Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Carnival!

We started off this morning with another nice oatmeal breakfast and got an early start at the handicap center. Today the handicap center hosted a carnival for 250 – 300 kids and students of the center. There were 30 “stands” set up around the compound, each with a different attraction or game. Our team ran three games found around the carnival: throwing tennis balls at a pyramid of tin cans, launching objects out of catapults at targets and shooting BB guns at tin cans stacked across a wall. (These were the only games that involved “shooting things”, the rest of the games ranged from opening a book to a certain page while wearing boxing gloves to filling balloons full of water.)

Alex John and I ran the BB gun stand at the carnival and had a great time. I will note a couple interesting experiences, though. The handicap center offers a school for blind children and they of course wanted a turn at each station. So we had many blind children coming up and asking to take part, while we guided their hands and helped them aim toward the stacked tin cans and let a few shots go. (A couple of the blind students were great shots!) We had to convince the kids not to shoot the lizards running behind our set up of cans a lot of times too. Other than that, keeping lines full of excited children who don’t speak English organized kept us busy all morning.

After lunch, the Mobility team had a great opportunity to go out into the bush and see a man who could potentially use an electric tricycle. We had about a 30 minute trek out into the villages with a truck full of a mixture of therapists, translators, students, Yempabou (an African man who uses an electric trike now and has been a great help giving us feedback and updates with the tricycles), and his big electric trike.

We arrived at a small compound of a man who was in his 30’s and got in a motorcycle accident. When people found him, they threw him in a truck and drove him to the nearest “city” (the roads are very very bumpy). When they got there, they pronounced him paralyzed and sent him home without taking any x-rays or anything of that nature. He was left to sit at home with his family, unable to eat or move or do anything by himself. He has now regained some movement in his legs and can move his arms pretty well, but still cannot walk or even crawl on his own.
The therapists we traveled with have been working with this man for quite some time now, and we were brought out to see if he would like an electric tricycle of his own. After a lot of talking in French and Gourma (the native language), Yempabou let this man try out his trike and ride it around the compound for a little bit. The man’s house is about 30 yards from the road with a dirt path serving as a drive way of sorts. The man road up and back a few times with a huge smile on his face. After some time, one of the translators told us that he had not been to the edge of this road in 3 years.

After some more talking and logistics of taking down measurements for the man’s trike, we headed back to the handicap center to call it a day. This experience was just amazing to me, to see that one small project can make a complete change in this man’s life. Without mobility, he was left to sit around his house with no purpose. That trip out to the bush was just a real encouragement and was very inspiring.

Other than that, Dr. Fish joined us for dinner tonight and is feeling a little bit better (though still not back to full health yet) so thank you for all your prayers. We ask for continued prayer for our clients, working through the language barrier, and continuing our work throughout the trip.

-Justin

Monday, June 28, 2010

Center for the Advancement of the Handicapped

This lovely Monday morning began with another yummy oatmeal breakfast, followed shortly thereafter by devotions. Working through the Sermon on the Mount has been meaningful, and this morning I was especially encouraged by the verse we were studying today (Matt 5:6). Hungering and thirsting for righteousness, which led us to talk about striving for right relationships and depending on God, seemed relevant for our time here. Relationships are a really big part of the Burkinabe culture, and I think we are learning a lot of good things about that (and trying to experience it in our somewhat limited language skills!).

Then we walked down to the CAH (Center for the Advancement of the Handicapped) for our tour with Matt Walsh. It was incredibly inspiring to see everything the center is involved in (even after having seen the center and had the tour when I was here in Jan '09). Our first stop was the garden, where they have plans to plant many fruit trees, have goats for loan to families of handicapped children that are in need, and start a model garden for the community members, students and apprentices to learn from. The potential for the community and handicapped children/families is huge.

Next, we got a tour of the buildings (all of which have been built in the past decade!) - the school, library (noteworthy for Burkina), physical therapy rooms, and where they make the prosthetic legs, braces, trikes, etc. It was quite meaningful to see where and who actually does the work we have heard so much about during our time with the Collaboratory at Messiah College.

Our welcome here is warm. The Messiah College teams have been coming for many years, thanks to Dr. Vader, and several of the full time missionaries here were once Messiah graduates. Also, our welcome was QUITE warm on the actual weather front; today was sunny, around hundred degrees and 100% humid! We're drinking well, though, and hopefully starting to adapt!

After lunch and a brief sieste time, we all headed back to the Center to begin our work. Katie and I (Bethany) observed in a 3rd and 4th grade class. We learned some new signs since the teachers at the CAH teach in French and sign simultaneously, since many of the students are deaf. They ended class half an hour early (leaving the students working in the class) to have a brief faculty meeting about the "carnival" tomorrow. I enjoyed seeing the teachers and staff all together and hearing the plans for the fun tomorrow. A few of us (John Meyer, Alex, Katie and I) will be helping out with a few of the games, so that should be fun!

The engineers working on the trike project spent the afternoon unpacking their tools and starting some initial preparations and welding - with the help (at least onlooking) of many children at the center.

As our French and/or Gourma and/or sign language greetings, words and phrases are slowly increasing, but the children and people here are very polite and excited about our meager attempts. It is going to be good to spend time getting to know the people and culture here!

-Bethany

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Scorpion Hunting and a Host of Other, More Logical Thrills


The past two days have been full of excitement. We started Saturday off with an 11 hour trip to get from Ouaga to Mahadaga and ended today (Sunday) with scorpion catching!

Saturday:

The day began bright and early, with breakfast at 5:30, planning to leave around 6. We didn't get to leave until 7, but that ended up not making much of a difference. Shortly thereafter, we found ourselves in a nice little storm, slowing down our pace and potentially washing out the dirt roads to come. For lunch we stopped at the SIM compound in Fada, taking our time to relax while the end of the storm passed.

After lunch, we continued our voyage to a checkpoint along the road. At the checkpoint we waited a brief time until a caravan of travelers was gathered to proceed further down the road. At this time, we were also joined by ...let's call him the mute man (for he spoke little, if at all), to help us navigate the road ahead. Added to the 10 people from Messiah, 2 Swiss girls going to Mahadaga, and our two drivers, we had quite the party to pack out the van. Then, just before our nicely paved road ended, we dropped off the mute man and thanked he and his boss for their aid.

Next came the dirt road - the exciting part! Not knowing what the stom had done to the road, we did not know what to expect. Though most of the road was fine and intact, we did get to cross some streams and traverse a flooded dam. It was pretty sweet. Eventually, after a little while later, we arrived in Mahadaga!

The rest of the evening consisted of unpacking, eating at Matt's house with his family and the other missionaries there, and then watching the end of the USA vs. Ghana world cup game at the pastors house. Though it was a disheartening defeat, it will still be pretty cool since that means that Ghana will continue on (If you're not up to date on your African geography, note that Ghana is directly south of Burkina Faso - hence, their victory is also a big deal to those in Burkina.).

Sunday:

Sunday began with some unpleasant news. Though a majority of the team had survived the trip unscathed so far, we awoke to find that many of our colleagues had fallen ill. The diagnosis: Malarone (malaria medicine that doesn't always sit well with everyone. The sick ones will be switched off of it once they're better.). After a check up by one of the missionaries, it was decided that they would pull through and that a little prayer and some sleep would fix them right up (so don't freak out over people being sick - we're in Africa, it's going to happen. Just shoot them a little prayer - don't lose sleep over it.). So yeah, since Mike is now feeling better, we're pretty confident that Justin and Dr. Fish will perk right up in no time.

So after deciding that we were going to leave the sickly bunch fend for themselves for the morning, we headed to church. The message out of Revelation - or as it is literally translated from French and/or Gorma, apocalypse - and was about perseverence to the end and remembering who our first love is. It was a very interesting message with lots of world cup references and four languages. The pastor preached in French, while the assistant pastor (or maybe just a buddy) translated to Gorma, another man translated to sign-language, and Matt tanslated to English.

After church, we had lunch. PB&J sandwiches aren't really too exciting, so I'll spare you what you are all too familiar with. Later in the afternoon, however, things got exciting again! A small expedition set off to conquer the cliffs behind the compound. Part of the group (Bethany, Jon, and Katie) took the slow route up the path, while Charlie and I (Alex) scaled the face (and by "scaled the face," I mean it was more of a steep rock formation than what you would call a "shear cliff". Really, the biggest danger would be those eagles that pick goats off of mountains, but I don't think they have those here ...so it wasn't dangerous.) When we got to the top, we found some children and Mia, Matt's sister. When we finally met up with Bethany, Jon, and Katie, we headed to find the water. When we found the water, we also found more children. They were all there to bathe, but took a short break to marvel at the blinding light reflecting off of our pastey white skin. It seemed the longer we were there, the more of them showed up. By the time we had gotten back down to flat land, there were maybe like 100 of so little kids following us around. We got to practice our broken French for a while and take pictures of all of them until it was time to leave. Also, it may be important to note that bulls actually do charge red swooshy things, like Mia's skirt (once again, no one was hurt... nor was the bull).

When we got back, the pastor came over to pray for the ill and meet all of us. After that, it was time for dinner. Katie and Bethany wanted to try out this African peanut sauce stuff, so I gave them a hand. We ended up making the exact amount, since multiple people came back for seconds. Also, we had a guest for dinner, Daniel, a local, college-aged Burkinabae.

After dinner and cleanup, Daniel agreed to help us find some scorpions. We found a UV light, so we headed out, empty peanut butter tub in hand. After many attempts to find one under a rock, we found a nice big one hanging out under a rock (it reminded me of this time in high school when one of the janitors smashed my one teacher's pet scorpion). Fearlessly, Charlie scooped up the scorpion, in his bare hands, sternly telling the scorpion not to sting him (actually, he just used a couple sticks and chop-sticked it into the tub). Then, on our way back, we found two more scorpions. Though one was too small to be worth saving, we did get some sweet pictures (perhaps you'll see one later...). Oh, and, lucky for us, Justin missed out ...so we have a legit excuse to do it again!

This coming week:

This will be real brief, because I'm really tired... Also, it'll just be for the mobility guys, because I'm not 100% sure what everyone else is doing.

Tomorrow (Monday) most of us are going for a tour of the handicap center.

Tuesday everyone will be helping out with a carnival that the center is putting on for the kids. The mobility guys will also be heading out to visit a potential electric trike client.

Wednesday, I believe, we start our trike work.

Prayer and such:

Justin and Dr. Fish are still feeling under the weather. It would be cool if they got better.

Continued safety for everyone

Continued acclimation to the weather (The heat and humidity is hard to adapt to. Apparently the rash over my hands, arms, feet, and lips is a heat rash... it's super annoying.)

Project work

Thanks again for your vested interest in our team. Your support has gotten us this far, so prayers to get us the rest of the way would be super awesome. Also, keep checking the blog. There are many exciting things going on here and it'd take an exorbedant amount of time explaining all of the details within the blog as well as those left out, upon our return.

-Alex Brubaker, Mobility Team

Friday, June 25, 2010

Leaving Ouaga

(Morning) - What’s flat round and has small brownish black things in it? I don’t know for sure but we ate it this morning for Breakfast and it was delicious. Life here in Ouagadougou continues to be an adventure. However, now that we have been in town for two days and are starting to feel comfortable, it is time to move on. Tomorrow morning at 6AM it’s off to Mahadaga. Last night and today we spent time making progress on the various projects that brought us to this fascinating country. Over lunch yesterday we asked the missionary, Robin, who is translating scripture into Fulfulde for the Fulani people if there was anything we could do to help. Last night he recorded three chapters of the book of Matthew in Fulfulde for us to work with when we get back home. The plan is to see if we can use this as a starting point for making an audio version of the Bible for the Fulani who can’t read. The education group is busy translating some children’s books from English into French so they can read them to the children in the school in Mahadaga. The mobility guys are out now buying bike parts that were too heavy to bring with us. I’m sitting at the table now with the KWhr meter in front of me. I plugged it in to make sure that nothing was trashed in transit. In fact something that was NOT working when we left is working now. Looks like the “shake it” technique of getting electronics to work is still the best approach. Mike is the only one not working on his project. He claims this is because the Biodiesel group did their work ahead of time but I think he is just lazy.



(Evening) - Well it is late and we have an early day tomorrow so I’ll keep this last bit quick. Tonight we were all invited to the home of John, a pastor in Ouagadougou who also runs a school teaching high school age young people computer literacy classes and English language classes. This helps them to be more successful economically and provides an outreach opportunity to share Christ with them. John borrowed a friend’s car and we made two trips to his house to get the whole team of 10 to his house, 6 at a time in a small car.



Thank you for all of your prayers for our group. We are enjoying each others company, getting to appreciate the local people and feeling amazed at the way God works in so many ways in so many places. - Randy

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Ouagadougou


Hello Family and Friends,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you so much for covering this team with your prayers. The nine of us who traveled together from Messiah have made it to Ouagadougou where Dr. Vader was waiting for us. Throughout our travels I have noticed that the western concept of the waiting in line does not hold the same weight in Africa. We as a team need to continue to remind our selves and one another that ‘different’ does not mean ‘bad’ it’s just ‘different’. We should not judge, but rather accept, adapt, and love.

One thing we need to adapt to is the time difference. When we finished our 36 hour marathon and touched down in Burkina Faso it was 1:57 am local time. By the time we got off the plane, went though customs, and collected all of our luggage, (every bag we checked made it) it was LATE of EARLY however, you want to think about it. A good number of Burkinabe men were eager to pile the bags into our pick-up truck. After we exchanged pleasantries in our broken French and their mumbled English the men asked for American money. We gave them a few coins we had left in our pockets and were on our way towards the SIM compound.

On the way to the compound I noticed there where a number of elderly women sweeping the road. I asked our SIM driver and a local missionary what they were doing. He explained to me that these women would sweep the road for money so they could purchase food. They would earn around 1000 fca which turns about to be around two dollars a night. When we arrived at the compound we placed all of our luggage in an alcove by our rooms climbed under our mosquito nets and quickly fell asleep.

Breakfast was at nine and consisted of fresh bread and a variety of jams that were purchased at a local grocery store. After washing, bleaching, drying, and putting away the dishes the team met together for a brief discussion of the do’s and don’t in Burkina Faso. We talked about the water, clothing, and the customary greetings of the Burkinabe culture. The team was informed about the local customs of entertaining guests and the hazards of giving one’s email away.

After the meeting there was a short period of rest followed by lunch. An Australian missionary who is working on translating the Bible into Fulfulde, a local dialect, took us to his favorite local restaurant. The team had the choice of noodles and sauce or rice and sauce. One could not go wrong with either of the two choices. Our meal was served with freshly baked bread as well as baobab juice. The juice was the consistency of a thin milkshake, had the coloration of chocolate milk, but had a very distinct fruit flavor. This fruit juice was tasty; however, I was glad I brought some water from the mission with me.

The walk back to the SIM mission was not to long and over dirt roads. Compounds lined each side and when it came time to crossing the intersecting road it reminded me of New York City road crossings. There were children playing with a partially deflated soccer ball and men working on mopeds (which are everywhere). Women were selling fruit which they were carried on their head in huge baskets, and people were calling out ÇA VA all around us.

When we returned to the compound we had roughly an hour and a half to rest, journal, shower, and chill before we headed out into the market place to purchase some food for our time in Mahadaga. The group split up into three groups each with a list each with a different store in mind. Prix-Bas was the name of the store that I went to and it had a little bit of everything. When we walked in we picked up a basket and started to look for the things on our list. In was not but a minute until one of the women working in the store had taken our basket and was following us around helping us find the things we could not. Once we paid a man put our groceries on his motorcycle and followed us for the ten minute walk back to the compound.

Tomorrow is filled with shopping, shopping, and more shopping. Not only do we need to finish picking up groceries that we did not get today, but we also need to purchase supplies for both the tricycle and summer enrichment programs. Please be praying for us as we attempt to communicate effectively the parts, supplies, and food that we need. If you could please pray for; patience in trying to find what we are looking for as well as success in the necessary supplies. On Saturday we will be driving to Mahadaga. We need your prayer for a safe and quick journey, as well as the health and unity of the team as we will be in a hot van over bumpy roads for a long time.

Thank you once again for your prayers.

God Bless,

Your brothers and sisters in Christ who are half-way across the world,

The Summer 2010 Burkina Faso Site Team

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Bright Eyes


Ok… so maybe that wouldn’t be the best description for when we walked off the plane this morning/afternoon, but after traveling to the free hotel provided by Royal Air Morocco due to our 10 hour layover; a delicious free lunch of salad, rice, and meat that tasted like chicken; and a walk to the roof of the hotel, our eyes are more open and ready to take in the sights around us in Casablanca, Morocco.

Staring out at the busy Casablanca street below, it is amazing that this country is just a few countries north of Burkina and so drastically different! We are all excited at the reality that we are over half way there!

We are so thankful for the safe and uneventful trip from Messiah to JFK (Thanks so much again Deborah and Bob!) and from JFK to Casablanca (filled with many laughs and great conversations), food in our bellies, and a few hours of sleep! Thank you all so much for your prayers, they were most definitely felt!

In just a couple of hours we will be headed back to the airport to continue on to our final destination… Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso! Your continued prayers are so appreciated as they made the world of difference for our traveling so far. :)

Stay tuned for more perspectives on our time together as a team, interacting and continuing to invest in the lives of our fellow brothers and sisters in Jesus! So excited to be partnering with you all!

~Katie

Monday, June 21, 2010

Less than 24 hours.

About this time tomorrow we will be boarding our plane to fly out of JFK airport in New York and begin the first leg of our trip to Burkina Faso! This first leg is an overnight flight to Casablanca, Morocco where we will have a fairly long layover before we continue on to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. We'll spend a couple days in Ouagadougou (the capital of Burkina Faso) gathering some local supplies and then continue on our journey to Mahadaga, which is a 7 hours bus ride on a good day (when the bus doesn't break down or get flat tires). I think we are all very excited to begin this journey! Please pray that God would provide us with safe travels and flights that are on time.

On Saturday the whole team came back together for the first time since May and we've been enjoying our meals together and doing daily devotions as a group. We are working through the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, which we will continue during the trip, and God has been blessing us immensely. Studying the Beatitudes has been a great way to prepare ourselves for the work that we are planning to do on this trip. Please pray that God continues to bless us as a team and keeps us in good spirits.

The last few days have been spent finalizing the details of our projects and making sure that all of the necessary supplies and materials are ready to go. The Mobility Team has finished the preparation for their work with the new tricycle designs, the Education Team is prepared for their work with the Summer Enrichment Program, Dr. Fish is prepared to test the new Kilowatt-Hour project and the Biodiesel Team has developed a small testing reactor for use in Burkina Faso. Today we spent the day packing our bags and making sure that they are all within the size and weight restrictions of the airlines. After hours of meticulous packing, our bags are organized and ready to be loaded into our vans tomorrow. Please pray that all of our bags will arrive with us in Ouagadougou.

This is my first trip to Burkina Faso and I am extremely excited to see what God has in store for us on this trip. Thank you all for your support and prayers!

Biodiesel Team Advisor,
Mike Zummo

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Glancing Ahead

Only 5 more days until we fly out of the States and embark on our journey! The time has definitely gone quickly. On Saturday, Katie and Bethany will be coming back to campus and joining the rest of the team who has either remained on campus or has come back early to finish up project work. Then it's packing and last minute details until we fly out of New York on Tuesday evening.

I wanted to give everyone a quick preview of what our communication plan is during the trip. We will try to update the blog daily with our trip activities and insights, but sometimes communication is a little spotty. Please do not get worried if you do not hear from us for a couple days. Chances are, something just went wrong with the internet or email. Also, if you know someone on the team and they promised to contact you, please refrain from calling the Collaboratory or Messiah College if you do not hear from them for a couple days. In this case, "no news is good news" because in a very serious situation an advisor or someone from SIM (Serving in Mission, the organization at the Handicapped Center in Mahadaga) will drive to a nearby town and contact the Collaboratory. However, in the past we have not had any problems except minor illnesses. SIM does an excellent job of taking care of us and family and friends should assume that this is still the case even in the absence of an update.

But enough of this talk of illness and emergency! I'm (Jon) personally getting very excited to just go on this trip and be there and experience the intrigue of a new culture and approach to life. I believe that God is present with us and will be watching over us. We are going in the faith that He will work through this trip and bless our time there with our partners and the people in the community.

I also wanted to share some pictures that were taken when the Education group was there in the past so that you can begin to have a better picture of some of the things we will be experiencing.


Camera-shy: There's no such thing as an unfriendly Burkinabe child around a camera! These kids are on the village road between the CAH (Center for the Advancement of the Handicapped) and the town center. Collab teams walk this road several times a day; about a 10-minute walk with plenty of small friends.



Trio of Friends: These three young women are some of the deaf students at the CAH school. Every teacher both speaks and signs the lessons. Notice how attentively these girls are watching.



Lunch Pails: These colorful lunch pails probably contain some cooked millet (looks like cream-of-wheat mousse!), peanuts, and a bottle of water flavored with baobab fruit. The children are able to go home for the 12-2 lunch break, but many have too far of a walk and relax at school.



At Work in School: At the CAH school, children are in classes of 30-50 kids, each with a slate and small pieces of chalk and a sponge. When this child finishes writing her sum, she will hold it up for the teacher to see.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Welcome!

Welcome from the 2010 Burkina Faso team! The summer seems to be whipping by as our departure date draws closer. For Dr. Vader, it is even closer since he will be leaving on June 9 to visit his son in Chad before meeting up with the team in Mahadaga. For the rest of the team, we still have a little over 2 weeks to finish up projects, pack, and complete our preparatory readings before we leave on June 22.

Between now and then, people will begin returning to Messiah's campus to wrap up the lose ends on their projects and hopefully have everything ready to go by the time we leave. The team will begin officially meeting together on June 19 to complete our last minute travel arrangements.

But taking a chance to step back and absorb the actual experience of this trip is important. On May 11 and 12 our team had the opportunity to go on a short retreat to begin to prepare ourselves for the journey ahead. This included information on what to bring, what the in-country expectations are like, and functioning together as a team, but it also was a chance to reflect on the spiritual aspect of our journey as well.

Some of the things we were encouraged to consider before we left were questions such as
  • How is God already at work in the places to which we are headed?
  • What are some of our own areas of weakness or vulnerability that God may work on during this trip?
  • What are our individual testimonies which we can use to share God's blessing with others?
  • How can we receive God's blessing from the people whom we will be serving?
This list isn't exhaustive and in no way will we be able to prepare ourselves completely for the experiences we are going to have. But we can begin the process of allowing God to soften our hearts to receive His guidance as we embark on this trip. We value your prayers as our supporters and greatly appreciate the care and encouragement that you will be able to offer us through them.

Some specific prayer requests at this point would be for smooth preparations, both with travel and projects as the deadline approaches. Another is for encouragement leading up to the trip. For some this is our first time traveling to Burkina while others may have been there on several occasions. So prayer for peace of any jittery nerves is another request. Finally, we ask for God's hand to be present in our work and relationships so that we can be testimonies of His hope to the world and can be prepared to share our own stories of His love with those we meet.

Your team's blog coordinator,
Jon Martin