Sunday, December 30, 2007

Christmas Post!

3:14 pm | Edit Post
Now we know that Christmas isn’t about getting stuff, and we know that presents aren’t the main focus of the season. But to be honest it was looking rather sketchy for the Gibson household in Djibo, for it was the 23rd December and still no Christmas post had arrived. I don’t think it really would have washed with a 10 year old, 8 year old and a 2 year old to say, “Hey kids, don’t be sad, and not having anything to open on Christmas day will help us keep focused on the reason for the season”. Needless to say we were beginning to wonder how things were going to pan out for us.

It was now Christmas eve and we had some friends on their way up from Ouagadougou. Just when we were about to give up hope of ever receiving any form of Christmas correspondence a glimmer of hope pierced the feeling of presentlessness when an unexpected parcel appeared as if from nowhere. It had mistakenly been delivered to the Ouaga office and it was indeed the largest box we had ever seen sent by post. It had everything in, gifts for the kids and grownups, as well as a delicious Christmas cake for all.


You know, we think the best gifts are those you just don’t expect, and we certainly weren’t expecting this one.

Thank you Whizz kids, Swamp and all our friends in BEC who made this happen.


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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

A Moonlight Serenade

9:49 pm | Edit Post

Pastor Jodoma and I were just coming to the end of our discussions as the sun was rapidly sinking below the horizon when there came a, Jam Nyalli (did you spend the day in peace) from a griot I know from one of the local villages, along with his brother. The griots are those who turn up at occasions such as weddingsand naming ceremonies to recite family's genealogy. The brother was carrying his hoddu which is a guitar like instrument made of wood, stretched goat skin and a single string. I was semi expecting this chap to pop round a few days ago and so was a little taken aback by his delayed timing. Anyway, he proceeded, along with his brother, to play and recite a tune they had put together about me. To be honest I felt a little embarrassed and somewhat flattered at the same time and with the moon light now reflecting off the lake behind our house it was very atmospheric. A short while later they headed off into the night with a little something for their evening meal. I think they were reasonably content with their evenings work and I'm quite sure we'll see them again at some point now they know where we live.

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Monday, December 17, 2007

It's Cool to be back!

8:12 pm | Edit Post

We were pleasantly surprised getting back to Djibo to find that we had well and truly entered cold season with night time temperatures plummeting as low as 17 °C and daytime temperatures reaching around the 32 °C mark.  I know it's not quite as cold as it is in the UK at present, but we do have to wear jumpers in the early morning now. 

It was great to catch up with the believers Sunday morning and Jodoma, our pastor, seems to have everything in hand for the church's Christmas celebrations this year.  In the afternoon the family all set about getting the house ready for Christmas busily improvising with what we have as our Christmas CD collection added to the celebratory ambience.  It was very exciting for the kids. Not sure if Sam really knew what was going on, he was just excited about everybody else being excited.

 
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Thursday, December 13, 2007

A night out on the Town.

4:29 pm | Edit Post
As part of the December FES the Children often go carol singing to various homes around Ouagadougou and as a reward get supplied with cakes, cookies and pop which seems to really encourage the kids to sing at their best. Needless to say I (Mark) was very happy providing transport for the little songsters with such rewards being extended to the chauffeur as well.

We visited several houses ending up at the American Ambassador’s residence near to the city centre. This was quite a treat for the kids and for some of the adults as well. I have never seen Joshua and Amelia singing so enthusiastically before.

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Tuesday, December 11, 2007

What is FES?

3:17 pm | Edit Post
FES (Field Education Service) was set up for missionary kids who live in isolated locations such as Djibo and is attended by MKs (missionary kids) from a number of west African countries and is run four times a year. It’s such great fun for our children as they learn in a larger classroom situation and get their fill of social interaction with children from similar cultural back grounds.


Amelia with class mates

Art class


Most of the families stay on site where parents tend not to see much of their school age kids from morning till night. You could say they treat our lodgings a little like a hotel… and none of them are teenagers yet.




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Saturday, December 08, 2007

Pretty Polly

1:32 pm | Edit Post
We seem to have acquired an African Grey parrot to add to the Gibson zoo. It's amazing what you can pick up in Ouaga. At present it appears to be a little bit aggressive so if anybody has some good methods in pacifying a parrot with attitude we would appreciate it. If you can think of an appropriate name for her (we were "reliably" informed that it was female) we would bring your suggestion before the board (Josh & Milly) for consideration.
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Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Trip to Mahadaga

11:31 am | Edit Post
As we were waking around the handicap project in Mahadaga Joshua whispered into my ear concerning the lady who started and runs the project, and asked, “Is this lady the new Gladys Ailwood”. Françoise Pedeau started this ministry seven years ago as she saw the needs of the handicapped children in her area. More often than not these children would be hidden away with little or no chance of any quality of life. Because of her vision and compassion Françoise has transformed hundreds of children’s lives through this ministry bringing the kingdom of God here to this corner of Burkina Faso where children with all kinds of disabilities receive therapy, education and vocational training. As we were shown round the project site we had a real sense that this place was a place of joy as the children beamed from ear to ear as they greeted us at the various locations.
Françoise with some of the children from the centre.

Visually impaired boy learning brail.


Two year old child with cerebral palsy receiving therapy.

SIM Link to the handicapped project:

http://www.sim.org/index.php/project/93279

I (Mark) have only been down to Mahadaga once, many years ago, but for Cheryl and the children this was the first time, and despite it being a long trip all the family were so glad we took the time to see the work down their.
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