http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/ en-us Copyright 2009 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:56:21 +0000 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:22:31 +0000 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.0D http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss There aren't many blogs on my daily news-feed. When you're on dodgy 14.4k dialup you can't subscribe to everything. The following are my 'regular reads': Under the Acacias, Life in Niger, Achuka (children's book news), Greenhouse Blog (literary agent Sarah Davies – I'm a great fan of hers and hope one day to write something good enough for her to take on), and of course Charlie (whose June newsletter is up today). There are many other blogs which I really like and visit when I can, including lucy, simon, dad, laurie, dave, richard and boingboing. And if you haven't yet come across it, may I bring to your attention another worthy blog: Lifehacker. I found it via some blog awards site or other, and have been a regular reader ever since. Lifehacker is all about enhancing and streamlining your life – living efficiently and healthily and using technology well. A few of the articles are quite US-centric, but most are applicable wherever you are. This post about suncream is useful for us paleskins in Africa, for example. The backbone of Lifehacker is productivity, and here are their top ten productivity basics I've been putting into practice the organize more efficiently by staying put advice and finding it worthwhile. There are also good articles on food (e.g. Twist and press for better grilled chicken) and fitness (e.g. Ditch crunches for press-ups and save your back There's some great stuff on sleep and a good article about how to keep cats from destroying your furniture. Then there's the computer stuff – very practical and easy to digest. I appreciate that Lifehacker is not just another hey-buy-this-cool-gadget blog, but rather a pool of practical (and cost-conscious) wisdom. Try this for starters – Lifehacker 2009 essential free windows downloads. I also liked this article about the new version of Opera – I've been using Opera for years and prefer it even to Firefox – apparently the new version has a 'turbo mode' for those of us on slow dialup; bring it on! If you're a geek like me you'll love Lifehacker and add it to your blog feed straight away. If you're not a geek, I believe you'll still relish the occasional nugget of Lifehacker wisdom, not least this marvellous video on how to slice an onion like a pro.... http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/06/lifehacker.html http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/06/lifehacker.html Miscellaneous Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:56:21 +0000 Today is Keith and Lynne's WEDDING DAY! Here is a short selection of greetings from Keith's friends and neighbours in Gorom-Gorom, Burkina Faso.... http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/06/congratulations.html http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/06/congratulations.html Journal Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:09:36 +0000 When I was twelve years old, one of my favourite books was KING SOLOMON'S MINES by Rider Haggard. A treasure map, a quest for gold, one gripping African adventure after another, this was a book that had everything. As it happens, it was the very first African adventure novel written in English - its publication in 1885 was surrounded by a huge publicity campaign, with posters all over London declaring it 'The Most Amazing Book Ever Written'. Would you believe it, KING SOLOMON'S MINES was written as the result of a five shilling bet between Rider Haggard and his brother: namely, that Rider could not write a book half as good as Robert Louis Stevenson's TREASURE ISLAND. I'll leave it to you in the comments section to judge whether or not Rider Haggard should have claimed that five shillings! Back in England this April, I watched the film of KING SOLOMON'S MINES one Sunday afternoon on Channel 5. Okay, so there are parts of the story (including its colonial attitudes) which grate, but basically it's still a cracking yarn. And I like to think of HACKING TIMBUKTU as a KING SOLOMON'S MINES for the twenty-first century. The hero Danny Temple is a hacker and traceur. The villains are a gold-crazed Facebook group with members all over the world. The African backdrop is as modern and authentic as I could make it. But at their heart, the stories are the same and Danny is basically a young Allan Quartermain. Boy finds map, boy embarks on quest, boy encounters many and various obstacles: will he get the gold? Making the book trailer has been a hugely enjoyable process. I met Jason Brink in Ouagadougou back in January – an amazing stroke of luck – here was someone with the exact skill-set we needed, an IT professional who was also a parkour enthusiast. It was like meeting Danny Temple himself! Jason filmed many stunts in different parts of Burkina, and a hacking scene in Ouaga, and I'm very happy with the result. Thanks again to Helen Simpson, IT guru of Andersen Press, who did all the editing for the trailer. If Jason's antics leave you wanting more parkour, here are my two favourite YouTube parkour clips: 1.Extreme Tag 2.The Best of David Belle If you get addicted, just click on 'Related Videos', or you could even sign up for a parkour lesson yourself at www.parkourgenerations.com For the lowdown on the writing of HACKING TIMBUKTU, have a browse of the Hacking Timbuktu blog archive Salam aleykum.... http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/06/king_solomons_m.html http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/06/king_solomons_m.html Hacking Timbuktu Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:26:52 +0000 My new book 'Hacking Timbuktu' comes out on 3 September. Here's a trailer to whet your appetite! Many thanks to my friend Jason Brink for doing the stunts, and to Helen Simpson of Andersen Press for her great work on the editing.... http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/06/hacking_timbukt_3.html http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/06/hacking_timbukt_3.html Hacking Timbuktu Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:29:50 +0000 Si tu veux construire un bateau, ne rassemble pas des hommes pour aller chercher du bois, préparer des outils, répartir les tâches, alléger le travail – mais enseigne aux gens la nostalgie de l’infini de la mer. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (French writer and aviator) "The way to build a ship is not to bring people together to look for wood, prepare tools, assign tasks and make schedules – but rather, to inspire people to long for the infinite immensity of the sea." Leadership is not generally something I covet; I much prefer to bumble along in the background. But when I was recently asked to assume leadership of our World Horizons teams in West Africa I felt a quiet confidence about it and said yes pretty much straight away. I start in September, even though I will be based in the UK for the first year. The work will involve pastoral care of our teams in Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali and Chad. It will involve lots of Skype and a bit of travel. It will mainly involve longing. There's a worship song called How long which asks God: 'How long before you drench the barren land?' That's my prayer for the Sahel regions of those four countries. How long, o God, before life and love and forgiveness and integrity inundate this region? And how can we translate our longing into sensible prayer and action? Having raised my eyes from the confines of Djibo town to the immensity of the Sahara, I am beginning to understand just how dizzyingly varied is the work of World Horizons in West Africa: schools, churches, children's clubs, tree-planting, craft groups, football camps, radio ministry and humanitarian relief. I will be blogging about some of it in the weeks and months to come. In the meantime, please pray that God gives me wisdom to lead well and not make a mess of everything. Please pray for Charlie as well. She's in England at the moment and her pregnancy is progressing smoothly. Alla hokku jam.... http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/06/world_horizons.html http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/06/world_horizons.html Letters home Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:53:29 +0000 Meeting an author can increase children's interest in books, help them understand how books are produced and boost the confidence of any aspiring writers. Starting this September (and for one year only!) I will be available for school visits in the UK, both primary and secondary. If this is of interest, details can be found on the page Stephen Davies children's author over at the 'Contact an Author' website.... http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/05/stephen_davies.html http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/05/stephen_davies.html Children's writing Wed, 20 May 2009 15:14:13 +0000 I got back to Djibo yesterday, with David and Robert who are here as part of a gap year programme. Great to have them here, especially in the absence of Charlie, who has stayed in Chichester. We've just been along to the radio studio to have a look - some real progress has been made. The roof is on, the door and window frames are in and all major wiring is in place. As it happened, there was a praise party in progress inside the studio when we visited! There was a real sense of joy. Here are a few photos: Although we're happy with the progress, there remains a lot of work to do. We need to buy two air conditioners to protect the equipment, make workstations for the 'cabine technique', buy chairs and tables, paint the walls cream, and find a solution for sound proofing it all.... http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/05/studio_progress.html http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/05/studio_progress.html Djibo FM Sat, 16 May 2009 18:41:14 +0000 A Sophie and the Albino Camel Audiobook is now available from Whole Story Audio, narrated by Jilly Bond. Ideal for long car journeys with children! Click below to listen to an mp3 extract:... http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/05/sophie_and_the_6.html http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/05/sophie_and_the_6.html Albino Camel Wed, 06 May 2009 13:52:37 +0000 Charlie's April newsletter is now up, and it contains some good news.... http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/04/full_of_beans.html http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/04/full_of_beans.html Letters home Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:33:43 +0000 My Situation by Grimble When parents go to Peru And leave cups of tea in the fridge, It's jolly hard to know what to do And I wish I could think of a useful word ending in idge. The End With the passing of Clement Freud (1924 - 2009) I have been remembering Grimble. I used to really enjoy this story of a boy whose parents suddenly disappear to Peru, leaving him to his own hilarious devices. The departure of Grimble's parents is a stark solution to the classic children's author dilemma: How to Get Rid of the Adults? Solution 1. Your hero is an orphan (Oliver Twist, Harry Potter, Violet Baudelaire, Anne of Green Gables, James Trotter and many others). Solution 2. Parents gone to Peru (Grimble) or so absorbed in their own lives that they might as well have gone to Peru Solution 3. Parents alive but stay-at-homes (Just William, Famous Five). In my last book, HACKING TIMBUKTU, I made use of the old 'Gone to Peru' trick, or in Danny's case 'Gone to Australia': 'Where are your parents?' 'My dad and my step-mum live in Australia.' 'Australia?' The policeman frowned. 'Why don't you live with them?' Danny swallowed hard. 'I just don't.' 'You mean they upped and went?' said the policeman. 'Left you here all on your own to fend for yourself?' 'They pay the rent on this place,' muttered Danny. Don't feel sorry for me, he thought. You don't know anything about me. I live here and they live there, that's all there is to it. I'm sixteen. I can look after myself. No more reason is given for Danny's parents leaving than for Grimble's. We don't need it, we just need them out of the way. I was interested to read Mal Peet's review of GONE by Michael Grant today. It begins: "It's axiomatic that for the fun to start the adults must be disposed of. Michael Grant does this in the most perfunctory and audacious way. From a chunk of southern California, everyone over the age of 15 vanishes in an instant, just like that - poof! Teachers in mid-sentence, drivers from cars, parents at home, all gone." So there you go - all adults disposed of in the very first paragraph - the most simple and delightful solution yet. Why hasn't anyone else thought of that before?... http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/04/for_the_fun_to.html http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/04/for_the_fun_to.html Children's writing Sat, 18 Apr 2009 12:21:04 +0000 The horse festival in Barani (Burkina Faso) is called Fechiba, which stands for Festival Culturel et Hippique de Barani. Not Feshiba with an s, as I mistakenly wrote in the Times Fechiba article and elsewhere. I wouldn't mention it at all, except that Google tends to care deeply about little things like spelling. With us at Fechiba this year was travel photographer Rupert Sagar-Musgrave, who has posted these amazing photos of the Fechiba horse festival. Rupert also took a couple of these. Roll on, Fechiba 2010. Oh, and for the sake of those Googlebots, here are properly spelled links to my earlier Fechiba posts: Fechiba Kingdom and the Horse Photos of Fechiba 2008 Fechiba Sunday Times Travel Roughing It at Fechiba... http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/04/fechiba_fechiba.html http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/04/fechiba_fechiba.html Fechiba Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:05:22 +0000 On our way from Djibo to Ouaga recently I passed a woman riding a bicycle, taking oranges to market. She had a huge crate of oranges tied onto the back of her bicycle, and a huge bowl of oranges balanced on her head as she rode. She also had a small child tied to her back. It was an impressive feat of balance and determination. I have blogged before about the many words the Fulani have for carrying something. I think I included bammbude (carrying a child on your back) and roondaade (carrying something on your head) but I forgot about horginde (carrying something on the back of your horse or bike). I also forgot the word roondande, which means to carry something on your head for someone else. A single word in Fulfulde – several in English! Fulani Christians use the word roondande about Good Friday. Jesus took our sin and shame and carried it on his own head. The same an particle appears in gollande (to serve someone) maayande (to die for someone) and moyyinande (to make things good for someone). Another word commonly used for carrying things is wakkaade – to carry something across your shoulders. It's quite a masculine word – used of a Fulani shepherd carrying a staff across his shoulders or of a Muslim warrior carrying a weapon across his shoulders. Fulani Christians use the word wakkaade of Jesus carrying his cross. But this shoulder-carrying has none of the jauntiness of the shepherd or the menace of the mujjahadin. Jesus cross-carrying is an image of weakness, stumbling and vulnerability. Yet it is also a compelling image of courage, self-sacrifice and love. Jesus didn't need to carry that cross, yet he chose to do it for us. Iisaa wakkani kam: Jesus carried something across his shoulders for me. Iisaa maayani kam: Jesus died for me. Iisaa moyyinani kam: Jesus made things good for me. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13, KJV)... http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/04/for_you_for_me.html http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/04/for_you_for_me.html Learn Fulfulde Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:07:27 +0000 First there was... - Then there was... - And then... - 2006 was clearly a good year for children's books about big white four-legged animals.... http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/04/more_white_afri.html http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/04/more_white_afri.html Albino Camel Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:15:28 +0000 The Knights of Akonio Dolo are all a-twitter because they've just unearthed a massive clue to the whereabouts of the lost gold.... http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/04/a_big_clue.html http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/04/a_big_clue.html Hacking Timbuktu Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:31:32 +0000 Dear friends, Thank you for your ongoing prayers for our life and work here in Burkina Faso. Here is a brief update on how things are going: 1. The Studio Our recording studio is more than half built. The walls are all in place and the roof is going on this coming week. All that remain are the doors, windows and wiring. Plus two large panes of glass to separate the 'cabine' technique from the sound booth. It's a very solid building and is so far withstanding regular blasts from the Saharan harmattan wind. 2. The Programming As you may know, we have already started broadcasting weekly bible studies on Djibo's new radio station (we don't run the station but we pay for airtime). The studies are very relevant to Muslims and feedback so far suggests that people are enjoying them. If you find yourself praying at 6.30 on a Tuesday evening, or at any other time, pray for switched-on radios and switched-on hearts. 3. The Charlie Charlie's doing really well. You can read her news at http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/charlie. She's very conscientious about posting a monthly blog. 4. The Fulfulde course My second crash fulfulde course ended this week. It consisted of three Brazilian missionaries, two catholic priests, a nun, a security guard, a postman, a college student and the redoubtable Madame Nignan. They aren't yet entirely comfortable conversing in fulfulde but they can all greet, bless, make comments about the weather and tell the story of Choffal Bodeyal (Little Red Hen). Pray that they continue to make progress and begin to share God's love with Fulani people all over this town and region. 5. The Kids' Club Children's Club has been going well these last few weeks. Their favourite game used to be Musuuji Mbaati (Dead Cats – somewhat similar to Sleeping Lions) until our friend Saff visited from London and brought with her TWO SPACE HOPPERS. The children have been watching the film 'Magdalena' (based on the 'Jesus' film) in several installments. We watched the resurrection this week and talked about Easter. 6. The Books HACKING TIMBUKTU is aimed at 10+ boys and comes out in September. SOPHIE AND THE PALOMINO PONY will be out in 2010, all being well. Available on Amazon or at local bookshops. 7. The Easter Holiday As I write this, it's 45ºC in the shade. We're going to the UK today, to catch up with our families. Both looking forward very much to some cool April showers. A very happy Easter to you all. Alla beydu jam. Steve... http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/04/djibo_djottings.html http://www.voiceinthedesert.org.uk/weblog/archives/2009/04/djibo_djottings.html Letters home Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:31:35 +0000