April Newsletter

Here is a April update of what's been going on in Ouagadougou!

Click here to view April newsletter...

Children's weekend at FEMO

Ah, the children...Yes, we love them in North American culture: cute and they say the funniest things. But the value of children is quite different in different cultures. In Burkina, children are a resource. Sure, they are loved just the same. But the richness of the traditional family was often seen in the number of children (and cattle). In Jesus' time, children had very little value. In her Children's Sunday sermon, Tany talked about how if a couple could not have children, they would opt to adopt...an adult. Children were basically just waiting to become adults. In Burkina Faso, often, children are referred to as "half-people". That's why it is so striking how Jesus told us to change our attitudes and become like children - the lowliest of his society. What kind of unexpected kingdom person is God trying to tell you to become like? The children's weekend at the Foyer Evangelique Mennonite de Ouagadougou was a success. Sure, the children missed out on their outing to the forest to experience God in nature due to some political unrest in the city. But overall, the children were so pumped on the Sunday, the culminating day, where they led the whole service. Asher said, "That was the shortest church service ever!" - A sign of how much more children appreciate church when they participate. During the activities that preceded Sunday, children listened to some of our church "elders" tell Bible stories and give advice on how to be a kid. Usually, these activities involved sitting on a bench for an hour and a half. How different from our non-stop activity-oriented culture! When a "recess" was announced, children wasted no time at all in guzzling down bissap (a local red drink made of hibiscus leaves) and starting a quick game of hide and seek. You have to make the most of your 15 minutes before you hit the benches again!

Newsletters from January and February

Here are some of our updates that hadn't yet been posted here.

Janurary Newsletter

February Newsletter

Who's got the power?

I'm feeling a bit ambivalent these days. We topped 40 degrees C the other day which officially marks hot season in Ouagadougou. To celebrate the event, the national electricity company sent out a program of the power cuts that would be happening over the next two months, the hottest of the year. We were discouraged: 7 hours per day without power planned for the next few months...it's going to be a long haul to get to the rains. May God send them early this year!

But to our amazement, we have gone 4 days without a power cut in our little neighbourhood - a mix of middle and lower class people - when all around us, the city is suffering through up to 12 hour cuts per day. Then we heard the rumour: we have what they call a "grand" in our neighbourhood. Somebody important and with influence has moved in. We have been so thankful for power and the ability to enjoy a bottle of cold water from time to time, but at whose expense?

Two days ago I went to buy a cold Coke from the corner boutique, a 1 minute walk from our house. I asked the owner if he had any cold ones and he just looked at me, shocked. "We've been cut for the past 12 hours. The power just came back 30 minutes ago. You'll have to take a warm one." I was embarrassed. I hadn't noticed a thing all day. As I handed him the money, darkness fell on us. Another cut. He used his flashlight to find my change. I thanked him and walked into the blackness of the night. Across the street in our neighbourhood, the limit of that section of the power grid, all lights were on. I went home and put my Coke in the freezer to enjoy it cold a couple of hours later...

Mennonite Church Canada Learning Tour

Have you checked out the MC Canada Learning Tour blog yet? It describes there time in Burkina Faso last month. You can find it at:

http://burkinamenno.blogspot.com/

Linux Lover

Okay, so most of us hear the word Linux and think...geek alert! (Sorry linux people, I say this with the utmost respect and I am making a point here.) The reality was that you had to know computers pretty well to get around in the linux world. Well, I'm proof that this isn't the case anymore. We have been using a linux operating system on old, seemingly dead computers out here in Africa for a few years now. I specifically use one that's called Puppy Linux (Just Google it). The thing about these operating systems is that they boot from a CD or from a USB key without requiring a huge (or even fully functional) hard drive. You can turn a 10 year old computer into a rapidly-working computer that is virus resistant. Even more, you can walk around with a USB key as if it were your own personal laptop, plug it in to most computers and have all of your applications and personalized settings there at your fingertips.

This is why, if you have an old laptop that you may not need anymore, you can contact me immediately and we can get it sent out here so that people can use the things instead of having them just collect dust in your closet.

Sorry if this sounded like an ad. And thanks to all you linux people who are doing amazing stuff and getting so little credit or remuneration for it! Have a great rest of the week! - Jeff

Reflection from Tany

I generally leave the writing to Jeff, thankful of his gifts and willingness to fill this role, but today I saw something that struck me enough that I felt compelled to share it with you, our friends and family in Canada.

As I was walking down a village street this morning I noticed two young boys about Asher`s size, up ahead of me, pulling a 2-wheeled donkey cart – now empty but surely soon to be filled or even over-filled. Not an unusual sight, but it got me reflecting on the world of differences between the privileges and opportunities born to some 6-year-olds like these bare-footed boys, who are more familiar with physical work than they are with school work, and those born to others like Asher. As I watched and pondered, one boy climbed onto the back of the cart, with his feet hanging off the end and started kicking his feet so that the back of the cart started rocking up and down. Immediately, his partner who was pulling at the front of the cart also hopped aboard, his feet hanging over the front, and the two boys began working together, each energetically pushing the cart forward with their feet when their end of the cart lowered, balancing the cart as if they were on a rolling teeter-totter. Of course, now my thoughts turned from feeling compassion for these boys, to being inspired by the strength of their spirit, contemplating how each of us has the choice to face our circumstances and work either grudgingly and filled with self-pity or joyfully and whole-heartedly, with the potential to encourage others to do the same. The boy at the back of the cart waved happily to me as his cart see-sawed away down the road. And it left me wondering, as has happened so many times before since we came to Burkina Faso, whether I, who have been sent to this country to serve and minister to the Burkinabe people, have not been the one most significantly touched and taught by these people and their abundant strengths and riches. - Tany

November Newsletter

Here is a November update of what's been going on in Ouagadougou!

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Presidential Elections 2010 – Burkina Faso

Burkina's current president has been in power since 1987. Go look up the events surrounding that year. It's very interesting. Of course, I don't want to say too much on this blog that could get me into trouble. So I will just comment on the campaigning. It is really the current president who is the only candidate of the 2010 presidentials that has the funds to put together a campaign. The strategies involve billboards and T-shirts. (Give a village woman a new T-shirt, and you will have one happy Burkina mama!) I have yet to see any advertisements from other candidates. I heard of one, though – a billboard of another candidate that was on the wrong side of the road so you could hardly see it.

The president's campaign seems based on one theme: experience. Who else knows how to run a country and keep the peace? I used to long for a change here in Burkina. I still hope some day that change will come. But I have to ask myself: If I were Burkinabé, who would I vote for - the status quo or the unknown? We all know Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world. But is peace worth sacrificing for social and political change?

One of our church members said the other day that Africans want change, but they are scared of tomorrow. What if the next guy makes things worse? So, how do you change a country peacefully? Interestingly, on the university level, there are ideas. First, you need a valid opposing candidate. Then, organize the students so that each one goes back to his or her village and educate their village on the political position of the candidates. Maybe someday a new generation will be brave enough to try something like that. For now, we will all be surprised (and frankly, somewhat panicked) if the status quo is not maintained this coming Sunday.

September Newsletter

Here is a September update of what's been going on in Ouagadougou!

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