Watering the soul

We organized a EWB retreat in Bobo for 3 days and 14 of our colleagues from different regions of Burkina and Ghana came to share their ideas, challenges and strategies. Though we worked the majority of the time in sessions on development theory, action learning, root cause analysis… we did take some time to have fun! We all piled into the “scorpion” minibus that we rented and headed south west to Banfora.

After a long bumpy ride in the crapped minibus, I unfolded myself and climbed out to see a spectacular view of Lake Tengréla. I boarded a roughly made pirogue, squared edged canoe, and we headed out in search of hippos. The lake was calm, the water clear, water lilies decorating the edges and there was a low hum of birds singing. I have to admit it felt amazing being out on the water and it showed me just how much I miss living close to water. As we approached the shallows we started to see the twitch of little ears peeking out, noses popping out occasionally with a spray of exhaled water and then submerging back into the cool of the water. Clustered together the hippos grunted and groaned, observing us as we observed them. We did not approach too close, nor did the hippos put on a show for us, but with an air of tranquility we watched each other, feeling very much relaxed.

We piled back into the minibus for an even bumpier ride in which we discovered an all encompassing cloud of dust. Picture a dusty dry red earth road, full of pot holes, lined with tall fields of sugar cane. Now picture a minibus where the windows don’t roll up and the door doesn’t close. Add a little speed and imaging just how much dust those tires kick up. Take a deep breath and feel the grit in your teeth, your lungs heavy with sediment. Feel your skin covered in a fin film of dust making you look exceptionally tanned and your hair is now a deep red tone. By the time we arrived we were all desperate to jump into water. Good thing was we had arrived at Banfora’s spectacular water fall! I can say it has never felt so good as to jump into water!