I am not sure I have much in the way of news, except at the end of this post. Jeff is back
in Bobo as of last night and Vadim (another researcher who I have not met) will
arrive later this month. Things are about to get pretty crowded around, which
makes me even more motivated to get by butt to KV.
The past couple weeks have been challenging in terms of
workflow. I have been at my computer every day, but feel like progress has been
slow. This is partly because I got sick three times in the past couple weeks.
The other part is that those setbacks precipitated more anxiety about finishing
later than I wanted, which of coarse caused me to be less productive. Isn't
Anxiety fun? I don't have many specific deadlines, but I still feel incompetent
when I get derailed from my plans, even if I know I am not ultimately to blame.
Kissa, Sakina and I went out a couple nights ago to spend
some quality time together before Sakina heads to Ouaga. Sakina needs to be
with her father for the start of the school year. My plans to go to KV are
obviously slightly delayed due to work taking a while, but I also need to wait
for Kissa to return to Bobo before moving into the village (since she is coming
with). Let's hope I can wrap some stuff up by the beginning of next week?
I have some potentially irritating news. There has been some
activity involving a militia in a village near KV (approximately 15 km away).
In the Eastern part of the country, they are a response to Boko Haram beginning
to encroach on the area. There are no organizations like Boko Haram where I am
at though, so the nature of what this militia does is unclear to me. Zaky says
they sometimes randomly accuse people of robbing folks without evidence and
capture them. My understanding is that local militia groups don't really have
anything to do with foreigners. They don't have an antagonistic relation with
the police and military, but the relationship is contentious. There is no
oversight for these groups and I know that the folks in KV and in the village don't
want them there. There was a small battle between the locals and this militia
and three people were killed and a number were injured, including the districtchief. At the very least it is clear they are not there to protect the people
of the village though it is unclear to me where exactly they are from.
I will be keeping track of that situation and will not go to
KV if it seems like I could be a target (though accusing of me of stealing
would be a difficult sell as I am more likely to be robbed).
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