Ministries Working Together to Change Lives

We have been very blessed to partner together with different ministries and organizations while here in Burkina Faso. One of our partners, "Friends in Action", recently helped us change the future of a handicapped women.

Salimata had an accident when she was young and broke her arm in several places. The only thing the doctors had the ability to do was to remove the bones in her arm. This left Salimata with no use of her arm. Despite this difficulty, she grew up and married, had five children and worked as best as she could cultivating crops.

Salimata lost her husband three years ago. This significantly changed her situation and that of her children. To help keep her children in school, Salimata started to raise chickens. Unfortunately, many of her chickens became ill and died leaving her little money for school fees. She had to borrow from family and the local pastor.

When we heard about Salimata we sat with our local Pastor and discussed what would be the best way to help. He suggested that raising goats would be something that she could do physically and would help her earn the income she needed to care for her children and pay back her debts.

Our buddies at "Friends in Action" drill all the wells that you see us post pictures and talk about. Their ministry gives life saving, clean, healthy water to villages throughout Burkina Faso and into the Ivory Coast. Each year they drill about 40 wells. Often they receive gifts of goats from villages and they keep them in their work yard, not really knowing what to do with them. Recently they gave us some goats to give to people in need.

Immediately we thought of Salimata. God's timing is so good! The guys at "Friends in Action" had no idea we were just discussing Salimata's case, but God did. Today, we went with Salimata's pastor to deliver her one male goat and one female goat. As a bonus, we believe the female is already pregnant. Glory to God!

The gift Salimata received will help her to help herself and her family. She will no longer need to ask for loans and she can be assured that her children will be able to complete their education.

A Different Future for this Young Lady

We met Natalie this summer when she came to our clinic at the orphanage. When she was a small girl she was washing clothes in dirty, stagnant water. She contracted a disease that would slowly change her life. It was so small at the time that her family didn't seek any medical help. Like any other scrape or cut, they expected it would go away on its own.

Year after year, the muscle and flesh in Natalie's arm and buttocks was being eaten away by toxins. By the time she came to us it had done so much damage, we feared for her life.

We took Natalie to visit a few different doctors, but nobody was able to make a diagnosis. We consulted with American doctor friends that we know and it was suggested that this looked like a Buruli Ulcer. This is a slow necrotizing disease common in West Africa, but it was the first time that the doctors in our region had seen it. Finally, a doctor in the capital confirmed what it was, but we were having difficulty getting treatment for her.

Because she would likely need surgery and months of antibiotics, we asked Natalie's family if she could stay at the orphanage. Since she would be living here, we had our seamstress start training her how to sew. Even with limited use of her arm she has become very good with the sewing machine, making handbags and dresses. We have been constantly amazed at the perseverance that Natalie displays. She does not allow her disability to stop her from doing anything. She is often found doing the other girls in the orphanage's hair and helps our cook cut vegetables in the kitchen.

Today is the day that Natalie has surgery. She will have dead tissue removed and a plastic surgeon will reconstruct as much as possible. After this, Natalie will begin recovery and a treatment plan to be sure no additional toxins are lingering in her system, ready to do more damage.

Natalie's future is changing. She is beating her illness. She has learned a new skill. When it is time for Natalie to leave, she will have what is necessary to succeed.

Please pray for Natalie today!

In the Christmas Spirit

Having fun this week making decorations with the kids. We made Christmas trees, reindeers and decorated a couple trees. Not sure the kids understood what a reindeer was. You may notice one with an extra eye and both eyes placed in the wrong place, but for many kids here having a chance to use scissors, glue and glitter is a real treat. =)

Blips, blunders, and lifelines.

I just returned from a week of drilling wells near the Niger border with the team from Friends in Action. Much like all the missions here in West Africa, the crew at F.I.A. have had many of their teams cancel their short term mission trips here to Burkina due to the fear of Ebola, and the late civil unrest and ousting of our President. But all of this does not change the need. and certainly does not lessen the work to be done. So when asked to help drill some wells this week, I was excited to join in to get the job done.
I make it sound easy enough, but I knew it would be a tough week. My mind and my body are in two very different ages of life. And there is nothing like living in the bush, without bathrooms, showers, or even tents, and working up to 18 hours a day in the 100 degree weather lifting steel rods, and shoveling gravel and sand to help communicate the reality of the body, to the fantasy land that is my mind. They were in need, and with a full staff at the orphanage and school, there was no real reason I should not be there for them.
The first well was at a Bible school in the town of Fada. It had a well, but they had an agricultural project there that helped subsidies the costs of the pastors training there. They also have opened there well up to the local community making it a very busy watering hole! A second was desperately needed. All started fine, we began to dig in the afternoon. Then it happened. We tried to start the compressor, and nothing. After a new battery and new starter brought in by bus the next morning, 16 hours later, we were back in business. We hit water, we put in our pipe, and lined it with rock and started pumping the initial water out with our electric pump. This was FINALLY the last step before heading to Well #2........ until a break in the pipe allowed our gravel to fill in the first several meters of our hole burying the pump 52 meters under the earth under a few meters of gravel. 8 hours later, we were able to remove the pump and we were back where we left off. With over a hundred empty jugs waiting, they began to pump away first thing.

Then we were headed to the bush....... DEEP into the bush. To a village of 1200 people that a pastor has been visiting for 3 years. The village tried several times to ask for a government well, but were rejected each time because the village was "impossible to reach by truck". The pastor said, "God can do this!". The village prepared for months, cutting a path through miles of trees, and building a make shift bridge over a dried river bed. One leaf spring and a few scratches later, we are in a village that has never even had even a in it, let alone large trucks such as these! Back at it, Drilling through the night hours, we are up to our knees in WATER!!!!! God provided one of the most abundant wells I have witnessed to date!

Despite the difficulties of getting there, and a few small problems, the 2nd well was relatively easy, so we head to the third site where we are told is right off the road.......... guess I should have asked HOW far off the road. As we continued back farther and farther into the bush, We soon came to realize that any village this deep into the bush had it's share of challenges! Once we finally arrived we found a large gathering of excited villagers, who again has never had a vehicle in their village. This was a tough place. The nearest hand dug well where they could get dirty water was 6.5 km away. Because of the heat of the day, and their responsibilities, the women generally left the house at 10p.m. and started their journey to the well where they would walk, and then wait in line for sometimes hours, and the make the long journey back carrying 10 gallons or more of water the entire way! Yes, I was intimidated! We began drilling late morning, our hopes were to drill and finish that night. But you never know when you are drilling. After an hydraulics failure that could have been devastating, and late drilling that seemed like it would never end, we found ourselves 270 feet down into the earth without water. It's difficult when you see such need, and run into a situation like this. I was out of time, and my responsibilities at the orphanage demanded me to return, but that's part of missions. You need to know without a doubt that God is in total control, that He loves these people more than I, and that all things happen according to his will and timing. The great news is that the team of F.I.A. has commited themselves to return tomorrow, and make the necessary repairs to take another crack at bringing water to a village that man said was impossible, but we as Christians know so much better! Through all the blips, blunders and mishaps....... God is always there.