We have re-named Boukouma Balkoma - balko is the Fulfulde word for a leech, of which there are many here. They swim around blindly seeking out warm-blooded creatures, preferably rice-planters. When they find one they rejoice and clamp discretely onto it. They make a small hole and suck the blood, and then, slowly but surely, they enter head-first into the hole they have made until they are right inside the body. They can stay there for days, by all accounts.

I had a close encounter with a balko in the rice-nursery the other day - it was about four inches long, although by the time I noticed it one of those inches was already inside my ankle. I hobbled home to fetch some petrol to put on it, and on the way there, the balko emerged with a plop and fell off. Perhaps he knew what was coming.

There are also poisonous snakes here. A couple people in the local church have already been bitten, and we have had to rush them to the clinic ten miles away to be injected with antivenom. The day before yesterday, Ousmane, one of our Fulani brothers, stepped on a poisonous watersnake while we were levelling one of our fields. Mercifully, it did not bite him. Aadama caught it and killed it efficiently.

We all joke a lot about balkos while we are working in the fields (we make up funny songs about them, and occasionally do the Balko Dance to check our feet for leeches) but we don't joke much about the snakes. After Ousmane stepped on his snake he was very quiet for the rest of the morning. We would appreciate your prayers. We are also going to buy eight pairs of strong rubber boots when we are next in Djibo!

The discipleship aspect of the work here is going well. Our hope has always been to see Fulani Christians begin to relate to each other as the family of God, and it seems to be happening. In the yard here and out in the fields too, there is a lot less bickering than there was this time last month, and a lot more laughter. We have begun to sing as we work - not just daft songs about balkos but worship songs too. One of the guys who used to slope off occasionally for a quick cigarette now slopes off occasionally for a quick pray.

The group has a reputation too for being hard workers - one of the 'parcelles' we were sold was too high to let water into, so we dug it out, spade by spade, and piled the earth in a high mound around the edges. The result rather resembles the Stade Municipale in Ouagadougou and was apparently the talk of the village for three days! We have planted rice there and are hoping for a good harvest.

Another piece of good news is this: Wadda, the wife of Hamadou the tailor, has made a decision to follow Jesus. We have been praying for this a long time and are very happy for the whole family. Please pray for her, that God reveals himself to her more and more.

Thank you if you have prayed about the radio project. In one spectacularly eventful weekend in mid-July, several developments took place.
1) Remy Moret revealed that he is transferring his attentions to setting up a station a bit closer to home - near Ouagadougou.
2) CMA approached SIM and said in effect "We want to put a radio station in Burkina Faso, we have been looking at Djibo which seems fairly unreached, and as you have people there, why not take the equipment off our hands and set up the station."
3) SIM said, "All right, then", and put in an application for a frequency (the annual deadline for which just happened to be the very next day).

I am surprised and pleased by this turn of events. When CMA raised the possibility of radio in Djibo, they had no idea we already had the vision for that. We are still moving forward by faith and there are a lot of unknowns, but the involvement of CMA and SIM is a big morale boost. Praise God.

The application is in my name - although I have not committed myself to long-term involvement in radio work, I want to do everything I can in the short-term to see an FM station established here. It will probably involve liasing with SIM and local churches and town authorities and Fulani herders, and it is sure to be a bit of a rollercoaster. If you're praying, you're on board, too - I'll keep you informed!

Love to you and your families.

Alla beydu jam,

Steve