From Sr. Margaret Correa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Read more entries on Moira-Net http://groups.google.com/group/moira-net
" 1st July 2008: I am learning driving. The other three sisters of my community know to drive. Transport here is difficult. There are no buses & the taxis are expensive. At the moment I have to learn the driving code. Its tough for me as everything is in French. I am trying to use VISUAL MEMORY" And "16th July 2008: At the back of our house, there is a DOLOTERIE_ a bar where DOLO (local liquor made of maize) is sold. So we have constant noise & music. Diolo is cheap & served at every celebration & feast. Both men & women drink it. Infact our African sisters love it. I do not like it. It has a peculiar smell which I am not accustomed to yet. Its more than a year that I am here but I cannot get used to the africaan food either, especially the TO – a kind of paste made of maize flour. As for the sauce, made of all kinds of leaves & sometimes vegetables & dry fish , I find repugnant (curry) especially if lady fingers are added as it becomes slimy. Because of extreme poverty & famine, the poor were forced to use every edible leaf or root to make the sauce & now they like it cooked that way. And "27th July 2008: The news from some African countries continues to cause profound suffering and much concern, beginning with Somalia, especially in Mogadishu, where bitter armed conflicts are worsening the humanitarian crisis of this dear people, which for too many years has been oppressed by brutality and misery. In Darfur, despite a momentary glimmer of hope, remains a tragedy without end for hundreds of thousands of defenseless and abandoned persons. After the recent bombardments that struck and terrorized the capital city of Bujumbura and also affected the apostolic nunciature, and in the face of the threat of a new civil war,we need to pray that all the parties involved take up again without delay the way of dialogue and reconciliation. And 29th July 2008: Life goes on…..for me. Its nearly a year that I am in Burkina Faso & I have become one with the people.. Now I can express myself better in french. & I have picked up a few words & phrases in Diula. The people are simple & affectionate. & always smiling, even though life is so touch for them. Most can only afford one meal a day. They are a hospitable people but when I visit them all they can afford is some water in a calabasse (pumpkin shell). With the prices rising up, I cannot understand how they can survive. Milk costs Rs. 280/- per Kilo & that too of a very inferior quality – almost undrinkable. We sisters are using some milk which tastes so horrible; I prefer to have black coffee. Maise which is their staple diet costs Rs. 180/- per kilo, oil is Rs160/- per litre. I have converted the francs to Rs. so that you can understand. However their salaries & earnings continue to be low".