Mahadaga

HI!

Just a quick note to let everyone know I'm heading to Mahadaga this morning (6am! Ick!) and will return around the 4/5 of April. Sorry I didn't get a chance to do updates on the Operation Christmas Child week, but I promise, when I return I'll do it right away!!

Please be praying for safe travels and a great two weeks. Blessings,

A servant for Him,
~Liz

Other orphanage news...

A lot has been happening lately here at our orphanage! We had a visit from five high school girls from a small village in France. One of our little boys was adopted by a family in their village a few years ago, so this group of girls was VERY interested in the orphanage and have even done a few fundraisers for us. They were able to make their first visit for these past two weeks. With them, they brought 200 kilos of books for our school and orphanage. They set up a library in the two weeks and came up with a whole system for checking books out. Real cool! They also helped paint a bit around the orphanage as well (lots of red paint everywhere).

Our forage/well system is now complete!! As I think I mentioned in a past blog, the well had been dug and we had a hand pump put in. For the past few months the kids have been building their arm muscles by pumping water all the time. A few weeks ago though, a very kind man, Russ, came in from the USA with a Friends in Action team (they drill wells around Burkina) and decided to spend a week of his time putting in all the pipes to run water throughout our courtyard as well as get the chateau up that has a big tank to hold water and pump it throughout the courtyard. He finished his part and a few days ago the FIA team came to help finish up the job. Sooo we officially have our FREE water that God has abundantly provided beneath the ground of the orphanage and it runs throughout our courtyard. This saves a bundle of money as well as lots of work to bring the water to different areas of the courtyard.

African ingeniousness- trying to figure out how to get the chateau up without a crane. It was heavy!! Ended up using a few metal bins as support and counted to three and all pushed hard. The last bit they had to hook it to the truck and try to pull it (was too heavy so about 15 guys jumped in and weighted the truck down). Crazy and funny to watch.

Finally up! Works great and we're hoping to get a roof on it to keep the water from getting boiling hot in the sun.

Finally, my plans for the next two months… I WILL be able to stay at the orphanage for the time Ruth is gone (March and April)! It’s so amazing how once we finally give something to God and say “Do what you’d like with this,” He will often do what is the desire of our heart. So I’ll be here at the orphanage living with Brittany and our social worker, Adiara, is moving in with us for the time. Brittany and I also head to Kongoussi (Burkina) to do the Operation Christmas Child distribution for a week in March. I’m hoping to visit Mahadaga still in the beginning of April, so I’ll keep you updated on that.

All else is going well here! Thank you so much for your prayers and encouraging emails. Please keep praying though because soon comes the HOT season of 120’s all day and night, so it’s going to be tough. Rainy season starts May/June so just pray I make it to then and then there will be relief :)

Pottytraining Joseph!Me with a few of the younger boys- Ferdinand and Achille

Brittany and I in African garb before church with Therese

A servant for Him,

~Liz

Elephants!

So I finally felt like I was in Africa this past weekend (and maybe after the pictures some of you will believe me too)! In fact, it felt more like a ride at the Animal Kingdom at Disney World at some points, but then I had to remind myself that I was actually seeing real animals. Unfortunately Burkina Faso doesn’t have the great selection of typical “African” animals as many other African countries (I’m jealous of my friend in Kenya), but I guess any animal I see here, really, is African :).

So this past weekend five friends and I went to the Nasinga Park in southern Burkina. It's near Pô which is very close to the border of Ghana. The park is a HUGE plot of land (91,000 hectars) that was started by a Canadian missionary to help Africans in raising animals, but was taken over and is now run by the government. It’s about a four hour drive from Ouagadougou, and Ouaga is about 2 hrs from Yako- a LONG day of travel (both ways). Unfortunately I was a bit sick last week as well (no, it wasn’t from eating goat head, but thank you everyone for your concerns for my health! :) ), but felt much better for the trip thankfully!

So after the three hour drive to the outer gate of the park, we had an hour drive into our campsite on really rough roads. We had our first tour the night we got in and were sad to not see elephants. Our guide explained that it’s better viewing in the morning though. We did see baboons, TONS of antelope, a gazelle (tiny! I thought they were big), some big birds, and warthogs. For the evening we had a meal of antelope- the catch of the day. Because my stomach was a still a little icky I couldn’t eat much, but I thought it tasted good! (Brittany and I were the only ones who liked it). It kind of tasted like one of Mom’s roasts. We slept in little “huts” and they only had electricity from 6-10pm. Needless to say it’s a bit hot to sleep without a fan in there, but I guess it was good preparation for the upcoming hot season here (even had to wet myself down during the night a couple times).

Our huts

In the morning we got up bright and early and went out at the first light for another tour. We weren’t seeing a thing (do African animals sleep in unlike the African people??) but soon came around a corner and there was an elephant! For the morning tour Brittany, Cathlin, and I sat on the top of the car for a better view (way cooler view, though a little uncomfortable as we had forgotten a mat or something to sit on as many of the other groups had brought). So when we came face to face with the elephant, it was exciting! And when he started looking at us and flapping his ears/moving his feet a little and our guide said rather quickly, “Avance avance!! (advance)” two of us got a little nervous and helped the driver by shouting GO! :) Saw some more antelopes, baboons, and a few African buffalo which are apparently rare to see! As we neared the end of our tour we came upon three more elephants! They were all eating a lot and one broke a tree because he wanted the leaves at the top. So cool to just sit and watch them enjoying their breakfast.

Our ride!

Beautiful and so close!

In the bush!
The restaurant where we ate for the weekend was located right at a watering hole where the elephants play in the morning, so when we returned from the tour we got to eat breakfast and watch about a dozen elephants playing in the water.

At the watering hole- not rocks behind me!

Probably the coolest thing though, was on the way back to Ouaga- past Pô- a man flagged us down and we started to slow and saw a family of elephants crossing the road!! This was outside the park! It was like being in MI and the deer crossing, only way cooler (and probably way more dangerous to get in a car accident). A great weekend and a chance to see some more of God’s awesome creation! Elephants crossing!

A servant for Him,

~Liz

Featured Child

If you have gotten onto our website lately you’ll see we have another child for February/March sponsored. Praise God, a family friend responded to the last child and we already needed to add a new one to the website! So for February and March our new featured child in need of a sponsor is Fatimata. Please contact me or shelteringwings@charter.net for more info!

Fatimata was born in 1997. She lives in Sector 5 of Yako, Burkina Faso. Fatimata’s father died 4 years ago. Her father had two wives and 12 children. Fatimata lives with her mother.
Fatimata has four siblings who are married. One of Fatimata’s sisters lives with the family- she was married and has three children, but the husband is deceased. Fatimata’s brother lives in the same courtyard with his wife and three children, but they have a separate house. Many of her other siblings live in the Ivory Coast. The home that Fatimata, her mother, her sister and children live in is a very small, mud-brick, one room house. Fatimata has to walk to a nearby community water pump to fetch water for the family as they have no running water.

Fatimata attends the Sector 5 School and is in CM 2 (comparable to 6th grade). She likes math and this past trimester, got a 5/10 average (3/10 is needed to pass). She walks to school every day. For fun, Fatimata enjoys playing a game called Marraine- a game similar to hopscotch. At this time, Fatimata is in good health.

Sponsorship program

On our new website, each month we will be featuring a new child for the sponsorship program. This child will be one that is not currently sponsored but is in great need of sponsorship. If you are interested or know someone that is, please be sure to contact us. If the child has been taken in the time we put the info up, we have MANY more children to choose from.

As I said in a previous post, the sponsors commit to $25 per month which pays for the child’s school fees, some clothes and distributions of food and other necessary items throughout the year. The children will often write letters to their sponsors, as well as if the sponsors want to correspond. We of course do the translating from French to English :) There is more information on the website about the program, as well as letters that children have written and stories of some of our sponsored kids.

This really is a great program that can help so many of the children in need in Burkina Faso. We currently have about 150 children being sponsored, but every day we get requests for more sponsors. Even today, we had a grandmother bring her granddaughter (orphan of both parents) to the gate of the orphanage to ask for aid.

We’d love if you’d prayerfully consider being a part of our sponsorship team!

A servant for Him,
~Liz

This month’s featured child:

Issouf was born in 1999. He lives in Yako, Burkina Faso. Issouf’s father died when he was 6 years old. His father had two wives and 15 children. Eleven of the children are children of Issouf's mother. Seven of them have died due to illness.

Issouf’s mother does not work and does not have the money to care for her children. Issouf is the second youngest child of his mother. He has two older brothers, one younger brother, and one half brother (of the second wife) that live with him. They all try to find odd jobs around Yako as well as beg for money to help support the family. The home that the family of six inhabits is a mud-brick, one room house. It is no bigger than 10 feet by 10 feet. There is no electricity or running water and he has to walk to a nearby community water pump to fetch water for the family.

Issouf attends the school at the orphanage and is in CE 1 (comparable to 3rd grade). He likes to read and this past trimester, got a 4/10 average (3/10 is needed to pass). He walks to school every day, and it is approximately a 20 minute walk. For fun, Issouf enjoys playing soccer with his friends. At this time, Issouf is in good health.

New Website!

Our website has been updated! It can be found at the same address (www.sheltering-wings.org) but has a new look and organization! Be sure to check it out and let us know if you have any questions.

A servant for Him,

~Liz

Food in Burkina…

WARNING- not for the weak of stomach :)

So many of you have asked what kinds of foods I eat here in Burkina. Up until today (1/28) I would have said nothing too out of the ordinary. There are some different kinds of foods I’ve tried, but here at the orphanage Ruth, Brittany, and I usually cook things that we’re fairly used to. It of course tastes a little different from home, but overall it has been fairly “normal.”
The main food that everyone eats here is “To.” Our kids eat it for almost every lunch and dinner, and in the villages, it is the main food. The base is a sort of cream of wheat only much firmer. It’s made out of the grain Millet. The sauce varies, but the common one is a very interesting stringy green sauce primarily made of orcre. For our kids, we try to put tomatoes, onions, peanuts, chicken bouillion, dried fish, etc to add more nutrients. I HAVE tried this creation, but have to say that it is NOT my favorite food. The texture is what gets me I think.

The millet/corn part of To

Some of my favorite African foods that I’ve eaten are Benga, Riz gras, Ingham, Arachides avec Sucre, and Bissap. Benga is a beans and rice creation, very yummy. Riz gras- they do a lot of rice and rice and sauce meals. The main one are riz gras and rice with sauce (peanut sauce or a tomatoey sauce). I especially like Riz Gras because the sauce is sort of mixed in and absorbed by the rice. Mmm… Ingham is a sort of starchy potato. I’ve had it in a tomato sauce which is really good. Arachides avec sucre- sugared peanuts, simple, cheap, and YUMMY! I got a lesson on making them and it’s easy! And finally, Bissap. It’s a purple drink- best frozen- that they make out of the leaves of a tree. Sometimes they add ginger sometimes other random things. The Burkinabe especially like to drink it for holiday meals, though you can find it being sold on the street in most places.

Here at the orphanage, we eat a lot of rice and lentils. We don’t have a lot of access to meat (here in Yako, we never really know when it’s killed so is not so safe to eat), and fruits are very hard to come by (really difficult for me!). You can buy veggies, but it just depends on the season for what’s available out in Yako. We try to be creative with what we’re cooking, and it helps that Ruth has accumulated lots of spices and soup type of mixes to use with things.

So that’s the simple version of what I eat.

Now the interesting part… Monday night we saw a big group of our kids gathered in the back of the courtyard. We wondered what in the world they were doing, and thought they had maybe snuck in an animal to try to raise or something similar. Brittany and I went to check it out and found that they had killed one of our sheep who was sick. Wow. So Brittany and I watched as they were cleaning out and sorting what parts they were going to eat. We soon found that they eat almost everything! Why waste? We watched as they emptied the stomach. GROSS! They were pretty impressed though, that we wanted to stay and watch (a few days before, we wanted to watch them kill a chicken, but they told us we wouldn’t like to see it). We asked if we could eat with them, and very surprised, they answered “of course!”

Sooo yesterday, they saved us a bowl of the “soup” they made with big pieces of sheep in it. Very yummy! We asked where all the other parts were though- especially the head. They had told us they eat the parts of the head, and were saving it for last.

This morning, one of our boys, Ascension, caught me at 6:30am when I went out to run and told me to come over and eat the head after running. Mmm… Breakfast! After I ran, I got Brittany, and we nervously went out to find a bowl full of … Well, parts of the head. Ascension showed us the brain, and nervously Britt and I took a small piece to eat. Not an awful flavor, but the idea of eating a brain made us a little nauseous- I thought Brittany was going to throw up at one point! :) Then came the eyes… *HEY, you asked what I eat! Sorry if it’s too much detail!* Ascension just popped one in his mouth and ate it. Wow… I took a tiny bite- I won’t give you more details about it unless you ask, but it was definitely interesting. Finally, the tongue. I actually really liked the taste- it was much more like a meat than the other things. I think Ascension was happy to show the white girls how to eat the head, and probably knew that we’d only get a few bites in so he’d have to finish it. It really is a delicacy here! What an honor that they saved it for us to try :)

So now, not only can I say I ate sheep- and many parts of it- but I can say I ate these very interesting parts for breakfast. Mmm. Bon appetite!

A servant for Him,
~Liz

Me with Goat Soup

Confusion about what parts we were eating- Ascension laughed the whole time

Playing with my food- sorry Mom!

Before eating a bite of the eye- my stomach wasn't smiling

Me with the tongue and Ascension, laughing again, with the jaw