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March 08, 2006
Eating the white man...
Well, I am back in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, and writing this from a very clean and efficient air-conditioned cyber cafe! A bit different from Gorom-Gorom.
On Monday night in Gorom, Steve, Cris and I had a little farewell party with Seydou and Monique and their children and W, who I wrote about a couple of days ago. As a special treat, Monique cooked up spaghetti - known in Fulfulde as "tekketti tubaaku" or "white man's innards". And from somewhere she came up with some prawn crackers - known in Fulfulde as "noppi tubaaku" - or "white man's ears"! Our Tamacheq neighbour was fascinated, and so we subsequently learned the unpronouncable Tamacheq phrase for "white man's ears" which Steve then started teaching the Fulani...
Monique also bought some meat for the feast - very expensive at the moment as animal prices are high. The only affordable meat is chicken - as everyone is trying to get rid of their birds in fear of bird flu. In case you are wondering, she chose goat meat...
It has been great to renew friendship, and to laugh, cry, pray, and serve together again, even for such a short time. Please keep praying for them. Seydou did find work recently, helping a builder, but never actually got paid for it. They are persevering in the faith that they are where God wants them.
The next day we made our way on a rickety old minibus to Dori. That night I headed out into town to buy a torch (75p with batteries), a sachet of waxhing powder (5p), and a roll of toilet paper (30p). As the moon was shining brightly, and the air was cool after a hot dusty day, i flip-flopped my way through the sand into town to look for an internet cafe (30p for 15 mins). Unfortunately both were out of order. But on the way, I passed by several little shops with televisions out on the street, and small crowds standing in the road watching Chelsea v Barcelona on the national Burkina tv channel.
It was another long and dusty ride the next day down to Ouaga, and I have a few more busy days visiting ahead of me. I am looking forward to catching up with more friends, and to talking with my Horizons leader who is coming over from Niger to meet up with me. As well as enjoyable, my time here has been very instructive, and I have a lot to think and pray about as I prepare to return to the uk. I will write more about stuff that has happened, and about vision for the future over the coming months. Thank you for your prayers.
More soon....
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso gorom-gorom travel ouagadougou fulani mission sahel
Posted by Keith at March 8, 2006 06:15 PM
Comments
Still praying here - keep in touch when you can.
Posted by: Steve Hilsden at March 8, 2006 08:32 PM
Another memory is brought to the surface for me, I remember seeing TV's on the street with crowds gathered except they were watching the Olympics at the time (sydney 2000).
Posted by: Amanda at March 9, 2006 01:33 AM
Hi Keith
Fantastic writing - personal, moving, honest- sounds like you are haivng a very stirring time. looking forward to seeing you now next week when you return. Say hi to Steve, Seydou and Monique if i'm not too late!
God bless
Richard
Posted by: richard at March 10, 2006 03:25 PM
