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!