Wind and Dust

I can't help feeling that nature is much bigger here than it is at home. Its presence here is so much more forceful. It's in your face. The extremes are so much more extreme.

The landscape for most of north and central Burkina is pretty harsh, with a lot of very open, dry, flat land covered with rust-colored dust. A couple of weeks ago, a bunch of us decided to meet at the training center for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. Around 5 pm, the sky suddenly turned from bright blue with scattered clouds to a weird angry shade of purplish brown. At that point another trainee who lives near me and I decided it was time for us to head home. The wind started to pick up even before we had a chance to get onto our bikes, but we figured we'd better hurry up and get home while it was still light and before it picked up any more.

Dust storms here are a pretty common thing and seem to occur somewhere around once or twice a week. Their frequency doesn't stop them from being completely terrifying and awe-inspiring. The winds are amazingly powerful, and it took all of my effort just to keep my bicycle moving somewhat forward in a somewhat straight line. Looking up toward the sky, I could see plastic bags soar by above the treetops like kites, but moving way too fast. (Littering here is a huge problem, by the way.) My face stung from the blowing dust, and my glasses weren't really enough to protect my eyes, so I had to progress with my head down and eyes squinted. Evidently that's why I'm not supposed to wear contacts here. At one point a plastic bag blew into the gears on my bike and I had to stop to cut it out with a knife. Visibility was similar to medium-thick fog. A trip that usually takes 10 minutes instead took a little short of 20. It felt like something out of a theme park thrill ride. It was a little scary. I had to keep reminding myself...it's only wind and dust. Wind and dust.

The first rain drops were just starting to come down as I pulled up to my host family's courtyard. It was pouring within 10 minutes, with magnificent lightning bolts of all colors shooting across the sky. The rain continued for about an hour, and the lightning went on into the night. I swept out my house at least 5 times that night because I kept discovering new mountains of red dust, which problem was exacerbated by the fact that I had left my windows open while I was out. I took a bucket bath to wash the dust out of my hair in the outdoor shower area amid blinding moments of illumination from the sky. When I woke up the next morning, my eyes were gritty from the bits of dust still left in them.

I love the lightning here. And despite the nuisance they create in terms of cleaning my room here, I love the dust storms too. They are so mighty. Burkina's landscape in this region does not have much to recommend it, but in those times the force of nature is enough to remind me who's really in control here. And on clear nights, the stars are so bright. I have never been able to see so many stars or so much of the Milky Way before. It's a different kind of beauty.