Today, Charlie, Jean, and Kate were invited by John, one of the SIM missionaries, to go to a short term Bible school with him to help teach students how to read and write their language. Sending two mechanical engineers and an accountant to help teach these students to read and write Fulfulde did not seem to be quite the norm for any of us, but after being assured we would be able to quickly learn and then teach, we hopped into a taxi and set off to our teaching adventure.We enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of this outreach and to see a different part of Ouagadougou. On the way home, we had quite the cultural experience with the Burkina traffic in the taxi. The remaining crew of the Engineering group Dr. Fish, Kevin, Dave, Charlie, Kate, and Jean will be heading out to Mahadaga tomorrow for the next two weeks.
Along with an exciting day for the Engineering group, the Computer and Education students, along with Scott, Angela, and Doug headed out to Banfora, part of western Burkina Faso. After a five hour drive to Bobo, we had a short time between the next bus to Banfora, where we browsed the local African markets making some cultural purchases and met a local who will be assisting us in our stay in Banfora. We appreciate all your prayers and support and can't wait for this next part of our adventure!
Teaching & Traveling
Gal-yam Visit
With an early morning and two teams heading to two different places, Angela went to a local bakery in the morning to get sweet bread and cereal for breakfast. The computing students then headed back to IMS to set up the security wires for the netbooks, along with some tweeks with the configuration of the network. While we were all away, Charlie, Jean, and Kate, ventured into the shops of Ouaga to purchase parts for the trike in Mahadaga.
Angela, Dani, Lauren and Katie headed to the outskirts of Ouaga where the Compassion center is located to meet Katie's Compassion child, Gal-yam. The center (located in a church) had 212 students enrolled in the program. These students meet every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday for classes in hygeine, social/emotional development and Bible. Katie, Dani and Lauren were able to sit in on these classes and also taught the game "duck duck goose." Gal-yam was shy and seemed confused with the sponsor visit, however he was able to interact somewhat with Katie. She, and the others, then headed to a small boutique (aka a very small 7-11ish type store) to buy soap, oil, rice and cookies for Gal-yam's family. After buying these items, they headed to Gal-yam's house and Katie presented the gifts to Gal-yam's mother as well as privately purchased gifts for Gal-yam. She, in return, received authentic African/Burkinabe garb from his family. Overall, it was a great visit and very eye-opening to see the conditions in which people live in that are so different than our homes in the states.
Disney Princesses
Today was our first full day in Ouaga. With a new city to explore, we all took the first opportunity to get out of the guest house and enjoy the warm weather. In the morning hours, Scott, Jeremey, and Matt went to IMS to set up a network for their students, while Austin and Kara configured the 6 new Netbooks for the school. The other students had a relaxing morning, organizing more luggage and reading our course book A Hole in the Gospel. After a great lunch, The computing students, along with Dave, Kevin, and Randy from engineering returned to IMS to test the netbooks with the networks, and recommended wiring configuration for future installation of KWHR meters in the dorm rooms.
Besides all the hard work, we've been relaxing a lot and really enjoying the weather here. Many of us have gone to the store or market with Angela to practice our french, but despite our 'practice' there has still been a major language barrier. Je ne sais pas (I do not know) has become our new favorite phrase. We are enjoying our time here, having a lot of team bonding before the Engineering group (and Kate) head to Mahadaga with many different topics ranging anywhere from an hour long discussion of what your favorite disney princess is to the theology and logic of skipbo. We are so thankful to be posting almost every day courtesy of SIM, and we appreciate the prayers. Keep posted for day 2.....coming up next, One student gets to finally meet their Compassion child.
Arrival in Ouaga
16 people, 36 bags of luggage, 3 plane rides, countless security checkS and multiple air plane meals later.....we are finally in BURKINA. We arrived late Tuesday evening around 6 O' clock, packed up our bags in 4 small cars and headed to the SIM guest house. With most of the team having no sleep for almost 24 hours, it is now 8:54 Burkina time and most of us are headed to bed. Thanks for all the prayers and keep checking back for updates!
Agenda for Jan. 4, 5, and 6
Here's the team's plan for Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday of this week. Remember that 'plans change' is the rule, not the exception, in Africa. So check back daily to find out what really happened.
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| International School of Ouagadougou (K-12) |
Austin, Jeremy, Kara, Matt, and Dr. Weaver will begin their computer networking projects with Joel Gray, Director of the Missionary Institute of the Sahel. And Kevin, Jean, David, Charlie, and Dr. Fish will continue preparations for their engineering work. Another lecture, another dinner, some more rest.
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| Center for Advancement of the Handicapped Mahadaga |
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| Mahadaga sunset |
Paris Tasks Accomplished
One of the first team objectives for this trip was accomplished before most of the team even left campus. Dr. Hare rang in the New Year in Tours, France, where she picked up six new netbook computers that SIM ordered to create a new, portable computer lab for teaching technology use to local youth and adults in Ouagadougou. French computers use a different keyboard than the standard English layout. And for security reasons, French netbooks cannot be shipped out of the European Union. So it was worthwhile to extend one team member's layover by a few days, and Dr. Hare was willing to make the sacrifice :). Next step: pray that all this technology makes it safely to Burkina Faso without any problems in customs.
An African New Year
For our trip, we had to return to campus on New Years Eve. After a great meal from the Phillippy's, a bunch of us headed to Swing dance and watch the Pickle drop in Dillsburg for New Years. With a lot of down time Sunday packing (or watching Charlie, Jean, and Dave pack) we had a lot of quality time together before we make the trip across the Atlantic. Make sure to check out the video of our recent activities :)
