Fun articles

I've been lookin on the BBC site for a few articles on Burkina and thought it would be fun to share a few with you!

ALL over Burkina you see "motos" which are moped type of bikes. I rode on them all the time when going to the villages. I found very quickly that many times this is the ONLY way of visiting a lot of the ares we went to.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5242692.stm

(me on a moto after the visit with Adiara- a very common sight (minus the backpack))

Another interesting one... Birth certificates were a HUGE issue in Burkina. You can ask me more about this if you'd like. This article is a good summary of it and a great movement to see going through Burkina right now!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8038125.stm


I'm really seeing the importance of global awareness after this past year, and think that I (as well as all Americans!) should be taking more interest in what's going on outside of our country. Ask my sister about human trafficking!!

I'll try to put up more news articles about Burkina as time goes on- especially if I can tell more stories to make it relate more :)

Thanks for reading!
~Liz

Any questions?

Just another chance for you to ask any questions you have! Please leave a comment if you'd like to know something specific about my time in Burkina, the culture, etc! No question is a bad question :)

Hair do's

So when I arrived in Burkina I had NO idea that the majority of the women's hair was fake. Yup, that's right. The beautiful braids and length are extensions. It was explained to me that because of the dryness and the heat year round, their hair is very dry and breaks easily. The funny part of this to me was when they would ask me if MY hair was all real. Just as I assumed (from being with people with mostly natural hair) that their hair was real, they assumed (from being with people with mostly fake hair) that my hair was fake.

I had seen the girls braiding each other's hair and doing simple stuff but never much of the extensions. The week before I left Burkina, I stayed with my friend Adiara (the orphanage social worker) and her mom in their courtyard. Adiara was going to visit her fiance the next day so she was re-doing her hair that night. I went with her to see how it works.
(all the choices of hair)
WOW was it interesting :) Of course took a ton of time...

The first step was taking out her old extensions- they are creative with what they have (and with the lack of money to afford other things) and use a razor blade to cut out the extension ends.

Then it's all combed out and product is put in.

From there it was braided tightly to Adiara's head using a few small extensions just to make it long enough to hold the braids together.

Adiara had chosen short straight hair with a bit of color in it so the hairdresser- starting at the base of her head- literally sewed with needle and black thread the extensions into Adiara's hair.
It was then cut and styled and walah! FINI!
Such a fun and definitely cultural experience :)

Update on Ouagadougou (really late-sorry!)

Hi all!
I know it has been awhile since I last wrote- still getting back into things here. I have a few more things I want to blog about even though my time in Burkina is done for now. Sooo I hope these few things are interesting to you and give you more of a taste on my time in Burkina. I am also planning on having a gathering some point soon just to fill everyone in now that I'm back. I'll keep you posted on that as well. Here's an update about the flooding in Ouaga. If you didn't get that email from me just before I left Burkina, let me know and I'll forward it to you. This is an email from a SIL missionary (Bible translating) from Ouagadougou. I think it was about a week after the flooding so it is probably a bit out of date, but it will give you an idea of what was going on. Please keep praying as I'm sure there are still many issues with school starting and people living in the schools.
A servant for Him,
~Liz

Dear Friends:
The headline of the weekly paper tells the story: "Ouagadougou received a deluge of rainfall, where was Noah with his ark?"

I want to send a quick update on what is happening here in Burkina, so that you can continue to pray for people impacted by the massive flooding that occurred in Ouaga on Tues. this past week. Here are a few details that will give you a glimpse of the situation today:

-of Ouaga's population of approx. 1.4 million people, at least 150,000 have lost their homes... either they collapsed or washed away, or have partially collapsed and are no longer safe for habitation; some may be repaired once the rainy season ends;

-of the 150,000 people displaced approx 110,000 have found temporary shelter in schools and churches; school should resume the first week of Oct, so alternate housing for many, many people needs to be found by then;

-an estimated 20,000 people have re-located to stay with relatives in rural villages, and a large portion of these will be children; faced with the cost of finding rental housing or rebuilding, one can easily imagine that there will be a lot of children who will not be returning to school as planned, because their parents simply cannot pay the school fees, nor find housing near their schools in time to begin the school year;

-following assessment, it has been concluded that there is almost nothing in the way of medical equipment that remains usable in the Yalgado Hospital, which is the main hospital of Ouaga; efforts are being made to have people treated in private clinics or hospitals if possible;

-regular intermitten electricity cuts are occuring throughout the city, while work is underway to repair damage at an electricity generating station;

-the city water supply has been declared safe, and cleanup continues in the canals that were inundated during the rain which continued for 10hrs without stopping on Tues- massive amounts of sand, gravel, topsoil, debris and every manner of household stuff was washed into the canal system, and in places the cement walls of the canals themselves washed away;

-the President of Burkina yesterday has called for the leaders of major churches and development organizations to meet with him on Mon. morning, to determine what efforts can be undertaken immediately to help the less fortunate in our city; Pastor Karambiri of the church I attend is among those asked to come, and a general church meeting has been called for Tuesday evening, at which time action plans will be initiated; we have been asked to bring blakets, clothing, non-perishable food, basic necessitites, building supplies, and money;

-it seems nearly all the Burkinabe employees who work at the SIL Centre have suffered damage to their homes; a few are a complete loss, others have one wall down, or the house is ok but the courtyard wall has collapsed, etc

-while international news sites indicate that flooding happens in various parts of W. Africa every year, there has not been a rain like this one in Ouaga in nearly 100yrs.

As I looked at photos of people wading in water trying to get away from their inundated homes, it occurred to me that none of them would ever have waded in water before in their lives! People don't walk around when it rains, they seek shelter and wait until it stops. As a result, they had almost no clue at all of the power of moving water, let along raging, gushing streams when water got deep enough to find a way to escape. In the neighborhood where Boureima and Berenice live, one family's courtyard filled up with water, and when they were up to their knees in water in the house and knew it would collapse, the grandmother hoisted the baby onto her back and tied it there, then took the toddler by the hand, and headed off to wade through the water hoping to find shelter somewhere. However, she was not prepared for the force of the current as she moved into the stream that was racing towards a ravine, lost her balance, and all three were swept away by the rushing water! At the edge of the city, along the main highway that goes south from Ouaga towards the Ghana border, an entire neighborhood was washed into a deep ravine, and a number of people are unaccounted for.

Some roads were submerged under 1-2m of water, and many roadside vendors lost everything they had to sell, or it is damaged beyond recovery. The iron bridge that crosses the canal behind my house was completely covered with water, not even a ripple to let you know there was a bridge there. At the SIL Centre, the basement storage room where colleagues pack their belongings when they go on furlough was inundated, and there is major water damage to personal effects; especially reference books used in Bible translation are a great loss, both financially and for ministry.

There is an aspect of this natural disaster that you don't grasp from the statistics and photos on TV: the stinking smell of the aftermath. So much rotting stuff! To drive along streets that were flooded is nauseating; even though the water has receded and cleanup crews have swept away the silt and sand, the stagnant water still standing grows green and foul.

Where there is tragedy, there is also triumph. People are reaching out to help each other, making room in their homes and sharing whatever they can. And while people begin making repairs or rebuilding, we continue to ask the Lord to withhold the rains for a few more days, to give ground and cement a little time to dry.

I have several prayer requests to share with you:
-please pray that the Christian community will rise to the occasion to demonstrate the love of Jesus in practical, tangible ways;

-praise the Lord for government leaders, including the Prime Minister who is a believer, that they will find favor in the international community to bring aid to those in need;

-please pray for relief that will make it possible for children to resume classes in Oct, and that suitable homes can be found for the masses of people presnetly living in the empty school buildings.

My grandpa

Hello friends...

Just an update about my grandpa. Yesterday evening at 6:22pm my grandpa (or known as "Bopa" to my siblings and I) went to be with God... It was an incredibly difficult time leading up to it and we feel blessed to have had the time we did to say goodbye. Of course, it is never easy though- no matter how much time we're allowed... We're figuring out funeral details and everything else right now... Thank you so much for your prayers since he was diagnosed up til now. Please continue praying for our family in this tough time. There will be an empty spot that can never be filled- he was an incredible man and it has been truly amazing to see how many people were touched by his life.

Many blessings to you and yours,

~Liz

Greetings from... Manistee!

Yep, that's right... I'm home! I know I have basically fallen off the face of the earth, but life has been a bit hectic since getting back... Practically the minute I got home until now I have spent with my family and grandparents. My grandpa's health has taken quite a turn and I'm trying to get every bit of time I can with them/helping them. I can now see why I was supposed to leave Burkina when I did- God knows I would need time with my grandpa. So now I'm looking for a job and doing what I can around here. I'll be updating my blog as soon as I can with info from my last bit of time in Burkina as well as what's going on now. Please stay tuned for more stories and to hear more of what God is doing in Burkina!!

A servant for Him,
~Liz

Time with the kids...

This past weekend Miriah and I took a weekend to go to Ouaga and visit some of the kids who are staying there with family. We got to see Evance, Ascension and Ange. It was an incredible time! We first visited Evance’s family courtyard then went with him to Ascension’s family. Both of their courtyards were PACKED full of people- most all relatives- and people constantly in and out. When we arrived at Ascension’s, we found that his aunt was expecting us to stay there. We had no idea, haha. Very Burkinabé. Soo after much deliberation about bus schedules, a reservation we already had at SIM, and our plans for how to see everyone, we decided to stay. His aunt made us great food and took good care of us.

While Evance and Ascension went to go pick up Ange, they left us sitting in Ascension’s courtyard with his family for about an hour and a half. Miriah started braiding one of the older girls’ hair which then got ALL of the little girls interested and we were soon surrounded with five little girls pulling on our hair and braiding. Finally the older girl shoved them all out of her way and said she actually knew how and worked on my head. :) First time I’ve gotten it braided since being here. We weren’t sure how much time we had though so I just got a little done. And WOW they must have tough heads to do that all the time- it hurts!
We went into town and hung out a bit. We then went to a movie!! It was a film from Ghana and was real interesting- interesting meaning a bit odd. It was called “Her Excellency” or “Son Excellence.” The funniest part I think to Miriah and I was that through the whole movie, right in the middle of everything, were big block letters that said “PREVIEW,” which to us meant that the movie hadn’t actually been purchased and we were watching a pirated version. Haha. The theatre was real neat- as with Fespaco, there was no roof so we sat under the stars. You could pay 300cfa (about 60cents) to sit on cement block benches with no back or 500cfa ($1) to sit on benches with backs.

Once back at Ascension’s, his cousin asked if we wanted to have tea. The men here all make a tea similar to chai that’s really good. It also takes an hour to make. We didn’t get to bed until real late. Slept in a room three of Ascension’s little cousins- one of which talks in her sleep in Mooré. I actually understood a little! The next morning we hung out in the courtyard and had more tea. Ascension’s aunt made us a traditional breakfast which is sort of like the toh with a very spicy sauce. Definitely not something I’d think of for breakfast. It wasn’t bad but was a bit of a shock to my morning senses (especially seeing half a fish in the bowl when we opened it). (Got in a taxi with all five of us and another woman... A bit crowded!)

We went into Ouaga again after breakfast and on the way, stopped at a boutique and bought water. To our surprise there was cake in the cooler in the boutique. We bought a piece (convenient!) for Ascension’s birthday. We sang to him on the public bus (not many people there) while waiting for a new bus to arrive because the first was broken. He was surprised! Once in Ouaga we went to the American Embassy for lunch and Ange and Ascension had hamburgers for the first time! We then wandered a bit in Ouaga and found a fabric to thank Ascension’s mom. We sat there and let the boys argue over the design for probably 10 minutes- they know her (and African mothers) better! We then turned to the woman sitting next to us on the bench and asked her what one she’d choose. She picked the one I liked!

Just hung out until it was time for our bus to come and then headed back to Yako. It’s really sad to think this was probably the last time I saw them before I head home… What a great thing though, to bed able to visit them and spend two great days in Ouaga!

Featured Child of the Month

Haven’t had a featured child for the sponsorship program in awhile. Still so much need here. One of my projects lately has actually been making a massive waiting child list for kids still in need of sponsors that we know of in the Yako area. And it is a HUGE list! Would you consider sponsoring a child? For details on the program, look at a few of my past featured children (info on the program in February postings)…

This month:
Honoré Zaaba

Honoré is 13 years old. He lives in Douré, Burkina Faso. Honoré’s father died when he was 12 years old. Honoré’s father had a polygamous marriage and had three other sons and a daughter with Honoré’s mother. He has two half sisters and two half brothers as well.

Honoré lives with his mother. Honoré is oldest child of his parents and is the only child in school. His brothers are 9, 6, and 3 and his baby sister is about 8 months old. When Honoré’s father died, as in Burkinabé culture, the women were offered a younger brother of the man, but Honoré’s mother refused. This left the family with no one to help them with even their basic needs. The mother and her older boys cultivate for food, but this is not sufficient to support the whole family. There is no electricity or running water and they have to walk to a nearby community water pump to fetch water for the family.

Honoré attends the elementary school in Douré and is in CM 2 (comparable to 6th grade). His favorite classes are science and history/geography. This year, Honoré received a 4/10 average all three trimesters (3/10 is needed to pass). Honoré also passed the pass/fail exam at the end of 6th grade which means that he will begin 6eme (7th grade) in the fall. For fun, Honoré enjoys playing soccer with his friends. At this time, Honoré is in good health.

Honoré’s situation is precarious and he is in great need of a sponsor.

It's official...

I'm coming home... My plane ticket is being confirmed and I'll be back in Manistee the 18th of September. Exactly one month from tomorrow... I truly cannot believe how fast the time has flown and that my time here is coming to a close. I'm not ready! Please be praying for this next month for me- for the many things to be done before I go, the goodbyes, and the many emotions of the changes to come.

A servant for Him,
~Liz

Estelle update!

In my very first update just 6 weeks after I arrived in Burkina Faso I talked about little Estelle. Finally a long awaited update on her…

In my update I misspoke and said that Estelle was two years old- she actually just turned two in May though! I haven’t had as much time with the babies lately as I’d like as I’m working on various projects before I leave. Right around the time Brittany left in June though, I started hearing my name being shouted from the baby play area. Tebnoma, Joseph, and Ibra had already been saying my name for awhile (“Eli tha bet” sort of all slurred funny- they like “Eliza” better). At this time though, it was Estelle!! Brittany had been working with all of the toddlers in a morning ½ hour sort of preschool and the other three had caught on VERY quickly and were speaking a lot. Estelle though, had not. But then she started saying my name!! It was incredibly exciting, especially when the first name she said was Tantie (for the women that work with the kids).

She’s starting to say more words now and has this great laugh when she’s tickled or happy. I’ve found that the more I clap and encourage when she does something we want her to do, the more she is determined to do more. Also a month or two ago she was working really hard on standing. A few points she showed me that she can stand without grabbing on to something. We still worked with her on walking and she has her stubborn days when she could care less.

Yesterday though, I went into the toddler room to greet them all and was shaking their hands when I looked up to see Estelle take two steps towards me!!! I yelled with excitement and she just grinned. A few minutes later she pulled herself up and walks 4 or 5 steps to me! I was (and am) SO excited. She laughed with joy as I tickled her and said good job over and over. Even cuter was that I told the other toddlers to say Bravo Estelle! and clap, and they did. I have been praying that she’d walk before I left and she did! She has come SO far. I'll put a video of her on here soon.

Another prayer request related to her though… Her mother recently had another baby… A little boy… There were a lot of issues with the man who got her pregnant and him taking responsibility for her and his child. He finally did but she is very irresponsible and has a tendancy to lie often. She was recently kicked out of his family’s courtyard and has come to us to get help again. She refuses to sign papers for Estelle to be adopted, but she is in no place to care for herself let alone two children… Please pray for her mother and that things can be worked out soon. As great as this orphanage is, it is not good for children to grow up without parents…

Special for Brittany

We miss you Brittany!

(Brittany me manque- I miss Brittany... Bonsoir Brittany!! Hello Brittany!!)

Updates from Yako

Finally have a few minutes in Ouaga to take care of emails and update my blog! SIM has a prayer weekend starting this evening in Fada so am waiting to head out soon for that.

Haven't spent a lot of time at the orphanage in the last week. Our pastor's daughter, Tebnoma Salou, has asked me a few times when I'm going to come stay with their family and I finally took her up on it on Sunday! I stayed in their family courtyard from Sunday afternoon til Wednesday afternoon. It was a great experience and I learned even more about life as a Burkinabe and their way of living. I still want to spend a little time in a village as Tebnoma lives within Yako still. Life even in a small town is very different from village life.

Sunday when I arrived Tebnoma greeted me with the Burkinabe 4 kisses and seemed excited to have me there! :) We just hung out in the afternoon. The Salous have electricity because they live right next to their church, the Central Church of Yako. We watched some tv which was so weird as I really do not do this often. Went to bed 8:30pm (not joking!) as Tebnoma usually is up between 4:30 and 5am.

I set my alarm as I knew there was no way I'd wake up naturally at that time, and found Tebnoma still sleeping- yay, a bit more sleep! Every morning at 5am the central church has prayer. Let me tell you, these Christians pray with FORCE! It was neat to lay in bed and hear them... Each morning they have breakfast as a family (or whoever is around) of bread and coffee/tea. As with every meal (and even at 6:30 or 7) anyone who stopped in was welcome (and almost forced) to join the meal. Most of Monday we hung out around the courtyard. Tebnoma and I made riz gras and greeted the stream of visitors that were in and out of the courtyard. Such is the life of a Burkinabe- always an open door and time for spontanious visitors- and it is multiplied for a pastor. Pastor Salou spent most of his day sitting outside with the various pastors and people from Yako, just chatting and spending time with them. It really convinced me even more how much I want a life like this at home- making relationships my priority.

Went in the afternoon and visited Tebnoma's friend Adeline. What an incredible girl. She has been sick for a few years- couldn't even eat or drink- and it was really serious. A couple weeks ago, a westerner came into a local clinic for just 10 days and knew the exact surgery that Adeline needed (that no one here could do) and was able, when she arrived on the 8th day, to treat Adeline. When we arrived I saw the very very skinny girl who was filled with more joy than almost anyone I know. She greeted me with a big smile and chatted happily with us for quite awhile. She praised God through most of the conversation for providing the person to do the surgery and for his goodness. She, in African style, even walked us way past her own gate as we left to head home. I will never forget the joy of this amazing girl. She just radiated God's love.

Made dinner when we got back- ingham, a starchy potato type of meal. They really treated me royally and we ate much more than just toh for my visit there. An incredible sacrifice for a little visitor like me.

Tuesday we went to the fields!! I was ready to walk with Tebnomas siblings and the donkey cart, but Pastor said that it was too far and they were driving me in the church truck. I fought it for a few minutes, but of course in this culture when someone tries to bless you, the best thing to do is accept. We rode out (ok, I admit it was real far) and pulled out the dabas to start pounding the soil. And when I say soil, I mean hard sandy like ground. The rains have not come and people have planted anyway, trying to have faith that the rains WILL come.

It was HOT! Standing in the sun, bent over at the waist, and pounding the ground with a little hoe-like object gave me a totally new appreciation for the people of Burkina Faso. During the rainy season they work day in and day out like this when most at home would throw the daba and go find a machine to do the back-breaking work. I worked on and off for the morning- Tebnoma seemed to see the sun affecting me and me getting tired. She showed me another area of the field (so much land to cultivate!) and we went for a walk once or twice. Just before lunch I was feeling good and there were big clouds so the temp cooled way down. I was ready to work more and wanted to stay all day as they do, but with the clouds came huge winds and we thought rain, plus Tebnoma was planning on eating at home, so we headed back. Unfortunately no rain came and I was kind of sad my cultivating experience was done. I hope to go back with them again and do more though!


Tuesday afternoon we rested a bit- yes, I was pretty tired and sore from the little work I did. Tuesday night after dinner finishing around 9pm, Tebnoma and I made a cake! She has asked Ruth a few times to learn to bake and Ruth has taught her some. When Ruth got her small gas oven in the house she gave Tebnoma her toaster oven. We, after being creative and fixing a few of the little quirks with the oven (a rock propped against the door with a daba and tray), made cake for her family. It was real fun and her family appreciated it- even at 11pm when it was done.

Wednesday was my last day with the family and I was thinking of leaving in the morning. Tebnoma convinced me to stay until late afternoon though :) .. We prepared the lunch- toh- which took most of the morning. I sifted flour, cut onions, and mixed the sauce while Tebnoma made the toh. We did a huge load of dishes and went to visit a friend of hers.

I watched a special on Burundi just before lunch... How weird and different everything looked there. The customs, the dress, the music... I again realized how different every bit of Africa is. Of course there are similarities between the cultures, but each one is so unique. Even in Burkina, each people group is so unique and I'm certain that if I stayed in the courtyard of a Doula person, their customs and way of living would be even just a little different from the Mossi way that I'm more accustomed to.... As I watched the special and marveled over how different it looked, I realized how much the things of Burkina have become normal. How you read this blog you probably see the pictures and videos and hear the stories and think how weird and different it looks... And to me, it has become home...

It was really an awesome exprerience to be able to stay in the Pastor's courtyard and see just a glimpse of life there. I learned a bit more Moore and even impressed some of the locals with my speaking to them and cooking/ doing the things of the courtyard. Despite the bathing out of a bucket, peeing in a hole, mosquitoes, language difficulties, cultural differences, and hard work, I would do it again in a second.

--------

Other updates:

We got a new baby! See Ruth's blog (http://www.burkinaorphanage.blogspot.com/) for details. This little guy, Job, is premature and very sick. Please be praying for him!

My kid's club is going well! Had an amazing turnout of 31 kids the first week- we were surprised as we thought most would be in fields. Second week had only 8 though, but they were great kids and good listeners. This week I was not able to be there with being in Ouaga, but the two other Burkinabe guys who are working with the club were there and I'm waiting to hear how it went.

Prayers for a potential for two of our older boys to go to Canada! Pray that their visas will go through and they'll be able to head out with Miriah when she leaves end of August.

Just a few random pictures of my days here...

Great distribution for the bi-annual food distribution for the sponsorship program

VBS with the team- 25 kids came to know Christ!

A great three weeks with the team here from St Louis- celebrated Canada Day for Miriah

Saying goodbyes to some of my primary school buddies

Tibnoma was tired this day so carried her around on my back with her resting

Tibnoma and Joseph

My English class of 5th and 6th graders, now finished

Praying all is well in the States and I look forward to updates from you!!

A servant for Him,
~Liz

Are you in need?

Of a ride?
Of a mattress? All of them are comfy thin foam
A new tire? Or how about an old oil container used to carry water to and from the community pump?
Refrigerator? Or another shop to choose your tires
Just whistle or raise your hand and he'll stop for you to buy cigarettes

On your way through town (or even at each stop you make) you can stop for a quick instant coffee right on the road
In the cooler, bags of water or special juice drinks. In the glass case, some sort of dense, oily cake
Don't be fooled- it isn't wine or liquor in the old bottles, but a mix of gas and oil for the motos (motorcycles/mobylettes)... Believe me, it's easy to run out of gas in the middle of nowhere in the bush
Choose your chicken

Oranges?
In case you want a choice in your soap purchasing

Clothing stores are everywhere- tons of stands that are filled with beautiful fabric that you can literally do anything with
A blow up Teletubbie pool, pre-blown up for your convenience...?