Thursday, August 02, 2007

Rain.

2:25 pm | Edit Post
For those interested in the Djibo rainfalls for the past few months... here they are:
 
June 5th         4mm
June 16th       2mm
June 23rd    1.5mm
June 27th     45mm
June 30th      3mm
 
July 3rd      12mm
July 12th    18mm
July 14th    35mm
July 23rd   11mm
July 24th     8mm
July 25th   30mm
July 31st    35mm
 
Not that we are obsessed with the weather, but...
 
Next record due in September due to our absence from the area.
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Thursday, July 19, 2007

Mixed Blessings!

2:25 pm | Edit Post
One may be excused in thinking that the rains here mainly bring blessing, and in may ways this is true but for some the dry season has once again proved to much.  The cattle market today had a very different feel to it as many people brought their sick and dying animals into market on Donkey carts hoping to be able to get a little for the meat from their sick beasts.  It's one thing for your cow to survive the hot season, but whether or not it has enough energy to enter into the rains is the big test.  Often by the time the rains come many animals are severely underfed and under weight only having just enough energy to stand up.  The sudden drop in temperature is often the last straw and sickness overtakes them.
 
 
A friend of mine passed by today, a cheery fellow, and informed me that approximately head of 40 cattle had died in his village in the past week.  I'm not quite sure how he manages to keep such an upbeat appearance.  For the many folk here who have lost cattle, this is a severe stock-market crash as cattle are a considerable investment for the Fulani and are pretty much an integral part of their culture. 
 
As you wander around Djibo and the surrounding countryside today you will see a considerable transformation.  Green patches of grass are sprouting up everywhere replacing the sandy red ting of the Sahel.  It's just a shame that not everybody's animals will get to benefit from the change.
 
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Thursday, July 05, 2007
5:01 pm | Edit Post
Taken from our fence a week ago.

A picture of our fence less than one week later

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Do you think it could rain dear?

5:13 pm | Edit Post
When we jumped into bed there was no real hint of rain. The previous few nights we had seen distant lightning flashes, but this night was calm though rather humid. Just before nodding off to sleep once again there appeared the distant flashes reflecting off the inky blackness of the night complimenting the stars quite well. Now my wife doesn't usually spit on me in bed but two hours later I was woken up buy little spatterings of water on my skin. Now you need to be aware that most of the year we sleep outside under mosquito nets, and this is where we were when the wind started to pick up and I finally came around from my slumber and realising it wasn't my wife's spit but drops of rain. At this point I sprang into action, jumped out of bed and proceeded to wheel the family under the shelter as the rain slowly intensified.
Just as I had got everybody in the inevitable happened, the rain began to die off and eventually stopped. Now if you have ever lived in a place like Djibo where folk often seem to be robbed of a good rainfall, you get a little frustrated when the rains stop as suddenly as they began. Believe it or not, I was fuming. After moving all the beds and all that trouble the rain decides to stop. After all, what does the rain think it is doing. I was so annoyed I decided to move our bed out, back into the night air both as an act of defiance as well as getting the benefit of any breeze that might pass by that we may benefit from. And so there we were, both of us under the clouds with the lightning still flashing away in the distance and the odd faint rumble of thunder. I attempted to fall back to sleep.
Half an hour later I was aware that I was being spat on again, and as mentioned before, Cheryl doesn't tend to spit, I could only assume it was more pitiful attempts at raining. Defiantly I decided to keep us outside. Once again the wind began to pick up whipping the dust up as it went. The drops of rain seemed to get a little bigger and I began to think to myself as the thunder got more pronounced, maybe we weren't in the best place at that moment. So out of bed I leapt, slipped on my damp sandals and dutifully wheeled our bed back under with my sleeping bride still inside. It was at this point that I felt I had made the right decision as the rain continued to intensify and the wind continued to pick up sending the nearby trees into a frenzy. By this time the rain was pouring off the corrugated iron shelter and the wind was now sending the rain in and sprinkling my wife who still lay motionless underneath the dust covered sheet. We'll be safe and dry under here I thought (well, Cheryl may get a bit wet but that's okay).
How wrong can one be! As the lightning flashed all around and the wind bellowed our nets, I noticed a small figure sitting up in the bed next to us. Turning on my torch I noticed he was looking rather moist. So, being the kind father that I am, I jumped out of bed (once again) for a closer inspection only to discover that the shelter was not really sheltering Joshua as well as it could have been. In fact I think he had as much water in his bed as our ducks have in their pond, and his pillow was just a soggy thing that sat next to our rather soggy son. "Would you like to jump in our bed Josh?" I asked. Within seconds he was there.
Back to bed, I thought as I climbed back under the net. Now we could finally try and get some sleep despite the thunder rain and dust in the bed. But not so. Within a few minuets I felt a persistent trickle on my leg, wetting the mattress beneath me. Now this didn't resemble spit in any way. It was more like... well, something else.
Now there are certain moments when you have to say enough is enough. It was now 2am, I was wet and getting wetter by the second and now all the family, apart from Samuel, were awake and sometimes the head of the house needs to make some pretty serious decisions. And so I gave the order, "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES". A few minutes later we were all inside, our beds outside covered and the children as high as kites in all the excitement (apart from Sam who had curled himself up into a corner to escape the growing wet patch in his cot). There is only one thing an Englishman can really say in time like these; "do you fancy a cup of tea dear?". Cheryl declined so I drank alone.
In the morning the lake behind our house that was empty the previous day is now full, and the water gauge indicated a rainfall of 47mm.
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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Rain!

4:32 pm | Edit Post
As with most years the population of Djibo is just hanging out for the rains to arrive.  For much of the county now, people have already started planting and other places have had so much rain they are starting to be concerned.  But this corner of Burkina remains very dry.  Many of the people who come to our gate are looking very tired and the requests for help continue to rise each week. 
Today in Djibo we have clear blue skies ... again.  Not what one wants to see when the family is hungry, your animals are starving and you have no money in your pocket.
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Monday, June 11, 2007

Waiting to Happen

9:49 pm | Edit Post

You often see them leaving Djibo, heading off to Bouro fully loaded up for the  market that takes place there every three days.  To be generous these lorries to tend to look a little tired and often the tyres look a little more so.  I'm not quite sure what the weight limit is for HGVs out here if there actually is any but it seem the rule that if you can fit it on without falling off then it's good to go.  Now seating capacity in the UK is often restricted to three persons in a cab.  Here in the north of Burkina where public transport out to the three day markets is somewhat sparse and people just tend to take whatever transport they can and often it will be on top of these more than fully ladened vehicles. 

 

Now I don't know whether you can picture the sight of one of these trucks swaying from side to side under the enormous weight they have to haul (the more you fit on the more money you make), anything between 10 & 30 people on top risking all to get to market.  You may think this is just an accident waiting to happen.  Well, the week before last it did.  Just 1 km from its destination a lorry fully ladened with grain, oil and other goods, including passengers, blew a tyre and over it went.  I was told that three people died at the scene and another two died of their injuries on their way to hospital. 

 

You may have thought that this would have been a pretty severe wakeup call to the way people risk their lives just to get to market, and yet three days later, on the same road, heading to the same market, trucks where loaded up to the hilt once again along with the days regular quota of passengers.

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Thursday, June 07, 2007

Oh no, I've scratched the car!

10:09 pm | Edit Post
It didn't take long to get out of Djibo and soon my Fulani companion and I were heading in the direction of the Mali border. As we sped along at about 20 kph we found the road deteriorating rapidly, well, the word track may be more of an appropriate description looking at it from a western perspective. As we drove on, most of the landscape appeared rather baron with the odd areas of vegetation following the paths of the dry river beds and from time to time we made our way through the trees winding this way and that as the branches melodically moved over the paintwork of our new vehicle making a sound like fingernails being scraped down a blackboard. As I thought about this I passed comment to my Fulani friend saying, "if this happened to a car where I come from it would need to be repainted". He let out a sigh and then said "Na hayni de" which reads in English "wow, amazing". He then went on to describe how some previous missionaries had got their vehicles seriously stuck in mud in one of these river beds when they weren't so dry.
Now the aim of our trip was to survey Fulani villages in the area north east of Djibo and one Fulani camp we visited (and they are probably not alone in their experience) had to travel over 10 km to get to the nearest water pump, and that is a long way to carry water on your head in temperatures of 50 oC +. One of the more major settlements of that region we passed through did have a pump, but it was broken, and as soon as we stepped out of the car one of the first comments that was made was; "Min dumdi" (we are thirsty). They too would probably need to travel some distance for water or resort to hand dug wells where the water would be far from clean. Most of us take something as basic as water for granted, and yet for many in this part of Burkina clean water is not easy to come by.
As my friend and I got back in to the car he pointed to a small cluster of clouds that had began to form and related it back to the time when his missionary friends got stuck in the mud. "the clouds were just like those ones when the rains came suddenly and swamped us" he said. On hearing this I suddenly felt an urge to return to Djibo as I didn't have a winch to get me out of muddy situations, neither do I posses one.
On our return I reflected on our trip and felt we succeeded on what we set out to do with our survey work. Although it may be a while until we can raise the funds for sinking wells a number of the villages we visited certainly met the criteria. It was certainly worth scratching the car for.
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Monday, May 21, 2007

Football in a bag

11:01 pm | Edit Post
It was two o'clock Burkina time and I said I would get Joshua a seat to FA cup final between the mighty Man U and Chelsea at the new Wembley stadium.  Half past two (don't forget the hour time difference) came and they were already half an hour into the game when we finally took our seats.  The air was electric, and very sticky, as we took our place on a mat in front of a 17" TV in this makeshift cinema like thing.  It must have been 50oC in there, and to be honest the treat for Joshua didn't really feel like to much of a treat for me.  But that's what being a dad is all about, self sacrifice and all that stuff.  Besides I was convinced that Man U would come through in the end, even though my son was supporting Chelsea along with what seemed to be most of the 100 or so Burkinabe who were also crammed into this black plastic tent with only a limited amount of oxygen to share between us all.
 
When the full time whistle went with a disappointing 0 / 0 score I started to lose the will to live.  By this time I wasn't particularly bothered if the referee won the cup I just wanted to feel some sort of breeze again.  As long as it didn't go to penalty shootouts I kept telling myself.  What a relief it was when Chelsea scored in the second half of extra time, but what a scene it was in our black plastic bag.  The crowd went wild and there were people jumping in all directions with a great sense of elation at there men in being the lead with only minutes to go (many of the Chelsea players coming from some part of Africa).  Dust rose up into the air and mine and Joshua's lungs could take no more and in fear for our lives we thought we better head off before the final whistle went.
 
Well, we may not have had seats at Wembley, but we did save an approximate £179.80p as out tickets were only 10p each.  Not bad hey!!!
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Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Feet & Water!

9:42 pm | Edit Post

As I sat talking to the village chief I couldn't help but notice the feet of his friend who was at the time mending a puncture on his bicycle.  Now I don't often make a habit of observing peoples feet, but this man's feet were kind of unusual, full of character, well used and I don't think he had recently had a pedicure.   I don't know if you have ever seen a dried up river bed who's mud base has been so baked by the sun that it looked like a miniature version of the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim, Ireland.  Well this man's feet were so badly cracked I couldn't help but stare at them for what must have been about 5 minutes.   I don't think this action was too offensive. 

As I headed home that afternoon I passed by where, in wet season, there is usually a small watering hole for the animals.  Today, however, it was as dry as the chief's friend's feet with it's all too familiar deep cracks.  The north of Burkina hasn't seen a rainfall now for about eight months, and still there is probably another month to go before the rains come.  As I chatted to the chief that day he was telling me how desperate the people were in his area for drinking water.  Many of the people from his village have had to move away, some have headed to the capital in order to find work, and others have gone with their animals in search of some form of water supply and grazing land, enough to keep their animals alive.

Generally speaking water is something that most of us continue to take for granted, and very few of us, if any, have ever had to face a serious water crisis such as this group of Fulanies.  Although one is not able to solve all these people's problems we may be able to aid in some of them.  One area I would like to try and make a difference in situations such as this chief's is to help fund and organise the repairing of broken pumps (of which there are many) or sinking new wells where there are inadequate water supplies.  There is still a lot of home work to do on this, but I believe it is possible to achieve in the not to distant future once funding is raised.

One of the exciting results to my visit to this village is that the chief gave us an open invitation to share the gospel with them once harvest time has come and gone.  This seems to be a fantastic opportunity to show the love of God in a very practical way in order to introduce them to the one who is able to offer them the living water.

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Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Moving Forward

8:20 pm | Edit Post

Midday and we were still three hours away from Djibo. My colleague and I were on a mission to fetch the new pastor's family, along with most of his worldly belongings and bring them all up to Djibo. As I drove along the monotonously straight roads I reflected on the events we were involved in. Never in the history of the Fulani church in Djibo have they had their own pastor. In fact, to my knowledge, I don't think Djibo has ever had a Fulani pastor before. Mossi ministers, yes, in the AOG church, but never a Fulani. And here we were involved in the process of installing the first Fulani pastor in this predominantly Fulani town. I must say I felt quite honoured to be present at this significant milestone in the church's history.

The following weekend was a time of celebration as the small Fulani church gathered on the Friday evening in our compound for a meal in order to welcome Jodoma, their new Pastor. On the Sunday the celebrations continued as we held the induction service in our grass mat hanger (church) near to the centre of town. It was thrilling to see a number of the local Mossi AOG pastors there to show their support for the church's new pastor as he was officially appointed in his new role. Nobody really seemed to mind the three hour service even though everyone was dripping with sweat due to the heat and humidity. The events ended with another meal accompanied by goat meat all swilled down with a creamy looking millet drink called zonkomre.

The events were a great success, now comes the hard bit… Pastoring a small church on the edge of the Sahara.

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Monday, April 09, 2007

New Neighbours. Blessing or curse?

12:37 pm | Edit Post

Having discovered you have a new neighbour can rouse both positive and negative emotions.  Our new neighbour, however, left us feeling only negative at his presence.  As a number of friends were putting fresh layers of mud on our yard walls an onlooker pointed out that the night before he spotted a black spitting cobra entering a small hole in the wall of our yard which is more than likely his nest.  We don't particularly look forward to the arrival of its babies nor do we desire its company in any way shape or form.  It's a shame that we can no longer get the anti-venom in Burkina… Unless anyone knows anything different that is.

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Sunday, April 08, 2007

Home at last

3:34 pm | Edit Post

After what seemed an eternity we are finally in our new house.  There are still a number of bits and pieces to do but the place is certainly liveable.  With hot season now upon us it certainly it does seem a little strange sleeping under the stars though we haven't get got to the point of wetting our beds before we get in them yet… but I'm sure the time will come in the not to distant future.  If anyone is thinking of visiting us I would advise that you avoid the next few month as it would be a little like stepping in to a furnace.  But if you happen to be one of those who like warmer climates I'm sure we can accommodate you without a problem.

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Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Back in Djibo

8:28 pm | Edit Post
As we drove up to Djibo we were shocked at how bad the road was.  In the space of just a couple of months the road has deteriorated terribly and we were amazed that all the bolts holding the car together weren't shaken loose by the corrugation.  Well at least we had air conditioning on the journey which was some consolation.  The down side of this is, however, when one turns the engine off and gets out of the car and realises that hot season has definitely arrived in Djibo, with average daytime temperatures of around 45oC, one really feels it.  Oh how we savour the memories of a cooler climate.
As we expected once we went to the mission house on the Monday it was once again full of dust, but it didn't take to long to give it a quick spring clean before continuing work.  Just want to add one more thing... we are on schedule to move in tomorrow (28th May) -- at long last.
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Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Where the grass is a little greener. for more of the year anyway!

10:29 am | Edit Post

Having brought the family down to Ouagadougou for the children's MK schooling program I (Mark) headed off to Tenkodogo on the Tuesday where some colleagues of ours have been working amongst the Fulani for 12 years.  Tenkodogo is located approximately 130km south west of Ouaga located in the region of Boulgou which is quite a contrast to the north in relation to its climate and vegetation.   

 

Having arrived in Tenkodogo just in time for lunch I was able to spend the remainder of the day chatting about our work in the north and other aspects of Fulani ministry.  The next morning we had an early start and were on the road by 6:30 heading towards Busama, a village half an hour's drive away where our colleagues have spent the best part of 12 years ministering to and serving the Fulani of that area.  

 

On our arrival we were greeted by one of the ladies in the village who 6 years earlier had needed a blood transfusion in Ouagadougou for a medical condition she had.  I happened to be one of the donors with one of those blood types that can be used by most people (This is not a general offer by the way).   When she realised I was one of those who's blood she received she gushed with a torrent of Tiabus, mi Yetii maas. Etc (roughly translated… thank you very much).  And that evening, as a way of thanks for my donation, we were brought a very ample bowl of Nyiri (Millet porridge) accompanied by the most delicious source I have ever tasted out here (no offence meant to those Jelgoobe Fulani of the Djibo area… your source is nice to, just not as nice as this ladies).

 

I had a great time down in that part of Burkina with our friends.  It really was a shame that Cheryl couldn't have come as well.  But I guess it would have been a little irresponsible to leave our kids to fend for themselves in Ouaga n'est pas!

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Saturday, February 24, 2007

What a start to the week.

9:24 am | Edit Post
My intention on the Sunday afternoon was to visit a friend's son on the Sunday who was in Hospital , but due to our guard losing all his keys this didn't happen.  This young boy was taken into the local Hospital earlier on in the week with suspected meningitis only to discover it was tetanus he had contracted from being cut a few days previous with a rusty nail.  This morning, however, I was shocked to discover that this young boy, about the same age as our Joshua, had passed away around midday Sunday.  It is difficult to say what happened or what medication he received or even what drugs his family gave him prior to taking him to the Hospital.  It was just a harsh reminder of how often life is held in the balance in a place like Djibo.
 
At the end of the day I attended the indiiri (naming ceremony) of the baby I had taken home from the hospital the week before.  They had named him Umaru.  Umaru being the Fulani name I go by out here.
 
It was a bitter sweet beginning to the week.
 
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There is nothing planned for Sunday you know!

9:24 am | Edit Post
I hadn't expected to get back into church life in Djibo straight away, but when I arrived in church the other Sunday and all eyes were on me I thought; "Well I guess these people have certain expectations".  And so with my rather rusty fulfulde I attempted to lead the mornings meeting.  As did happen the following week.  Well, there is no time like the present I suppose.  Fortunately the reading of scripture in the Djibo context is perfectly acceptable as the preaching slot.  So the book of Acts it was.
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Monday, February 12, 2007

Looking for paint... came back with a baby

9:36 pm | Edit Post
Just had one of those days.  There are some things I thought were straightforward to get hold of in Djibo such as paint.  It seems that today, however, most of the shop keepers were away hunting for customers or something.  But just as I was awaiting for one boutique owner to return from his wanderings I was approached by a good friend of mine.  "Jam Waali", I called out and he reciprocated the greeting and then went on to tell me that his wife had just given birth in the hospital and he was in the process of looking for someone to take mother and baby home.  Just having obtained a new car I thought "Why shouldn't our Prado double up as a courtesy ambulance".  And so off we both went to the hospital where we found Fatimata and their new born son (To be named in seven days time in keeping with Fulani/Muslim tradition).  Accompanied by a number of older ladies who obviously would have aided my friend's wife in her moment of need, we set off in the direction of home, just a few minutes away.  The last time they has a child I was also called upon to perform this essential task of chauffeur.  It really was quite nice to be able to do this little thing for them this time as well.
Soon after I returned on my quest for paint... to no avail, however.  At least the morning wasn't completely wasted.
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Sunday, February 11, 2007

So where did the cold season go?

9:15 pm | Edit Post

We had half expected to have at least a couple of months of relatively colder weather on our return to Djibo. The “cold” season, however, seems to have alluded us some how. Whilst we were in the UK (which now seems a long time ago even though we haven’t even been back a month) I recall comments from certain quarters that were made during an unusually “good” summer we were having. They went something along the lines of; “If this is global warming… bring it on”. Now I don’t know if these utterances were said in jest or whether these half wit comments were a true reflection of certain individuals’ global ignorance.

Sadly it’s those who contribute the least to global warming who happen to suffer the most because of it. At the present the temperatures in this part of the world shouldn’'t really be getting above 35oC. Over the last few weeks, however, temperatures have consistently been hitting the low 40s. What we may see as a “good” summer back home is often a matter of life and death in another corner of our global village. I hardly think “bring it on” is an appropriate response, do you?

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Friday, February 09, 2007

From Djibo to Ouaga and back again. and again!!!

10:30 pm | Edit Post

The road between Djibo and Ouagadougou has become most familiar to me over the past few days.  Up till I have travelled it three times in as many days and am hoping to make the same epic voyage tomorrow morning.  And by the look of the car that has just arrived that will indeed be the case, for we are the proud new owners of a 9 year old Toyota Prado.

 

Now where was I, oh yes, the comings and goings.  One of the major reasons for coming down to Ouaga, apart from swapping cars, was to got to the Burkina equivalent of B&Q to get the wood need to fix up parts of the house.  How much easier it seems in the UK where you go to the shop, see what you want and buy the right quantity.  Not so here.  Once one has selected the large planks of wood with the minimum of splits and floors in it one then needs to explain several times to what size one would like them cut.  Then you accompany your selected planks to the sawmill to make sure they are not traded on the way for less favourable ones. After checking up on them between other errands the wood is ready to collect… several hours later.  Not a bad job to be honest.  However, since when has 2cm been 1.5cm.  I decided not to quibble over this matter as by this time I was completely exhausted from the day’s wanderings around the big mango (Burkina’s equivalent to the big apple).

 

And so back off up to Djibo to deposit the various purchases only to return to Ouaga the following morning as the car I was now driving had already been purchased and the new owner was quite keen to see it in his hands. 

 

If you are at all interested in seeing progress on our Djibo house please follow the link in our home page at the bottom left.

 

Bye for now

 

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Tuesday, January 30, 2007

If only there was a B&Q in Djibo

10:04 pm | Edit Post

You would think that wood should be a pretty strait forward thing to buy in most parts of the world.  Not so.  As work begins on getting the mission house ready to live in we have discovered that the termites have had quite a feast whilst the place has been empty.  The screen doors, it seems, have been a good meal to a number of these helpful little creatures.  Trying to find wood in Djibo has proved rather fruitless as I have hunted high and low for the stuff. Maybe the termites have bought it all up.  I guess I’ll be off down to Ouaga sooner than I anticipated.  Ho hum… welcome back to Burkina

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