Misconceptions

I often find that many people think my life here is quite extreneous, adventerous, or completely out there so I thought I would take short post to clear the air on some common misconceptions.

1.) I do not live in a mud hut.
-in fact I live in a very nice house, with a bed, a fridge, a washing machine, and a fan. (granted some people in this house of a.c. I do not, it as if I sleep everynight on heating blanket, as well as in a sauna.

2.) I do not eat african food everyday.
-in fact I rarely eat african food, rice or to with sauce is served everywhere and I would rather treat it as a treat than an everyday occurrence ;-) I do however love, passionately, going to the market to pick up my fresh fruits, veggies, and herbs. I have become quit the 'Rachel Ray', the things Africa forces you to do.

3.) Not all africans like white people.
-in fact they tell alot of the children that white people will eat them so I often find myself going over to a child only to watch them run away screaming as the mothers all stand around and laugh.

4.) Being a white person does not always give you advantages.
-in fact, I often find myself being taken advantage of when shopping. The other day I went to the largest market in Ouaga with my Burkinabe friend Debora and she asked the price for a necklace she thought was nice, he said 'for you 500cfa but for her 3,000 cfa. Obviously being a white person gives very little help in situations like this.

5.) Not everyday life in Africa is an Adventure.
-in fact I often find myself wondering what to do with the rest of my afternoon.

6.) I do not always feel clean or comfortable.
-in fact the only feeling good (physically) I do is covered in sweat, I cannot walk from the shower to my room (5 ft.) without being covered in sweat once again.

7.) I am NOT fluent in french.
-in fact I face days where I wonder if I ever even took a french class.


So there are just a few of the realities of life here, everyday indeed has a gift of it's own and everyday I find myself falling more and more in love with this place, everyday it becomes more and more of 'home' to me but the realities of life don't just leave because you move to another country, and that is a lesson I have been figuring out since the moment I stepped on this soil.

When 2 Worlds Collide!

Today I woke up, put on a pretty dress and went to Ouaga 2000 for church.

This morning this little girl woke up, put on the only dress she had and went to work.

Today I looked around at the vast riches stocked in homes that surrounded me, and marveled at their splendor.

Today I also looked into the eyes of children who were estatic that a white person had come to visit their small brick hut they call 'home'

Today I watched as a baby slept soundly in the comforting arms of protection and a future.

And today I held the hands of children whose future was tomorrow, hoping they would make it that long.







Today was a collision, a place where 2 worlds met, and I was the common thread. I lived today on each end of the spectrum, a place where there is no fear of losing, and a place where there is no guarantee of living.

Today I watched as my dear friend Debora, a burkinabe herself, was heart broken over the poor conditions in which these children live. To hear the words come from her mouth that how they survive is unimaginable and to watch her eyes fill with compassion over the little girl she supports from church broke my heart in two. She told me that for them, it is not possible to bathe every week (not to mention eat, we just happened to see a filthy little boy come running in), it isn't even possible for them to buy enough water to last them that long (25 cfa, the equivalent of .50).

It broke my heart and opened my eyes once again to the realities of where I am. Yes, this is Africa, the place so many dream of coming, but to those who live here this is home, the only place they will ever know. I have, with a very heavy heart realized that I cannot help every single person I see (though I have tried, just ask my roommates about the people who come to the door selling stuff), but to help just one here and one there makes all the difference in the world. To sit and share time with these belovedly beautiful people forever changes them and me as well. Katdafame (Deboras 'little sister') will always remember the day a 'Nasara' (white person, also my name in any outskirt area of town) came to visit her home, sat on her makeshift chair and took pictures of her and her friends. Even if I am here to only make a difference in little ways like that I know that I am being used by God.

The Spice of Life

So much has been going on lately and I have not been able to find the time (or the internet capacity for that matter) to catch everyone up, so here's a little time filler until I can write about some of the more serious things happening in Ouaga.

We recently had a "Game Night" for all of our friends who are in their 20's, we made lots of delicious food, and played Apples to Apples, Liar's dice, and Gender Bender.

Some of our friends: Above is Fred and Matt both here long term. Matt is drilling wells in the villages around Ouaga and Fred, along with his wife, work at the Pan-Bila ministry.

Also: Micheal and Tyler, Micheal and His wife are expecting a baby in February, they are living and working in Pissy. Tyler has been here for almost 4 years working with a children s outreach organization, focusing on the tomato can boys.

Two of my favorite people; Olivia (L) and Sarah, they both recently just arrived in Ouaga and are spending 6-9 months working out in Yako with Lynn Peters and her school and orphanage (where the Wired youth group will be going at the end of October).

Tiffany (L) who is pregnant, she is Micheal's wife and she is also a nurse, working at a clinic out in Pissy, and Susan (my dearly beloved roomie).

Sarah, my other favorite roomie and Natajina (with the horrid expression on her face, trying to avoid the camera) She grew up here in Burkina along with Fred and they are now married, working at Pan Bila.

Tyler and Fred discussing a gender bender issue.

Game Night also happened to be Tiffany's 25th Birthday, so we had a little party on the side! (It's unfortunate that you cannot see her 'candles' aka mathes stuck in the cake to look like candles)

On to some other interesting facts of life here in Ouage, everyday I find something new about the culture, wheter it be fascinating or horrifying there is always a surprise with each new day and below I wil tell you about a few.

It may not look very evident as to what this is in the strainer, but let me give you a little hint, when you want to use flour here it must first be sifted, because of those. Those are little worms, that turn into really disgusting bugs. One of those things I find horrifyingly fascinating.

One thing I have loved is watching the storms roll in, the other day when I was out at Dorcas house a storm began to come and what a phennoniman it was to watch it come in over the vast desert where nothing is standing in it's way.

It was beautiful to watch the lightning across the sky and the clouds billow in.

A horrifying event? Yes! As soon as we got to Dorcas house one day we noticed a huge commotion, apparently after calming everyone down enough to explain we discovered that there was a snake eating a lizard in the girls bedroom. After lots of prayer, and a few men the snake was finally caught, killed, and burned. Indeed it is true, there are snakes in Burkina Faso!

Dorcas House

Welcome to a place where God is moving, changing, molding, teaching, acting, empowering, and triumphing over girls whose hearts have been given to Him. The Dorcas house holds a very special and intimate place in my heart and that special place expands with every moment I spend there. 2 years ago this place was a piece of land with great vision and now it is a safe haven for 15 girls who have been abandoned by their families, a place where they have ALL come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, a place where they are learning ways to make a living in the real world, learning how to care for themselves physically and most importantly learning to live a life devoted to Him.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Dorcas House, it's nothing special that meets the eye, it's the meaning behind it all. This is the spot where we stood 2 years ago and prayed over a desolate piece of dirt, truly the harvest is plentiful! This tree was the only indication of where the property was and now is only a small piece of the grand dream that has come true.

This is the well of 'living water' or so I like to call it. This well is the only water that has been found in this area for a very long time, and was divinely placed on this land by God's providential hands.

These are the bathrooms at Dorcas house, on the right is the actual potties (or holes in the ground) and on the left are the showers (more so a walled in area for you to pour a bucket of water over yourself.)

These are the dorms, I believe that each one sleeps 7 or 8 girls.

This is the brand new kitchen that was just built in the past few months.

This is the inside of a classroom where the girls lean their projects, memory verses, etc.

This is one of their many fields or gardens, this one has peanut leaves in it, a leaf they use in sauce.

Amy standing in the shower!

The very NICE toilets, you wouldn't believe the ventilation in these things, which is always a high point of using a squatty potty. (ventalation is key)

The inside of the dorms, each girl has her own bed and mosquito net.

This is the inside of the very nice, new kitchen that was just built in the last few months.

This is the new border mark around Dorcas house, 2 weeks ago the mission almost lost the property (for reasons that are too complicated for me to understand or explain), all that matters is that by prayer and God's provision the property was more than doubled!

This is the view from the new marker, the Dorcas house is dead ahead, and if you look in both directions at some what of a diagonal each way you will see the magnitude of the new property. (Basically to the left, way past that tree and on back.)

And this is the view to the right, to the far trees and beyond.

With all this new property there are many propositions for what can be done. Previously the money was covered for the wall to surround the entire property, giving the girls protection, security and rights to the land. But now that all this new property has fallen into our laps we need double the amount of walls. There is also talk of a livestock farm, including sheep, cows, pigs, chickens and fish. This will enable the girls to learn to care for and prepare animals for sale. There is also hopes of more dorms to enable a larger group of girls to attend, and to allow the first year girls a second year of trades. A Moringua field is going to be planted here, Moringa is the 'good for all' leaf that is harvested off the trees, dried and then made into a spice. It helps with malnutrition along with a list of many other things.

A team from Appleton, WI. was out here recently, they brought along with them crocheting yarn and spent 4 days out at Dorcas house teaching the girls to Crochet.

Sarah came out to help teach as well, ( I was not much of the crocheting teacher due to the fact that I was learning right along with them).

Then we played the human knot game, they thorougly enjoyed this game, though had a very difficult time solving the problem of getting untangled.


Below is a picture of every girl with their name tag for anyone and everyone who wants to see the faces of the girls whose lives are being changed. (I hope in the very near future to add each girls story to their picture, so be looking for that to come).

Delfine is the Guard's wife, they live in a little house by the well.

Suzane is the musically talented one of the group, she loves to play the 'tam tams' or any sort of object that can be used as a drum, and to sing her heart out for Christ.

This is one of the girls who has a baby.

Martine is the other girl with a baby.

Amy knew a little about crocheting and was able to lend a helping hand to anyone having trouble, oh and the project they were working on was making a hat.

The guys from Appleton started to put the fench around the garden.

Kari and I made some village friends, the little boy with his eyes closed was terrified of us at first.

We ventured over to the well, which has the cleanest water I have yet to see in Africa, a blessing from God. The story goes that for the longest time no one was able to find water in this area of the village and then when Dorcas House came to look for water the only place was on their land, a spring of living water, holy and blessed by God. (It's even drinkable for foreigners)

Anyone in the community can use the well, but they must first pay 10cfa, the equivalent of .20 cents. We spent some time helping pump water for these girls, unfortunately we were unable to communicate with them since they only spoke More.

Every Saturday Amy and I do a health lesson in Jula (aka Amy does the lesson and I stand there and pretend to help) for the girls. The first week was on taking care of our skin and teeth, so it was awfully fitting to give out toothbrushes and toothpaste, and soap.

A few products made by the Dorcas House girls:

I was astonished to find that after a week the girls has made these items and many more. (keep in mind they were only taught to make a hat), these items will all be for sale.

The second week our health lesson was on physical fitness, we learned some basic stretches (of which I wish I had pictures, it was priceless) and then learned a few volleyball moves and played 'ne touche pas la terre' (aka don't touch the ground). I have never seen such delight over a game as I saw playing with these girls.

Their next project, one they just started is dying bazzin. Bazzin is a very elegent material here in Burkina and makes some of the most beautiful outfits, though it looks like a pice of thck paper, after washed a few times softens to normal fabric.