Final days in Mahadaga ...

Yesterday morning, I (Bethany) went out with 2 of the physical therapists from the Center, Patricia and Diazibou(?). I was looking forward to the opportunity to see the work that the physical therapists do in the bush, but slightly sad about missing one of the last days with the kids. They have come to mean so much to us, and it is always good to have many hands on deck at the BSEP. However, Dr. Hare and Katie let me go out to the bush, so Meya and I went out bright and early.

I seemed to attract small adventures, right about from the start. In the first minute of driving, Diazibou stopped at a "gas station" (table with clear glass bottles filled with a litre of gas) so I got off the back of the moped. I was NOT expecting him to pull away just as soon as I stepped off, though (apparently he didn't need gas after all...). As he started down the road I realized he didn't know I wasn't on the back, so I started laughing. There was another moped from the Center at the same "gas station" so they said they'd chase him down. He ended up coming back a minute or so later, though, after Patricia saw I wasn't on the moped. We all had a good little laugh together and set off. But before leaving Mahadaga Patricia needed to buy cold water so we stopped again, and this time Diazibou's moto wouldn't start (until someone nearby tinkered with it)! I told him it wasn't my day for moto's...but somehow we made it out of Mahadaga.

After a 20 minute moto ride, with a nice cool breeze, we made it to the first house. Palamanga, a 3 year old with a crippled right hand, was a happy boy when Patricia played with him to assess his motor skills and gave him a massage. Meya gave him her notebook and a pen to see if he could draw, which was cute. Our second home was to visit a 12 year old girl who also had a crippled hand. She lives with her 2 older brothers (who are both 20), and that is it. Patricia said their dad died and their mother, who is from Togo (a country to the south of Burkina), abandoned them. I was completely taken aback and impressed with these 3 youth. I didn't understand much of the conversation, but I caught one word "ligiendieli", which means church in Gourmanche. Afterward Patricia explained that the church was the last hope for these youth, since they (unlike many Burkinabe) do not have any extended family in the area to help support them.

We left in a little bit of a hurry since the sky and wind was threatening rain. I held on tight to the back of the moto as we drove toward Mahadaga. After a bit, the rain started. And suddenly I heard and felt "rrriiippp"! The left part of my skirt was "eaten" by the moto! Diazibou didn't realize anything, so we kept going for a bit. However, soon Patricia honked her horn to stop us. She had a second piece of fabric that she was wearing and she gave it to me to wrap up in! Yay mothers who are thoughtful, observant and prepared! I couldn't help but laughing as she untwisted the fabric from my skirt from the moto...quelle chance!

This time as we started off again the rain was coming down more heavily. Soon the road was quite slippery. All of a sudden, I felt the moto moving at a weird angle and I realized Diazibou and I were falling. It was slow and graceful, though, I basically just stepped off of the back of the moto. As I looked behind me, Meya and Patricia had just fallen too, though they got a little muddier in the fall/slide! Meya and I started laughing and running and sliding in the mud. I think this eased the physical therapists...maybe they thought we were worried after having fallen...

About 10 minutes later, my goosebump-covered self arrived at my home. I changed into my fleece jacket and made some hot chocolate. Soon Daniel, Katie and Dr. Hare arrived from the Center and we swapped stories about our mornings. One of the highlights of their morning was the success of the breakfast we brought for the kids: edible playdough! (1:1 ratio of PB and powdered milk!!)

Today was the last real day with the kids, which is kind of hard to believe. We have done so much with them, and gotten to know them all! Sometimes the bonding has been through hugs and holding hands as we walk along the road, or making fools of ourselves singing and dansing with them. In any case, it has been good. Even the ridiculous things they say, their requests for empty water bottles/watches/etc, and when they come peek in our windows in the afternoon will be missed!!

But we do have one more day. Tomorrow is the "fete" (party), including gifts. Not all of the gifts they have asked for, but of course we brought a little something for each of them. And we have been dutifully saving our plastic bottles to hand out too, since those are so special! We will also show them the culmination of the digital photo book project. After writing sentences in their spirals about their life at home, their favorite things to do and eat, and then visiting their homes to take photos, and recording their voice to provide sound, we have put together a digital photo album entitled "The children of Mahadaga" which will be shown for the first time tomorrow. Hooray!

As my power and internet allottment is about to end, I will bid you all a good night. Thank you again for your prayers and support during these past few weeks. If we don't get a chance to blog tomorrow, it's probably because we're having a great time packing up the house. We (everyone at the SIM station) also have a dinner with the French team that is arriving tomorrow from Ouaga. So we should be busy, which will hopefully keep us from being sad about saying goodbye to everyone. Please keep us in your prayers Friday as we travel by van to Ouaga, and then spend a few days (till middle of the night Monday-Tuesday) before flying back to the US.

Blessings,
-Bethany