White girl from Korea

In Burkina, people call me a white girl. When I first heard that, I thought they had made a mistake and I told them, “I am not a white, I am from Korea.” Then they told me, “you are a white girl from Korea.” Later on, I found that there are two races here, black and non black, which is white.

Come to think of it, in Korea we also didn’t have those words like white, black and yellow before we opened up our country to Western countries. We called some foreigners colored-eyed people in the 18th century. Maybe people didn’t recognize much difference in skin colors when the first European, Dutch fisherman, Hamel, came to Korea by typhoon.

My friend Denise was taught a song in a US church when she was a child. The lyric was that god loves all kids, black, yellow and white, and she could not understand the meaning. Those words are commonly used in many countries with different races, but they convey a stereotype.

Ouagadougu!

After working at theWorld Bank’s HQ in DC, I finally arrived in Ouagadougu. It took quite a while to get used to the surroundings, but now I feel settled!

The name, Ouagadougu means respect and welcome, and Burkina Faso means country of integrated/honest people in Morae, one of the most commonly used native language in Burkina Faso. My first impression of Ouagadougu is that it has very nice and peaceful people. They are very welcoming to foreigners and willing to help others.

Morning in Ouaga
The city gets busy in the morning. I live in the downtown district of the city, near Ave. Kwame Kruma avenue (Kwame Kruma is an ex-president of Ghana) where many activities are held. I can buy anything from fruit to mobile phones here on the street, where everybody greets each other.

(Grocery store getting busier in the morning)

(View from my office)

Evening in Ouaga
The sun goes very early here. After 6pm, it starts already getting darker and there is almost no street light. It is difficult to walk around during the night before we get used to it. My neighbor, Isa, makes drums during the evening to sell the next day. People get together to watch a TV, also have beers, etc.

(Neighbors gather to waching a TV)

(Wonderful Beer Burkina for summer night)