When I finally got back to Gorom I had malaria, but we were able to treat it quickly and it lasted only three days. As you may know, malaria rivals AIDS and TB as the world's biggest killer. Every year worldwide there are between 300 and 500 million cases of the disease and 3 million deaths - 75% of these deaths are African children under five.

In recent years the malaria parasite has started to show an alarming resistance to drugs commonly used to treat it, and the incidence of malaria has risen dramatically. Burkina Faso is no exception. Particularly in rainy season, the disease is rampant. When my friend Gregor visited me here in August last year, he contracted quite a serious case of malaria, but the hospital in Gorom had no rooms free. They set him up on a quinine drip under a tree outside. He recovered.

Scientists have recently dicovered the DNA sequence of the parasite which causes malaria and the mosquito which carries it. This could mark a turning point in the fight against malaria and prompt the development of new drugs and vaccines. God help them in this important work.

On 1 January Keith and I left Gorom-Gorom and moved to Djibo. This is a good thing because Djibo has no rolled r's - I can now tell local people where I live without them going 'eh?' But it's also a bit sad, especially for Keith who has lived there for so long. Please pray for him.

Before leaving Gorom we called an afternoon meeting at Hamadou's house for all the local believers, basically to say goodbye and encourage them to keep on going. Twelve people came along. Hardly a crowd. Not sure if God can do a lot with just twelve people. ;)

Next time, si Alla jabbi, I will tell you all about Djibo and what we hope to do there. I can't very well keep on calling this circular 'the Gorom Gazette', can I? I toyed with 'the Djibo Djournal' for a while, but that kind of implies you get it every day. (Don't worry, I wouldn't inflict that on you!) So suggestions are welcome.

Have a happy new year. God bless you and your families. Alla beydu jam (peace). Alla beydu cellal (health). Alla beydu moyyere (grace). And other good things, too.

With love,

Steve

PS. I have a new address, of course. From March, if you send a packet of Minstrels to Gorom-Gorom they will sit in a corner of the Post Office and melt, and eventually, si Alla jabbi, a rat will find and drink them. However if you send the Minstrels to

Steve Davies
BP112
Djibo
Burkina Faso
Afrique d'Ouest

then I will collect them pronto and be very happy and put them in a friend's fridge. The same goes for letters. In terms of the new address, I mean.

PPS A word about email as well. If you reply to a long-ish newsletter like this one, would you please not 'include original message in reply'. Thanks. (If your email program includes the original message automatically, press 'Ctrl A' to highlight all, then 'Delete')

PPPS If you want to pray for the local believers in Gorom by name, here are the names of those I know of; many of them you already know from my earlier letters! Pray that they would have the courage to continue meeting together, and to share Jesus with their neighbours.

Hamadou (tailor)
Hama (dune)
Jeneba (orphans project)
Fati (Jeneba's sister)
Bernadette (Fati's daughter)
Musa (herder)
Hama (guide)
Abdullai (who knows where the hyena goes?)
Hamadou (not the tailor)
Hama (dune)'s wives, Asetu and Fatimata, who recently both made a commitment to follow Jesus. This also is an answer to your prayers.
Jakuba
Ali
Alu
Also Iisaa (guitar) and his cousin Aladdin and Iisiaaka