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June 27, 2008
Back to Burkina
I return to Burkina Faso in about a week.
I am looking forward to seeing everyone again. This is a photo of Mousa, one of Yusufi's children, with a lamb of which he is particularly proud.
Rains
It is the start of the rainy season now. Please pray for good rains this year. When I spoke to Seydou recently he was saying the rains haven't yet started.
The rains of course make travel difficult, and I have quite a bit of travelling to do, with two teams coming out from France during the next couple of months.
School
During the two months, we will also be continuing to move things forward for the school. We plan to open the school this year with just year 1, and to do that in a rented yard, while we design and build the school over the coming year. We have the yard, and will start recruiting students in the next few weeks.
Overload
In the meantime, I still have quite a lot to do before I go. The work is growing quickly, which is great. We have the well-drilling coming up in November, and several church partnerships running, with more possibly developing. We are planning a soccer camp for next year. And of course the ongoing work with the pastors as we reach out among the Fulani, Tamacheq, and Songhai peoples.
However, we do we need to get the structures in place to allow it to grow. In particular please pray that we can find an administrator to help me with all the practical workload.
Many thanks
June 26, 2008
The Wonderful World of Computers (contd)
I ordered a spare battery for my laptop from Partmaster, with the promise of "delivery within 14 days".
It is now 2 months later. No battery, no answer to my emails.
What should I do...?
June 23, 2008
Design talk in Berlin
I went with Richard and Pete from my church on a flying visit to Germany last week to meet up with Francis Kere and the guys at his architectural practice.
Francis is the Burkinabe architect who designed the school at Gando (right), in the south of Burkina Faso, and we are talking with him about possibilities for the school at Gorom-Gorom.
It was a great time, and a privilege to meet with Francis and his team. I think there was a real meeting of minds, and I hope good things will come out of it. Please continue to pray for us as we seek to build the best school possible for the children of Gorom-Gorom.
If you haven't yet done so, would you think about supporting this vision by donating online through my Justgiving page ?
Thank you.
I am not a Doughnut
After we finished our meeting with Francis, we had a bit of time to walk around to look at Berlin.
What a fascinating place! It has so much history, of course, and it was quite sobering to be there and read of the massive events that have taken place there. It seemed to make British history somewhat parochial, since so many world-shaping nations and events seemed to cross paths in Berlin. Including of .jpg)
course Napoleon and the history of the Brandenberg Gate, the rise of Nazi Germany and the persecution of the Jews (well represented at the Holocaust Memorial), and the rise and fall of Communism epitomised by the Berlin Wall.
Not forgetting of course, Kennedy's great speech in support of freedom and the West Berliners, finishing with his declaration: "Ich bin ein Berliner"!. Although in the English-speaking world, great amusement has been had at the possibility that he was actually saying "I am a doughnut", it seems that in Germany his meaning was clearly understood and gramatically correct.
Here are Richard and I next to a bit of the Berlin Wall.
Tags: africa sahel burkina burkina faso gorom-gorom school building children education berlin
June 18, 2008
News from Burkina Faso
* Instability
* Refugees
* Football
* Polio
* And Finally
Instability
Please pray for Burkina where excessive food and fuel price rises have combined with political and student discontent to create a potentially unstable situation.
Price rises have been reported as between 28% and 67% in some cases, which make basics unaffordable for many, especially in towns where people spend more on food and fuel. When I speak to Seydou and the pastors, they speak of the cost of living as a major concern. The government has taken action to control price rises and distribute improved seeds and fertiliser for the coming season, but people are struggling to cope, and many don't understand the impact of worldwide conditions upon prices, which leaves them blaming the government.
Stability and peace have been the trademark of Burkina Faso over the last 20 years, while neighbouring countries have experience turmoil. Please pray for solutions to the current difficulties, for wisdom for leaders, and for continued peace.
Tuareg Refugees
Tuareg refugees, fleeing insecurity in northern Mali, have been pouring into Burkina recently, reminiscent of the situation when I first moved into Gorom-Gorom in 1992. Steve reports on 600 refugees near Djibo, where he is responding with a distribution of aid to 30 families this Friday.
Football
The national Burkina Faso football team have had an excellent start to their campaign in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, winning all their first three matches. After defeating Tunisia 2-1, and Burundi 2-0, the Stallions beat Seychelles 3-2 on Saturday to leave them top of their table.
Polio Vaccinations
About 800,000 children have been vaccinated in Burkina in just one week in a massive campaign following cases of wild polio in neighbouring Niger.
Burkina in Warwickshire
And finally... you can get to see a bit of Burkina Faso at the Royal Show from 3-6 July at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire. Christian Aid will re-create a small piece of Burkina Faso, West Africa, in the Flowers, Gardening & Horticulture area, "showcasing how farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are adapting to the devastating effects of an increasingly unpredictable climate."
June 14, 2008
Yosemite 2 - In Ansel Adams Land
In Burkina Faso, I usually take photos in colour, to try and capture the life and vibrancy of the culture that can so easily be sidelined by the starkness of black and white imagery. Here in Ansel Adams territory, I have used colour, but have also put the photos up in black and white.
Which do you prefer - the black and white or colour? Any comments?
Yosemite Valley - Tunnel View
Half Dome
Nevada Falls, Liberty Cap and Half Dome
Vernal Falls, El Capitan, and Nevada Falls
To see more of my photos from Yosemite, click here. My digital camera was at the camera doctor, so I had to use my film camera. Some of the colour has not come out brilliantly, and scanning the photos has of course lost a bit of definition too.
Tags: america yosemite photos travel waterfalls mountains
June 12, 2008
Yosemite 1 - The Teddy Bears' Picnic
After my four weeks travelling the US to speak at various churches, I met up with my brother David for a week's holiday. We had four days in Yosemite, which was great.
On the second night we were woken by Mummy Bear and Baby Bear breaking into the "bear-proof" lockers outside a neighbour's tent just a few feet away. The lockers apparently have a slight fault, and Mummy Bear had found out how to open them - ie, get a paw underneath to un-latch it, then rip the door open, breaking the padlock in the process.
The photo was taken by Bruce Johnson, a fellow Brit who was biking his way around the west coast. He was part of the brave/foolish crowd gathering outside to watch the bears from a safe-ish distance while I peered out from behind the door of my tent.
Interestingly, with fruit and drinks and all kind of other goodies, the bears just wolfed down the pizzas and left the rest. Mothers just don't know how to feed their kids properly these days...
Tags: america yosemite bears travel
June 07, 2008
US Update
My time in the US has gone really well.
I have visited a number of different churches from different denominations, and been welcomed with warmth and hospitality. People have also been open and responsive to the challenges I was bringing.
I spoke of course about the work in Burkina, and our call to bring the love and kingdom of God to the world. But I also spoke of the challenge that the lives of pastors and Christians in Burkina brings to our own lives as they give themselves so wholeheartedly to serving Christ while having so little. We who have so much are so easily swept along in the world's pursuit of comfort, success, prosperity, pleasure, and security. Burkinabe pastors such as Pascal, Pierre, and others model the self-giving discipleship and obedience through which I believe God wants to speak to us.
Two churches I visited are already involved with us in Burkina, and couple more are praying about whether God wants them to get more involved. We have also had some significant gifts towards the school, the well-drilling, and the needs of the pastors and ministry in general. Please give thanks with me for all these things. Thank you.
I hope to write more on this soon. In the meantime, I am now on holiday with my brother, David, for a week. We are in Yosemite, having seen bears, and head to the coast tomorrow. More - including photos - soon.
