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Creating sacred space in Burkina Faso.

SARA GOODMAN I SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

always joked that for my first post-college job my only
requirements were a supermarket and a synagogue.
The ironic part is that I have neither of those in
my rural village in Burkina Faso in West Africa.
I applied to the Peace Corps during my junior
year of college after my elementary and middle
school music professor said that there were no jobs
in Illinois and that we needed a backup plan. The
application was free, and I had nothing to lose. I
graduated the next year with my music education
degree. Three weeks later, I arrived in Ouagadougou
as a Peace Corps volunteer.
Judaism is a major part of my identity. I was
raised in a Conservative Jewish home by two Jewish
parents. I went to Hebrew school until I graduated.

I

I had a bat mitzvah. I organized Jewish services
at Interlochen Arts Camp. As a college student, I
was the Conservative minyan leader for two years
at Hillel; I taught myself how to leyn (chant), and
singlehandedly ran and organized High Holy Day
services my junior year. I was also the United
Synagogue of Conservative Judaism/Hillel Koach
intern. Almost every Friday night during college I
went to services and caught up with my Jewish
friends that I saw once a week.

Culture Shock
The transition from being that involved to having
no synagogues in-country proved to be a challenge.
Luckily, I got a contact from a friend of a Jewish vol-

A scene from the festival of Tabaski with high-

ranking officials including the prefect, the municipal

adviser and the imams of the village

unteer who served in Burkina Faso and then came
back later for a year as a Peace Corps Response
volunteer. She was able to answer a lot of my ques-
tions about tolerance of Judaism in a predominately
Muslim country and the feasibility of observing holi-
days.
The High Holy Days last year began only two
days after we arrived in our villages. I was freaking
out because I had nowhere to go. It would be too
difficult to arrive in the village, meet everyone and
then leave a few days later to spend Rosh Hashanah
in the capital 100 miles away.
Other volunteers criticized me by saying that if I
spent all day praying, I would not be integrating in
my village and mingling with residents.

Sara Goodman at her swearing in ceremony on

Goodman does an anti-malaria awareness session

Sept. 22, 2011.

Goodman and her friend made latkes for everyone in

for elementary school students.

their PCV transit house for Chanukah 2011.

24 July 19 • 2012