The Gibsons online blog

Only being back in the country for less than a week we weren’t expecting to attend the Mission’s spiritual life conference.  But we did, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it, catching up with friends/colleagues as well as getting to know some of the new missionaries.  The children had a great time, reconnecting with all their friends.  They played as if they had never been apart.

Having finished our spiritual life conference on the Sunday afternoon it came a bit of a shock to find out on the Monday that the only time we could get a lift up to Djibo was the following day,  and so, at seven thirty off we set.  The hustle and bustle of Ouagadougou was soon replaced by scrubland with the odd village lining the dirt road as we made our way up north.  We had actually forgotten what it was like travelling distance on non tarmac roads.  For some of the way we passed over quite badly corrugated sections caused by some of the larger trucks which take this route on market days.  After a while you feel that every bone in your body has become a little looser as you have the living daylights vibrated out of you.

As we got further north so the vegetation got sparser until finally we reached Djibo just before midday and were greeted by the Australian doctor and his wife that have worked in the town for many years.  As we stepped out of the air-conditioned vehicle we had come up in we were hit by the dry heat of the Sahal (up till now the average daytime temperature has been around the 40oC mark in Djibo and it’s not even hot season yet).  It’s enough to make your eyeballs dry in their sockets.  On first appearances the town doesn’t seem to have changed much.  The roads are still a little uneven and the national flower of many West African countries (the black plastic bag) hung delicately in the trees disturbed only by the warm gentle breeze.

For the time being we are staying on the compound with our doctor friend and his wife until we managed to get the mission house in order.  Work has already started so we will hope to keep you up to date on the progress.  In some ways maybe I (Mark) should have watched more of those TV programs on renovating dilapidated properties whilst we were in the UK.  But I guess I will bumble my way through it!