So, I've been AWOL for about three weeks now... SONABEL Frapped the charger to my laptop, (along with my power strip and voltage regulator) so when the laptop died I jumped back in time about 10 years, which is no fun. Now that I am in Paris, (Nassatanga) not only have I already had fine wine, sausage, cheeze and an assortment of bread, but I also have fine bandwidth, cables and an assortment of computers. Hooray!! For all of you readers, this translates (finally) into high quality media and some large youtube videos, God and scheduling willing.
More to come once I'm settled here. I'm in very good health, better spirits, and have a checkup appointment with a doc tomorrow to see if I have any hitchhikers in my bloodstream.
Thanks again for your emails and help!! God bless!
-Hunter
Kokologho, Cards and Computers
Sam's cousin walking from his house
I took a trip with Sam to his hometown of Kokologho the other day to visit with his family and meet some of his friends. It was a very pleasant trip. The sky was a thick baby blue and it was very clear, so much the opposite of Ouagadougou. The air was fresh and cool, and the lack of noise reminded me of how much I love the country. There were a lot of pigs there too, which reminded me of how much I love BBQ...
Sam on the dam
The garden well, and the fields beyond
We saw the lake there, and took a pretty long hike across the countryside. The air was cool, but the sun was intense as always. All of Sam's friends and family were overwhelmingly nice and generous, and I was lavished with gifts of chickens and peanuts.
cozeying with Sam's family and Boubaka
me on the lake
I gave the peanuts to my neighbor to sell; the chicken I fried up somethin awful nice- I made a BBQ sauce and fried it southern stile, and invited the pastor, Sam, and Sam's sister Claireese to come and play cards. It was an absolutely delightful evening.
UNO with friends
This week has been incredibly busy as I have been organizing photos for all the kids at our school. I have three pics of each student and am completing the compilation today.
It turns out that with all the English courses we taught and all the work I've been doing, the thing that has been most popular has been my computer. All of my neighbors, all of my English students, kids in the neighborhood and even the pastor and pastors from other churches have been coming to learn the basics of how to use computers and the internet. Unlike most other things I've been helping with here, I am very very familiar with computers, and am planning on organizing a real course when I return.
Ibraham learning how to type, search and use e-mail
Last night I projected the Your Version split screen bible in the classroom, and put the French alongside the English while I played some classical music. It was amazing, and a wonderful feeling being in a room of half Muslims, half Christians and just sitting in the ambiance of the music reading without saying a word. All were very interested and we read for about 20 minutes. Jesus was most definitely working there.
I am beginning to wind down a bit and need to start thinking of the developed world and what it is going to be like to have paved roads, cars and real coffee again. I know I will miss Burkina dearly, and I am ready to come back and work my tail off to pay down some debt, meet our program goals on this side of the pond, and save some cash so I can make it back here before next school year.
me playing two different sized Nescafe cans with pencils
I want to say again that the things Jeremie and I have been working to accomplish here have provided a better future for hundreds of kids, both the kids in the program and those in the school who aren't in the program, (all told around 300 now...), the 3k people fed after the flood and the dozens of families who received relief. There are so many wonderful open hearts who have given and worked to make all of this a reality, and to all of you I say thank you and God bless you again. Everyone here knows that all the support is coming from multiple communities back home and they love you for it.
Baseball is BACK!
I'm sorry, but this has got to be the funniest thing I have seen in a long time.
Our city, which I have begun to love dearly, has been fumbling baseball issues. We lost our resident Braves feeder team we'd had for decades, and proceeded to argue about building a new stadium for a year or so. Now we have a new team in our old stadium:
The Richmond Flying Squirrels
I personally am glad to see that we have a team again, and am relieved that the team name is within the "ridiculously comical" range, thereby filling the requirement of being absurd enough it is impossible to take seriously, and so absurd it is funny-but not over-the limit absurd to as to not have any entertainment value whatsoever.
The following XKCD graph explains how this principle is applied to movies.
The Flying Squirrel, I feel very much falls within the "So bad it's good" range.
This Blog is typically not the place for such a post, but as the news has TOTALLY and in every way made my day, and will probably make me laugh anytime anyone mentions baseball or flying squirrels for the rest of my life, I felt it appropriate to comment.
Go Nuts for the Squirrels!!
Our city, which I have begun to love dearly, has been fumbling baseball issues. We lost our resident Braves feeder team we'd had for decades, and proceeded to argue about building a new stadium for a year or so. Now we have a new team in our old stadium:
The Richmond Flying Squirrels
I personally am glad to see that we have a team again, and am relieved that the team name is within the "ridiculously comical" range, thereby filling the requirement of being absurd enough it is impossible to take seriously, and so absurd it is funny-but not over-the limit absurd to as to not have any entertainment value whatsoever.
The following XKCD graph explains how this principle is applied to movies.
The Flying Squirrel, I feel very much falls within the "So bad it's good" range.
This Blog is typically not the place for such a post, but as the news has TOTALLY and in every way made my day, and will probably make me laugh anytime anyone mentions baseball or flying squirrels for the rest of my life, I felt it appropriate to comment.
Go Nuts for the Squirrels!!
Targho in November
Amazing. It is so beautiful there; we didn't get to see the kids, but we met the new town doctor and explained the program to him. He is a very kind man, and is equally as excited about the program as the previous doctor. We met up with several different families, including two pastors and a few relatives of Jeremie, and Job's family as well.
Jeremie's wife Esther and their niece
Jeremie's father
A few of the people from the largest church in town were cutting millet for an old couple; Jeremie and I pitched in for a few minutes in what was a symbolic gesture. Everyone was excited to have us there helping out, and though we didn't do much physically, we definitely gave the folks a burst of energy of the afternoon. It was a good time.
cozeying with the locals...
Fires were burning sporadically, as new fields were being cleared for the next planting. The dirt paths that meander about prevent the fires from spreading, and the grass is thin enough that the fires, unlike field fires in VA, don't get very high or strong and they burn out quickly.
Targo was bustling as it is harvest time. The fields having been mostly felled, everyone was in the process of cutting, transporting and stacking the millet for the year. Most seemed in better spirits than usual. It was really quite a wonderful sight to see. We gave cookies and bread to a few groups of strangers, and I played with the Muslim kids at the mosque for a few minutes; I shook their hands and spoke some Moré, and tried to break their frozen, slack-jawed stares with little success.
My neighbors in Ouaga are very used to me now, and I had forgotten what it was like before people were comfortable with my presence. I think I made a good impression, and they were all excited when I recovered their soccer ball as we parted.
The food center is a great little structure, and a wonderful beginning to what we hope will become the location of our new orphanage. There a trees and bushes planted around the perimeter of the property, and in about 2 years, I suspect it will be the most beautiful lot of land in the region.
food distribution shelter
I ran out of water about 3/4 of the way through our venture, and had planned to purchase more in the market there. Unfortunately, they didn't have any sachets or bottles in any of the three small bars, and even more surprising, everyone was out of Coke!! In all seriousness, I think that gives a good idea of how isolated the village is. Targho is a good sized town (I liken it a bit to Farmville, VA- tiny, but big for the region); it has wells and a market, but surrounding villages aren't nearly as well off. Jeremy mentioned that several of them don't have wells. I hope we can help solve that problem...
I miss and love that place, it is very warm, very simple, and very very Africa. Tragically, there are many more difficulties to the life there than in our bustling metropolis of Ouaga. Hopefully that won't be the case for the next generation.
Wall Finished
Lassane and his team have already finished the wall. I was speechless when I arrived this afternoon as they were wrapping up. They did indeed finish before the end of the week-but THIS week. Incredible. I observed that they were working very fast now, much faster than they had been working in the early morning as they had a full day of practice under their belts. Lassane about blew me off my feet when he replied in understandable English: "Time is money."
His dad worked in Ghana, and he picked up a bit. Impressive!
His dad worked in Ghana, and he picked up a bit. Impressive!
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