Burkina Faso: Summer 2011

life is not the same

2011-09-09T19:24:00.000-07:00

I miss:

shaking hands with little kids as I walk down the road.
having hair stiff as hair spray because of dust
seeing my sandal tan line get worse
joining little kids in the mud puddles
exploring cliffs on sunday afternoons/settling arguments between goat herders and four-year-olds
getting my workout from making food
seeing the missionaries
listening to "white thing" being called out every time I go to market
seeing colorful clothes
being able to tell the difference between a married or single woman based on her skirt, not her finger
seeing compounds of families/knowing if I am visiting my friend, I am visiting my friend and ALL his or her relatives
having little kids laugh at my water-pumping technique (or lack thereof)
the missionaries and their kids...so much
the beautiful sound of the mixing of tribal languages
speaking French
riding a moto
food made from scratch. really.
greeting everyone I see.
the ladies outside the missionary compound who taught me Gourma
strangers trying their hardest to be matchmakers (well, not really that. but it was endearing)
and many other things. like not having homework to go back to.

headed home...

2011-08-14T17:55:00.000-07:00

Well, Dena and I are home safe and sound. Both slightly stressed at our last minute packing and overcrowded airport, and sad at the prospect of leaving for so long, we moved our tired selves through check-in. In the chaos, we lost Dale and had to leave without even really saying goodbye (sorry Dale!), and hastily ripped off massive amounts of duct-tape and rearranged books and tools to make our overweight bags light enough to be accepted. Once we finally got to the plane though, our flight to Paris was good. Poor Dena can't sleep, but I dozed a bit, and we both watched movies, I wrote PT school essays, and talked about our time together there. It's so great having such a good friend to debrief with on such a consistent basis, love it. We unfortunately didn't have enough time to leave the airport (only a 2 hour layover), but we amused ourselves with the fastest internet we've seen in a month and cartwheels - we may have gotten some weird looks, but we were tired and getting goofy at that point. We loaded on to the plane bound for NY and gratefully got seats next to each other, made friends with our seat buddy, and made the trip home. I excitedly went to meet my welcoming party, and we sent Dena on her continued journey home. We're both home safe and sound now. Thank you again for the prayers and following of many, we've been so blessed.

Last day in Burkina Faso

2011-08-13T00:41:00.000-07:00

Neither of us slept well, so we decided to get up at 4:30 AM and start working on emails, blogs, and organization for the day. We ventured out to get baobab juice at the local market around 8:00. We were successful, so we returned to check in with the Johnsons before we went to visit Rebbecca (the nice lady who taught us to cook last time). Our ride was supposed to pick us up at 9:30, but she got wrapped up in family stuff and forgot about us until close to 11:00. When she remembered, she came straight over and apologized profusely. We were just happy to have the chance to see Rebbecca again and meet her son, Nathan, for the first time. She drove us out to the main road on her moto, one at a time. Then together, we took a taxi to Rebbecca's house.

We arrived in front of a large metal gate that was slowly opened for us so that we could see inside. Several families were cooking, doing laundry, and talking. Rebbecca, when she heard we were there, came bursting out of her home with a huge smile on her face. She welcomed us warmly into her two-bedroom apartment. She had already started cooking the tao and sauce. All we could do to help was play with Nathan and de-stem leaves, which we were more than happy to do. We talked about our lives for the past few weeks, our hopes for the future, and joked about life together. We met her family and ate the tao and leafy lamb sauce with her. She was convinced we would not like it, so to prove that we liked her food she insisted we eat more and more. We were stuffed after she brought out baobab juice and water sachets to drink, accompanied by peanuts. We discussed her ministry with Nathan and the challenges she has faced with him. We exchanged recipes and gave her the Messiah Na'an recipe in hopes she can use it to sell on the road served with various toppings. She was very excited about new recipes. For dessert she served finger potatoes. They were so sweet and delicious-the best potatoes Jo and I had ever tasted. We talked and prayed all afternoon until our driver picked us up around 4:30.

On arrival at the SIM guest house, we joined the Grace point team. They invited us out to dinner with them, but we emphatically refused. We were SO full. Instead, Flo and Liz accompanied us to the secondhand market. Jo purchased a comfortable pair of pants. The pair she had ordered from the tailor came back too small and looked like Michael Jackson bell-bottoms. We are afraid he mixed up the thigh measurement for the waist. Even the top was too small. In short, the tailor ensured that Jo would never, ever be able to wear pants made from Burkinabe fabric. It was rather unfortunate. He did offer to pay for the ruined fabric as an apology, but Jo decided to leave it as it was and take her fabric and try to salvage it somehow. Anyway, she found comfortable clothes, bargained for them, and purchased them. Everything was one or two dollars there! We all thought it was funny that we were shopping at a secondhand market in Burkina: the ultimate thrifters. It was quite fun, and we returned happy.

Upon our return, we were swarmed with craftsmen selling their wares. Bargaining, purchasing, and admiring occupied our time until about one hour before we were supposed to leave for the airport. Loaded with these extra souvenirs, we attacked our luggage in a frenzy, to repack our suitcases. We tried to take only one checked bag each.

We arrived at the airport around 8:30 and it was crazy. There were no parking places, so Dale just stopped, helped us out with our luggage, and sent us on our way. We meant to meet up again before heading off, but we were herded into the secure area before we could say goodbye. We quietly bid him goodbye, lamenting the loss of the hug as we converted our two heavy checked bags into four lighter ones. We passed through security, boarded the plane and left.

Please pray for safe travel and not too many emotions.

Travel, Part 1

2011-08-12T00:45:00.000-07:00

We left Mahadaga today! So sad… Dena and I did an early morning hike again, wanting to one last time, enjoy/challenge ourselves in the cliffs, say goodbye to Mahadaga from up high, and try to memorize the beauty of that view. So good. We came back, ate our coffee-cake (props to Dena), and took the rest of our stuff out of our home, affectionately named Beatrice, and to the Johnsons. We had a long goodbye with the Walsh’s, including a last minute epidemic of blue and brown frog/dot disease with Thomas, and piled into the car, heading to Ouaga. It was so wonderful spending so much time with Dale and Flo, learning theories of leadership, sharing stories, and asking questions to hopefully gain some of their incredible wisdom. We stopped in Faada again for lunch, had some delicious meal (thank you Jen and Marcus), I can safely say I have no idea what was in it, but it was great, and continued on our way.
We arrived in Ouaga around dinner time, and hung out with Liz (a yearlong STA who left Mahadaga the day I arrived), went out to dinner, enjoyed some wonderful fraise milkshakes (strawberry), and came back for spa night. Where us girls (Flo, Liz, Dena and I) talked for hours while Dena graciously massaged their sore selves. It was wonderful sharing life, wisdom, fears and hopes with a bunch of women in different stages of life. It was a wonderful evening.

Last full day in Mahadaga

2011-08-11T00:44:00.000-07:00

This morning, was so wonderful. Again, semi-freakishly early, but we woke up before 4:30 to head out to the cliffs with a couple of the Grace Point guys to watch the sunrise. We filled up with our “balls of wonderful goodness” which turned into “balls of semi-satisfactory okayness”. (Okay, so we had some delicious ingredients left, but not enough to actually make anything so we decided that adding things like peanut butter, chocolate, oats and milk would make some wonderful goodness, but instead, we’re pretty sure we maxed out our cooking successes, so it turned out to be rather bitter, and just okay, but they worked well as powerblobs, semi-resembling a cross between no-bake cookies and power/protein bars). Anyway, that was kind of unfortunate, but the hike in the dark, the long opportunity to watch the stars (we all saw a shooting star!), and the blessing of being able to watch how Mahadaga welcomes in the day from the vantage point of the cliffs was such a beautiful, incredible experience. The guys headed back but Dena and I stayed to do devo’s, talk about life, and enjoy the peace and beauty of the start to our last day in Mahadaga.
We headed back and packed up to go to the Center for the last time, to return the things we needed to, pick up other things, and print out our forms so that the Burkinabe animateurs are all ready to do the research testing when the time comes. Of course, because it’s Africa and us, it didn’t work out as planned, the pages got all mixed up and it took forever, but we had some wonderful, funny conversations with Dale, Pierre, and other Center employees, and played with this adorable little epileptic boy who recently fell into a fire and is recovering from really bad burns, but still loves to play. (My 5 French phrases that work with children are really coming in handy). We finally finished that up, and handed it over to Francoise, finally done stage 1 of research! WOOOHOOOOOOOO!
After boutique-ing it up, we said goodbye to the Center and headed home to eat lunch and pack up. I pretty much took a power-nap of death, while Dena was productive, but then we both pulled all of our energy together to take Caleb and Joel to the cliffs, accompanied by our porch-friend Diapaga, and were later joined by Amandine, a young girl we just met who pretty much is awesome. After trying and failing to find a good way up that was accessible to even the little ones, we found a way, but have to turn back as a native woman came and talked strongly with the Burkinabe kids in Gourma, who quickly turned around and started heading back. They explained to us that this place is known for having large amounts of snakes and scorpions, and we couldn’t go there. Something that we’ve learned is that when even the practically fear-less local kids decide something is too dangerous, don’t try it. So we headed back and found another way. It was so fun climbing all around, racing the kids, helping Joel climb over big rocks and just enjoying the beauty. At one point, we reached the top of a cliff, and Caleb paused, looking out over Mahadaga, he said in his little boy voice “Look at it! It’s magnificent… it’s so beautiful.” Ha, it was so incredibly cute, and really quite accurate. It was such a beautiful time.
While heading back, we were trying to find a good way down, and had to make the decision between taking the advice of the older, machete carrying herding boys, or the younger village children. Much to the annoyance of Amandine, we took the advice of the older kids for a good way to climb down for Joel, but made her laugh again in our mad race in getting back. We joined the Walsh kids and some other African kids in the Johnson’s yard for epic horse races, frog races, chasing games, tickle fights, and a bit of soccer (sorry, football). Rather physically tired (these kids look small but turn out to be rather heavy when you run while carrying them), Dena and I headed back to eat our last Mahadaga meal. We finished picking/packing up, made coffeecake for the next morning, and were so touched by Francoise, Nicholas, Yempabou and Borema all stopping by throughout the course of the evening to say goodbye to us. We ran into the Grace Point team on their way back from their CSPS completion party (that hard-working team completely rewired the whole CSPS, something they’ve been waiting for literally for years), and Dena used her wonderful therapeutic massage-skills to soothe Tom’s work/moto wrecked back. Also, because our camera’s been broken, she snagged all of their pictures so we’ll soon be adding photo’s to the blog! Photo credit to the Grace Point team (probably Katie). It was such a wonderful, full, beautiful day.

CSPS Wednesday

2011-08-10T23:56:00.000-07:00

We dedicated this day to learning about and spending time with the staff at the CSPS, the medical center. We spent the morning learning how to do pregnancy check-ups. Two women were already training to do this work, so we were just included in the training. Both Jo and I were able to listen to a baby's heartbeat. It was precious. Since there were no births happening, we decided to tour the rest of the CSPS. We watched a dehydrated boy with malaria get treatment, visited the nutrition center, and then decided to cheer up by visiting the preventative medicine building. Their charts of how many people they are helping and how many villages they visit are so encouraging. The state only pays for vaccines for children up to one year of age, so the staff tracks pregnancy and population statistics to ensure that they are vaccinating all of those children. Diminished from a staff of five to two, they expressed how difficult it was to go out in the bush with their ice packs and vaccines and cover everyone. In addition to vaccinations, they taught mothers and families the importance of hygiene, finding drinkable water, and proper medical care. Their tasks were huge, but it seemed that they were shouldering them well. Since it was not market day, the staff engaged us with a little more conversation so that we could end on a lighter note. We left laughing after having been teased for getting sunburns, half set up for marriage, and getting a side-by-side comparison of hazards of life in the US to Burkina. Burkina, of course, was found to be much safer and superior to the US in so many ways.

departments of the medical center

chart in the preventative medicine department tracking populations for goal vaccination numbers

maternity clinic

Our afternoon was filled with interviews, hot pad buying, boutiques, and preparations for prayer meeting. All of our endeavors went well and we came to prayer meeting only just making it before habitually late missionary family. We had prepared for communion by baking na'an and diluting this really sugary fruit cocktail mix for juice.

At prayer meeting, Mary from the Grace Point team shared how she heard God's call to come. It was moving to hear how God works in people's lives in such intimate ways and how God is faithful when we act in faith. Having seen and experienced the ministry she has given to the people and to Jo and I, I was really glad she came. It was really a privilege to hear the story behind her coming. Having her reminder that God called each of us to be here serving together for God our Father brought a new feeling of unity to the group. The communion elements we prepared only enhanced the mood. It somehow worked out not tasting too bad, God must have blessed it well. We followed it with foot washing. It was the first time the water got dirty after the first foot wash. I cherished the sense of unity shared by the group as we served each other and remembered how Jesus served us. I felt so humbled and undeserving as Francoise, the missionary of 25 years who developed the CSPS, school, and CAH knelt down and washed my feet.

Last Sortie and Trike Finishing

2011-08-09T23:28:00.000-07:00

With a dark and early 4:30 AM start, we woke up and hit the ground running. Opening and closing our refrigerator quickly because its gas ran out, dashing out of our porch quickly so that the bees attracted to our lights would not sting us, and racing to disassemble and reassemble a tricycle before our sortie started, we were grateful we were morning people. As everyone arrived for work at a more reasonable hour, they greeted us with tuon tuoni, good work and thank you. We graciously accepted their encouragement as we put our stuff away and eagerly readied ourselves for our last sortie with Patricia, the only female animateur.

We visited Timothee, a boy with cerebral palsy who completed the GMFM with such drive and persistence that we could not get over how cute he was.

We played with a boy with mental retardation that seemed so hungry for love. We approached him at the beginning and in response he attached himself to each one of us, hugging us around the waist. He ran after us when we had to leave, and we had to unlatch each of his fingers from ours. It was heartbreaking to see how attention-starved he was. After him, we visited a little girl who was blind because her parents used traditional medicine for her eyes when they were oozing when she was born. Jo succeeded at making her stand almost on her own by distracting her with humming and bouncing, keeping her from realizing that she was no longer supported by a lap underneath. The last boy we saw was completely functional despite cerebral palsy, and he gave us a dance performance to cell phone music. We half moto raced home and collapsed in bed for a lengthy nap upon arrival. Waking up just in time for dinner, we were blessed to have a delicious meal of olive bread, potato cheese casserole, ratatouille, cucumber salad, applesauce yogurt, and cornbread cakes provided by Francoise. The meal and conversation was wonderful, and we promptly returned to bed afterward.

Francoise with the Walsh kids at the BBQ

2011-08-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

A productive day started at six-o'clock sharp (waking up naturally of course) to make breakfast for the Grace Point team, who has generously hosted numerous dinners and given us delicious leftovers. We savored the relaxed conversation and welcome they always extend, especially when the guests are bringing a welcome variation to breakfast food. When we prayed over our food, Jo and I prayed that our egg bake actually tasted good, since neither of us have made them before and we had forgotten to get a recipe. God answered our prayer, and we all enjoyed eating and joking together. Since it had started to rain, we all lingered a bit before heading off to work, but then used the precipitation as an excuse to run (something both Jo and I miss doing a lot). Exercising just to exercise is unheard of here, because most families have fields and cooking to keep them fit. We have had to give up running in order not to get teased and it has been rather sad for both of us.

We arrived at the center and immediately set ourselves up to work on tricycles. The work of taking apart a tricycle and putting it back together again was harder than we thought. We had not taken into account broken pieces, welded pieces, and really tight pieces being stuck together. It took some creativity to meet all of the objectives the engineers gave us. About a half-hour into it, I left Jo to work with Julie, Mary Walsh, Alisha and Kate on a VBS they set of for some local kids. The rain had discouraged many from coming, but the crowd that did come enjoyed the games, coloring pages, story, and music they provided. When I returned to Jo, she was still working on the trike because of all the reasons listed above. Enlisting some help from the stronger and more experienced men around us enabled us to make enough progress that we could justify taking a lunch and CSPS break.

We set off for the CSPS, hoping they could solve the mystery of what was irritating Jo's eye all morning, refusing to be flushed out with water or tears. She had never been to the CSPS before, but this time we went straight for the eye specialist (who had just come last year) who discovered a piece of sand stubbornly attached to the inside of her eyelid. Taking mere seconds, he lifted off the the offending grain and sent us on our way. Deeply relieved, we celebrated by eating a delicious lunch of rehydrated gogi berry quesadillas with a dessert of tortilla with nutella.

We skipped back to the center, now re-energized and ready to finish trike stuff. It took us until 5:30 to finish it all, accounting for the fact that I once again left Jo to do interviews of the last few staff members. By dinner, we were tired and ready to go to bed and ready ourselves for an early start on trike stuff tomorrow.

2011-08-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

After a normal Sunday service during which we remembered to record the singing, we returned home to nap, work and cook. The station had a BBQ organized for 5:00, so Nicolas decided to give us an aperitif of sweet, strong tasting African tea. I worked with Flo to make deviled eggs, which turned out well considering that we are in Africa and the eggs were from many types of birds and collected at different times. Finishing those, Jo and I ran off to the Walsh's where we could use their family-sized oven to bake two monkey breads at once. While they baked, we enjoyed potatoes, sausage and BBQ beef fresh from the fire. Dessert was ready just in time, and everyone enjoyed the full meal and a nice time of singing afterward.

When we cleaned up, we all noticed the particularly bright moon. Its beauty captured our attention so we stopped and stared into the vast and majestic night sky for a few hours while sharing life stories. Several shooting stars framed the gorgeous view of the stars and moon. It is so much easier to see without lights and buildings in the way. We went to bed in wonder of the largeness of the creation juxtaposed against the smallne

ss of the intimate miracles and joys we discussed underneath it.

2011-08-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

Today was so incredibly fantastic. Dena and I were going to go on a sunrise hike, but as both of us haven't been sleeping well lately, we decided to sleep when we could. We spent the morning just chilling in our apartment, planning out our last week's objectives, doing some devo's in James, and just chatting. We also attempted, and succeeded in making truffles with some chocolate we found, for one of the chocolate-loving missionaries here - we're pretty sure he was rather excited.

At 9 this morning, the Grace Point team, the Walsh's and ourselves piled into/on top of the Walsh's car - SUV turned into 16 passenger van :) - and headed down the road a bit to the waterfall. We hoped that the increase in rain would make the waterfall more present, but I guess even this amount of rain couldn't make up for the missing rain from the past couple weeks. So the bottom waterfall wasn't flowing and the pool was too stagnant to swim in or cliff jump into. It was totally fine though because we got to hike up all around and in where water should have been pouring, but now it was just sweet-looking dry rocks. We hiked further up to the second waterfall and it was awesome. Definitely a trickle compared to when Dena saw it last, but it was beautiful and so fun. We climbed around the pool and in the caves underneath the waterfall, then played in the water that was pouring down still, and it was so fun. It was really overcast so we actually got quite chilly, but got over that when we decided it'd be a great choice to hike up to the top. It's a lot of climbing over boulders and up just huge pieces of rock, so Dena was loving it and I was a bit scared - it's really high!. But I'm trying so hard to get over my fear of climbing and with the encouragement of some of the Grace Point team, and the promise of incredible views at the top, I did it :) It was so incredibly beautiful. Standing on top of cliffs over top of a small waterfall, looking out on a valley of cliffs that opens up to farm land and small forests as far as you can see. We're south enough in Burkina that we probably could see some of the hills of Benin in the distance. It honestly made you pause for a long time because of the awesome beauty we were privileged to see.

We spent some more time climbing around on the rock cliffs, and worked on getting higher and higher, so fun! It was beautiful and semi-challenging (depending on which route you took), and so good to do something active. We loved it.

After some fantastic leftover stew (Thank you Grace Point team!!!!!) and some down time, all of the women headed over to the pastor's house, where we met with a couple women from the women's group at church and the pastor's wife, and they taught us how to make a typical toa and sauce dish, and let us "help" them. Mainly they just chuckled as we failed to pound the dried fish hard enough, or stir the boiling toa fast enough, and whatever else we tried. It was so fun. And, we discovered why these women are so jacked, stirring toa and pounding food, which they do every day, is such hard work. We shared our meal together (and finally convinced them that we didn't want to use plates or spoons, but eat out of the communal pot with them and use our fingers). Ha, they laughed so hard when our fingers couldn't handle the heat of the toa, theirs are so tough. Flo has told us that laughing together with women is such an important bonding time here - so it was so good for us to spend that time together. During and after dinner, we talked into dusk about some cultural things that they feel more free to talk about when there's not men around, and they asked us a lot of questions about raising kids, being "independent" as a young adults, and relationships between men and women. It took some time to get to the really honest questions, but it was so good. We were sad when we had to go when it was so late, because it seemed like they were finally getting really comfortable and open with us. Even though we wish it could be longer, it was such a good, important experience for all of us.

Something I'm really learning here is that I don't have to apologize for being white. Though there are a lot of unfair things now and an awful history between different races, Flo and her relationship with these women is teaching me that erasing cultural differences is not the solution or the repayment of past problems. Instead, bonding together over our differences and teaching each other is such a beautiful thing. Through long conversations with Flo and spending the afternoon/evening with a mixture of cultures, I'm seeing that it's not our color or our cultural differences that cause problems. Yes, they have the potential to make things more challenging as it can be hard to communicate well, but these differences are opportunities to learn and teach and share some of the things that make each person who they are. It's been so freeing for me to come here and not be embarrassed about who I am, or what my skin color or nationality may represent, but to see that if I listen, and share, and are attentive and sensitive, the opportunities where different cultures meet is not something to hide or be ashamed of, but something that can be celebrated.

Curriculum for culture

2011-08-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

It rained this morning! The locals are getting concerned because normally by this time there are rains twice a day, but there have only one been or two rains a week. In addition, today is a Burkinabe national holiday, so the center and most of the CSPS is closed. The Grace Point used this opportunity to wire the CSPS for electricity. I decided to help them finish in time. They did finish in time and were happy for it.

They had the afternoon left to go to the boutique at the center to get materials to sell to their church and buy more souvenirs. Jo was able to get fabric and then go to the tailor, where she ordered a tunic and pant set. Unfortunately, the tailor was a very conservative christian unfamiliar with styles typical in Ouga and the US. It took quite some discussion to get the tailor to be willing to make pants for Jo. He was afraid that once she had pants on, she would want to act like a man and get all his privileges. It took a lot of convincing and explaining from Flo to say that in Ouaga and in the USA women wear pants and it is acceptable and that if he had a problem measuring the inseam and thigh that Jo could do it at home. He reluctantly agreed to do it, and everyone left the meeting unsure of what was actually going to happen.

at the tailors

the kids who led me on my walk

the weaver

I went on a walk while all this was going on and learned how to pump from a well, sang songs with kids for a lady with malaria, followed the singing with a stuttered impromptu prayer session for her healing, rolled my eyes at a group men wanting me to buy them tickets to America (among other things), and learned how to lie about a nonexistent husband so that I did not get married off. Both of us walked to the weaver's house deep in discussion about cultural differences. The weaver women laughed at our experiences and chatted about how hard it would be to continue the weaving pace when her children leave for school. We wished her the best as we left and talked about what we should take from our experiences all the way home..when we were not getting interrupted by greetings from everyone along the way. We almost feel famous The night ended with a movie night at the Walsh's and a relaxing spa night with Francoise. It was a good day.

Validation

2011-08-04T10:35:00.000-07:00

Jo and I went on our first sortie together, giving us the opportunity to validate our testing. Two animateurs and Jo and I all tested one girl to see if we would all score similarly. Thankfully, we did! Our confidence level skyrocketed. We can leave the animateurs to test the children the second and third times, and our validity can still hold strong. Plus, the girl who we all tested together was so cheerful and cooperative. Her level was perfect for validation, since she had some abilities she was only starting to be able to do. You can see how precious she was for us as we started the test.

We came home to a tassle of kids on our front porch. They persuaded us to play with them for quite a bit, and their giggles serenaded us long after we were forced to come back in and prepare dinner for our dinner guest, Nicolas. Our dinner guest, Nicolas ended up being very entertaining. He talked to us about how it was to be among one of the few Christians in such a large French school. we talked about what we thought God was equipping us to do, our educational system differences and so many more things. He seemed happy enough with the enchiladas Miriam made for us, the carrots that survived from Ouga, and the delicious peanut butter cookies the Messiah education team left for us.

Spritiual Warefare? Prayer!

2011-08-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

Jo went on a sortie with Nicolas and I went on a sortie with Dustin, from the Grace Point team. Although there were no children with cerebral palsy on their routes, what we did see was very meaningful. Although not as intense as yesterday (more on that later), we were all happy we had gone. I saw one child I had seen last month, and she was much more malnourished than last time. Thankfully, by the end of the visit, the animateurs had convinced the family that they should send the child to a mission that helped provide vitamins and high-calorie foods. I was relieved, and I pray that they follow through.

Nicolas with some kids he enjoys working with

When we returned, we interviewed Flo for our videos. We had enough time to nap and enter data a bit before prayer meeting, so we gratefully took advantage of it. The grace point made Matt's famous curry sauce for dinner for all of us. We were so excited to try it, and we were not disappointed. Prayer meeting went well. Each grace point team member shared the biggest thing they learned from the trip. It was interesting to hear what they had to say, and it caused us to think back to what we were learning. We decided not to share out loud, but the night before, the biggest thing we learned was about the reality of spiritual warfare.

With so many people believing so strongly in it, it is less easy to attribute all causes to to the predictable health conditions we are accustomed to. I remembered a family in which a couple tried for fifteen years to have children using all traditional medicines and treatments. Her first child was a girl who had no eyes and nose, her second child was a boy who went into severe seizures every time he walked into the light, her third child had cerebral palsy and epilepsy and was violent, and then her husband died after that. I know that traditional medicines are not necessarily health-promoting vitamins, but it seemed like so much hurt in one family that had purposefully invoked satanic rituals. Jo remembered one little boy who had a strange look in his eyes that she just could not shake. Needless to say, regardless of the proportions of biological vs. spiritual involvement, we were both happy to have God on our sides. Praying and singing more earnestly than we have in a while, we claimed the victory of God over sin and evil for them and for the mission of the center. After praying and singing this way until 3 AM, we praised God for the much-pleaded-for rain he brought in the form of a beautiful storm. Then, we let the sound of the rain and thunder lull us to sleep.

Marriage (discussion) is what brings us together...

2011-08-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

I went on a sortie with Patricia, the only female animateur while Jo interviewed Matt and saw the fields. We were both overjoyed with the results of our experiences and labors, and we met up in the afternoon and shared our results. I, or rather Patricia-the fastest animateur to learn the GMFM, tested three more children, and some of them were adorable kids with Down's Syndrome. It is encouraging to see families of those kids because they are so involved with the therapy. The children are very much a part of the family, so everyone literally jumped in to try to help the child complete all the activities. Jo has great video footage of a lot of Matt's agriculture work. He is planting fields with different techniques side by side to show the locals what works best. So far, compost and correct spacing of plants is proving much better than the traditional methods.

This evening we met with a local pastor and his wife with the grace point team for a Q & A session. We talked about their testimony, how they met, and what their mission is. We learned that according to them, the lack of abstinence in youth and the overabundance gossip are the largest problems in the church. However, the conversation quickly turned to a long discussion on cultural marriage practices.

Traditionally, the guy's family chooses a girl, offers (with lots of gifts), has a formal meeting with the family about timing (bringing lots of gifts), tries her out for a week (replacing her loss with lots of gifts), and then finally ceremoniously takes her with them to stay (bringing lots of money). The responsibility of the bride's family includes accepting and rejecting offers, accepting gifts and simultaneously re-gifting them to family and friends, and then letting go of the girl. The family and friends who received re-gifted gifts must come to the ceremony and give a large gift as thank you and celebration. These large gifts are placed in front of the groom's family, but they still belong to the bride's family. The grooms family must then buy big gifts from the bride's family. So, in essence, the grooms family gives LOTS of gifts and money and offers to get one bride. The bride's family gives the bride and gets lots of money and some gifts. The family and friends provide the products for the grooms family to buy. It is all very complicated. Many Christian marriages are still largely arranged by parents, but they have less gifts since God is the giver of love and people.

Good news...is becoming normal!

2011-08-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

A moto Jo rode at the compound

While Jo went on a lovely sortie, I interviewed Dale and gathered some of our data. It was a lovely morning, very productive for both of us. In the afternoon, we worked on video with Francoise. We are leaving our Flip camera here, so we trained her how to use the program. We also went over what needed to be done in January and next June. In doing so, we realized we have done 21 tests so far! With the next week full of testing, we should be prepared with statistically significant results even if some children drop out. In addition to that, the video of American Physical Therapists doing the testing starting working on Francoise's computer! Now, in January, animateurs can watch video of the test to remember how to do it! Right after our happy realizations, we rushed home to make na'an pizzas (that somehow worked even without live yeast) and apple dumplings for the Walsh family on Matt's birthday and Julie's sick day. Everything turned out delicious, and we even got an insider's scoop on the future of the center. We went to bed feeling blissfully successful.

Exploring God's Word, Cultural perceptions, Cliffs and Missionary life

2011-07-31T10:19:00.000-07:00

Church today! So good, we went to the French church today and got thoroughly distracted by the 2 little boys sitting between us, poking each other and us, giggling and deciding who was going to marry whom. It was ridiculous. :) The music was incredible though, so many voices, and kids banging on bidons (large water containers) for drums, and they were so good! It was awesome.

We came back and enjoyed another lunch of chips and salsa. Really, these chips are beyond adequate description, they're just too delicious and they're completely made by Miriam, a woman who works here. We're going to be so sad when they run out. Our lunch was ended abruptly when one boy came asking for help with English. He had written a letter in French and wanted it translated. It turns out, almost all the sentences were him asking for things like mp3 players, colored pencils, water bottles, and other things. Sometimes it is very hard being white and being associated with material handouts all the time. I had to, among other things, tell him that simply translating phrases like that is not the best way to learn English. It was a sad reminder of our status here.

But, we cheered up a bit as we explored cliffs all afternoon with the Grace Point team and some of our Burkinabe friends. A good time was had by all, and we even got to talk with Matt a little bit about the new vision of the center. Such exciting things are coming for them, and I pray that all goes well. They need prayer for some driven leaders and employees to rise up and carry the center to their future vision. We ended the evening thanking God for the long-awaited-for rain (although we still need more....pray for that too), talking with Dale about missionary life, and eating dinner (some left over chicken Miriam had made with tomato sauce, also delicious).

Women vs. Bugs

2011-07-30T13:47:00.000-07:00

SATURDAY

Today, we waged war. An epic battle against the hordes of termites and ants and whatever else was living in our house... and it actually went pretty well! We decided that we've done a lot of thinking lately, and a lot of new things, and it'd be nice to have a day of rest while being productive, so we just cleaned all day. Lots of bleach, and scrubbing, and bug spray. But we got some music and kind of rocked out, kind of zoned, and kind of talked - and it was actually a really nice day. It was refreshing to be tired from doing good work, and not just heat, and it's so wonderful to have a pretty much bug-free house.

One funny cultural story in the midst of it all: Our day guard heard that we had a termite infestation on our back porch. He was accustomed to letting us know briefly before he entered, and everything normally was fine. However, since today we were cleaning and skirts tend to get in the way of aiming bug spray at bugs, mopping, and dirty dishes laid all over the floor to wash, we had closed all of our curtains and were sporting shorts. This time, when he knocked and started to enter quickly, after taking a moment to realize we were not yet culturally appropriate (our knees were showing), we dashed for cover. Some of us made it faster than others, so unfortunately our poor guard stood awkwardly while we half hid behind blankets and counters. The rest of the day when he wanted to get through the house for the termites, he waited for one of us to go outside to fetch and escort him through it. We felt really bad for making him feel awkward, but we rejoiced knowing that we would never need to be in that situation again. For, now the house is clean and we will no longer need to deep clean long enough to require a change into shorts.

Two guys from the Grace Point team came over during their siest and fixed our lights! Now we can have the bathroom light on and the bedroom light off (before they were connected). It was so nice of them to crawl around our attic during the hottest part of the day just to do us a favor. Thank you Jordan and Dustin! At night, we finally finished cleaning, quick heated up some leftovers, and headed over to the Walsh's for game night. We hung out, drank tea, and played some stellar games of Boggle. And not surprisingly, we both slept incredibly well.

2011-07-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 27th.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL LARSON! My baby sister is 17 today, woohoo! Sorry I missed it!

Today, was just, such a day. Kind of hard to explain, but we'll get there. Dena and I walked over to the handicapped center at 7 for the prayer meeting, and then split up for most of the day. She stayed at the center to do project organization. I went on my first sortie, which are the home visits with the animateurs (combination social worker, family counselor and physical therapist - they're busy men). Another worker at the center came with us, and Nicholas (a bilingual French PT student here for 2 months) came as well to translate and observe. It was so good to have someone who could explain most of the French to me, even though if we did have some times where we'd have to give up. We traveled to 7 different houses, all over the Mahadaga region south of the center. There were some very long stretches of moto rides - we would have sometimes 40 minute rides down paths between rows of corn, I've never been so literally in the middle of the bush. It was great, but incredible to think of how large a place we're in.

I got to administer the test 3 times today! Two were with very high functioning kids with CP, and one was with a very low functioning little girl, she was so beautiful though. I felt so awkward and uncomfortable, but through the French Dena's taught me, acting things out, and Nicolas's help, the animateur Alfonz got everything, and was so great encouraging the kids to perform to the best of their capacities. It was so encouraging to see an overworked person be able to be present enough to clearly see, hold, encourage and love on every kid he comes into contact with. With the very low-functioning girl, she had very little control over her movements and couldn't sit without support, so after massaging her and taking her through motions, Alfonz brought out his cell-phone and played music and sang to her. This little girl who couldn't even hold her self up, was dancing along to the music, moving her little body to the sound of the beat. It was so precious, and so encouraging to see her respond to something. I'll definitely post video when we get better internet. The first little boy I tested worked so hard to accomplish each task of the test, and his smile and laugh as we applauded him was just so beautiful. Honestly, it's so encouraging for me to see that even though the physical therapy here might not be as often (and hence as fast-effecting) as in the States, each and every step of progress that a person makes is so, so worth every amount of effort. It's so good. I also got to hold and entertain a well fed, butt-naked baby. She was so cute, and just had an adorable smile, and it made the mom or aunt or some lady who was holding her before laugh to see me goof off for this kid, and the child's response. This was near a blind woman's house who came to the center asking for money, but they don't just do that so they sent some staff out to talk about the options of getting a loan in the form of goats, or doing vocational training. The Center does such cool, incredible stuff.

Now onto some of the harder aspects of the day. One of the houses we came to, there was a little boy who normally receives care - to be honest, I'm not sure if he has a disability or not, but he's so malnourished that though he's the size of a two year old, he's actually over 5 years old. His mother said that this day he had been throwing up and was very tired. He was so small and every move was incredibly slow. Alfonz just cradled him in his lap as he massaged the boys legs (he has almost no muscle mass and can't stand or walk). It was heart breaking to see a little kid just so incredibly weak. Nicholas succeeded in making him laugh though, and gave the kid his cellphone as he pantomimed a phone call. That was literally the only sound though that he made the whole time. At another home, we walked in to see a little kid who had CP, and found the mother weeping against the side of their house. Another relative explained that the child we had come to see had just recently died. The mother, a tall, beautiful dark African woman, with a baby strapped to her back, just had such a look of deep sorry and hardship on her face. She walked into her house then and brought out some of the equipment that she had bought for her child and asked us to take it back, because she didn't want to be reminded always. As Alfonz talked to her, it seemed that the pole she was leaning against was the only thing holding her up. At that point, I must admit, I kind of lost it a bit, I started crying a little, so I walked out of the compound to the trees by our motos. And I just couldn't stop crying. Different faces of different people who had suffered, who are suffering - people facing death, hardship and abuse in Mali, the mother I had seen today, children I had seen on the point of dying at the Mali clinic and there parent's faces, and hardships people are having back home kept flooding my mind. There is a lot of suffering, and it's so hard to not be able to do anything about it, and to know that I've only seen such a small piece of it - there's so much more. Because of these, I struggle with having faith in the power of prayer, but one of the things I'm learning in this trip is that our efforts alone will never be enough, there's too much need, and our knowledge and resources are insufficient to meet it. We must pray then. Please pray for the people of Africa, not the large people group dealing with rampant disease and lack of food, but the individuals, the mothers, siblings, children, fathers, friends, neighbors... every person has a story and every person has the capacity to feel hurt or feel joy like ourselves and our family and our friends.

We had station prayer meeting last night, and Matt talked about many aspects of poverty, and our response as Christians (based off the book The Hole in The Gospel, by the president of World Vision). And the main things he focused on was to KNOW, PRAY, ACT, GIVE, and SPEAK, or basically what our responses can and should be to our experiences here. Epic day? Yes.

On the road again (for some of us)

2011-07-26T06:58:00.000-07:00

Well today's the day we leave for Mahadaga! Dena's excited to go to her African "home", and I'm excited to be in the place I've heard so much about. After figuring out the best way to pack pineapples, text books, tools, and clothes into a duffelbag, we headed packed into our bush taxi (12ish passenger van that taxis people from the capitol to middle of no-where places, aka, the bush). Now packing into a bush taxi involves watching a couple men maneuver about 30 suitcases and boxes on top of the van, then covering it with plastic and strapping it down, cramming as many of us as possible into the seats with the few things that can't get as dusty (like computers), and praying that the man who is riding on the back by holding onto the ladder doesn't fall off.

The ride was actually really fun; we got to know some of the Grace Point team better, spend time talking with Julie's mom who's here for a visit, play with Thomas and Tessa, nap, and read some good books. It actually wasn't too hot and with the windows down, the breeze felt great! About half-way in (4 hours in), we stopped at another SIM base in Fada, where we graciously got fed some yam stew (the yams here are about 2 times the size of a watermelon), got to know Jen, another SIM missionary, and walk around the beautiful base.

We packed in again to do the next 5 hours, while still enjoying the smoothness of paved roads. About 3.5 hours out from Mahadaga, we switched off the paved road onto dirt roads, but the major pot-holes were filled in recently so it wasn't as bad as expected, but lets just say that napping wasn't possible anymore. The bumps were big enough that about an hour out, we hear a couple thumps and looked back to see a suitcase and box bouncing along the road. Whoops. Nothing broke, except for the box, so we strapped some things on better, and continued on.

And YAY! We arrived in Mahadaga! Around dinner time we got in, and it was glorious. We all tried to quick wipe some of the dust off (litterally it looked like we all got incredibly tan/sunburned, Dena looked like she had become a redhead, and my white shirt was no longer white), and headed to the Johnson's porch for station dinner. It was great! Dena got to catch up with Francios, Dale, Flo, and kids Caleb and JoJo. It was great meeting everyone.

After dinner, Dena and I played a game called Dominion (a card game similar to Settler's) with Liz (an accountant who's leaving tomorrow) and Flo at the Johnson's house. Dale joined us too, and it was a really fun game, and great to spend time with people in a small group setting. Loved it.

Thoroughly tired out, Dena and I went back to a room in the guest house (which we're moving out of and into Liz's house tomorrow), and fell asleep.

Marvelous Monday,

2011-07-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

We started the day early hand-washing our clothes, since the power was still out and we could not do computer stuff. The Grace Point team came, treating us with tired, yet enthusiastic 'hello's. They had been traveling for around two days through Air Maroc, so they were ready to see their beds. Our biggest treat, however, came at 8:00 in the form of a wonderful woman named Rebecca who took us to the market and taught us how to make African sauce. We made it together and it was delicious! We became friends by the afternoon, enough that she was willing to share the story of her and her son on video for us. Her son had cleft palate and a few other disabilities and had been treated by the center. Her testimony gave hope and grieved us all at the same time. Her struggles were very real, but her strength and God's providence were evident throughout her story. Already, her son has had surgery for cleft lip on the mercy ships and he is scheduled for another surgery for his cleft palate in November! Praise God! Her welcome and time teaching and working with us was wonderful. The day finished off with another interview with Borema, an employee at the center who came to Ougadougou to spend time with the French team. He gave us a unique perspective of how life for handicapped person our age in Mahadaga. His drive and cheerful disposition encouraged us, brightening up the room shadowed by rainclouds. Once a much needed rainstorm came and left, we were able to venture outside to buy produce. Lastly, we packed for our trip to Mahadaga tomorrow.

Worship God...with the second largest church in Ouga

2011-07-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

Since we were not sure we would have a ride to church, we decided to test audio visual equipment. After setting up and testing our equipment, we were pleasantly surprised with the results. We never imagined we could have good-quality videos and sound in Africa! Just as we began to tear down, the French team invited us to go to church with them. The 16 of us squeezed African-style into a van and headed off to the biggest Burkinabe church we have ever seen (but apparently there is one even bigger). Having over 2,000 members and two services, this large church even had a French to English translator for us. we sang many songs that we already knew in three languages: French, Morre and English. Other songs were only in French, but the words on the screen and their repetitive nature helped us catch on quickly. We relished the celebratory nature of their worship, joining in hand clapping and dancing a little. We were lumped together with the French team and were introduced up front with the them and then sang their song with them, glancing around for the motions. Thankfully we were in the back row, so people hopefully did not notice. The sermon was nice, and one man even accepted Christ as his savior at the end. He was given his first Bible by one of the congregation members. In response, we all celebrated, prayed, and contributed to the church's Bible fund.

After church Mr. Nare, a blind pastor who spoke to us during the French-lead prayer meeting, took us all to see his offices and schools. He was very proud of what was being built, and it was exciting to see the pictures of the children as they learned to read, play, and work. He sneakily asked the driver to take us back to his first office where he had sent people off to buy chicken, bananas and pop for us. We all enjoyed that together and then headed back home.

That evening we made lots of progress in learning the GMFM in French and composing blog posts until the power ran out. The entire first level no longer had fans or lights, making an early bedtime easy for some and not so easy for others (Fans make a huge difference). At least they were able to find a way to hook up the freezers and refrigerators so that the food did not spoil. Life here is almost always unpredictable.

bissap experiments

2011-07-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

We started out the day being very productive, having deep conversations with our guest house neighbor and giggling only minimally with the Walsh children. We had decided to practice the GMFM with Thomas in French, and it worked out quite well. He appreciated learning french action verbs while Jo practiced saying them with a French, instead of Spanish, accent. We worked until lunch, then went to check out the internet situation. Unfortunately, our free internet place is closed for the weekend. So, we decided to take a walk. We counted to twenty in French many times, inspiring many laughs, but it was fun. We found a real food market (rather than the touristy marina Wal-mart type store)! We discovered a huge bowl of something we did not recognize, and decided to ask the locals how to prepare it. One lady was very gracious and told us how. Unfortunately, in showing us some normal additions to these dried leaves (mint leaves, orange juice--I was having trouble understanding her French) the lady locked her keys in the car. We commiserated a little with her then bought some of the 'bissap', as they call it, to try it. After following her directions, we found that it is not too bad! It reminds us of cranberry juice, just a little more bitter. We had to add quite a bit of sugar to make it good. It ended up being a wonderful complement to our surprisingly tasty grilled laughing cow cheese sandwiches for dinner.

a photo of bissap I got from the internet

The Education Contingent

2011-07-22T15:38:00.002-07:00

While Dena and Jo were busy shopping and watching the Walsh children in Burkina, the rest of us headed home to the United States. Matt Walsh took us to the airport on Wednesday evening where we said hello to Jo and goodbye to Dena. We flew through the night and landed in Paris on Thursday morning. During our six hour layover, we took naps, ate brunch, and played Phase Ten.
We left Paris around 2 o'clock their time (8am eastern time). We flew for eight and a half hours and arrived in New York where we sailed through baggage claim and customs. After sending Becca off with her parents and meeting up with our driver, Erik Hornberger (Collaboratory Student Director), Dr. Hare, Kathy, Linnet, Kim, and I set off for Messiah College. At least that is where we thought we were headed. It turned out that the GPS was set for Messiah College's Philadelphia campus. We corrected the issue without going too far out of the way. We would like to thank Erik for coming to get us so that we did not have to take the train again.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for us during this trip. Although we had some difficulties along the way, we were able to work with the students at CAH and learn about Burkinabe culture. Please continue to keep Dena and Jo in your prayers as they will be in Burkina Faso for another two weeks.

-Pam

Shopping Spree!

2011-07-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

We are trying to finish all our internet things as fast as possible so that we get it all done before we head to Mahadaga, and we are making headway! Project emails, med school applications, and blog updates are all going out. The morning was spent finishing these things, but the afternoon was full of possibilities. We tried passion fruit for the first time, and both of us like it! The taste makes up for the rather....interesting...appearance of the fruit inside. You can judge for yourself.

The French team that was also in Mahadaga with us has joined us at the SIM base in Ouaga. It's been nice to see them again, and Jo has enjoyed meeting them and talking with the ones who also speak English. I (Jo), while frustrated by my lack of french, have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of people who speak some English here. After welcoming the French team and returning to the internet cafe to finish up our biggest projects, Dena and I left to go shopping for bicycle parts and dinner.

The first place we went to had most of the stuff we needed, and at a much lower price than anticipated. The shop owners were vary friendly and accommodating despite our lack of knowledge about the stuff we were buying. They were really concerned about whether we got the brands we wanted. When we cleaned them out of all of their stock of the parts we needed, the ran out to search for more. We sat there waiting, smiling sheepishly at the people waiting in line, while they went to buy parts from neighboring stores to sell them to us. At the end, we had to help them add the unusually large amount of stuff bought to find a total. They were not very gifted with math, so we wrote it all out on our scraps of paper and showed them our additions. We all learned something new by the end: them math, and us, what moto parts were what.

After we finished that, dinner was next on the list. We wanted to find a place along the side of the road that sold traditional African food. Unfortunately, it turned dark quicker than expected, so we hurried to a restaurant a missionary suggested. We had hoped to stop at a side-of-the-road self-employed rice and sauce maker, but we were concerned that the lack of light might make the quality of food go down (and more importantly, the quality of the ambiance around the stand might go down). Though it was a little more expensive (though still cheap--each of us ate for about a dollar), we knew it would not get us sick. Our rice and supposed-to-be-vegetable sauce (with some meat unexpectedly thrown in) ended up being delicious! We may return there again. We went over the GMFM after dinner and then took a short break to play Jungle Speed with the French boys. It was a fun game, and it was entertaining for both of us to learn the game and listen to them practicing their English. I am sure they appreciated the boost of confidence that comes from playing a game of speed and quick recognition with two clueless American girls.

Thursday with Three Precious Children

2011-07-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Matt, Jo and I got an early (especially for our jet-lagged friend) start to grocery shopping for the coming week. In the Marina, the super grocery store of Ougadougou, there was a playplace! Jo and I bought our stuff first while Matt watched the girls, and then we switched. There's no way to describe the full experience of chasing a couple adorable girls around a playplace that would rival any Western one in the middle of a developing African country. It was so fun, but when you think about the context, it was interesting to say the least. We were then dropped off at the pool and restaurant area to use the internet, eat and swim. We enjoyed our time there (and Jo's jet-lagged nap on a random couch in the middle of a playroom) and I made much progress on my med school applications. That evening Jo and I enjoyed babysitting Thomas, Tessa, and Stephanie. They all loved their rice and chicken peanut sauce--they are all adventurous eaters. Thomas and Tessa loved being read to and Stephanie was lulled to sleep with every Chirstian camp song I knew. Even though we had a great time, filled with good stories, tickle-fests and loud laughs, the kids were still very happy to see their parents when they returned.

Playplace with Thomas and his Grandmother (both of whom were not at the play place when we were babysitting-we had Stephanie and Tessa all to ourselves)

Compassionate Connections

2011-07-20T03:01:00.000-07:00

A relaxing day at the pool awaited half of us while Dr. Hare, Kathy, Linnet, and Pam went out on the compassion child visits. They met two children. The first shy child was a young boy sponsered by a student who is coming in January. Dr. Hare's compassion child was more outgoing and was thrilled to receive her gift of hair ties and shoes exactly her size. They went out to eat together at an African restaurant, because everyone thought they would enjoy familiar food more than american. However, as soon as she sat down, the little girl promptly pointed to a hamburger, asking to eat that. She did not have a hamburger, but she did have a good time with the group. Bidding goodbye, the team left to finish packing, eat and then head off to the airport to welcome Jo and then part for the US. I heard that there was a delicious breakfast outside the Paris airport planned. Matt returned Jo and I to the Guest house and we went to bed after some great catchup and hopeful conversations.

Ready set go! Tuesday, July 19

2011-07-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

Our ride came! We packed up and headed off at 6:30, and rode until 2:30. The ride there was uneventful, contrary to the drivers bleak predictions. When we arrived, we stowed our stuff in our rooms, then headed out to the artisan market. Many gifts were purchased, and we happily brought them back to the guest house. We went out to eat for the evening, having pizza, lasagna, and ice cream-things that we sorely missed from back home. Collapsing contentedly into bed, we were glad we had enough time to do all this even though we had one less day than expected.

Comings and Goings...

2011-07-18T02:57:00.000-07:00

We woke up, all ready to pack and go home around 5:30 AM. However, after saying goodbyes and relaxing until 8:00, we started to think something was wrong. After Flo called to find the driver, we found out that a mix-up happened and we would not be leaving until the next day. So, some of us helped plant mango trees with the French team in the Center's field and the rest of us relaxed.

The field planting ended up being quite the endeavor. Matt divided us up into teams so that we all efficiently planted hundreds of trees within a few hours. Before the threatening rain fell, we visited the rice fields that were started last year and developed more this year. Matt decided to more than triple the rice field size after such a grand success last year. Along with a wonderful employment opportunity for the locals, this field experiments different growing techniques and provides rice for the center children. As we finished up looking at the rice fields and drove back to complete the mango tree planting, the rain began. We hastily stuck in the seeds and covered them before we all sprinted back to our respective vehicles to return home. Since none of them had roofs, we were completely soaked by the time we returned home.

Rice fields Matt introduced us to (recorded by Jo a few weeks later than this time, but you get to see what we saw, just greener)

After rejoining those relaxing at home, we had a couple team meetings and then decided to have another movie night so that we would sleep for the next ride (assuming it would come on time). But, surprisingly, before we started dinner and our movie, the driver showed up! He walked up to Dr. Hare and told us that we must leave tonight otherwise the rains will make the roads impassable tomorrow. Dr. Hare told us to start packing, but then flo found out and stopped them. We ended up staying and spending the night because it's against SIM policy to drive at night due to bandits. It worked out quite well, and we went to bed, satisfied with our day.

Blind Kids Program!

2011-07-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

Today we went to church in the Gourma Church rather than our habitual French church. We were driven with the French team up to the center in Francoise's truck, dropped off, and then organized so that we could all hold the hands of a few children to take them on the trek to church. Our small parade reached the church early enough that it was empty. The kids were organized onto benches. Some children from a program for the Blind in Ougadougou with Monsieur Nare had joined the children from Mahadaga, so there were many new faces and lots of energy inside the little church building. We were all squished in the benches. I, Dena, was extremely glad I got a seat right next to the window. It got warm in there with all the singing.

The service was really neat. Everything was translated from Gourma to French and Sign Language. There were the usual congregational worship songs followed by each choir (children's, adolescent's, women's, men's) accompanied by drumming, clapping and the calabash percussion. Then after that came what we were all waiting for: the kids concert. The French team filed out and led the children in several songs. The children from Ougadougou joined them for some and then sang their own as well. Almost all the songs had motions, and the children performed them incredibly well. It was so good for the entire church to see the praise, joy, and abilities of the blind children.

The message for the day was given by Monsieur Nare, a man who became blind due to an accident later in life. He gave his testimony and also talked about the necessity of people to help their neighbors (especially in enabling people with any type of disability). It was so neat to seem him read from his braille Bible. With that thought-provoking message in our heads, we returned home to eat lunch and get ready for a movie night with the missionaries. It was fun to hang out with them (and share the chocolate that had been carefully hidden from us the whole trip) that evening and enjoy the last evening with them.

women's choir at the Gourma church

Last day of school

2011-07-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

With bittersweet feelings in our hearts, we all walked to the school to do the last day of school with the kids. Photography group took the kids out to the cliffs, the math division watched the rest of Up, and the recess division made an origami box to hold their snack, goldfish grahams. Everything went smoothly with the kids having a wonderful time until the last rotation. The photography class was taken over by Dr. Hare and Dena since they had the energy to go to the cliffs with the kids. Thankfully they did have energy, because as soon as they got to the cliffs, the entire group heard an imminent roll of thunder. They all agreed it would be best to return to shelter, so they ran back to the school. They made it back just before the rain started. Linnet and Kathy welcomed them back and they played indoor games until the rain died down enough for the group to be given their T-shirt bags full of school supplies and worksheets and sent them on their way. It was sad to see them go, and the rain did not help to brighten our spirits.

That afternoon we had another sad occurrence: the end of blind camp music. Their joyful singing made our hearts swell with pride. They were such beautiful sons and daughters of God, praising Him with all of their beings. At the end, they sang 'Quand notre Seigneur Arrive' (when the Lord our Savior comes) in a line. They paraded out with one hand on the person in front of them and the other trying to clap to the song. Arriving in front of the French team, they left us for the last time.

The rest of the day was spent organizing things, making sure each item was packed in its correct place. Kim was at the job again! She, the super-organizer, ensured that all that needed to be packed made it safely into luggage.

Happy Bastille Day

2011-07-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

The children at the center were energetic as usual, but they are progressing quite well. With all of our effort poured into helping them finish photography projects, memorize music, understand math concepts, and begin to read for pleasure. The kids are enthusiastic and it is exciting to see them rise to the challenges we set before them.

Photography Project: prodigal son, eating with pigs

Photography Project: Christmas story, Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem

The blind camp is going well too. The boys especially love to see how hard and loud they can hit boom-whackers for their songs. All of them love playing melody bells as well. We cherish seeing their bright smiles outshine the dark view they see of the world. We could almost see the little light of theirs as they sang.

Meanwhile, Pam and Dr. Hare trained the teachers how to use the netbooks that were brought for the school. The teachers were really excited about learning how to take and manipulate digital pictures. They were introduced to powerpoint and now have yet another tool to enrich their lesson plans. Pray for the teachers as they interact with these programs to plan to implement the ideas and new teaching styles they discover.

This evening, we invited the French team to eat dinner with us, since we had lots of chili and dessert to use up before we left. It ended up being a very entertaining evening. Everyone enjoyed the delicious food from Kathy and Linnet, worship was fantastic. After dessert, we had a lively discussion about their national anthem (since it was Bastille day), and then we proceeded to share each of our cultures silly dancing songs (like the hokey pokey, etc.). A wonderful time was had by all, and we finished the night tired, but joyful. We have really been blessed with how God has brought so many people together for his honor and praise. It has been a privilege to share life with them and see how God is working with them.

A Busy Day

2011-07-13T05:36:00.000-07:00

As our trip winds down, our schedules seem to fill up. This morning our whole team helped with the summer program at the center. We started with math where the students drew a picture of a giraffe using triangles, squares, and rectangles. They then found the area of each shape and finally added the areas together to find the area of the entire giraffe. At first they objected to the task, but we worked through it step-by-step and eventually they succeeded. Next we slit into our groups.

Kim has completed her music program, so for the last three days they will watch Up during music time. We chose an animated movie to try to stretch their imaginations. After each segment, Kim and Dr. Hare discuss it with the students to be sure they understand the story. While a third of the students watched the movie another third worked on their photography stories with Kathy, Linnet, and Dena. Today, they surpassed expectations by picking their pictures and writing the sentences to go with them. Tomorrow they will finish their stories. When we get home, we will send their books off to be printed.

The third group was in calligraphy class with me and Becca. We call it calligraphy, but our first group worked in math books to supplement what they do in the big group. Some of the younger students need some extra practice reading instructions and working with shapes. Our second and third groups are all close to finished with their handwriting books. We also took time today to read a few chapters in the French Magic Tree House book. This was my first real attempt at reading French aloud. I am not sure that my pronunciation was always correct, but some of the students seemed interested in the story. One boy named Hama actually asked for the book when I was done reading so that he could continue with the story. We love to see them take an interest in what they are learning.

After lunch, we went back to the Center for music and teacher training. Kim, Kathy, Linnet, Becca, and Dena worked with 24 students with visual impairments. Today they sang and played songs on the melody bells. The music class is part of a camp the French team runs for the students. Some of the students have traveled all the way from Ouagadougou for this camp. The kids had to be tapped on the head to know when to play. They loved it!

While this class was happening, Dr. Hare and I worked with nine of the Center’s teachers on the netbooks we brought for them. Today we showed them how to move pictures from a camera to the computer and we gave them some ideas for how to use Powerpoint as a teaching tool. They are so enthusiastic about having access to computers. They sat and watched the sample video that came on the computers multiple times before the novelty wore off. Although we would like to have more contact with the teachers, it was nice to get to work with them for a short time.

We are now waiting to go to dinner and prayer meeting led by the French team. We have two more days of school before most of us begin preparing to leave Dena and head home. We would appreciate your prayers as we finish up our time here.

-Pam

July 12th

2011-07-12T05:40:00.000-07:00

Today Dena and Kathy were both out with the animateurs leaving Kim, Linnet, Pam, Dr. Hare, and me (Becca) to run our program. We were in new classrooms, and because we did not tell the students we were moving the kids came in a little late. Daniel and Bouréma were not with us which made things a little challenging. Usually Kathy and Linnet work with Bouréma, but Linnet was all by herself until wonderful Pam had a great idea to help her out. Left all by myself, I played soccer with the kids and worked on handwriting books.

Dr. Hare and Kim reviewed every song today with each instrument, allowing me to listen to their music while my kids worked on their handwriting. Later in the day Kim, Pam, Linnet and Dr. Hare went to help the blind students with music while I waited back at the house for Kathy. Kathy ended up coming back with everyone who helped out with the blind because the animateur did not drop her off at the house. Kathy was given TWO chickens during her “sortie,” and she decided to let the animateur keep one, and she left the other at the school. Once Dena returned from her trip and made everyone try a small green fruit (‘carittes’) that no one liked, Dena and I went for a hike on the cliffs which are always beautiful. Around seven everyone but Kim and Dr. Hare attended game night at the CAH. Linnet, Kathy and Pam enjoyed a matching game while Dena and I played Dutch Blitz with people from the Center. We all had fun getting to know the employees from the CAH and the French team.

-Becca

July 10th and 11th

2011-07-11T05:35:00.000-07:00

Program attendance has been low since school has finally let out, but other than that the program has been going well. We see progress in vocabulary, a general willingness to work (even during recess), and a very successful photography and music program. It is exciting to see the kids step up to the challenge of harder directions and more abstract concepts. The only downer is that Dr. Hare has been fighting a cold lately, so please pray for her health to return.

In the afternoons we have started a music camp for the blind that Kim is leading. The students are very excited and enthusiastic participants. They pick up rhythms quickly and love trying new motions to songs. Even Françoise had a bright smile on her face when she saw the students marching around the yard singing.

On Monday, Linnet went on a “sortie” with an animateur and saw five patients and four crocodiles (one of them was the biggest one both the animateur and Linnet had ever seen!)…but the crocodiles did not need physical therapy, so they returned home. It was a great experience.

Church is getting better for us now that we have something to present when they call upon the Americans to sing. It is easier to worship in a place in which you participate.

Physical Therapy: My project is progressing much more than I had anticipated. Already, I am over a fourth done with testing for research, I have been introduced to the administrative system, and I am learning how to fill out the different forms they have. When the animateurs are busy, they often ask for my help, so I have had the opportunity to help with the treatment of people with burns, stroke victims, and children with joint problems. The variety of experiences and patients here is vast, and most of them speak Gourma. Consequently, my latest endeavor has been to learn a few more phrases of Gourma.

-Dena

July 9, 2011

2011-07-09T05:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we got to sleep in a little bit before we left for our hike to a waterfall (or “the beach” as Francoise calls it). Flo drove up to the front of our house and turned off the truck. We all loaded up and Flo tried to start the car. It spat and sputtered but would not fully turn on. She called Matt and he suggested that we try to push the car and have Flo start it after the vehicle was moving. We got our Saturday morning workout by pushing the truck forward, then stopping, then pushing it forward, then stopping, then pushing it back and trying again. After a few minutes of us girls trying to push, Daniel, one of the Burkinabé workers in our program who was coming with us, went and found some other men on the street to help push. They tried for a while, but they could not get it fast enough for the car to be able to start either. A few minutes later Dale appeared with a battery and jumper cables. That did the trick and we loaded up once again. A few people got on top of the car while Kathy and I sat in the back looking out.

It started to rain after about fifteen minutes so we stopped to let the girls on top get into the car. That made for a little bit tighter fit, but Caleb and Joel were excited to get to sit in the back with Kathy and me. After about ten minutes more we got to the place where we needed to stop to hike to the waterfall. By this point it was pouring down rain and there was quite a bit of thunder. We made a decision to sit in the car for while. After about twenty-five minutes of waiting we concluded that the rain wasn’t going to let up any time soon and that if we wanted to see the waterfall we would just have to embrace our adventurous side and hike in the rain.

The path to the waterfall is through cotton fields, but the fields were flooded so we made our own way. It was so much fun to not have to worry about getting dirty because it was inevitable. We slogged through mud and rivers (ok…maybe they were small streams, but compared to the amount of water we’ve been seeing they were like rivers). We finally arrived at the waterfall and stood in awe. The water was pouring down the side of the cliff and splashing all over. We were cold and muddy but didn’t care. After a few pictures we decided it was best to start heading back since it wasn’t nice enough weather to sit around and chat.

When we got back to the car Kathy, Caleb, Joel and I all huddled in the back to try and stay warm. When we got to the first bridge Daniel suggested that he get out and walk ahead of the car first to make sure it wasn’t too deep for us to drive over. It was a little bit deeper than we would have preferred, but Matt’s car handled it well. When we got to the second bridge Daniel once again jumped out, but this time he came back shaking his head. The water was too deep and was moving too fast for us to cross safely. Flo called Matt to see what he wanted us to do, and he said that he would come meet us on the Rhino and check it out himself.

In the time it took us to call Matt and for him to arrive many people had come to the bridge and turned around because it was too deep. A few Burkinabe people had tried to cross the bridge on foot and had gotten over successfully. When Matt and Dale arrived in the Rhino they came over to our side of the bridge. In doing so they crossed over water that was up to their knees. They stood outside and talked for about fifteen minutes before deciding that if we crossed slowly we could probably get across safely. Dale and Matt each carried one of the little boys across while Kathy, Dena, Becca, Flo and I made our way across. There was so much water and it was moving so quickly that we couldn’t look down because we would get dizzy. I don’t know how long it took us to get across, but we were glad we got across safely. Dale drove Kathy, Becca, Dena, Flo, Caleb, Joel and I back in the Rhino while Matt stayed behind with Dr. Hare, Kim, Pam, and Daniel and came up with ideas on how to get the car across the bridge.

When we got back to the station Flo asked if anyone would be willing to go back out again and take pictures of them getting the car across the bridge. I wanted to see how they were going to get it across so after grabbing some towels and sweatshirts for the girls who were still with the car and some heavy duty rope that Matt was going to use to get the car across the bridge, Dale and I headed back on the Rhino.

It had been about twenty minutes since Dale and I had left the first time so when we got back the water had gone down quite a bit. I took up my post as “picture taker” and waited for Dale to cross the bridge. Matt met Dale half-way and they had their “meeting of the minds” in the middle of the newly formed river. The kids around me thought it was so funny that I was standing there taking pictures and that they were going to have to pull the car across the bridge. Matt decided that the water had gone down enough to try to drive the car across. Dale saw the look of doubt (and possibly` a little fear) on my face when he told me this and assured me that there was about a foot clearance under the truck and Matt should be fine. Matt did clear the bridge but Dale did comment that every inch of the clearance had been used. We all drove back to the station to get dried off and warmed up. While we were expecting it to be a hot sunny day at “the beach” we all had a lot of fun on this new adventure!

Katie and Bethany—we were thinking about you today during this adventure and talking about how we wished you girls were with us!

To everyone who worries—I want to assure you that at no point today were we in too much danger. Everyone here is very concerned about safety and Flo, Matt, and Dale made sure that we were safe in all parts of our adventure, no matter how crazy it may sound.

Blessings, Linnet

July 8, 2011

2011-07-08T05:33:00.000-07:00

The station meal went fairly well last night. Cooking for 27 people is a lot of making things up as you go. We started out with the idea to make chicken vegetable soup with rice and ended up with chicken vegetable gumbo. We ate about a pot and a half of it so apparently it wasn’t too bad. The French team loved the trifle for dessert and took the leftovers off our hands without a complaint. After dinner Dena did an amazing skit for the kids and had them mesmerized. The children’s story was followed by a time of singing with the kids. Kathy led us in a time of worship. It was so cool to worship with the French team. Three of the four songs we sang were in English and in French so while we were singing in English they were singing in French. While we may not understand each other, we had a great experience worshiping. Dena then shared her testimony with us.

This morning we got up early again to go get ready for our day’s work with the Burkina Summer Enrichment Program (BSEP). Our first order of business was their daily math lesson. While some of the students find math more challenging than others, they are extremely receptive to learning. Even with language barriers, they want our help and enjoy getting help from each other.

After math it was time for our read aloud for the day. We wanted to help the students connect more with the story so Dr. Hare wrote two sentences summarizing the story on the board for them to copy onto the back of their coloring pages. The kids went from reading time to their small classes.

It had rained on Thursday night so it was too muddy to have the children go outside and take pictures for the photography class. Instead we let them watch a small part of the movie Up! They seemed to enjoy it, but during our discussions after the movie it was apparent they didn’t understand a lot of it even though they had watched it in French. For calligraphy class the students worked on a graphing exercise that another one of our Collaboratory Education Group members had created for the students here in Burkina. Music class was a big hit when the students finally got their hands on the melody bells.

We had three students follow us home and they enjoyed sitting on our porch reading our French Children’s Bible for a while. We rested for a while then headed back to the center to do our first day of music class with the students with visual impairments. We started out with three students but Francoise went around and gathered up seven more for us. The first day of class went great. We introduced each of the percussion instruments to the children and then walked around the school with them singing. They loved it! It was a great way to start off the class. We have been told that next week we will be getting 20 more students for this class. Please pray for us to have enough teachers to make the class successful. With only eleven percussion instruments it will be a challenge to work with thirty students at a time.

For dinner tonight we had Miriam, a local woman who runs a small cooking business, cook for us. We decided to have toh, a traditional Burkina meal. Toh is made from a grain that is then mashed up. From there it is formed into a ball. When it is time to eat, you pull off parts of the ball and dip it in the prepared sauce. Flo suggested that we have rice toh because it is the least objectionable. Some of us actually enjoyed it!

-Linnet

A Short Interlude

2011-07-07T14:48:00.000-07:00

For the past two days, the Burkina Summer Enrichment Program has been on hiatus due to exciting end of the year events happening at the Center. On Wednesday, the center shut down to hold a carnival for the students. With all hands on deck, there were thirty different game stations for the students to attempt. In preparation, we all headed to the center on Tuesday afternoon for a meeting where Francoise assigned each of the workers at the center a game station. We had the privilege of watching the teachers and animateurs act like children trying out the foam pads for sumo wrestling and fishing tiny barrels out of a bucket of water. Our group ran stations as varied as stilts, ring toss, and crocodile dentist. Francoise holds this carnival because she wants people to see that students with disabilities enjoy the same activities as other children. The students spent Wednesday morning running around the yard playing all of the games and trying to rack up the greatest number of wins even though everyone got a snack and juice at the end no matter how well they preformed.

Then today we did not have classes again because there was an all school closing ceremony. The students sang songs, acted in a play about the Center’s importance for the community, and showed off their mathematics training. At the end, the visiting dignitaries such as the school inspector and local church leaders gave out gifts to the top students. Kim, Becca, and I laughed when Dr. Hare was called forward to present gifts to two of the students, but we then realized that they were just showing their appreciation for her work here. Honoring guests is very important in this culture. They saved front seats for us as well as the French team. They also fed us a lunch of bread and chicken sauce.

After our midweek break, we are all looking forward to getting back to teaching. Tomorrow we continue with our program. It will be slightly different than previous days because now that school is over, we can have the children outside without distracting other classes. We will also start afternoon music sessions for the students with visually impaired. However, before we can tackle tomorrow, we must first get through a station dinner tonight. Kathy and Linnet have been in the kitchen all day baking bread and brownies for a dinner that includes crackers and French spreads, bread and soup, and a trifle for dessert. Dena will lead the prayer meeting.

Speaking of Dena, she also took time off yesterday to help with the carnival. Today she was back helping with documentation at the medical dispensary (CSPS) until she got called to the Center. A little girl with cerebral palsy came in and Dena got to assist with her evaluation. Our resident medical expert is now a fifth of the way through her project testing, and she could not be more excited about the progress.

Thank you all for bearing with us as we struggle with communication issues. We will try to post whenever we have a chance.

-Pam

End of the Year, and Some New Friends (July 4th and 5th)

2011-07-05T05:29:00.000-07:00

This week concludes the official school year for the students at the Center, meaning both children and Burkinabe teachers have summer fever. For the past few days, our students have been slightly rowdy, making for some interesting classes and new plans on our parts. Pam and Becca’s Calligraphy class now includes practicing handwriting and math, as well as putting together a puzzle. Kim’s Music class has the new addition of Daniel, a local student around our ages who has helped the Burkina Summer Enrichment Program (BSEP) in the past. He works very well with the children, and he will help Kim with crowd control as new instruments (Boomwhackers) are given to the students. Linnet and Kathy’s Photography students are now working on their final project: taking staged photos of each other acting out their favorite Bible stories. These pictures will be used, with student-written text, to create a powerpoint story, which will eventually be made into a book on Snapfish.com, and sent to the school. Dr. Hare, with Linnet’s, Kathy’s, Becca’s, Pam’s, and Kim’s help, has been working through the math books with the students, as well as reading from The Magic Tree House. Some students seem to be understanding fractions, decimals, and percents, and others are struggling. Having all hands on deck allows many children to get the one-on-one attention they need. We’re not sure what to do about reading time: the kids love coloring the pictures that go with each chapter, but they don’t seem to be listening to the story. We have two days off of the BSEP now, for the end-of-the-year carnival (with which we will all be helping) and the school closing ceremony. Perhaps by Friday, we will have a new idea for reading time.

On Monday afternoon, a team of French students, all near our ages, arrived on the station. Three girls and four guys will be working with Francoise and Anne-Laure for a Bible School-type camp for the students with visual impairments at the school, while our program is happening for the other students. On Monday night, everyone living on the station met for food and fellowship at the Johnson’s house to welcome our new guests.

Left to right: Dena, Becca, Liz, Jeremy, Flo, Dr. Hare, Pam, and Francoise

Dinner concluded with 4^th of July cake from Liz (a short term missionary who has been here for a year) and cupcakes from Julie Walsh (a full-time missionary and mom). Matt Walsh warned that having so many people on the station means the electricity and water are maxed out, and he urged us all to conserve whenever possible. Our house is adjusting to the heat and light of Burkina, and so we can totally handle one light per room and fans on low. Our internet use is extremely limited, but we will hopefully be able to use the Johnson’s 3G adapter a few times to check emails and post this blog. Until the next post, au revoir!

Storms, Internet, and revisions (Friday and Saturday, July 1st and 2nd)

2011-07-02T05:28:00.000-07:00

After an impressive rain and thunderstorm, we have quickly and easily adjusted to life without internet. Even so, Dr. Hare consoled us with international phone cards and chocolate cookies. Instead of spending as much time posting blogs and using the internet, we have been revising our various projects. For school, times are being revised, names are being memorized, and friends are being made. Dieyabidi, a particularly rambunctious student, has been a special friend for everyone. Though a little antsy in class, he loves following us home and to the market. His craving for one-on-one attention is cute and sometimes helpful. We are looking forward to the end of school for the use of current student’s help and more classrooms.

Dieyabidi

For the PT project, I have been revising the test with Françoise, the French missionary here. I did my first test and it was a success. The girl was SO adorable and she tried her hardest at each activity that was asked of her. I was particularly impressed with her climbing up the steps (they are likely the first steps she has ever seen) and coming back down so bravely. During a meeting in which I announced my project, all the animateurs and administration seemed very supportive and excited to be involved in it.

And now, short story time:

Once upon a time, an entire Collaboratory team bought cloth for clothes. They explored many a missionaries closets for examples of potential clothes. They were excited to present their ideas to the tailor, but alas, he did not come. Instead a wounded man who was also an alcoholic begged on their porch. After several interactions with him going and coming back again, around dinner, when they heard a knock on their door, they sighed. As their leader emerged from the house to, yet again, politely ask for peace, she surprisingly met someone almost unexpected: the tailor! Then, all was better. The team excitedly shared their ideas with the tailor and sent him off with the fabric. They learned to enthusiastically initially welcome all visitors, regardless of their assumed intentions.

On Sunday, church went well with the normal pastor this time. He was much shorter than last week. We were asked to sing again, and we still were not prepared. Third time is a charm, right? We were also asked to pray in English. All of these spontaneous invitations, though frightening at first, are welcoming and help us feel included.

Storm takes down internet but team is fine

2011-07-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

A storm has disrupted internet service in the area and it may not be back up for several weeks. So the next blog and email communication may be July 18th, though phone service has not been affected. The team said they are all in good health and their project work is going well. Please pray for internet service to be restored but more importantly for the team's continued progress as they work with local teachers and physical therapists.

Tony Caito, Collaboratory Manager

School Starting

2011-06-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

This morning (Thursday) marked the first session of our 3-week Burkina Summer Enrichment Program education series. A group of 29 students (which quickly underwent additions and revisions and turned into 31 students and a part-time student) spent a little over 3 hours completing coloring and literacy activities, math workbook pages, photography lessons, music and rhythm workshops, and calligraphy activity pages. Everything went off without a hitch and the students were quiet, compliant, and entirely cooperative…or at least, that would have been the scenario in a perfect world. But this, friends, is Burkina Faso, and it’s a rarity indeed when the plans of the perfect world become the plans of the real world! Today was a messy combination of French, Gourma, English, boisterous children, and barely-contained chaos! I can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring!

By 12:00 pm, we finished cleaning up the after-math of the morning school sessions and headed home to eat a quick lunch before meeting up with Liz to walk to the Thursday market in the center of Mahadaga. The sights, smells, and sounds of the market were a bit overwhelming to our tired eyes, noses, and ears, but it was definitely a worth-while cultural experience. We’ll see if we’re up to a repeat visit next Thursday :)

Sometimes, I have to give myself a proverbial pinch in the arm to make sure I’m really, truly here—in a small, no-where village in Burkina Faso, West Africa. It’s surreal. And I’m realizing more and more each day that this incredible experience is most assuredly, in the wise words of Peter Pan, a result three simple things: faith (in God’s unfailing love and boundless grace), trust (in His unfolding plan for our time here and the ways in which He’s allowed us to serve), and a whole WHOLE lot of rich red African dust…

Á demain,

Kathy

Faith, Trust, and African Dust (Wednesday and Thursday, June 29th and 30th)

2011-06-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

Last night (Wednesday), Dr. Hare, Pam, and Kim conducted a brief informational session about using Microsoft Office software (e.g. using Power Point presentations to provide additional visual aids, using Excel spreadsheets to track exam grades or attendance, etc…) to enhance their current teaching strategies. The teachers were excited to have the chance to work with new technology and willingly participated in the hands-on program demonstrations, edited Power Point slides, and added self-made voice recordings to several pre-existing presentations. Teacher training was a huge success!

The victorious Dr. Hare, with Pam and Kim in tow, returned home just in time to join all of us for our second station dinner. All of the people currently living on the station (the Walshes, the Johnsons, Françoise, Liz, Sara, Anne-Laure, Josie, and the 7 of us) basically converged on our little house and squeezed into our living/dining room to enjoy a meal together. After a meal complete with homemade chocolate cake (the result of an afternoon of Linnet’s and my culinary efforts), we ended the evening with a short time of prayer and fellowship.

Preparing the way....

2011-06-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

Today in Mahadaga the group split into two. One group consisted of Dena and Dena, while the other group consisted of everyone else. Because Dena was not with us she will be writing her own insert which will be located further down the page. We began our day by heading down to the handicap center around 7:45 to be there around 8. While on the fifteen minute walk over we were greeted by all different people, but the people who were most excited to see us were the kids in the elementary school we will be passing on a daily bases. We arrived at the CAH and headed to the room where we will be possibly holding one of our stations, but for now it is where all are materials are located. Kathy and Linnet were hole-punching coloring book pages to finish their project up. Kim was working on her music project because after being here for a week, she realized that not everything is culturally acceptable. So, Kim has made improvements that will make it easier for the children to understand music . Pam and Becca made start-up documents for PowerPoint, Excel and Word on the laptops for the teacher training sessions that will begin tomorrow. Dr. Hare and Pam worked on assembling geoboards, and later Dr. Hare was assembling the calligraphy books. In the afternoon, Linnet and Kathy started preparing food for future meals and decided to make BREAD! Linnet and Kathy are the first people to make bread in Mahadaga, and they are very happy that the bread did not burn.
Thank you to our predecessors, Bethany and Katie, for your comments and emails.

Dena: I did home visits with the animateurs today and got a first-hand look at many of their patients and techniques (and my first moto ride). Before each visit, I looked at the case history with the PT, then watched and/or videotaped some of the therapy techniques. I was able to see five patients during 7:30 to 2:30 outing. Most of the patients had cerebral palsy and epilepsy and one had cleft palate. Typically, the children were fine until they had a high fever, and then the resultant brain damage caused the typically spastic cerebral palsy that was being treated.

It was heartbreaking and hopeful all at once. The first child had only one arm that needed therapy, and although the parents had been urged to take the child to the center for a week for intensive corrective therapy, they refused to do so. So, although he was receiving therapy, there was a lot more potential than was being shown. In that sense, it was frustrating. However, the fact that the child had started treatment-a praiseworthy miracle only God could have made come about.

The little boy with cleft palate was next. He was getting a check-up to make sure his family continued to feed, wash and include him in daily activity. Children with cleft palate do not receive surgery until they are around 5 years old. Then, they can handle the 8 hour trip to Ougadougou, the surgery, and the return trip that is quickly arranged once the center receives a telephone call announcing the arrival of a plastic surgeon. This boy will be normal soon.

The next child was a poster child case for the center. When he started therapy, he could not walk, but when we arrived, he was outside playing with his sister. He came running in (using his walker for support), and his bright smile said the thousand thanks that his voice did not, as he was mute.

The therapy visits went on similarly. I saw a boy who had epileptic seizures so often that he still had open wounds on his head and shoulders. A long discussion of medications and the importance of life-long medications was the main event there. And lastly, a small 7 year old girl (smaller than her 4 year old brother) grasped a toy with her hand for the first time! Her progression from lying in the corner to walking was also something of a miracle. I am so impressed with the work here, and how much they have been blessed. They have so many needs, and so many things going against them, but here they are…sharing not only an option of hope and healing for the disabled, but also the gospel message to the entire family.

Tour Day

2011-06-27T10:49:00.001-07:00

Today Dale gave us a tour of the handicapped center. We arrived at 8:00 and started right after Kathy was able to pet a particularly large black beetle. We saw the office building, the physical therapist’s exam and treatment rooms, the orthopedic workshop, the vocational development buildings (woodworking, weaving, sewing, tailoring, and gardening), the library, the Bible room, the power center (solar panels put up by Collaboratory), the water tower, the school for the blind, and the school for the deaf. They have grown from one office building to all of these buildings in just 10 years. Dena spent some more time touring around in the center and talking with physical therapists while the rest of the group returned home to organize the education materials.

Dena: The physical therapy portion of the center was much more extensive than I would have thought. The man working at the orthopedic shop had made child sized walkers, verticalizers, and prosthetic feet and arms. There are four physical therapists, or animateurs who go out for home visits. The in-clinic therapy for children who need more intense therapy every day is done by two animateurs in training. The at home visits are monthly or bi-annually depending on the goals and severity of the clients. The center is short almost 10 therapists because they cannot fund the salary required during both training and work. Training occurs after our 10^th grade in high school. Their 11^th grade year is starting kinesiology concentration and their 12^th grade is the vocational portion of training. After they graduate with the kinesiology concentration, they go through SIM training for evangelism, financial advising, therapy, and social work. These men are responsible for many different aspects of life, but only have around 3 years of training, so along with more colleagues, their biggest need is more training—exactly what the project is about! I am excited to be a part of their mission, and Dale’s enthusiasm also encourages me and reassures me. Tomorrow I will present my huge backpack to the team, and hopefully I will be approved to go out on home visits with it. They seem open to it, but I am simply very glad I can speak French and explain its largeness away a little bit.

Education group: They met with the school informaticien to discuss what to do with the netbooks that were brought for classroom use. They organized their materials in the room in which they would be centered and then walked home to record and practice reading French stories.

Prayer requests: Keep praying for health for the team, lots of energy, and encouragement and comfort as we learn of news from home.

Women's Day!

2011-06-26T14:41:00.000-07:00

After an entertaining game night with the missionaries lasting late into the night and fans in every room, most of us slept better last night than we have in a while. We went to church and had our first experience with the African church. Here is how it went:

We had devotions in English and an orientation to church. We walked to church with the missionaries. We sat down in the school building-turned-church three or four to a desk (made for three) surveyed the very full room. Although there was a low murmur in the room, we did not talk all that much.

Two women welcomed us and announced that it was women’s day. We sang many call and response songs in both Gourma and French. There was a lot of clapping and drums, some relaxed dancing (walking around in circles while clapping), and long yulelating during the singing. The children’s choir, women’s chorus, adolescent choir, and our group (Jesus loves me in English) sang special songs. The congregations joined in song whenever they could. We introduced ourselves to the congregation, listened to the sermon (they tend to be repetitive and this one was longer than normal), prayed, and then joined the congregation outside for sweetened rice water and conversation. Everything was translated in Gourma and French. With that done, we decided it was hot and tiring to go to church, but the cultural experience and fellowship made it fun and worthwhile.

We returned home, ate lunch, took sieste, and then scheduled. A couple of boys, Sylvan and Danielle, came up so Dena talked with them for a while until everyone decided to go to the cliffs together. The boys came with us, and we enjoyed hiking around the new and cooler environment. We came home, ate dinner, a different Danielle joined us for dinner and a chat afterward, and then Flo gave us more cultural tips after dismissing Danielle (a boy). We have learned that it is the African way to greet each other and visit each other even without a purpose. Entertaining is an American concept, so we do not even have to interact with them if we are otherwise occupied.

Tomorrow we will tour the center for the handicapped and organize our schedules more.

Updates on the internet:

We can actually now check personal accounts, we just cannot load pictures. So, there will be very few pictures on the blog until about a month, when many can be uploaded at once. So, we will respond to emails to personal accounts, and there will not be a team email account.

Welcome with Walsh's

2011-06-25T11:46:00.001-07:00

Just before heading out for dinner with the Walsh’s, the Johnson’s finally made it to Mahadaga. Along with celebrating for safe and rather smooth rides, we scurried around trying to unpack all of the frozen and refrigerated foods from the coolers and into the fridges and freezers. Having finished that, we bumbled around in the dark with our flashlights until we found the Walsh’s house. The missionary compound looks a lot different in the dark than in the light, especially since it was unfamiliar to all of us except Dr. Hare.

When we arrived, the one girl from Luxembourg, Sarah (who spoke 6 languages), one girl from France, Anne-Laure (whose mother had visited the compound when she was little), one girl from Brazil (who is leaving this Friday), one girl from Messiah, Liz (an accountant for the compound until August), and the Walsh family was seated and ready to welcome us. Presently, François joined us. As soon as the Johnsons finished unpacking and arrived, we introduced ourselves with translation through Flo (Mrs. Johnson) and enjoyed a tasty meal and plenty of good conversation. We are all looking forward to spending a month with them.

The long conversation was fun, but we were weary from our travel. We returned home with our flashlights scanning the ground for snakes and scorpions (we found none) and then got ready for bed. Matt Walsh fixed one of our fluorescent lights and we learned of some of the changes at the station.

1. Probably the one that concerns all of you the most, internet access here is not only slow (what we expected) but it is also limited. There is a limited amount of bandwidth shared between the medical center, center for the handicapped (CAH), and the mission station. The implications are that we will not be able to check our email as we expected, we will have much less pictures in our blogs, and we may not have a blog post on boring days or days when the French team comes to use lots of internet. We may have a group email account that we will check every day, and if you sent us emails with the intended recipient’s name in the subject line, it will be read much quicker than one sent to a personal account.

2. The Walsh’s cleared out an exercise path all the way around the center. Now we can exercise without quite as many stares. Most Burkinabe people do not have a concept of walking or running without a destination.

3. The house we are staying in is one of the biggest guest houses on the compound, and it now has three working portable fans! This will be a refreshing change from last night in which only one fan was working, and no fans were in bedrooms, thus there was no moving air. More fans will bring more sleep.

Today we woke up at a late 7:30, ate breakfast, and met Flo for a tour of the medical center, the missionary compound (at a walking pace this time), went to the market, and organized schedules for the rest of the stay.

The missionary compound is large, houses two missionary families, two single missionaries, and several guest groups. Generous people built a play set for the children (there are 5 plus whichever Burkinabe children decide to join them), and pens for cows and chickens are also found inside.

The medical center was much larger than I expected. It is in the process of moving up a level according the government’s standards. An African doctor will move in sometime soon, and then they will be able to do surgeries and blood transfusions—a huge help. They have an extensive (for a rural African center) maternity ward. One building is dedicated to checkups, another for recovering mothers, another for malnourished mothers or children whose mothers died during labor, and another for severely malnourished children. The other buildings include the triage center, the vaccination building, the pharmacy building, the ophthalmology (new!), and the lab center. There were lots of problems for medicine and vaccine shortages, mostly because the medicines are inaccessible and not because of lack of funds. The nutrition center is overloaded with people, and it is heartbreaking and encouraging at the same time to see how many people are being helped by this mission. What a wonderful opportunity to be a part of the wonderful mission!

The house in which we are staying, Betty's house. Caleb is running on the side

From Ouagadougou to Mahadaga

2011-06-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, after a familiar meal of pizza and oranges (or greens if you go by the color), many of us experienced our first siest. This is a time during the heat of the day where everyone takes a break. Once we were refreshed, Kathy and Linnet headed out to finish their shopping with the Johnson's. Another group took a walk and purchased cell phones while I stayed back to keep an eye on Joel while he napped. Once everyone returned, Dr. Hare, Becca, Kim, Dena, and I went to the Artists' Village to purchase percussion instruments for the music workshop. We all enjoyed watching the artisans demonstrate their musical creations. We returned to the guesthouse in one of Ouaga 's well known green taxis. After dinner we did some packing and headed to bed.
This morning the plan was to wake up and be packed and ready by 7:30. Sadly, my plans were thwarted by military time, and I somehow set Kim and my alarm for 6:30pm. Dr. Hare woke us at 7:15. Thus, we had to rush a little to be ready to leave by 8. Anyway, we all piled into a large white van and began our almost 9 hour journey to Mahadaga. Around 11:30 we stopped at the SIM compound in Fada for lunch. Flo had ordered steak sandwiches for us ahead, and we enjoyed some cold water as well. We then got back into the van and started the second leg of the trip.
As we drew closer to Mahadaga, the scenery changed from being rather flat to include cliffs and larger trees. Around 4:45, we pulled into the compound in Mahadaga and met Matt and Julie Walsh. They showed us our house which is affectionately called "Betty's House." After unloading, Matt returned with a rhino to give us a tour of the compound. He brought their three children, Thomas, Tessa, and Stephanie with him. Tessa kept laughing at Dena and I as we tried to hold on in the back.
We are now almost unpacked and about to go to the Walsh's house for dinner.

The journey to Ougadougou

2011-06-23T05:25:00.000-07:00

After flurried cramming of luggage and a decent night's sleep, our hosts Frank and Nancy treated us to a delicious homemade breakfast. With those relaxed homey memories in are heads and the delicious breakfast in our bellies, we headed off to school to pray, pack our luggage in cars and head off to the train station. Upon arrival, an initially jovial train employee greeted us, then sizing up our luggage (two 50 Ib. bags, a backpack, and a 'purse' item each-almost all rather bulky and heavy), ran for a cart. Flustered, he stacked our bags onto the cart and ensured that we, and all our luggage, made it into the train before it left--no small endeavor.

The next few train changes, after some delays as we searched for assistance, reconnected after misunderstandings, and repacked after some of our luggage began to fall apart, were ultimately successful. Upon arrival at the airport, we all too gladly checked in our bulky, heavy luggage, relieved to now be responsible for only one small item and a backpack. We boarded our flight, made it through those six hours hours, largely without much sleep, and arrived in the Paris airport prepared to be tourists. Except, it was raining.

We had a company luggage-sit for us while we traipsed around paris at the cathedral of Notre Dame, in the confusing metro system (explained in more detail by the pictures), and at the Eiffel tower. It was wonderful. After enjoying tourism, we returned to the airport to eat some french sandwiches and pain de chocolat. After boarding the ironically bigger and more luxurious plane to Ougadougou, Africa (it had French dinners and personal movie screens with lots of options) we made ourselves comfortable. The plane was not full, so we were able to each get our own row so we could spread out and pretend to sleep. We made it through the 5.5 hour trip with some turbulence and a lightening storm. When we arrived at the airport, many employees were eager to help us and the missionaries were there to greet us. We were driven to the guest house, unloaded our baggage, chatted for a bit, and then went to sleep (and a glorious sleep it was).

In the morning we woke up to warm cinnamon buns, bagels with jam, and doughnuts--all freshly home made. We enjoyed sitting around the table and getting to know the Johnsons. A man with disabilities (who was not associated with the CAH in Mahadaga) came up after breakfast to show off his art and take orders for things we would like to buy when we return to Ougadougou. He was very nice and his work was creative. It may end up being some of your gifts when we return, so I will not describe it in detail.

-Dena

taking our luggage at the train station

at Notre Dame stop for the first time: one of the metros stopped in the middle of the normal route, confusing all of us, and, apparently, also a nice metro employee who gave us the wrong directions

We are all happy in front of the Eiffel tower

Pam on the bed in our guest house- we don't have to use mosquito nets yet because in Ougadougou, it is not too buggy

our group picture at Messiah

Getting Ready :)

2011-06-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

It's Monday June 20th, and the team is busy preparing for our trip, which begins tomorrow. We all arrived yesterday, and began our work in a physics lab in Frey Hall. Dr. Hare, Pam, and Dena stuffed pencil bags full of school supplies for the children we will be working with in Mahadaga, while Kathy and I picked up Becca from the train station and Linnet from the airport. Last night, we stayed with Frank and Nancy Myers (Linnet's youth pastor's parents), who are wonderful hosts. :) Today, each of us is doing something different to get ready. Linnet and Kathy are shopping for food and cooking supplies. Pam is installing Microsoft Office and Anti-Virus Software on the 12 netbooks we are taking for the teachers at CAH. I'm organizing and packing our luggage. Becca and Dena are checking out Collab technology for our use, as well as preparing things for Dena's research in Mahadaga. Our fearless leader, Dr. Hare, is overseeing all of us and making sure our jobs are done. :) We have a whole schedule of preparing and meetings for the rest of our day, and then tomorrow, we leave for Burkina!

Burkina Retreat

2011-05-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

All seven of us girls and Dr. Hare went on a weekend retreat back in March to have some bonding time as well as learn more about where we will be going. We had the privileged of using the Adelphoi cabin about 35 minutes from campus. It used to be a hunting cabin and now is rented out to various groups to use for retreats and such. Dr. Hare had told us a little bit about it when we got there, but we didn't know how cool it was going to be until we pulled in. While these pictures are a little bit late (our retreat was back in March) we still wanted to share them with you.

In order to fill the wood box we had to have people outside handing logs up through a hole in the floor of the cabin so people inside could put them in the wood box.

Because this was a hunting cabin there were heads up everywhere!

Dr. Hare was pro at putting logs on the fire.

Linnet enjoyed playing with the fire. It must come from being the daughter of a firefighter.

This was the outhouse. There was no indoor bathroom, just a nice building outside to use.

Introductions

2011-03-30T19:33:00.000-07:00

We are all busy preparing for our various activities at the moment, but we will take this time to introduce you to the team:

Hello! I am Dena Steiner, a junior health and exercise science major who would like to become a missionary doctor in French-speaking Africa or Haiti. This summer I am working with Joanna on a project involving the physical therapy clinic. My role is to start observing, videotaping, and taking notes on the physical therapist's techniques and how the clinic is run. We also plan to use a standardized test to evaluate the functionality gained by the patients, so I plan to begin to administer that as well. I am charged with keeping up with the blog, and although you will not hear from me everyday, if you would like us to comment on something specific or have any requests or questions regarding that, don't hesitate to contact me. I am really looking forward to this great opportunity!

Hi! My name is Pam Kirkpatrick, and I am second year student at Messiah College majoring in Mathematics with Teaching Certification. Eventually, I would like to be a high school math teacher. This summer I am working with Becca, Kathy, Kim and Linnet on the Burkina Summer Enrichment Program. This will be the second summer that the Education Group has sent a team to Mahadaga to hold a summer program for students at the Center for the Advancement of the Handicapped school. This year our program is called “Capturing & Writing about Life in Mahadaga” and will include workshops in photography, music, handwriting, art, literature, and mathematics. I have focused mainly on creating geometry activities for the students with visual impairments, but I look forward to working with all of the students on the various activities we have planned. During one of our first weeks in the village, we will also have the chance to train the teachers on new Netbooks that we will be taking for them. This will be a great opportunity to learn how the teachers currently complete their work using limited technology and hopefully share some ideas that could improve their current methods. I am excited to experience another culture as well as spend time getting to know my teammates.

Hey! I am Becca Kharajian, a sophomore mathematics major with a minor in statistics. I would like to become a Statistician and from there I am up for just about anything to do with Statistics but I am favoring Sports Statistics. This summer I am working with Dr. Hare, Kathy, Kim, Linnet, and Pam on the Burkina Summer Enrichment Program. During the year I have been creating a handwriting lesson for some of the students. The lesson will be put in a booklet so the students can go at their own speed. I cannot wait to go to Mahadaga to work with the children and have the privilege of observing another culture.

Hi everyone! My name is Kim Frey, and I am a sophomore Math Education major. With my degree, I would love to teach middle school mathematics, hopefully in an urban school district. I have been involved with the Collaboratory and the Education group since fall of my freshmen year, and it has been a blast! I’m so excited to get to go on this trip to CAH, to see what all of our hard work is actually going towards, and to put faces with the children and missionaries we’re always hearing stories about. This year, I’ve been working on a music workshop for the students, to improve abstract thinking, counting, color and letter recognition, and just to let them have some fun. I’ve never been outside of the countr y before, let alone to a country whose language isn’t English. But we have a great group of women going, and I’m sure we will all pull together to make this a wonderful trip

Angela Hare, adviser for this group of seven strong and beautiful young women. I teach mathematics at Messiah College and have worked in partnership with the Center for the Advancement of the Handicapped since 2006. This is my fift h trip to Mahadaga. I will be overseeing student work, with an eye for our long-term work and relationships and for the safety, health, and spiritual growth of our team. I invite you to pray that Christ will strengthen us, prepare us to do good work, and that His name will be proclaimed in us.

Hi all! My name is Linnet (rhymes with minute) and I am a sophomore double major with PreK-4 General education/Birth-8th Special Education and Music Performance. My goal with all of this is to one day teach middle school moderate/severe Special Education and play in a part-time symphony orchestra. This past spring semester was my first exposure to the Collaboratory and the work they are doing in Burkina. Because of my love for children with special needs this trip is particularly exciting for me. One thing that I am most excited about is getting to use my sign language. In high school I took 4 semesters of ASL at our local junior college so I could better communicate with the students I was working with at the time. In Burkina I will get to use my sign when communicating with all of the students and will have the ability to translate for any of the students who are deaf or hard of hearing. In preparation for this trip Kathy and I have been working on finding coloring pages for the children to color while we are reading them a story. We want to help them to make the connection between the story they are hearing and something visual. This has proven more difficult than expected, but it has been so much fun for the two of us to work together on this project. I am so excited to get to spend time with these wonderful women and get to know each one of them better.

Hi everyone! I’m Kathy Balmer, a second year Middle Level Education major (grades 4-8) with a concentration in Social Studies and Math and a minor in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Over the last 5 years of my life, I’ve absolutely fallen in love with travelling, and through our time with the Center for the Advancement of the Handicapped school in Burkina Faso, I’m looking forward to being able to combine that love for other cultures with my passion for teaching. I’ve only been involved with the Collaboratory since the spring semester of this past year (so I’m still a newbie as far as Collab-er status is concerned) but when I was made aware of the partnership between the Collaboratory and the CAH, I knew I wanted to be part of the incredible work that’s going on in Burkina Faso. As Linnet mentioned, we’ve teamed up to create simple coloring pages for the students to use during daily read-aloud time or short sessions between lesson times. Our hope is that the act of putting crayon to paper while listening to oral retelling of a story will encourage students to find enjoyment in literacy activities and emphasize the connection between auditory and visual learning. After all, who can resist an empty coloring page and a fresh pack of rainbow-colored crayons? Not me, that’s for certain!! My prayer is that our team of seven wonderful women will enter into this coming month in Mahadaga, Burkina Faso, with open hands, open hearts, and a desire to serve for His glory, not our own. I can’t WAIT to see how God uses our time in Burkina!

Heyo Everyone! I'm JoAnna Larson (typically I go by Jo) and I will be a Senior this year in Health and Exercise Science, Pre-Physical Therapy. I want to be a physical therapist and hope to work in the States and abroad. Unlike the rest of the team, I'm not arriving until July 19th, the same day everyone (except Dena) leaves. Like Dena said, I will be working alongside her in the physical therapy project - gathering media, taking notes, and helping to administer the test. We will be working alongside of the physical therapists to observe what they do in the hopes of making an instructional document based off of there methods. Also, I will be checking up on some things for the trike project, and taking care of devo's when Dena and I are there. I'm sad to be missing the rest of the team, but will be praying for them this next month and can't wait to hear about their time!