Reflections on a Saturday Morning

Saturday is the weekend for most folks. Time to relax. Believe me, when I get a chance to relax on a Saturday I try and take full advantage of it. Most Saturdays are full of activity around here and this morning was no exception.

Today we had a shoe distribution at a school, a grain distribution for widows, a water baptism, a military visit and a trip to the hospital with a sick child...all before noon!!

We sent people off in different directions to get everything accomplished. Mike and I went to the baptism because one of the girls living at the orphanage was getting baptized. This was the first baptism we have gone to here.

Baptisms are typically done at the end of the rainy season when all the water has not dried up. This morning we arrived at the church. There were about 150 people getting baptized today. Before things got started, there was a large crowd gathered along the street. Then we heard the screaming and laughter and thunder of little feet as a local school was dismissed from class to join those gathered along the street. Something was about to happen! After several "official looking" cars passed a large group of cyclists came down the street. I am not sure if this was "Tour de Faso" (an actual event here) or something else, but everyone was cheering and we were glad to have witnessed it.

After the crowds died down, we greeted some of the pastors and then started our walk to the barrage (body of water, like a lake). This is where the baptisms would take place.

Everyone gathered and we were given a bench to sit on. Then there was some passionate preaching and singing. Afterwards, 2 of the pastors pulled off their shoes, rolled up their pants and walked down into the water. People then lined up in the water and one at a time they spoke a little and then were dunked under.

It was a very nice experience and a very beautiful morning and we couldn't help but reflect on the very first baptisms.

A week in pictures

Just a little bit of what's been going on this week at the orphanage.


Bathtime is now quicker, easier and more fun now that our baby bathing room is finished! 

Our tanties have their hands full!

Here comes trouble! We use a lot of diapers every day!

Schoolchildren receiving a new pair of TOMS shoes

Our new dining hall is nearly complete! Painting has begun!

Repainting the cribs for a fresh new look

Kids receive letters from their sponsors 

How many flies can you fit on one grape sized piece of fruit?
Now multiply that by 1000. It's the season for fallen fruit.

Teatime anyone? A daily ritual here in Burkina.

Time to go! See you next time!

Spa Treatment in Burkina Faso?

Well, we often say that we cannot complain about the heat and the sweat because millions of people pay to sit in saunas. And when you sit in the back of a truck and ride at high speeds, the dust that pelts your face can almost be called dermabrasion. However, this past Saturday, a few of us were treated to something special...a pedicure of sorts.

Okay, so we didn't have the fancy foot bath or the sweet smelling lotions, but we did get our toenails painted with fancy designs. And this cost us a whopping 40 cents a piece! There are some bargains to be had here.

Marguerite came to the orphanage guesthouse with her basket of nail polish and even some fake eyelashes if we were interested. We bypassed the eyelashes and got down to business. While our toes were being made works of art, Marguerite's son was playing with a few toys on the floor.

Pat gets the royal treatment

In the beginning all was good, but then she pulled out glue and press-on toenails. I think my eyes grew 3 sizes. I had to act quickly...do I let her do this or not? I couldn't imagine what would happen to my toenails if I had plastic glued to them, so my tongue caught up with my brain and I said, "Wait!". I asked if it was possible for her to just paint my natural nails. She complied, we picked colors and away she went.

My forty cent pedicure!

I received a lovely design. Emily and Pat had their toes done up in the colors of the Burkina Flag, complete with stars. There was a qualifying soccer match on later that day for Burkina's team and we think they won because of the good luck they brought with their toes.

Burkina toes in progress.

Another interesting day in Africa!

Together We Stand

Living in Africa, you are confronted with one thing over and over again. Things have been done the same way for hundreds of years, and change does not come easy. In a third world country with little to no resources, you realize the hardships of those ever cycling climates. A drought one year can and does send the entire country into a desperate situation that takes years to recover from. Sadly many times before recovery is realized the country is hit once again. This is nothing new, and unfortunately has been accepted by Africans as “the way things are”.

I have never been much of a science guy, but I must admit that I am fascinated by it. I would laugh when I would listen to Alex Beurenger, the science teacher at Hollywood Christian School in Florida, as he so excitedly explained something he was working on which was so far above my head that it would make me dizzy! Then he would slip me a piece of paper during church with a sketch on it in an attempt to help me understand.  Science guys kind of have their own language, ya know?

This is why I was interested in a very dear friend of ours new project. This is a friend that owns a mechanic shop, not a science guy. This guy speaks “my” language. But God had put a project on his heart. Not anything he had ever thought about, nothing he had ANY training on, but a science project. It started as a thought of using hydroponics to help feed the homeless of Broward County.  As he began learning and experimenting on a small storage lot that he had, God moved in and started to bless it.

 

The project grew, the owner of the property saw the mission and gave him more property, the equipment started to arrive, and the science started to happen. I must admit, I was overwhelmed when I first walked onto the project, but again, he spoke my language. He started talking of simple things, made with simple materials that produce food, lots of food with little water, and little effort. We are talking fish to vegetables, it was a sustaining system that could feed a family even in times of drought, or monsoon. His project that he thought was local, went global.

 

 

 

 

We are in the process of beginning our project here in Burkina with the help of John Mears and the team at “Together We Stand” . They have already started building education facilities and new environments with new ideas. Just finding all those other little details God has hidden in His creation to provide for those who He loves. When it comes to an unending quest to seek out God’s hidden treasures, and to provide for the least of these, I would say to my friend John, Together We Stand.
www.togetherwestand.org