, Permanent General Secretary of Tigoung Nonma (left), and Roma, Director of Coaching for Hope (right) hold a plaque celebrating their new partnership.

Our long-awaited Tigoung Nonma and disability awareness event took place last Saturday: a football tournament hosted by Tigoung Nonma and Coaching for Hope, an international charity that uses football to teach young people about HIV/AIDs and sexual health.

Over 300 people attended, including a local chief and the director of a large national charity.

It was the first time any of us had organised or hosted an event of this scale and, despite a small dose of chaos, I am delighted to say the day was a success. Tigoung Nonma and Coaching for Hope have now secured a long-term partnership.

The Tigoung Nonma and Coaching for Hope teams.

The final part is yet to come. Like any capacity-building project, only when we have left will we know how successful our work has been. However, I feel confident. The Tigoung Nonma team appear to have found a new passion and hope for their co-operative. It is this drive and our continued support from the UK that I hope will ensure the Tigoung Nonma continues to grow and develop.

A group of children playing in an abandoned car: we made friends and I taught them a little English. Picture: Harriet Macdonald-Walker

As I write under the light of the moon, my first thought is that the moon is not designed as a side light. It is there for those without pen and paper; those who can and cannot write; and even those who don’t have the time to stop and bask in its beauty.

Sitting here on the roof, I gaze up at the clear night sky. I can hear a grasshopper's chirp and, in the background, the sound of our neighbours chatting away in the dark.

I can see our friendly, but slightly barmy, middle-aged security guard, Le Monde ('The World' in French). I watch as he puts his arms up ready to clap the next mosquito into smithereens. I wonder how many hours of the night he sits there, hands in the air, watching and waiting for his next victim. Le Monde works all night and what seems like all day, seven days a week. I wonder if Le Monde's children know their father at all.

It dawns on me that here in Burkina Faso, Le Monde is a 'lucky' man. He has work and he can feed his family.

Ouagadougou's larger houses sit within areas of wider poverty. Picture: Harriet Macdonald-Walker

It's not any of the above that finally drove me to leave my bubble of peace on the roof to find a pen and paper. As I listened to our neighbours' chatter below, I had stretched my feet out and felt the powerful healthy green pines of a tree in our garden. As I looked away from our garden, all I could see was dry, dusty ground, and only when I searched far into the distance could I see one other tree, brown and wilting. I looked back to the luscious green plants and bushes in our garden, trying to accept the startlingly obvious rich-poor divide.

Turns out I'm not the only one to have noticed the relative 'wealth' of our home. This morning I woke to be told that in the night there had been an attempted break in. The man, thought to be someone from the local area and someone we know, had climbed up over the wall behind the house. When he saw our security guard approaching him, he shouted in Moore (the local dialect), "Stop, I have a gun". Le Monde was unfazed by these threats. He told the man to go ahead and shoot, before chasing him away with a large rusty machete. Le Monde has since showed me his weapons: the rusty machete and a catapult complete with six marbles. The same man, masked with a balaclava, tried to enter the house a total of three times during the night, in the hope that Le Monde would fall asleep.

Since the attempted break-in, we have been told to be wary about befriending adults in the local neighbourhood. I am a trusting person and so I very much dislike that I must now exercise caution and always consider whether people who befriend me are just trying to find out where I live.

Two village women cycle in the 35-degree heat to sell wood in the capital. Picture: Harriet Macdonald-Walker

Before the break-in, I thought it horrendous that all the large houses in Ouagadougou had gigantic gates that separated the 'rich' from the rest of the local, and much poorer, community. Now I can comprehend that, because the rich-poor divide here is so large, security guards and high gates are crucial. I can equally understand, however, why a desperate man would break into the house of seven Westerners in order to feed his family. And I believe that one way of removing this recurring 'Robin Hood' effect, and the gaping rich-poor divide, is by creating new job opportunities and reducing the cost of education here.

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Lorintine cooks in the yard. Picture: Harriet Macdonald-Walker

There are seven of us (if you don't count Lemon, Lime and Grape - our three 'pet' geckos that live behind the curtain) living in a simple yet spacious house in south-east Ouagadougou.

We do not have hot water but, in the 35 degree (and rising) heat, this is not something that I will miss. I can already sense that we live within a very tight-knit community and I am sure that the majority of people here know exactly where the 'nasarahs' (foreigners) live.

We have been spending some of our free time next door, at the house of a family of nine Burkinabes. This morning, Lorintine, the mother of the family, called me over, "Pu Neere!" (my flattering nickname in Moore), and offered me a strawberry that had been freshly picked from their small piece of land a 20-minute walk away.

Often myself and the other volunteers will go over to chat to Lorintine and her four youngest children while they stand by their wooden table on the dusty road, selling small bags of peanuts. Despite always looking exhausted (and who wouldn't, with four young children to look after, seven mouths to feed, and no running water or electricity?) Lorintine is always extremely welcoming. Within ten minutes she will invite us onto her land, whilst urging her children to get out the good plastic chairs (which probably fill one of the three single-room buildings that cover her small square of dry land).

The bride, Jarmarra, at the festivities of a traditional Muslim Burkinabe wedding. Picture: Harriet Macdonald-Walker

Lorintine's husband and her three older children work long hours, six days a week. Her oldest child, Blanche, had to move 150km away at the age of 20 to live by herself and work as a nanny/midwife.

I was able to meet Blanche on one of her rare visits home and she kindly offered to take me to a local Muslim wedding. The rest of the volunteers were feeling quite tired and so at about 7.30pm I went alone with Blanche and her two friends.

I didn't have any idea where the wedding was, so I was surprised when we wandered into the backyard of a local house. Outside on the dusty cement, 20 people were sitting, chatting and eating. Someone was banging a large cadavas drum and children were dancing - with the impressive rhythm that I have grown to expect here.

Through the clouds of dust I saw that everyone was dressed quite smartly and I felt relieved that I had wrapped my only African material around my waist.

We went into a small room within a simple grey building. In the corner, an old woman sat on the floor with a large plastic bowl. She was surrounded by young women standing and laughing. I was introduced to the bride, Jarmarra. To my dismay, I realised I had no idea how to say "congratulations" and so had no option but to resort to smiling horrifically and blurting out my best French greeting.

Blanche told me to take a photograph. Being quite aware that the whole of the party was now watching me rather than the bride, I was eager to disappear into the background; however, not wanting to be rude, I did as I was asked. It turned out that Jarmarra loved having her photograph taken and so I was asked to take individual pictures of the bride with each and every family member.

Having shaken hands with a lot of people, eaten a cake made out of ground green beans from the old woman in the corner and realised that I was the only one who had not taken my sandals off at the door, Blanche finally led me back outside, where the six-foot white girl was to dance...

I have visited many countries, both rich and poor, yet never before have I felt as welcome as I do here in Burkina Faso. Jarmarra's wedding and our time with Lorintine are just two examples of the warm and generous nature that I have experienced. Everywhere we go adults shout "welcome" and children excitedly come running  from their homes, eager to shake your hand. I cannot imagine that a foreigner and stranger would be treated in the same way in the UK.

With over 60 religious and ethnic groups living in incredible harmony in Burkina Faso, I believe the West and the rest of the world can learn a lot from the Burkinabe people.

The Tigoung Nonma office - our work place for the next three months

On Wednesday we visited the Tigoung Nonma 'headquarters'. After turning off the main road into a dusty street scattered with stalls, shops, old cars and many staring faces, we were greeted by a fabulously dressed woman. Zenabou, the General Secretary of Tigoung Nonma was dressed in a deep yellow and green two-piece skirt and top, with a matching head turban.

She led us into a tiny room where the majority of space was occupied by a large desk full of papers and on top of which was what appeared to be the first computer ever invented. Crafts were stacked up in all corners of the room. We used every inch of space to fit the eight of us in, along with five members of Tigoung Nonma. Two members of the team participated in the meeting through the doorway.

Leonie and Zenabou in the Tigoung Nonma office

We discovered that Tigoung Nonma was created by artisans with disabilities, as an offshoot of 'Handicap solidaire Burkina Faso' (French website) - an advocacy group for people with disabilities.

The co-operative works with 64 artisans in order to respond to their needs, promote their work and, crucially, create selling opportunities - all while raising awareness of the benefits of fair trade in the national and international market. Whenever they have the time and the funds, each artisan brings his or her products to Tigoung Nonma in the centre of Ouagadougou. The co-operative believes that the artisans should receive a fair price for their intricate and skilled work; therefore each member receives 80% of the sale price of their goods.

A local man speeds home - Ouagadougou

Following on from our visit, four of the key board members from Tigoung Nonma met with us again a few days later to discuss our objectives and work over the next three months.  As we finished early we spent about an hour chatting. I was sitting next to the fantastically named vice president, Evariste.

At first I felt a little restricted by the language barrier, but I have taken the stance that I should embrace the embarrassment that will follow my 'French'. I started chatting with Evariste and by the end of the hour I felt that he and I had really bonded. He taught me many new, exciting words and phrases in Moore, including, "Wend na ko sid songa" which means, "God willing one day I'll get a good man".

Like the rest of the members of Tigoung Nonma, Evariste is physically disabled: he has no legs. Due to lack of education and the stigma associated with physical and mental disability in Burkina Faso, living with a disability like Evariste's makes it near impossible to find work. It's why organisations such as Tigoung Nonma are so crucial for the country.

The vibrant colours of a local tailor and its neighbouring entrepreneurs.

The last few days have been a blur of excitement, and I apologise now if this inhibits my ability to write coherently.

After travelling for 12 hours with my new housemates for the next three months, I arrived in the 'Land of the Upright Men' - Burkina Faso. The moment we hit the runway at Ouagadougou airport we were fuelled with adrenalin. Our fellow African passengers wasted no time and within seconds they were up, unloading their bags and getting ready to leave. In true British style, myself and the other volunteers remained seated, waiting patiently to hear the trusty 'ping' of the seatbelt sign.

As I stepped off the plane I did not feel the wave of heat that I had expected. However, I can confidently say that the breeze that surrounded me at 5.30am was much warmer than the harsh, icy wind that I had left behind in the UK.

A local Burkinabe

Inside the capital's tiny airport we showed our Yellow fever vaccination certificate, whilst feeling relieved to avoid being vaccinated on the spot by the intimidating security guard. We passed through baggage collection with ease – the first sign of how surprisingly organised we would find Ouagadougou to be – and headed out of the exit, eager to start our long-anticipated adventure.

At the exit I quickly found our 6 ft. 5” dedicated team leader, Juju. As I greeted him, two men by his side took my luggage and headed off. I presumed they were part of the International Service team (the organisation I will be volunteering for) but as I watched them disappear, wheeling away my belongings for the next three months, I couldn’t help feeling a little anxious. This escalated when I realised nobody knew who the men were. I ran after them and watched as they loaded a truck with my things. To my relief, they didn’t speed away into the distance, but instead began to demand money for their work. I pretended I didn’t understand and luckily they wandered away. However, unfortunately, another one of the volunteers was worried for his possessions and ended up paying one of the men ten euros.

The experience we had at the airport was a great taster of the hustle and bustle of Burkina Faso in general. As one of the poorest countries in the world, many Burkinabes (people of

A local woman searches barefoot among the rubbish.

Burkina Faso) live on less than a dollar a day. Driving away from the airport, I had my first glimpse of this poverty. We saw an old woman sifting through rubbish dumps and a young boy leading an emaciated donkey as it lugged a cart loaded with bags of rice and couscous. All along the sides of the road, women were carrying out the impossible job of clearing dust from the road.

Our orientation week in Ouagadougou has now allowed us to acclimatise to our new surroundings, the local culture and, of course, the 30 degree heat. I'll be sharing more about this, and our work with the Tigoung Nonma co-operative, in my next post.
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Podcast: returned ICS volunteers.

Ceri, Esi and Mohammed volunteered for ICS last year. Hear them talk about their experiences in Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya in the latest DFID podcast. Listen here, or subscribe on iTunes.

The International Service is an international development charity that aims to support people in practical ways and help them change their lives for the better. Myself and four other International Citizen Service (ICS) volunteers will be working to support the needs of one of their partner agencies, Tigoung Nonma, a co-operative that aims to improve the quality of life of artisans with physical disabilities.

Children at a new school in Laongo, Burkina Faso take a break for lunch. Picture: Andrew Testa/Panos

My journey to become an International Citizen Service volunteer began when a university friend told me about an interesting project. I read about ICS online and applied almost immediately through the International Service. Within ten days I was invited to an assessment day in York. This consisted of a small group exercise and an interview with two of the International Service team.

After a month I was informed that I had been successful and had secured a place working in my first choice country, Burkina Faso. I also found out that I would be working to market and promote the work of Tigoung Nonma. Having recently completed a marketing internship for the international charity, Water Aid, I felt excited that I would have skills to apply and develop on this particular project.

In early December, like all ICS volunteers, I undertook an intensive three-day training weekend. About 70 volunteers attended and each day we were split into the same three groups, allowing us to get to know the other volunteers on our placement.

The information provided was extremely useful: we learnt more about our placement countries; discussed topics such as, 'What is International Development?'; and received important information regarding issues such as personal health and hygiene.

Our brilliant group trainer managed to hold our attention through the use of exciting games and role play. Aspects of the weekend reminded me of my first week at university - three days were spent absorbing information and meeting a lot of new, like-minded young people. In the evening we were free to socialise and relax. We filled our time chatting and playing games in the pub, exploring York city centre and watching the X Factor final!

My parents travelled a lot when they were younger and their passion for exploring the world and experiencing different cultures has definitely rubbed off on my brother and me. At the age of 18 I spent eight months working as a teacher, speaking Spanish and living with a family in a traditional Mexican fishing village. I have been lucky enough to visit a number of countries, but I believe it was this total immersion and experience of a different way of life that confirmed my desire to pursue a career in international development. I'm now very excited about going away and beginning my ICS adventure!