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July 24, 2008

Painful Eyebrows

Almost every market day from October last year to June this year, Harouna and I would go off to the cattle market and sit down on a straw mat with a pile of cassettes and a pile of books. We shared the good news of Jesus with passers-by, sold a few gospels and choked on the dust kicked up by errant cows and garibous. But as of last week, we have relocated to a brand new place in the main market (cue fanfare). We're very pleased with this. It's a proper shop made out of proper cement bricks, next-door to a shop that sells fake designer jeans and opposite a shop that sells tea-leaves and Timbuktu dates.

We've stocked up on copies of Linjila Lukka (The Gospel of Luke) and Banndi Suleymana (Proverbs) and will be selling them at an 80% loss, as always, so we're hoping business will be brisk. If you have a moment next Wednesday morning, please pray that people find the shop! There has been so much re-shuffling of the various market-stalls recently that no one knows what's where any more. Pray also for Harouna and me as we communicate God's love to the people of Djibo.

The other highlight of the past month was being able to buy a used car in Ouagadougou. It's a green pick-up truck and it will be perfect for bush-trips and city-breaks alike. Unfortunately, the cylinder-head cracked on our first journey up to Djibo, toasting the entire engine. It looks like it's going to be some time before it'll be fixed. What was it Dick Dastardly's dog used to say? Rassum frassum...

A big thank you to all those who contributed to the Tuareg refugee aid effort. We have done two distributions to date, and when they run out of food again we'll do a third.

Some of you have asked how the 'Teaching Fulfulde to Mossi Christians' thing is going. Pretty well, over all. We did ten weeks of classes before breaking up for the summer hols, and during that time some good progress was made. The most memorable moment was an improvised role-play between the local pharmacist (played by himself) and a man with 'a painful eyebrow' (played by local comedian Buina). The role-play went well off-piste but explored some interesting areas of vocabulary on the way.* We'll be starting up again in September.

Rainy season has begun. Charlie has been going out to the fields with Dikoore to sow beans and peanuts. She posted a newsletter on her blog today, with this hilarious account of her agricultural exploits.

And in other news: on 7 August, the third Sophie book comes out. It's called Sophie and the Pancake Plot. Recommended reading age, eight to eighty.

Love to you and your families,

Steve

* If you ever need to say 'My eyebrow hurts' in Fulfulde, the phrase you need is 'Waywayko am na naawa!'

Posted by sahelsteve at July 24, 2008 11:41 PM