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December 21, 2009

December Flood Update

Another letter from Alan Dixon in Ouagadougou. If you would like to make a donation which will benefit homeless families and/or reconstruction, you can make a secure online donation here. In the box titled 'Missionary or Project Name', please type BF General 93918 Ouagadougou Flood Relief. Thank you so much.

Yesterday we went to Yagma, one of the three sites that the government is developing to provide lots on which new housing can be built away from flood prone areas of Ouagadougou. As I mentioned in my last update, November 30th had been set as the final date for leaving the tent cities and that those taking refuge there would be enabled to find some other solution to their individual housing crises. On Wednesday we visited Cissen, one of the tent cities where we have been helping with some food relief, to find that about half of those who had taken refuge there were still on site with no plans for leaving in the immediate future. Despite the fact that government aid at the centre has greatly diminished, many expressed their reality that a tent is still better than nothing. The spirit among those still at Cissen was much more agitated than on previous visits and there was obvious discontent that the government was so slow in coming through on the promises for housing and other aid. Many of those who have received promised government help for housing have left the center, most for other temporary shelter and a few to the newly developing areas, of which Yagma is one.

We accompanied one father from Cissen to see where he would be relocating at Yagma and to see how things were progressing with resettlement there. What we found made both Alison and I think of what it must have been like, to some extent, for settlers in frontier days. Yagma is not far from Ouagadougou, but seems completely removed from the realities of big city life. Heavy equipment is at work scratching out roadways in what used to be farmers fields and surveyors are continuing to mark building lots and for distribution to those arriving. On arrival we found a group of about 200 people who had arrived recently, the real pioneers. These families have received their promised 30 bags of cement and each had piled the bags so as to be able to make a small hut, covered with a grass mat, into which they could crawl to sleep. No reconstruction has started as there is virtually no water in this location, people needing to walk 2 to 3 km to find water for washing, cooking and drinking. We talked to one father who had been there for 10 days who had found a small water hole about 1 km away from the Yagma encampment, where he was making mud bricks. He said the hole would be dry in a few days. We talked with several widows, there with their small children, wondering just what they were going to do if water was not soon available for construction. We left just a bit shaken by the realities of resettlement that many are facing. We returned yesterday morning and then again in the afternoon where Matthew, Alison, and I, with another SIMer Mark Dartnell and two Burkinabe colleagues from the Goundrin church, shared a week’s ration of rice and canned fish with 40 families, those we had discerned were the most needy.

What next? We will meet together on Monday to discuss further strategy for Yagma and for those who remain at the tent city at Cissen. During our visits this week we were struck by the complete absence of any government authority at either Yagma or Cissen. We need more information as to what can be expected in the near future for both locations and how we can best contribute to meeting needs, both in the short and medium term. We continue to work through the church in Paspanga to respond to food, schooling, and shelter needs in that part of Ouagadougou.

Christmas is just ahead. We are so pleased to have Matthew here with us. Joel will spend Christmas with good friends in Toronto for whom we are so thankful. His semester in the teaching program at the University of Toronto has gone well. Luke and Mariena will be in Calgary, battling the snow and cold there. They are both doing well, both working, and enjoying a new home recently purchased. We are readjusting to the dust, haze and cooler temps of the Burkinabe winter (33C daytime, 20C at night). Please continue to pray for the displaced poor of Ouagadougou, that the joy of knowing Jesus and celebrating his birth would gladden the hearts of many in the midst of very difficult times. Donations can still be sent through SIM offices and designated for Ouagadougou Flood Relief, BF 93918. Thanks to so many of you who have given.

Merry Christmas to one and all!

With thankful hearts,

Alan, Alison, and Matt

Posted by sahelsteve at December 21, 2009 09:20 AM