September 07, 2008
School lunch
Pastor Jean-Baptiste tells this story of when he was a teacher in a Christian school:
"There were two Muslim girls in my class. They were intelligent girls, but they would fall asleep in class. I called them to come and chat.
'Monsieur', they said, 'it is because we are hungry.'
I checked out and found there were 20 people in their families with hardly any food. I was given some money and bought their families five sacks of millet. I told them to use the millet for the whole family, but that there was one sack for each girl.
The father of one of the girls thought I wanted to marry her, and that was why I had given the food! I told him that it wasn't that, but that they were intelligent girls and I wanted them to come to school with a full stomach so they could study.
That girl became a Christian. Today she is the minister for Human Rights in the Burkina government. And she loves Jesus."
Our school is targetting the neediest children. We are already getting interest from local families - including two Christian Fulani families - who want to send their children to the school we are starting. For another glimpse of the importance of school meals, see Steve's story from 2004 of a Fulani boy at school.
Please pray as we try and find the funding and the best way to provide school meals for our new school pupils. Thank you.
September 06, 2008
Burkina Faso 1 Tunisia 1
The game has just finished at the Stade 4 Aout in Ouagadougou. And that effectively guarantees Burkina's progress to the next stage of the World Cup qualifiers, having won their previous 3 matches, putting them top of their table.
While waiting to go to the airport to return to the UK, I saw the last 15 minutes on the tv. The crowd were enthusiastic, but it didn't actually look like either team were really playing with particular urgency. But well done, les Etalons!
The Elijah anointing...?
So there we were, praying for rain, and the good Lord sending good rain. And suddenly it is time to leave Gorom-Gorom... and how am I going to get out...?
Last week trucks were stuck at Ferelol unable to get to Gorom, because there was so much water. And about 15 huge articulated lorries that had managed to get through were clogging the narrow roads around Gorom market, waiting for the road to Markoye to open. (The trucks' contents are a mystery - some say they are full of cigarettes on their way across the desert. Others mutter rumours of dark conspiracies.)
So anyway, Pierre said that Elijah prayed and closed the heavens for three and a half years. So maybe I should go for three and a half days - just enough to let me get to Ouaga, without disrupting the season...
I prayed, and that is what we got. Three and a half days without rain. Ferelol was almost dry. Yalogo was deceptively full and strong, but we made it through. We got to Ouaga without problem.
And that night it rained.
I dunno. Maybe there is something in this prayer thing...
September 05, 2008
Birds of Oudalan 4
A few more photos of birds from the province of Oudalan in the north of Burkina Faso:
1 and 2 - Abdim's Stork
3. Southern masked weaver on its nest. 4 Another weaver bird
5. Black-headed heron
Follow the links for more photos:
Birds of Oudalan 1
Birds of Oudalan 2
Birds of Oudalan 3
And your old men will dream dreams...
I woke at 1am, with a strong sense that God had just spoken to me clearly through two dreams.
I'm not used to that happening, and I was somewhat disturbed, especially since the meaning of the dreams was itself disturbing. In one, we were building a bridge, and Someone was trying to stop our work, and setting the Christians against one another.
I went outside to pray. It was a dark and moonless night, and the rain had just stopped. Wiping the sleep from my eyes, I began pacing across the yard, praying as I went.
And bumped into Pierre.
I grabbed Pierre and told him my dreams. He looked at me. Then he said: "my wife has just had a dream of two Christians fighting in a tree, and they fell..."
We spent an hour praying, and went to bed.
Later that day, Pastor Adama came to visit, and told us that his wife had had a dream that night of the Christians on a journey together, and a mob arriving to attack them.
We are encouraged. God is at work and he is speaking to us. If Someone is bothered, that's fine with us.
Please continue to pray.
Thank you.
September 04, 2008
First ever mention of Burkina Faso in American presidential campaign...?
Richard Fontaine, a foreign policy adviser for John McCain, while speaking of what foreign aid might look like under a McCain presidency, this week brought up the case of Burkina Faso. Saying that trade, agriculture, and development policies "don't point in the right direction," he mentioned Burkina Faso, recognising that it has a cotton industry that is hindered more by U.S. trade policy than they receive in foreign aid every year.
And a bit of sports news from Burkina Faso:
* Football. The Burkina national team, les Etalons, play Tunisia this weekend. If Burkina win, they will be guaranteed progress into the last phase of the African zone 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Burkina have a 100% record at this stage of the qualifiers, including defeating Tunisia 2-1 at their first meeting. "Allez les Etalons!"
* Olympics. In case you missed them, Burkina Faso was there in Beijing for the Olympics. We were competing in Athletics, Fencing, Judo, and Swimming. No medals this time, but well done, guys!
Tags: africa sahel burkina burkina faso john mccain football olympics
September 02, 2008
Annoying Insects
This is the season of annoying insects. The rains bring lots of joy and blessing, but also lots of beasties, not unlike the plagues of Egypt:
The "Night Crawlers".
It is almost impossible to do any kind of work by light at night during the rainy season, since any light draws battling hoards of bugs of every size hurling themselves ferociously at your flesh, eyes, and computer screen. The mantis-like monstrosity opposite is an interesting-looking visitor, but when you are trying to read, and it insists on trying to fly into your ear, or crawl inside your shirt, it is distinctly less interesting. One evening I was out and had left my light on by mistake, and came home to find my room swarming with all kinds of interesting bugs. It took about a week to encourage them all to move out.
Blister Beetles.
Nasty little creatures, these. When they bite you – thankfully not very often – the skin swells up in a big blister. There is a liquid inside the blister which burns painfully. And – here’s the wicked bit – if the blister bursts, and the liquid gets onto your skin somewhere else, that also swells up in the same way. I had one in my trousers last year.
Enough said.
Crickets and Locusts.
It’s quite fun watching the chickens in the morning, as they switch and dart after the crickets like a chase scene from Tom and Jerry, looking for – to them and John the Baptist at least – a tasty breakfast. But these crickets and their bodybuilder big brothers, the locusts, are a curse on the land. After three or four months of hard work in the fields, it is devastating to see your fields of millet ravaged by a swarm of these beasts. Year after year, it is like a passage from the Hebrew scriptures – “what the drought left, the birds ate, and what the birds left, the locusts snapped up for elevenses.” Steve has even written a book based around the things.
Mosquitoes.
Worst of all. It’s not enough that they whine in your ears as you are trying to sleep, or that they nibble at any exposed flesh, leaving you scratching furiously for the duration of the rainy season. On top of 
that, they have to go and inject you with a parasite that kills a million people each year. This last three months, almost daily we hear the hee-haw of the Gorom-Gorom ambulance collecting serious cases of malaria from the villages to bring to hospital. Most of us in Gorom have had less serious cases which we treat ourselves with doses of whatever we can afford. Forget rabid lions, or gorillas with machine guns, the mosquito is probably the most dangerous animal in the world.
You are welcome to come and visit. But you might want to wait until the rains have finished...
August 29, 2008
Keith’s Itinerary: Sep- Nov 2008
I return to the UK on 7 Sep, just for a couple of months. I will be based in Cardiff, but will be speaking at a few churches around the country. If you can make it to any of these meetings, or would like to meet up when I am nearby, please get in touch. It would be great to see you.
Here are some dates of where I will be, and where I will be speaking at churches in the UK:
Sep 7: Arrive back in UK. Cardiff.
Sep 21: Wellingborough URC, Northants
Sep 28: Market Harborough Evangelical Church, Leics
Oct 5: West Bromwich Baptist Church
Oct 12: Glenwood Church, Cardiff
Oct 19: St Nic’s C of E, Nottingham
Nov 3? : Return to Burkina Faso
Hope to see you soon!
(And, just in case you were wondering what on earth I'm up to in the photo... I am praying for the guys following their recent baptism...)
August 27, 2008
Gorom-Gorom School Update
We are planning to open a Christian primary school in Gorom-Gorom this year. The school is aimed at providing quality education in a healthy social and spiritual environment for the poorest in Gorom-Gorom.
School to Open in Rented Accommodation Oct 2008!
We plan to build the school over the coming year. In the meantime, we plan to open the school this October in rented accommodation. We will take in year 1 this year, and add a class each year until we have a full school.
• The Official Stuff. The school dossier is about ready for submission to the government. Pastor Daniel has officially informed the local authorities of the school opening, and begun informing parents of the school starting this Oct.
• Teachers. The national church is looking at sending a teacher from a nearby Christian school to come as the head teacher for the Gorom-Gorom school. If this happens it would be good, as it is a similar area with similar issues, so he would be aware of the context. Please pray for the right person.
• Temporary School Room. For the first year, we are renting a nearby house. The house itself will also serve as a home for the head teacher, and the class will be in a shelter outside. Before October, we need to repair the house, improve the toilets, and (if possible) to put a water supply in.
• School Design. We are still working on possible designs for the final school building. We want to build something that will have a positive impact academically, socially, aesthetically, and environmentally. Please pray for the right design.
• Finances:
- We have already received quite a good sum towards building the school. Although the final cost of the school building can’t be calculated until we have the final design, we estimate that we still need quite a bit more. When I have more details, I will post them here.
- Because we are aiming at helping the poorest children, we know that parental contributions will not cover the costs of salaries and of running the school. We are looking at how to help cover the costs. Please pray for wisdom and for God’s supply.
- We are getting started on making the furniture for this class - ie up to 20 children's desks, which can each seat 2 children, a desk and chair for the teacher, and a cupboard. My estimate is that this may come to a total of about £1000.
- School meals: we also want to supply a midday meal for all the children, and are looking at the most efficient, cost-effective, and beneficial way to do this.
More soon...
Information and Donating
* For more information about the vision for the school, go HERE.
* If you would like to help in any way with the school, you can give online HERE, or see HERE for how to send money by post.
Thank you.
August 25, 2008
Update
Hi.
I'm off to Deou in about an hour. Things are going really well here. A few points:
* Yesterday we baptised 7 people in an inter-church service in a local rainy season pool. Those baptised included four Fulani, two Songhai, and a Gourma. It was a time of great joy.
* The two new Fulani believers are making progress with Christ, and have been coming regularly to meet with local Christians. We were preaching this week in the market at Korizena, and found a lot of interest in the gospel.
* I have been to visit the pastors at Markoye and Essakane last week. There is an increasing unity among the churches here, and I believe we are seeing the blessing of that unity. We are planning a number of inter-church activities for the winter including a conference for Fulani believers, a training time for Christians, and a weekend for pastors's wives.
* Please pray for Safi, a lady who has a badly infected foot. We are helping her get treatment, but it seems likely the foot may have to be amputated.
Thanks for your prayers.
August 24, 2008
The Bird that Sings for the Rain
I shoved Clint Eastwood away. A fire came into his eyes, and he struck me on the side of the head.
I felt something tapping my foot, and Clint’s face dissolved as I awoke to find Pastor John grinning at me through the mosquito net: “It’s 6 o’ clock – time for prayer!”
Disorientated, bleary-eyed, and a little relieved, I looked around me. Bodies everywhere...
Didier and Odile and their 4 children, and Seydou and I were scattered around the mud floor of Tasmakat church. The cool, damp morning air that follows a night-time storm hung through the open gaps of the doors and windows. The church members had sacrificially built and roofed the church, but not had the money to put doors and windows in.
................................................................................
The night before, we had all hooked up our mosquito nets outside as usual, and bedded down for the night. But only a couple of hours later, a wind came up announcing the coming storm.
We hurriedly picked up our beds and moved into the church, looking for key points to hang our nets. But before we could bed down again, the rain came hurtling down, the strong wind whipping sheets of water through the open gaps. In a few moments, half the church floor was soaked, and a small group of white-skinned Christians were huddled laughing in the one corner of the church that remained relatively un-touched by the rain.
The rain turned to hail, and everyone hunted around desperately for a shirt, as the temperature dropped rapidly to cold.
Eventually the wind dropped, and everyone began again to look for a less-than-soaking spot to spend the rest of the night.
..................................................................................
Everyone was sleepy that day.
When telling the tale of our disturbed night to a Fulani friend, he said with humour:
“It’s your own fault! We Fulani have a proverb: ‘When the bird sings for the rain, it falls on his own head.’ You prayed for rain, so you can’t complain!”
August 18, 2008
Arrogance is our speciality
“Are there any white people who are arrogant?” asked Pierre. He stood up from hoeing John’s field, grimacing with the discomfort in his back.
“Hah!” I said. “We white people are the experts at arrogance!”
“But I’ve never seen a proud white person,” Pierre insisted. “You are here helping us work in the field. I’ve never seen an Arab come to help the Muslims work their fields.”
“Ah,” said Jean-Marc, “but we are proud of working in the field!”
“It’s true,” I agreed. “There are white people who will come here to Africa, and work 10 minutes in the field. They will take film of their 10 minutes, and use it to show people back at home how humble they are, how they suffered, and boast about how hard they worked to help the poor Africans.”
Pierre laughed.
“What is more,” I said, “they will want to preach, even though they never do any evangelism at home. Though they know nothing of suffering for Christ, and they live lives of comfortable half-heartedness, they think that because they are rich and white and have lots of Christian books, they can teach you what it means to be a follower of Christ. They will do a 2-week “mission”, often living in comfortable hotels, and just coming out of their air-conditioning to preach for a few hours, and have their photo taken holding a little African baby. They will return home and boast humbly about how they preached to the poor Africans, and talk about how wretched your lives are, and how blessed we are to be American or British or French.”
“Arrogance is our speciality.”
“May God have mercy on us.”
August 16, 2008
Brief Update Again
Hi Everyone
I think Burkina has been having problems with its email servers. I sent lots of emails, but have had no replies. If you have sent an email in the last month and not had a reply, please send again. Thanks.
Also, I unfortunately only realised when i got to Gorom that the laptop I was kindly given has no internal modem. So I am back in the sweaty and temperamental Gorom cybercafe.
However, things are going well. We had a great time with Didier aand Odile and family from Nantes - more about that later. Also, a young Fulani man gave his life to Christ this week. I am now quite tired and taking a couple of days off before the busyness of my last couple of weeks here. Much to do for the school, the well-drilling, aand many other things. Your prayers are much appreciated.
I am now much better after a few days of ilness - so thanks if you prayed for me!
God bless you!
Bringing Judgement...
“You have brought judgement on us!” said Pastor John with a smile.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Your visitors have come all the way from France to help us in our fields and to help us preach the gospel. There are loads of villages here on or doorstep that don’t have the gospel, and we haven’t reached them yet. That you should come all this way to help us do what is on our doorstep brings judgement on us.”
“Hmph!” I replied. “But you have brought a worse judgement on us!”
John looked enquiringly at me.
“We sit there in our comfortable lives with all our money and possessions. We come here for a short time, then return to our comfort.
I know you pastored a church of over 300 people, and that you had good fields, and that you church members did a lot to help you too. You left all that to come to Tasmakat with your whole family, in order to bring the love of God to the Fulani here. Here you have no Christians, no-one to support you, and no good fields. You and your family have accepted hardship and suffering not just for a few weeks, but for years for the sake of Christ and the people here.
We only follow Christ as far as it doesn’t disrupt our comfort for too long.
Your life and commitment brings judgement on us and our half-heartedness."
****************************************************
Jesus looked at those who had accepted suffering and loss for the sake of following him, and said to them:
“Blessed are you who are poor, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to you.” (Lk 6:20)
August 07, 2008
Evidence of Life
A few photos of the last couple of weeks in Gorom-Gorom and Tasmakat. Photos by Pedro and Jean-Marc:
1. Keith in his office:
2. Seydou and Jean-Marc hanging on for dear life in the back of Keith's truck:
3. Pedro washing Pastor John's feet as part of a commitment of the two churches to each other:
4. Pierre trying to get a signal:
5. Preparing the evening meal:
