Life in Burkina

Our courtyard                                                 

 Here are some pictures of our new home in Burkina.  The streets do not have names and there is no address but we have a house number.  It makes for interesting directions when someone is trying to find your home. We are working on setting up a post office box but last time we checked they were all taken. No address, no P.O. box,  how is that possible?  Well here it is. We are acclimating and getting use to things, the biggest adjustment has been the heat. The heat averages about 110, but with the heat index its even higher. Yesterday, we were in a church service that had we attended when we first got here, we would have felt like passing out.  It was hot, long and without fans, the service went on and on. We were actually okay through the whole service. It is a blessing to discover yourself changing and that after six weeks your perspective is also acclimating. 

  Things you thought you would never do, you find yourself doing. Things like, eating chicken you just saw your neighbor killing.  Powdered milk and instant coffee, suddenly taste okay. You don't go into shock every time you look down your street.  Then one day, you go into the dumpy corner store and it actually is just fine. You can even look around and distinguish between nice things and junk, whereas before it all looked like junk to you. Your changing and you didn't even know it was happening.  It's grace for this place.

    I remember at the one month mark, the homesick bug kicked in pretty strong.  One night I even thought, if I can't talk to my mom, (we had no internet, no phone for a month) I'm not gonna be able to make it.  The funny thing was that at that time I absolutely believed it.  Then the moment passed and you know the next morning and a few tears later I was just fine. A few weeks later and I find that we are actually finding things we like here.   It's not malls, or fine establishments but its being cramped in a small house, its just being together, getting to go through this together.  To see how Janaya goes through transition, and hates the market, where Hannah loves it and sees it like a big adventure.  Where David struggles with not knowing how to trust the locals, where Skip loves everything and everyone is his best friend.  Where I struggle with everything and try to keep laughing so my kids grow up remembering the sound of my laugh.
  

Our first week here we had the opportunity to go out to a mission center and help complete a house that missionaries would be moving into. We had quite the time scrubbing paint off of floors, clearing out bugs and setting up beds.

 Then Skip helped a team from the States complete a church building. He got to literally build the church.

Then there was a second team that he also got to help with. On Skip's birthday (23rd Jan.) he got to drive for the first time. This sounds so silly, but it is quite the feat. Driving with motorbikes, bicycles and donkeys with carts all around you is not easy. Throw in reduced visibility due to dust, unpaved roads with rocks and potholes, and you have driving in Burkina. He has been getting around quite well and even finds it "fun". I hate to admit it but I have not mustered up the courage to drive. Eventually I will, but until then I will have to endure the teasing by my own kids.

We had quite the flat driving up our street. Skip said, "I think we might have a flat, take a look." He stopped the car and I hopped out to find the most incredible flat.

 

Drivers here need good vision, a strong back and
a car with good suspension.  People put big rocks in the dirt roads for speed bumps. There would be a somewhat clear road and then the next day it would be full of rocks, I thought, is it my imaginations or are rocks being put in the road on purpose.  Then someone told me, "yeah they do that, for homemade speedbumps."

This is our backyard where we wash clothes and hang to dry.  With the highest electricity prices in the world you learn to live without a washing machine and dryer. One day we found David's pants with about 20 holes in it, so there is some bug that will eat your laundry.  Its the perils of hanging your clothes out to dry in the sahel. We came with whole t-shirts and now they all have tiny holes. I wonder how long it will be before we have none of the clothes we came with.

We have had quite a few surprises here. Things like the daily power outtages and water cuts, one a day is expected, but recently we had four in a 24 hour period. Usually the power goes off first, then the water follows and the internet is just as unstable

  The dozen or more lizards living in our house don't bother us as much as they use to. We just accept them, your not going to be able to get rid of them.

 The amount of time and effort it takes to get simple things done here makes you appreciate things more.  When I come out of the kitchen looking like I just spent 5 hours in the Sahara and  present a Mexican casserole, my kids are saying "thanks mom" over and over. A simple meal is not so simple here and we all know it.  Just having clean water takes a good amount of time to get ready and one could spend all morning doing just that.(Wal-Mart a luxury of the past, we miss you, oh how we miss you.)

If you take a closer look at our wall, you'll see it has nails that stick straight up. Some even use broken glass. This is to keep would be thieves out of your yard. We have bullet proof doors and you should see our locks. A neighbor missionary commented on our doors, after it took me 20 minutes to open the door, "its good you have a door with so many locks." I thought, she must know something I don't. Most missionaries have a good guard dog, but we didn't bring one perhaps in the future we will find one. I just never thought extreme dirt, extreme heat, and dog went together. I've also heard that a cat (one that likes to hunt) will help keep our lizard population down.

Shopping here, lets just say, you might come back with a whopping headache and probably not what you set out to find.  This is one of the nicer shopping areas. If one has a shopping addiction, a move to Africa will cure it.
I never had a shopping addiction, but like many women I like pretty new things, and a nice store, who doesn't appreciate that.  Let's just say I'd rather take my malaria medicine than go shopping now.  To add to my pain in losing this American hobby, Skip likes shopping here...Yikes!



 

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