The miracle of the unending gas bottle

You remember the Old Testament miracle how the widow and her son had enough to eat during a famine because God somehow kept her flour and oil from running out? Well, I think something similar happened to us Christmas Day, when I had 6 other women with me in my kitchen preparing the meal.

I had found out beforehand, just in case, that the small shop opposite would be open Christmas Day in case of need, and even though out of stock at that time would have their gas bottles restocked Christmas Eve in case mine ran out.

I started cooking at 6am after getting up at 4.30am to phone the family in Australia, and as dish followed dish into the oven (roast potatoes, carrots, onions, and reheating others’ chickens) and pot after pot on the stove (beans, rare broccoli and cauliflower found just the day before, cranberry relish, hot water for fruit teas) I wondered if the gas would hold out.

With relief I finished stirring the cheese sauce mix before we all (7 single lady missionaries from 18 to 50’s and one little 5 year old African boy) sat down to eat, thinking I maybe miscalculated how far along the gas bottle was.

After the meal we watched 2007’s Melbourne Carols by Candlelight on video and then dispersed for siestas before remeeting at another home for supper and a Christmas video - so I didn’t use the stove the rest of the day. Boxing Day morning after a little sleep-in my thoughts naturally turned to a nice cup of tea … but the gas was bone-dry, not even a tiny spurt of flame. I kept trying the different knobs at different levels before giving up and sending the empty bottle across the road to the shop for a refill.

Leah came back - no gas bottles had ever arrived at the store and they had no idea when the truck would next come. That’s when it struck me that the gas had kept going long enough for our Christmas meal but no further, and had not run out while there was no possibility of refilling it.

I eventually refilled the bottle later in the day after trying at another store a little further away redirected by the second seller I visited, also empty.

I had been praying that the celebration at my place would be a good experience, had spent extra time in getting the house looking welcoming and Christmasy (eg. after 14 years and 7 moves had the scratched furniture revarnished), especially since for most of the younger short-termers it was their first Christmas in Africa or away from home, and they had already noticed how they missed the Christmas atmosphere they were used to since celebrations are so different and lower key here. So maybe it was just an extra Christmas present …!?

A new Christmas angel for 2008

Each year I try to make or buy one special Christmas ornament or decoration. Last year I combined Christmas gift money and got a wood nativity set by local craftsmen.

This year I noticed my homemade angel was showing wear after so many years of repacking, and remembered a local shop that made and sold small dolls. A few dollars and some of my carefully brought and hoarded Christmas material later I had my new angel - with pipecleaner wings and halo. Looks a little different - but so is Christmas here.

I attended one celebration the week before at the church for the Compassion children: over 200 almost identically dressed in their Christmas gift-outfits did songs, skits, and shouted memory verses before running out to the food (macaroni in a tomato sauce). The centre’s director had mentioned that without sponsors for all the children ‘the plate for 5 has to stretch for 7’ but that it was getting harder to do it. Traditionally, as invited guests we were seated and served separately, with big plates of salad and chicken and bottles of Fanta or Coke.

Another meal was planned for Christmas Eve, but after arriving at 7pm to attend the scheduled church service I left just before the ‘eats’ at 10pm, since I still had a bit of preparations for the Big Day left, and an alarm to set for 4.30am. My househelper Leah had asked for Christmas Eve off since she had lots of cooking to do for the many visitors that would wander in on the day. She’s already planning another big New Years’ cooking spree and promised me a sample of the fried cakes she makes each year.

Developing relationships . . . through eating

 

It may seem that we eat all the time in IBEO (the evening Bible college), but after a busy term we met at Pastor Tandamba's house for a last time to hand back homework and marks, talk about next term, eat a delicious meal, and generally have fun together. It's much easier in that atmosphere to break the news about low grades....

Ephesians class ended with them all preaching a sermon on a passage, some of which were better than others.

I won't be teaching next term since I'm travelling too much, as well as getting ready for coming home in March, but I see most of the students regularly at church functions (at least those from our denomination).

Graduated and away ...!

 

Within a few hours of graduation IMS started to empty, and the busy rush of the last few weeks helping students' finish their research document, participating in oral defences, getting report cards and diplomas ready, ... all made for an exhausted weekend.

Extra photos can be found on the IMS website.

Students went back by bus(es) to Benin, Guinea, Mali and regional Burkina; train to Ivory Coast, and car to other areas (motorbike for the Ouaga student). It got pretty lonely going back to work the following week and only finding the skeleton cleaning staff. I've got lots of ends to finish off before preparing for the rounds of meetings I have January and February, and my trip home for furlough in March!!!

Darkness cancels class but doesn't stop mobile internet!

We are admiring a clear, bright moon uninhibited by neighbourhood lights and chatting in the obscurity. What we were supposed to be doing was discussing Eph 4 & 5 in the room upstairs (if the lights would work), on our 2nd last day of teaching before students do their test preaching sessions. The darkness wasn't complete, though, one of the students had his laptop out and with his USB mobile modem was getting info on how to connect with former teachers now in Wales using Skype!

In the end after a few very busy weeks it was a relief to have a 'night off' and it was at least an hour later that we decided to give up waiting for the electricity, and try to start earlier next week to catch up.

In the mean time, we had discussed what I wanted for the 'word study' that should have been due that night, teased the person who will be up first preaching, criticized the abortion news out of the new US President's campaign, organised embroidery of motifs for IMS graduation in 3 weeks (an IBEO student does that as his profession), and talked about possible snacks for the longer meeting next week.

It was a nice relaxed time.

Pumpkin soup, anyone?

With several weeks of new arrivals I've been enjoying having people over for meals and getting to know them. This week the meal was different: for one thing there were more people - the IBEO students.

It's been a bit of a tradition that each term we have a dinner at someone's home. The Ashmores usually did it before they left, and this is the first time I've had everyone at my place (IMS students have been twice). It took a fair bit of organizing with the other work that seems to be piling up lately, but 'a good time was had by all'.

At least I think so ... introducing them at this cooler time to 'traditional winter Australian food' (pumpkin soup) and Indian food (a lamb curry with a rice pilau) may have been ambitious and maybe they were just polite... Bibiane brought a lovely fruit salad served in a large watermelon carved out for dessert, great since I hadn't got that far in preparing with my hectic week.

Because I didn't have enough chairs for us all to sit at the dining table I rearranged the furniture and we sat in the lounge, using the table for serving. None of the other teachers could make it, and one student had a family crisis but the rest of us enjoyed our time together.

Searching in vain for deep enough Bible study resources in French

My research for the Ephesians course has reinforced the disparity between the Bible study resources in English and French - nothing available at local Christian bookshop; took ages to find a Greek concordance/dictionary even available overseas or on the net; then they were either ancient (1800's), too simple, or the one that maybe would fit the bill way too expensive.

Finally all I could do was to use some of the free internet or computer based tools - but since I'm trying to pass on skills for students these are limited to the 2 with computers and the 2 uni students who know how to use them in cybercafés. For the others needing 'hardcopy' resources which are affordable there is very little options for serious study of the biblical text.... Some of the copyright-free stuff on the net I've been able to photocopy for them but they fall into the 'ancient' category!

Night teaching again

The evening bible school IBEO (Institut Biblique Evangélique d'Ouagadougou) term started up last week, so I've now taught 2 weeks on Ephesians. Or to be more precise, on how they can study Ephesians for themselves. We're using a system where they do detailed observations of the text (encouraged by marked homework tasks), especially for one passage each in particular. There will also be a word study in that passage, and the final exam - they preach on that passage (each has a different passage). They will share copies of their work, and the sermon will be judged by their peers as well as me. There should also be time to go into detail on some of the text in class once I've gotten done explaining this completely-new way of studying the Bible and preparing sermons.

Lately the 5 local churches in Ouagadougou have lost temporarily or permanently their previous pastors due to a number of factors, so it's our students (key leaders in the churches) that will have to take up more preaching and teaching roles.

My electricity bill foils thief

My electricity bill seems large for one person, but it has a lot to do with something I've kept up from Benin days: security lights outside on all night. The idea of the one above the gate was to help with that area, especially when friends' cars are parked outside, and often ends up the "streetlamp" for our area when the lamp doesn't light down the corner.

It earned its keep last Saturday when apparently a thief fleeing from further up the road trying to keep to dark spots couldn't find one near my place and jumped the wall opposite instead to hide - unfortunately for him at the time the shopowner diagonal to me was turning after locking up and saw him do it. There was a hue and cry, a bang on the gate for my guard Philippe to come with his torch and machete, and eventually a trapped thief was handed over to the gendarmes that came when called. Returning home an evening later in the week I saw gendarmes posted both sides of local major roads and my guard thinks it's because of our scare. Philippe says all the local guards had already expressed gratitude for my light - and now are even more congratulatory, attibuting the theif's capture to my security arrangements!

Kill a ghecko - gain eternal rewards?

Reading one of the books in our libray says that M taught that gheckos (what they call the little lizards found behind hanging pictures, curtains, towels) are to be killed: you gain 100 virtues as a reward if killed with one blow, less if with 2 blows, less if with 3.

I admit they're annoying, but there must be a minimum of 5 I see regularly in the house and others I hear - I startle them when opening a curtain or adjusting a picture and they scuttle away, and no-one likes cleaning up the small messes they make each day - but I was told they help keep mosquitos down, and my landlord's suggestion of poison made me imagine small bodies rotting in the heat in some hideyhole hard to get rid of them. Maybe I'm just too squeamish to attack them and gain the "100 virtues".

Sunday morning crowd - can you see me?

A church member took this photo after the service a few Sundays ago - one of the few times the ground was dry enough to sit on lately, since there's been rain most days. Being school vacations there were less than normal present. The church is just down the road from me, and is based in a youth center providing study room, English classes, and Compassion care for children activities during the school week. While they're in session Bible studies are held in a tin-roof shed ("hangar") outside, as is Sunday School.

I'm 6th (or 7th) in from the left in the first row standing, by the way.

Books and more books

Adrian and Sue celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary by spending the month helping out in Burkina and joined us at IMS. Adrian helped us doing inputting while we recatalogued the library as well as giving a conference on Science and Biblical Faith, and Josiane our secretary (in pink) and I (in green and orange) added his job to ours to finish once he'd gone. I was prepping the books and giving more precise references, Josiane put on labels, reshelved and repaired.

Susan taught English, translated an article for us, and joined the library lot for a few mornings. Their girls helped out with camps, kids clubs and oddjobs for SIM administration.

Water started dripping in from a leaky roof on the bookcase on the far right while we were working so it was moved (not fixed!). We only have about one more shelf to do and we'll be finished this job until more books are purchased. We'll need to add another bookcase then.

Once we're finished IMS students will have the ability for the first time to look up books using author, title, keyword or reference on our local network or consult a printed list.

Birdsong

Next door recently got a very verbal parrot, the finches, weaverbirds and hummingbird in my big tree are conversing with him/her, but the 3 vultures (was mum, dad and 2 kids until one attacked the guard) are as usual away during the day and will swoop down to their high nest late in the afternoon.

Things I don't notice anymore

[Alhassan unloading compost delivered as usual by donkey to my driveway]

Short-termers Adrian and Sue came and helped out at IMS for a few weeks and remarked one day in the car while snapping away, that they were told to take photos in the first week while they still ‘noticed’ things as different.

Things I don’t notice (consciously) anymore:

The line after line of silhouettes of vultures perched in pairs on both arms of the streetlamps along the middle of the median strip of the Route Circulaire.

The ‘green ladies’ underneath them in peak hour traffic, bent over seemingly oblivious to the cars swerving within feet of them sweeping the road every second day with short straw bundles (the day after the road was flooded last week I did notice the huge amount of dirt and debris and pitied them their job that day!).

The corn, almost ripe in the tiny field planted in the road (turnoff to IMS).

Swerving from left to right to avoid the other obstructions in that same road: the hen and her 5 tiny bundles of fur racing from side to side, piles of firewood as big as a house, sand and rocks for a construction project alongside a wall, tables of small items for sale, the ram attached near the mosque for Friday, the bikes parked way out in the lane in front of the lady frying beanflour donut balls, the gully created in the intersection by water rushing downhill along the cross road ….

Overtaking heavily-laden donkey carts clopping along - but slowing down for the lone donkey directly in my path - ambling down the paved road on his way home without owner or cart was a little more unusual

Mud squelching under my toes as I get out of the car to open the gate of my driveway following the daily downpour, leaving shoes at the doorstep so mud doesn’t get tracked through the house.

The mouldy smell in the roads where puddles haven’t dried up for months, the back cement which has had a green tinge to it for weeks, the cloths under the window to catch the leak each downpour…

Still plodding on

With the director absent for 6 weeks then 10 days I've been spending more time on admin and we've gotten a few admin projects almost done with the help of short-termers here for the North American and European summer school break - 1024 books in the library are catalogued with probably only 150 to go; the school song books are revamped and repaired; and our Africa Prayer Guide book is on the way.

With my friends Gigandets and Ashmores leaving Burkina, and Jane going away for months (and maybe permanently) things are getting a bit lonely. Some other friendships will hopefully be renewed or made as others return or arrive, but it's never easy saying goodbye.

Rain and dust and videos

Rain has been hitting Ouaga hard, with roads looking like lakes for some time after each storm. Greenery is growing like wild, and more leaks have turned up in my house.

Since the last leak took 2 months to ‘fix’ (water still puddles on the floor under the window in question) and many phone calls and messages to the house-owner I’ve gotten a bit discouraged and may just leave it to the SIM office to try to chase him up. The guard recommended I get it fixed before the “big rains” of August. What does he think these have been then? Sunshowers?

Before some of the bigger storms there’s a big blow, and if there’s been a few dry days it manages to get all the dust and rubbish into the air. If you want a glimpse you could download the short video made from IMS balconies.

Another video file will show you how to prepare “tô”, the staple corn dough dish here.

Bobo and beyond

I went away with Jane for the weekend to Bobo Diolassou, the former colonial capital of “Upper Volta” as Burkina was called. There were some georgeous Art Deco style buildings, some in better states of repair than others (the one on the left is the colonial market enclosure which has been surrounded by other market stalls which has extended the market outside its boundaries; the right is the railway station). The main reason we went was for a break for both of us.

Last December a car breakdown stopped us overnight in Bobo and we had such a good rest there we went back to the same mission guesthouse to catch up on our sleep and explore more. We had also got such good bargains at the market and at the supermarket meat counter there last time we were hoping for more of the same. Unfortunately the market was visibly much emptier of vegetables and staples (hopefully only because of the timing at the beginning of the rainy season and not indicative of a longterm lack). We did buy a few “unknown” local spices we found there we hope to try out and both enjoyed finding our way through the labyrinth of a big African market again finding unexpected treasures and unusual items in dark corners. Ouaga’s burned down years ago and has never been replaced, with business spread among several smaller markets.

We've both been under strain so this weekend we tried to forget all that and enjoy a trip to the Banfora Cascades not far from Bobo. The climb up the hill over the rocks was good exercise, and we saw lovely streams, rock formations, trees and some wildflowers. Quite a contrast from the dry north of Burkina!

Rain here at last!

The bad news: still waiting to have that window leak fixed by my house owner so every rain someone needs to be there to keep changing the wet cloths underneath it - the good news is that we’re reminded of that because there’s been regular rain! The heat is still there when clouds dissipate, but nights are starting to get a bit cooler.

I just got back from a long weekend away and on the 4 hours’ drive it was refreshing to see the green fuzz along the road and the grain already foot-high in some fields. Noundioua, our class president at IMS with a wife and large family back in his village is one student who will be going home the holidays starting this Friday - originally to help his wife and children with the planting as well as his many church responsibilities but now to help out in the fields since their crops are already starting to show as well.

Unfortunately, it seems that country-wide this may not be enough, since with some grain being sold to other countries (where they’re paying higher prices) and the effects of last year’s difficult climate I’ve heard that reserves may be low and that there are regions that have already almost finished all the food they have (with months to go to a hoped-for but not certain harvest) so there looks like difficult times ahead. Add to that Touareg refugees streaming in from the country north after action against their villages, and it doesn’t look too good … so please pray for meetings taking place at the moment with government, relief agencies and missions.

Camel visit

There was a mumble from the gate, in the tone usually M. beggars used. I was a bit surprised that they knew I was home at this hour since we’d just paid for more bars on windows and to have the gate increased in height for security reasons and people couldn’t now see into my lounge windows while walking down the street.

Being just a few days from travelling away from a month instead of leaving at 7am I’d stayed back from work for an hour or so to talk to Esther about arrangements during my absence. While waiting for her I’d worked on my marking for the Bible school’s latest essay question (“what would you say to a M. who said Christians believed in 3 Gods, not one; and how would you explain the trinity?”) but was just packing up to go.

After hearing the voice I discovered the reason as soon as I looked up - and up - and saw that the man’s face was above the new higher level of the gate, and there was another face there as well: a camel.

Esther translated that the man was begging, and he offered to let me get on the camel for a fee. Being dressed in a straight skirt, keeping in mind work was waiting, and not wanting to have my hair eaten by a camel above me, instead of getting on the camel when he had gotten him to kneel I stood alongside. And of course gave him money towards lunch (and the camel’s).

An unexpected blessing this week: two nights with little showers of rain and an overcast day in between. After months of being so dry skin on your feet cracks so bad it bleeds it was a temporary humid coolness. Now the air is a bit clearer of the dust that is causing so much concern over the cases of meningitis - and despite being above 38C for more than a week now hot season really starts!

Ouaga and the heat

Ouaga is a funny mix.
I can order beautiful iced donuts and a great salsa and homemade herbed tortilla chips for a great price to be delivered to my door the morning after I order but butter has become so expensive that I think twice before buying and instead on my bread am putting mayonnaise or processed cheese (don’t even suggest local margerine - Yuck!) and have practically cut out cooking with it.

There’s a guy who used to cook for missionaries that now does home bakery deliveries, including hamburger buns, mini banana breads, and larger things like pizzas and cakes. It’s useful when your only cooking equipment is a 3-burner stove top (like the camping ones back home).

I looked at the standard (not even fancy) stoves here all priced around AUS$620 (same price as a chest freezer) and decided I didn’t need baked casseroles, grills, muffins or homemade baking that much. I’m waiting for the April/May sell-offs of expats leaving at the end of the school year to see if there’s something reasonable for sale (and if there’s a cheap freezer it would help out for those times of year when vegies are limited).

Even if I get one I’m not likely to put it into the kitchen (ie. the small bedroom now furnished with fridge, stovetop and cupboards) since the house already acts like a brick oven and hot season has barely started. I'll probably copy another misso and have it on the porch.

I’ve put cane mats above the windows in the hot cement area behind the house, and am growing passionfruit vines on a network of cables. They’ve just reached the level of cables, and seem to grow about 20cm a week now so it’ll be a while before there’s shade back there on the concrete bricks that absorb heat all day and radiate it back inside at night.

Birds large and small ... From vultures to finches

With the mason banging away at the concrete walls so hard that the house is shaking it’s surprising that today I’ve seem more variety of birds in an hour than for months before. I am enjoying their songs these days. In the big tree that seems to have finally finished shedding little yellow leaves like a carpet every day after they’re raked up, that now has an abundance of little green leaves on interlacing levels of branches I’ve seen today:
- the resident vultures
- yellow medium sized birds
- a yellow little bird (one of these yellow I think are weavers from the tree in neighbour’s backyard)
- some little grey/brown sparrow types (or are they female finches?)
- a red finch
- a blue finch
- a black finch (?seems the same from the distance I saw it)
- a red/blue/green honeysucker I think - small, with 2 longer feathers in the tail
- turtledoves

Some even stood still and looked like they were listening when I tried to talk to them, others just disappeared further into the foliage.

First Christmas in Burkina

It's getting cooler at night now (down to about 19C the TV said New Year’s Eve while people waited outside for fireworks and 15C last night) but some days are still pretty warm. The pool has been getting cooler - the other night positively chilly when we went for our regular exercise. We’ve moved from early morning figuring that the water would heat up during the day - but “It’s not evident” as they say here!

Christmas day was cool enough to have a hot meal without drowning in sweat, and after planning for 12, we finally had 5 sit down to eat, after delivering meals for 3 to a missionary family that had a baby on Saturday and couldn't come since the toddler then became too sick! The other cancellations were 3 ' possible' single CMAers, and a new wife who managed to get the last bus up country when she flew in Christmas day after being stranded a few days in Lome airport after being bumped from a flight.

We didn't order nice fat chickens in time so had roast lamb (relatively cheap here and abundant) and vegetables, local chicken in a apricot-French onion soup casserole, green beans prepared French style (sauteed uncut, with lots of butter, garlic and ham) and mashed potatoes. Dessert was pumpkin pie made from scratch by Jane. Jane also made artichoke heart farci entrees - apparently a family favorite (their family seem to be all gourmet cooks) and paper-thin taro and sweet potato chips (better than Pringles!) for nibblies. And the meal started with fondue brought by the swiss couple. So it was pretty nice! I did the beans and chicken, using takeaway chickens from a local street corner.

Jane and I were cooking from about 10am, with a break for breakfast and delivering the meal before eating about 2.30pm. We ended up introducing the Swiss couple to hot chocolate (milo) sucked through peppermint sticks I'd brought out in May from the US for the occasion about 9.30pm after watching "It's a wonderful life" with simultaneous translation from Jane for the Swiss.

I had made "Christmas crackers" before with silly paper hats, silly gifts and silly jokes (got off the internet) so this was a first-time cultural experience for some (photo).

I had the traditional long phone call with most everyone from home at 7am after I'd SMSed them to tell them I was awake - it was already getting on Christmas Day evening in Aust.