Friday, March 28, 2008

The kissing Camel

9:05 am | Edit Post
We thought that this Camel kissing Amelia was cute.
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Monday, February 25, 2008

Water.

10:40 pm | Edit Post
It was thrilling to see clean water flowing again in my friend's village. On hearing of my visit the chief got the whole village together in order to greet me. We spoke for a while and they showed me what they had put in place to ensure that when the well needed repairs doing the next time the money would be their. It's quite an encouragement when folk take hold of your advice and run with it. I was then presented with four cockerels as a sign of their appreciations.
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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Well, Well, Well

9:36 pm | Edit Post
Water, one of the basic essentials for life but often taken for grated. For most people coming from the UK the thought of rain doesn't fill one with excitement, in fact some may argue that the British Isles has too much of the stuff especially during the holiday period. Some even consider emigrating to warmer climates because of it. We, however, have come to appreciate its value in day to day living. In the north of Burkina it hasn't rained since mid September and we don't expect it to again until around mid June. In Djibo itself it isn't to hard to find clean drinking water, we ourselves are fortunate enough to have the liquid gold on tap, but out of the town is a different story all together. It's not that there are no wells in the surrounding villages, there are, though not in all, it's just that many of the existing wells are broken.


A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine came to visit and shared with me how his village now had no water supply. There were actually three deep wells in this community of about 1500 people but their final well broke the previous day leaving them with a five km walk to the nearest supply. Don't ask me why folk wait for the situation to get so desperate, it's a question I frequently ask, and never seem to receive a reasonable answer. Ho hum.

I agreed to help him on the condition that the village folk contributed some of the finance needed to get one of the wells pumping water again. One week later I went out to see how the work was going and to chat with some of the villagers about how they may put in place a system of putting aside funds each month for future repairs. The discussions seemed to go well and were met with a lot of nods of agreement at some of the ideas put forward. We will just have to see if they put any of the ideas into practice.



I head out there tomorrow to hopefully find a village with clean drinking water.

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Monday, February 04, 2008

Dentistry in West Africa.

8:46 pm | Edit Post

Now it's not that I generally avoid going to the dentist, in fact I like to think that I have become immune to any fear I may have once held to due to my frequent visits to "the chair" in my youth. The thought of a visit to the dentist in a West African country, however, seems to have revived that adolescent dread I once held, but when needs must one has to be the grown up and bite the bullet. And so, when my ten year old crown detached itself with the help of a piece of chewing gum kindly given to me by my ten year old son, off I went.

Now there is a dentist in the town where we live, and although he is meant to be very skilful I felt more comfortable heading off down to Ouaga to seek the counsel of previous missionaries who had gone before me. A few days later I found myself in that place once again where the light always shines like the morning sun and the instruments of the trade are left on display to stare at you with intent.

To cut a long story short I was very impressed with the dentist, a German lady married to a Burkinabe, as she explained to me that I would need to have a screw placed in the root of what was left of my molar. Her method of dentistry is a little different to what I was used to in the UK. I would like it to that of a German car, a Volkswagen lets say – no unnecessary frills but solid workmanship.

It was interesting that on the way out the Dental assistant (the lady with the suction pipe) offered me some counsel on the way out as to whether to use my old crown or get a new one made. Interesting.

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Thursday, January 17, 2008

Our Friends' Imminent Arrival

9:25 pm | Edit Post

As I write this blog we have a couple of friends who are slowly making their way across West Africa.  They have already been to Timbuktu in Mali and next Tuesday 22nd Jan 2008 they should be arriving in Djibo.  Now we have had quite a number of visitors here over the years but none as yet who have come via this rout.  Do take the opportunity to look at their blog: http://www.totimbuktu.blogspot.com/   and if you are reading this blog from Mali and see a couple of foreigners looking lost.  Do point them in the right direction.

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Happy New Year

9:15 pm | Edit Post

Christmas is but a distant memory now and it seems a little futile to be writing about our Christmas in Djibo.  So I won't.  Instead I'll fill you in on the events surrounding our New Year, but to do this I'm going to need to take you back in time to New Year 2002 when we first visited some missionary friends from the UK down in the south east of Burkina.  A couple of years later they were very kind in reciprocating the visit when they came to Djibo where a bit of an infrequent tradition began.  Consequentially we found ourselves back in village of Legmouin just 5 km away from the Ghanaian border.  It was quite a trek from Djibo (600km) but we had a great time visiting again with the Nash family.

 

Following a few days with our friends we headed back to Ouagadougou where we stayed for a few days before heading off to the SIM Burkina Spiritual Life Conference (SLC).  Whilst in Ouaga I had the delights of visiting the dentist for the first time in Burkina.  It really is something one tries to avoid, especially as I'm not that keen on the whole pain thing.  However, needs must as one of my crowns came away and it's a little difficult chewing on a gnarled stump rather than a finely honed piece of porcelain.  During our short stay in Ouaga all of us but Cheryl fell sick.  Sam threw up whilst on the swings at the SIL centre.  Cheryl said it was quite spectacular. I only smelled the after effects!

 

We finally headed off to Fada N 'Gourma on the Wednesday where our SLC was being held.  Joshua for one was a little more subdued than usual and I for one needed to stay pretty close to the loo the first couple of days.  Despite our ailments we had a great time and enjoyed catching up with SIM missionary colleagues.  Most of the conference was in French this year and it was quite a challenge for me leading the worship in French, but no one threw anything at me so I assume it went okay.

 

We are now back in Djibo and Sam for one appears to be very glad to be home, and if I'm honest I think we all are.  In the space of just over one month we have each slept in 11 different beds.  I know we work with nomads, but we never imagined it would be a contagious lifestyle.

 

Well, I guess all there is left to say is, HAPPY NEW YEAR to one and all.

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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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Thursday, October 18, 2007

Back on line

9:30 am | Edit Post

During our short time in the UK I realised that computers don’t really cope with drinks of tea very well.  After pouring a full cup of tea into the keyboard of my laptop it rapidly closed down never to boot-up again.  A lesson learned I think.  Anyway, I am now suffering the delights of modern technology on the edge of the Sahel.  It would seem that some of the newer modems don’t cope very well with older phone systems such as we find ourselves using in Djibo.  A little frustrating feeling an increased sense of isolation from the outside world.  The problem, however, has now been resolved and so, for those who nip onto our blog from time to time there should be some more regular updates.  And if you are heading out with a newer computer to a country where you are not sure of the connection quality, it may be worth purchasing an external modem just in case.

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Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Back 2 BF

11:02 am | Edit Post
Following our time in the UK we are just about to head back to Burkina.  I will write a little more about our goings on once I have a little more time, but i can assure you it wasn't all fun and games.  Our friends' wedding was great though.  Congratulations Mike and Alison. 
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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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