Zoofari

Last night…Kirsten and I sat in the dining area of the guesthouse after everyone had gone to sleep and talked about what God has been doing in our lives here in Burkina.  It was really great to hear from her and open up with her.  It was interesting to see how our different experiences have been—mine spiritually has been more about God tearing me down and revealing my pride and other flaws—while Kirsten’s has been about building her up and filling her up with joy and hope.  It is awesome how God can use our shared experience to give us exactly what we need—even though those things are different.  As for us professionally, this trip has confirmed my desire to be a doctor, whereas it had caused Kirsten to consider looking into other things…maybe education or something else in healthcare.  We really got into a lot…and I appreciate how well we relate to each other despite our differences in personality.  I am really lucky to have a friend like Kirsten…really lucky.  She challenges me without even trying to sometimes.

It was an early morning so that we could get to the Presidential Zoo outside of Ouaga.  Pastor Ben and two of the boys didn’t come with us because they were not feeling very well—and there are no bathrooms at this Zoo…

The zoo (although I’m not usually a big zoo fan) was really fun because the animals are so close to you!

Our guide jumping the fence to chase the zebra

We walked around and tried to find the zebra…but it wasn’t coming to the fence…so our guide hopped the fence and started to chase the zebra toward us so that we could see it.  It was very humorous.  Where else will your guide happily jump a fence and chase animals around.   We also got to see a hyena.

Touching a hyena

It looked like a really ugly dog.  I even got to pet its neck through the fence.  The most beautiful animal was the tiger…it walked right toward me and we were only separated by a chain fence.   We also saw a lion eating her food.   At the zoo, donkeys, camels, and ostriches are allowed to roam free.  The monkeys were entertaining to see.  I did have quite a scare though—The guide warned us not to get to close to the cage because the monkeys can steal cameras and fling poo.  Well, the biggest monkey (the male) was walking around and I wanted to get a close up of his face as he turned toward e.  So I got really close to the cage and kinda camped out. Well, as the male was about to turn around, I looked up and a female monkey was hanging upside down right above my head…ready to grab!  I ran away and didn’t get the picture.  We stopped at the baby elephants for a brief moment, but we heard that the hippos were out of the water.

Feeding a hippo!

So we went over to the hippos.  The male was HUGE—waay bigger than I could have imagined a hippo would be.  I got to feed both the male and the female some greens.  Their teeth are huge and point in many directions.  It was intimidating to see how powerful they were!!  We went back to visit the elephants again.  I got to feed them through the fence.

Ready for her close up!

When I no longer had any greens for the elephant…and I was taking pictures…the trunk started feeling its way toward me.  I got one of the attacks on video.  One of the elephants smacked David in the chest.

A day at the zoo with Charity

Charity came to the zoo with us.  We got behind the group a little bit…so Kirsten and I decided to teach Charity how to speed walk.  I showed her how she had to swing out her hips and roll from heel to toe.  She looked so cute when she tried to copy us.  When we walked back to the van…we saw that there was a camel drinking in a big puddle of water.  I went around the backside to get some photos of it…and Andrew started saying something about LEFT…I thought he was saying that they left…so I looked back and Andrew pointed…no to your LEFT!  There was a HUGE white camel headed straight for me.  It was so neat looking.  When camels age, their hair turns white just like humans.  We piled back into the van and started heading off the property and we saw the giraffes.  Andrew stopped the van and asked if anyone wanted picture of the giraffes, so of course I got out…but I was the only one.  After taking a few pictures I started to head back to the van and Andrew started driving off.  So like the Burkinabe children…I ran after the van and thought about jumping on to the ladder on the back of it.  Then Andrew braked quickly…but I avoided running into the back like the children do.  On the ride home, Kirsten and I danced along to the music with Charity as the rest of the passengers nodded off to sleep.

For lunch, we had Sam’s red pork sauce with rice.  The team spent some of the time packing and tidying up the guesthouse.  Kirsten and I sorted the donated clothes in the backroom—it was funny to see some of my clothes and my shoes.  Jonas came over to visit with us one last time before we left.  He sat and talked about his upcoming job in the foreign affairs embassy (I think that is was it is).  We talked about politics and how things are working in Burkina…it was realy nice to sit and connect with him for a short while.  The afternoon was spent at the Village Artisenal.  It is a shopping market where you can see the vendors make the things that they sell.  I really enjoyed walking around and talking with the vendors.  I even helped a couple of people with making purchases in French!  My least favorite stand was the Tauregs.  They are a traveling people group who ride camels out to the desert.  They are a very mean looking people group and their craft is leatherworking and weapon making.  I really enjoyed the Village Artisenal—one of my favorite vendors was this handicapped man with the most pleasant disposition.  It rained while we were at the Village—which was very welcomed because it had been over 100 degrees and very humid that day.

Dinner was made at Alice and Pete’s house.  Sammy and Charity put on a bike show for us…they rode around in their yard in circles and did little “tricks.”  It was a meal of steak and potatoes with a chocolate pudding cake for desert! It was delicious.  The team did a debriefing session with Pete afterward.  We discussed our favorite thing that we did, who we formed a connection with while in Burkina, and what our prayer for the country was going to be.  Most of the team members’ favorite experience was their trip to the bush.  While the team was here…I think that my favorite thing that we did was working with the youth at EAC in order to make the floors for the new building and then playing soccer with them afterward.  My strongest ties were probably made with Toi, Francis, and Jonas.  My prayer request for the country is that Pete’s vision about the Outreach Festival will come to be a reality…I think it would do wonderful things for the communities here and for the salvation of the people of Burkina.

After dinner, we went home to the Hub.  I decided to read for a bit while Kirsten used the computer…I ended up falling asleep.  When I woke up—Kirsten was still on the computer so I decided that I would nap in the Cap until she was done…well…I didn’t end up waking up until 6 am.  It was one of the best nights of sleep ever! To bed early and waking up early…it just feels really nice.

-JK

Time with Tinwende

My posts are a day behind or so…this is from Thursday…

This morning we went back to the Compassion International site at EAC and I got ot see Tinwende again!  When she saw me in her classroom, she recognized me immediately!  It was so wonderful to see that gorgeous smile stretch across her face.  She is possibly the most beautiful little girl that I have ever seen.  In her class, they were telling the story of Moses when his mother hid him in the reeds in a basket.  EAC is not Tinwende’s home site—since the teams go to EAC, they brought her into the site for the day so that I could see—but they put her with the 4 and 5 year olds even though she is 6 because she is so small. The 4 and 5 year olds are the only kids in the program that do not go to school during the week—and they are absolutely CRAZY!  I feel bad for the teachers because they are in a small hot classroom with about 30 little ones.  One of the benches was knocked over several times, kids were walking all over the classroom, and they were hitting each other.  Tinwende just sat next to me quietly observing the classroom. She did not participate much (not that any child really did) but he brain seemed to be turning.  While I sat in class, Ami and all of her friends came to the window and started whispering “Jennifer, Jennifer” to get my attention.  A lot of the kids have picked up on my name/remember me when I come back to the site.  When Kirsten was in a different classroom they asked her where Jennifer was.

A translator came in to sit with Tinwende and me—but he spoke mostly French and More…so it was a bit difficult to communicate—but with my broken bits of French and lots of gestures…I found out that she doesn’t know when her birthday is (according to Compassion it happened recently…but she says that she is still 6) and that her favorite animals are dogs and sheep.  I also found out that she was looking forward to going outside to play during the break.  During class I saw that she was wearing her ladybug watch that I gave her the last time that I was there…the translator asked her what time it was and she correctly told him!! It isn’t a digital watch either! I was so proud of her!  She was also wearing a flower necklace that I think my dad brought for her last time he was here.  Her translator handed me a picture of her and her gifts from the last visit—it is so cute!

PIGGY BACK RIDE!

At the break, I pulled her up on my back and we went running to the field to play.  I felt kinda bad because my friend Ami and her gang wanted a lot of my attention…and it was hard splitting it between so many kids—especially because I only get to see Tinwende at Compassion.  We played some hand games, ran around, and played a fun dancing game.

Tinwende Dancing!

The dancing game was adorable because one person is in the middle walking around and then they grab another person and the two of them walk around the circle…then they have to dance (moving their hips from side to side), and then jump around, and then hip bump.  A small girl asked Tinwende into the circle with her and then Tinwende asked me into the circle. So we got to dance and hip bump.  It was really fun!  Francis was teaching at Compassion and I introduced him to Tinwende.  He told me that in English, her name means A Touch of God.

After the games, I got to sit down with Tinwende and give her some gifts.  She LOVED stuffing the bear that I brought with me.

Sealing it with a kiss

Her eyes lit up when she saw it.  After stuffing the bear together, we both kissed the heart (well in this case a star) that we put inside the bear before sewing it up.  Kirsten kept missing the picture of Tinwende kissing the star…so I kept having her kiss it…the girl must have thought I was crazy!We ended up naming the bear Ester.  I gave her a few choices of names and she liked Ester best.

Etch-a-Sketch

She really enjoyed playing with the Etch-a-Sketch.  She was so focused and intent on it.  It took her a little while to figure out how to make it work…but once she did—she loved it!

My Little Demon Deacon

One of my favorite gifts for her was a little Wake Forest Tye Dye Tshirt.  When she saw it her eyes got really big!  I explained to her that it was from my university (through a translator) and she smiled a lot.  She looked precious in it—like a true little demon deacon!  (Thanks for sending it Greg!)  After giving her the gifts, we went to go play a rock game—it is similar to jacks. (it was a game that Ami taught me the day before)  She was so good at it compared to me! It was really fun interacting with her one on one.  We took a group picture of the Appleton Team and Cabre (the girl sponsored by the AAC youth group), Tinwende, and the Stewart’s compassion child.  It was so funny because Tinwende went running away right  before the picture was going to be taken…and she same running back with her flip flops…she didn’t want to take her picture in her barefeet.  She was just giggling and smiling as she ran back…it was heart melting.

Tinwende--Coiffeur

After the group picture, I let her play with my hair and put it up into a ponytail.  It took her a really long time to figure out how to get it all into the rubber band.  Then it was time to say goodbye—and it was so hard to do.  I picked her up and swung her around.  It was such a cool moment—she locked her eyes on me and just smiled as we twirled around.   Nothing else in the world mattered at that moment—it was just a moment for Tinwende and me to laugh and enjoy each other.  I said goodbye to her in More (Nin dare) and brought her over to Viviane with tears streaming down my face.  It was comforting to see Kirsten after I left Tinwende—because she was crying too because she had been taking pictures and video for me as I played and said goodbye to Tinwende.  As we left I saw her standing in her WF tye dye—waving at the van.

We ate lunch at the guesthouse and hung out reading and talking afterwards.  At 4:00, we went over to EAC to hang out with the Youth again.  Pastor Jonas and Pastor Ben spoke about the partnership between our churches.  Then two of the Youth gave their testimonies to the group!  It was amazing to hear what God did in their lives.  They were both former Muslims.  Adama had an incredible story!  He had a stomach tumor—and based on its location and size…he had a 10% chance of surviving the surgery…probably less than that because the doctor had never performed that surgery before.  The night before, after his Christian uncle had talked with him about the importance of living a life for Christ and separating from Islamic traditions and Adama had prayed to God to help him in this surgery—that if he was real—to save him—and that night  he had a dream.  In his dream, a figure in all white came down into his hospital room as the doctor and his team were walking in.  The figure first healed the leg of the man in the bed next to him and then came over and talked with the doctors and said that he could heal Adama.  The figure touched is stomach, opened it up, removed the tumor, and closed him up.  Adama asked the figure why he had come—and he responded because he had received his prayer.  When Adama woke up, he was able to sit up without pain.  He told the doctors what had happened…and they didn’t believe him so they sent him to get an xray.  The tumor was gone—but the doctors thought it was a mistake in the picture…so they did another…and couldn’t find anything. Not only did Adama come to accept Jesus as his Savior…so did his doctor!  The other student who shared his testimony was Toi (I wrote about him in an earlier post…and I called him Abraham…but I’ve learned that Toi is his actual name…confusing…)  He was a Muslim Animist (animal worship).  Before school exams he would pray to a stone and sacrifice chickens.  His brother became a Christian and tried to talk to him about Christ, but Toi wouldn’t listen to him. God did a lot of little things throughout his life to soften Toi.  I don’t remember all of the happenings…but I do remember one of the last ones was that he was about to cross a street and someone whispered to him…Don’t Move…Be Still.  He looked around to see where the voice was coming from and when he turned back, a tire from a large truck had come off and was speeding toward him. The tire struck young kid and killed him.  Had Toi walked instead of listening to the voice—he would have been hit instead.  He also talked about how his parents have disowned him since his decision to follow Christ.

The Chief has arrived

When we returned to the guesthouse…the chief was waiting for us!  This was the Muslim chief that is the head of the village that I worked in when I came over to Burkina in 2005.  He rode his bike with his son Nicola to come visit us.  This man shows up every time Pastor Ben comes to town. When we greeted him at the gate—he said that he remembered me from when I was here last time!  We sat outside on the porch, drank Fantas, and talked with him for a while.  He told us about how his family was doing, the crops, the animals, etc.  He immediately asked about Christina—if she had gotten married yet (last time when her dad came with Pastor Ben—she had just gotten engaged) He was so excited to hear that the wedding was in a few weeks and he was sad that he could not attend.  He told us that Eric (the young boy that worked with the team at the site who is now 17) was looking for work.  Eric does not attend school because they only have enough money to send Nicola.  That was heartbreaking for me to hear…because Eric was such an awesome kid and a hard worker.

When the chief left, Kirsten and I went with the team to out to dinner at a local Italian restaurant.  Kirsten and I split a pizza and lasagna before getting some of the BEST caramel icecream ever!!  It was a lot of fun to chat with Pastor Ben and Lindsay over dinner.  After dinner, the interns went to the Brokopps house for our book study.  Instead of discussing the book, Pete told us about his trip to Rwanda…and his hopes/plans for hosting a festival in Burkina.  Kirsten and I went back to the guesthouse just in time for the tail end of Pastor Ben’s bedtime stories.  We did group push ups and sit ups with Ben and some of the others before saying goodnight.  Kirsten and I stayed in the extra room overnight—because we were going to the Presidential Zoo in the morning with the team—and rather than wake up early…we decided to stay over.

-JK

Playing Hooky

Oops!

I put my waterbottle in the freezer last night…and being the genius that I am with all my knowledge of the properties of water…I filled it all the way up. So this morning when I went to take it out of the freezer—the cap had ballooned up and the pressure was so tight I thought it might explode!!!

Appleton Team working hard...or hardly working

Today we played hooky from the clinic and went to Central Church to work on filling in the floor of a new building with the Appleton Team. Less of the Burkinabe youth were there because it is a school day—and most of them are university students. Francis and Jonas were there though. When we first arrived, the dirt had not been brought in yet, so we played ultimate Frisbee-6 on 6—5 Americans and 1 Burkinabe per team. After the game ended, the girls were sent to pull out thorn bushes and the guys started shoveling dirt. I got to help pickaxe the thornbush out of the ground. Once our weeding job was done—we went over to help the guys. It was a different pace today because less Burkinabe were there—so work went a little slower, but the girls got to help out more. Francis was hilarious…he would pull up a wheelbarrow and say “This one is for Jennifer only” (they call be Jennifer here because it is easier for them to say than Jenny—and they can remember it because they all know who Jennifer Lopez is…every time I introduce myself…they say..ohh..Jennifer…Jennifer Lopez…and laugh). He even let me push some of the wheelbarrows of dirt around too. He thought it was so funny to see a girl working hard. He told me that Kirsten and I should stay in Burkina Faso because we are hard workers-and since we are good soccer players we should stay to play on the team. When we were both taking a break—he told me that I was a very emancipated girl—not like the girls in Burkina. He said that it would be good if the girls in Burkina were more emancipated but they are too dumb to do it. Made me cringe…but it is one of those cultural things that you just don’t touch.

Jumping rope with some boys at EAC

On my water breaks, I played with the kids at the site. I did a lot of jump roping with some of the young boys. They would try to do everything that I was doing in the rope—spinning, hopping on one footed, etc. They liked to count to see how many times they could jump before they messed up. I had a lot of fun with that. I gave Ami a necklace today…she was so excited to get it! During one of my breaks I played a game with her. You have 7 stones. You throw one stone up in the air and you have to pick up one stone. Once you have picked up all 6 stones, you move to the next level. In level two, the stones are grouped into twos and you have to throw your stone up in the air and pick up 2 stones. Then 3s, 4s, 5s, and 6s. Ami beat me—I could not get all 6 stones in my hand at one time and catch the one in the air. I think Ami is a leader in the group…because every time the kids see me get out of the van or go for a break…they call for Ami so she can come by me. If another kid is on my back…the girls will all tell Ami and she will come over and the kid on my back will get down…because I am Ami’s naasara (white person) It’s really quite funny—she is very possessive of me. When one of the younger kids got hurt, they brought him to Ami to take care of and to get him to stop crying…she seems to settle a lot of the problems.

We went back to the guesthouse for lunch—Sam’s pate d’arachide (peanut gravy) with rice and fried chicken. It was very good! After lunch we went back to the Hub—and I took a long nap! It felt so good. When I woke up, Jess was getting a cooking lesson on how to make pate d’arachide from Virginie in French. It was a lot of fun to sit in on the lesson—she wrote out the recipe and described the preparation on a white board that we have—and I was really excited because I understood almost all of what she was saying! Virginie is a very good teacher and a great cook! I think we are all going to make pate d’arachide together next Wednesday.

AAC and EAC Meeting

Tonight Kirsten and I went with the Appleton Team to a meeting at EAC. It was a meeting of the team with the leadership of the church. We have a sister partnership between EAC and Appleton Alliance—so they had us over to introduce us to the leaders of EAC and share a meal with us. I sat next to one of the board members—Benjamin. We all introduced ourselves, and when I stood up and introduced myself, (in French…I said my name and that I was a university student studying chemistry) Pete explained to the leaders that I was Ron’s daughter. Benjamin got so excited! He met my dad in January when my dad came over to Burkina. After all of the introductions were made—Benjamin kept telling me how happy he was to meet me! He was a wonderful man to talk to. The meal that we shared was chicken, French fries, and cucumber salad. It was very good. My favorite part of the meal though was the cold glass bottle orange Fanta. I talked a lot with the leader of the University ministry team—Abraham. He is studying law at the University of Ouagadougou. I asked him about his family and he told me that he had a mother, father, and 2 older brothers. They are all Muslim except for him. When he told his father that he accepted Christ and was a Christian—his father said that Abraham was not his son. That was when he was 13 years old. As he told his story there were tears in his eyes—I didn’t pry much more—but it seems like he is still not welcome in his house. Because of his background—he is a great witness to all of the Muslim students at the University. He has a very big heart for evangelism to his university peers.

At the end of the meal—Pastor Tomas came up to me and invited to have dinner with him.  He leaves to go to Bobo for a meeting tomorrow and will not be back until Sunday…but he will call Pete and setup dinner when he returns!!

Tomorrow I will get to see my Compassion child—Tinwende again!! I can’t wait!!! -JK

Dr. P was back at the clinic today after his vacation to Ghana—so Kirsten and I spent our morning with him.  It was painfully slow today…only 2 patients. One was a couple from Belgium and the husband had back pain (the consultation was done in Flemish) and the other was a 12 year old boy with constipation.  The technician and Dr. P showed us a powerpoint presentation that will be shown to Childalive (a Nonprofit in the US) when Dr. P leaves for the States on Sunday.  They are hoping to get some help with the hospital that they are working on.

As disappointed as I was originally with the fact that Dr. P would be gone for almost our entire stay in Burkina Faso—but I have actually really enjoyed all of the opportunities that we have gotten since we have been here.  It has been fantastic to work with Dr. J—a Burkinabe—and see the work at 3 different locations…as well as our opportunities to see Tougan and work with Dr. F.  I don’t know that all of that would have been setup if Dr. P had been around the entire time.  Dr. P has a lot of administrative work to do…and it is hard to figure out how all of that works…so I enjoyed working with Dr. J because the administrative tasks were not a part of his job and our personalities meshed very well.  He always seemed like the hometown boy who became a doctor—the type that really cares about the health of the people because they are his people.

For lunch—I made a white sauce to go over noodles.  IT WAS SOO GOOD! Susan told us how to make it.  It is a very generic white sauce that can be turned into alfredo and more…but it was really good as just the basic sauce.  I was happy that it tasted so good!  Since Dr. J left before we got to talk to him about going to Schiphra with him today…we called him from home and set up our afternoons with him next week (since we will be back at Dr. F’s clinic in the mornings) and for a ride today.

Never fall asleep in front of your friends...

We walked down to the clinic to be picked up by Dr. J and decided to wait outside by where all the motos are parked.  We sat on a bench and talked with our friend Josef—the clinic janitor and Casanova.  He likes to talk with us for a few minutes every morning when we come in and every afternoon when we leave.  It is a lot of fun.  One of his friends fell asleep right next to a moto—so the guys out by the motos started messing with him—taking coins out of his shirt pocket, touching his faces..etc.  It was pretty entertaining.  We were supposed to be picked up at 3:00 but Dr. J did not arrive. We waited until 3:25 and decided that some miscommunication must have occurred and we went home.  I don’t know what it was…but during those 25 min of waiting…the WORST smell was somewhere near us…and it lingered in the heat.  It literally smelled like someone was dealing with some nasty diarrhea on the other side of the wall behind us.

Our friend Josef the Janitor at the Clinic

On our walk back to the Hub—we stopped to give some kids candy.  The first stop was an old lady with two really young kids.  One of the kids had been crying before we came over.  The old lady was so cool looking and the kids were adorable.  The second group that we met—6 ladies were sitting around and there were two small children.  When I said that I wanted to give candies to the little kids…one of the ladies said…I am a little kid.  So we laughed and gave all of the ladies candies too.  They laughed as we walked away…it was a fun interaction.

Love it

When we got back to the house—we decided to go with Jess to a ladies market.  I forget the actual name of it…but these ladies make a ton of things—batiks, clothes, jewelry, table cloths—and sell them to raise money for their organization.  Kirsten and I didn’t get anything but we did some window shopping while Jess got some awesome purchases!  The ladies are so talented!!

On the way home, we stopped over at Lorinda’s house.  She is the missionary who does all of the ESL stuff.  We sat in her living room and drank sweet tea while talking—about her AMAZING Rottweiler named Sassy, life as a missionary, struggles while on the field, etc.  She shared with us the story about a missionary named Shelly who died while on assignment here in Ouagadougou.  She worked very closely with Lorinda.  She died in December of 2007.  She taught ESL for university students.  There was one young Muslim man—named Adama—who came to Christ because of the testimony of Shelly that was given at the English class after her death.  This man—in the past year and a half—has led 8 other Muslims to Christ.  He also got accepted to one of the highest honored training programs for the government (I can’t remember the name). He gets a lot of crap because he is poor (most of the others who are in the program are sons of lieutenants, colonels, or bought their way in) and he is a Christian.  It has been a difficult struggle for him.  Lorinda says he is a lot like Daniel from the Bible…and he needs to just keep obeying God’s will in his life.  He is a pretty inspiring story.

Tonight was babysitting night again for Charity and Sammy!  After they ate dinner (Charity had left over chicken tenders while Sammy munched on mac and cheese that he had put purple food coloring in) we played several rounds of hide and go seek before reading a bible story (about the building of the tabernacle) and putting the kids to bed.  Once they were down, I finished reading my book THE HOT ZONE—which was soo good!!  It is about the Ebola outbreak…a really fun read!

That pretty much sums it up for today!

-JK

Ranting and Reflection

Internet has been down…so I here are a couple of posts…

Today was a busy busy day at the clinic!  We originally thought that Dr. P would be back from his trip to Ghana, but when we got to the clinic we found out that he was still traveling today.  So we went up the stairs to spend the morning with Dr. J.  The strangest part of the day was that we had 3 white patients.  It was the most white people we had seen in one day—two French girls and one American construction worker.  He is currently working on the new American Embassy being built.  He made me want to get up and throw him out of the country.  He came in to the clinic in his culturally insensitive shorts (men don’t wear shorts here) without a spec of French (not that I should be talking…because I can’t speak French…but the man has been here for 9 mo) and handed Dr. J a piece of paper that described his problem in French.  I don’t think he even bothered to inquire as to if Dr. J spoke English—he probably just assumed that he didn’t.  Since the patient barely spoke to Dr. J—he didn’t bother to use his English…which I found amusing. After looking over his problem and doing some manual tests…Dr. J ordered a malaria test to be done in the lab.  Kirsten and I were explaining to him what was happening…why he was doing certain manual tests (you can tell by pressing a person’s stomach if they are suffering from Typhoid Fever versus Malaria…)  When he found out that it could be malaria…he dropped the F-bomb (something that I must say I haven’t missed hearing…I was actually taken aback by it)  We attempted to assuage his fears by telling him that in Burkina malaria is easily treated and that he would feel better in about 3 days after starting the treatment. We told him that he needed to go to the lab for blood tests.  He asked if blood needed to be drawn—and since malaria tests only need a smear..we told him that it would be a simple prick of the finger. He was worried because since he dealt with diarrhea the day before (he explained to Kristen and I that he had diarrhea every 20 min the entire day before….gross) he hadn’t had any water today—which is a really stupid thing to do because he was really dehydrated.  So I walked him over to the lab…and gave his note to the lab technician…as I handed it over…I saw that Dr. J had ordered another test (NFS) that would actually need blood drawn for it.  I didn’t think to tell the American…so I left after I had gotten the patient settled at the lab.  Well about 5 minutes later…the lab tech knocks on Dr. J’s door and asks me to come into the lab again.  The American had freaked out because he was supposed to get his blood drawn…and since the American medical students had told him that he wouldn’t need his blood drawn…he didn’t trust that the lab tech knew what he was doing.  I had to explain to  him what the other test was for…and then he let the man draw blood.  Well, because he hadn’t had any water to drink…his blood would not come out of his arm to be collected for the test.  The lab tech showed me how slow the blood flow was and I explained to him that the patient hadn’t had any water that day and that he was dehydrated…the funny look the tech gave me almost made me laugh.  The man was swearing up a storm as they put the needle in and took it out.  I don’t know what they ended up doing because I left as soon as they took the needle out.  This man just made me so angry—he just seems like the type who gives all American travelers bad reputations.  You could tell that he was not enjoying his time in Burkina Faso—and that he was looking forward to the completion of the embassy in January.  The difference between a Burkinabe patient and an American patient is so huge!  Americans want to know the reason behind everything that is being done…they complain (this man complained about the hassle it was to get to the clinic…I wanted to punch him in the face…I have seen a woman with severe malaria who has walked over 12 miles to get to a clinic…) and they can’t handle any sort of discomfort whereas the Burkinabe trust the advice given to them by their doctors (granted…sometimes they should ask more questions to understand things…) they barely make a sound even when pain is being inflicted on them, and they are so grateful to have access to healthcare.  It made me sick to witness the attitude of this American man.

Well, going on…

We got to help with 2 EEGs today.  A 12 year old boy with epilepsy came in for one, as well as an older man.  We got to help put the electrodes on their scalps and watched the brainwaves on the computer screen.  I learned that kids have much larger waves than adults do.  It was interesting to see the differences in the waves when the eyes were closed versus open and when lights were flashing at them.  The old man kept coughing during his test…and the brainwaves would go CRAZY!

Toward the last 30 min of the day, the clinic social worker (who has been given the nickname of “The Reverend”) came in to visit with us and Dr. J.  We talked about our experiences so far and talked about Ghana (Dr. J and the Rev had recently traveled to Ghana together).  After talking, Dr. J pulled out a magazine that he had and showed us his dream car…an Audi.  We got to talking about cars and the Burkinabe men explained to me that big cars are for men and little cars are for women.  It’s a good thing that I like my Jetta and that my favorite car is a corvette!  As we looked through the magazine, we explained that minivans are Soccer Mom cars in the States—they found that concept to be pretty funny.  There was a picture of a Lotus in the magazine…and the price was listed too…we all were baffled by it!  I told them that I had only seen a couple of those kinds of cars at fancy hotels but that they were not common in the States.  Early on in the conversation, Kirsten explained that she was not a car person…

We stopped at a cloth store on the way home from the market to pick up some cloth for Kirsten.  While we waited to the lady to find change for Kirsten, I ran down to the Shoppette to get a loaf of French bread for lunch.  As we walked home from the main street—we commented on how “real life Burkina’ we felt…doing our own shopping and recognizing all the vendors.  It is pretty awesome…even though I worry about some of the dangers of being here…I feel very at home.

After lunch, Mark the tailor came to the Hub.  I am excited about the stuff that he is going to make for me and Kirsten.  He usually does a great job—you can show him pictures of clothes from the internet and he can make them.  He has a lot of work to do—because the Appleton team got to order stuff too…but there is a little time after the team leaves for him to work on our things.

Then Larry picked us up for the Market at the guesthouse.  I have been thinking about getting this wooden African chair since I’ve returned to Burkina…and I decided to get one at the market.  There were a few of us that liked the same one—so Pete had the vendor return around dinner time with more of a similar style.  I absolutely love mine—the design on the back of the chair is beautiful!  Kirsten got a couple as well.  We will send them home with the Appleton team.

After the market, the team hung out with Pete.  It was the first time that they really got to hang out with him and he spent the time telling stories about his life and his purpose in Burkina Faso—I had heard some of the stories before, but every time he tells his stories…I am once again amazed at all of the things that God is doing through Pete.  He is an amazing man…with a powerful love for God and the people of Burkina Faso.  He is a wonderful idea man—he is always planning and getting things going.

We had dinner and a team meeting afterwards.  Pete had the team share their highpoint and lowpoint of the trip thus far.  It was really cool to hear where people are at.  When it got to me—I shared my time dancing in the bush as the highlight of my experience…after prefacing that with the fact that I have had so many wonderful and unique experiences that it is hard to choose one…while I was talking about the bush—Pete asked if I had told the team about the demon possessed lady…which got everyone’s attention.  I hadn’t planned on sharing about that experience…because it is a story which I still struggle with thinking about and it causes me to be very open and vulernable…even though it is the true low point of my trip out here.  So I ended up sharing that experience with them…I described the event of the demon possessed woman in the bush and couldn’t hold back the tears as I explained that it was my low point because of all the fear that is caused me to have to deal with…and I told them about my experience in Tougan dealing with my fear there as well and learning to rely on God for protection and not on myself.  I have realized that I have a lot of pride issues…the intense fear was a realization that I am incapable of protecting myself…that I need the protection and love of my Savior, Jesus Christ, in order to escape the reality of what life would be like without Him—Hell and demons.  The crazy thing about pride is that it is so easy to be susceptible to it.  I was talking about how the fear had showed me how prideful I was…and I realized that the reason that I didn’t want to share about that experience with the team originally was because I didn’t want to open myself up to them and show them that I have flaws…and I was pretty sure I would cry—which I have a hard time letting people see.   One of the ongoing improvements that needs to be made—cutting down my pride.

Pete drove me and Kirsten back to the Hub.  It was awesome to get some one on one time (well one on two) with him about our thoughts on our experience so far and dream into the future.  He told us about his vision with clinics in the unreached people groups of Burkina.  It is all very exciting to think about.  We decided that if I do decide to get married…my husband will need to be a dentist, or a technician…in order for us to be useful as a couple in Burkina.  Made me laugh…but it has been refreshing to talk with a guy who doesn’t see marriage as the ultimate goal of life—that if you don’t feel the need to be married…it is okay…and allows you to be freed up to do God’s work.

Its late…gnight

-JK

Sunday at Central

Apologies…we haven’t had internet for a while…

I love Sundays!  Kirsten and I went to Central Church (EAC) with the Appleton team this morning.  The people worship with such joy here!  EAC has a worship team, a More choir, a Jula Choir, and a French choir.  My favorite is the Jula choir…one of the girls from the Navigators clinic sings in it.  We sat up front.  They asked us to perform a song…so we sang “Come Now Is the Time to Worship.”  We had Abe on guitar and David on jimbae.  Pastor Tomas preached and he is a very passionate speaker.  I wasn’t close enough to a translator to catch everything that was going on in his sermon…but it seemed like it was well received by the congregation and he is a great speaker.  He talked about the story of Cain and Able in Genesis—about their relationship as brothers and their offerings to God.  At the end of the service it was fun to see some of the youth that we met the night before.

After church we ate with the team at the Rec for lunch.  I had a chicken club sandwich and a chocolate milkshake.  Abby Wolters, Larry Wolters, Ben, Natalie, Kayla, Jackie, and Kirsten were at my end of the table.  Jackie shared her testimony with Larry and Abby.  It was the first time I had heard her testimony as well…it was neat to see how it fit in with Nikki’s (her older sister) testimony.

The Market

Alice was at the Rec with the kids—and since the Appleton team was going to see the crocs today (something I had already experienced)—I decided to hang out with Alice and the kids.  Kirsten got to go see the crocs.  First we went to this beautiful market on a random side street.  As soon as we parked the car, we were attacked by vendors.  It was actually difficult to get out of the door because they were so close.  Alice bought some lettuce, cilantro, and potatoes.  She had to get the ingredients for the birthday dinner that she was making for Pete’s birthday.  Alice laughed at me because I had never seen an avocado (unpeeled) before.  The green beans were unreal—they were super long.  The lady who ran the stand at the market—had a fun smile and classic face.  Her little girl was just sitting on the ground eating at what looked like the center of a cabbage.  It was adorable.

When we got back to the house, it was cake baking time!  Charity, Sammy and I made a cake for Pete’s 40^th birthday.  They had a funfetti cake mix and chocolate icing that had been brought to them from the States.  Before we started, we realized that we didn’t have enough eggs, so the three of us walked over to my house to get some eggs.  Charity and Sammy walked in their aprons.  As we walked by some of the guards 3 houses down, they asked if the kids were mine.  I laughed at them and told them- NO!  We got the eggs we needed, I put on an apron from the Hub, and we all walked back together.  The cake making went very well.  Sammy and Charity had a hard time keeping their hands out of the cake batter though.  The rest of the afternoon involved cleaning up the house and decorating the living room with balloons and streamers.

Alice and the kids left to go get Pete, and some of the girls from the Hub went over to the Brokopp house to surprise him when he got home.  Sammy and Charity came in the back door once they arrived home…and we jumped up from our hiding spot to surprise him.  It was great to see Pete again and celebrate his birthday with him. We ate the cake and opened presents with the family.  Pete told us about his trip to Rwanda. It sounded amazing!  He heard the testimonies of survivors of the Hutu/Tutsi war in Rwanda.  He hopes to put on a similar conference in 2012—maybe I’ll be able to come back and help!!

Kirsten and her little friend at Worship Night

The team came to pick me up to go back to EAC for worship night with the youth.  When I got there…my little friend Ami came running to the van to say hello and carry my purse for me.  Once we got inside…we mixed in with the youth for worship.  The rule was 1 Naasara (white person) per bench.  Kirsten and I sat down in two rows of women.    They turned out to be the women of the Jula choir.  They were a lot of fun to worship with.  I got to follow their dance moves while we sang.  I sat next to a girl named Ester—she was a lot of fun to talk with. (she spoke some broken English) We had to perform 4 songs in front of the youth.  The first 2 were slower songs…so they were not as well received.  When we sang more upbeat songs….it was much better.   Jonas was a part of the main worship band.  He plays guitar and sings—he lead several songs in English…it was so fun to hear him sing in English.  Francis was the MC for the evening…he was all dressed up in black pants, a vest and dress shirt.   He spoke in French—and it was translated into English.  After the worship service, the youth shared a meal with us.  It was macaroni with beef, toe, and a leaf fish sauce.  Most of the team had a really hard time eating the toe—but I enjoyed it.  The leaf fish sauce was a bit strong for me…but I ended up giving most of that to a kid that was standing nearby me.  I talked with one of the youth, an agriculturalist, for most of the meal…but I cannot remember his name—it started with an M.  After the meal, I went over and talked with the girls that I sat with.  They served the food for the meal—so they were eating the left overs.  When I complimented them on the meal and the toe, (which I actually like) they asked me if I eat toe daily…and I had to tell them that I don’t know how to make it and that I am a bad cook.  They laughed at me.  The women don’t usually come to the worksite…but Ester told me that she was going to come to help out at the worksite tomorrow to see me…and I was heartbroken to have to tell her that I wouldn’t be there because I am working at the clinic in the morning.   I am hoping that Kirsten and I will be able to return on Tuesday night—they are having another youth night.

I really enjoyed continuing to build relationships with the youth—they are so hospitable and wonderful to be around.  They just have this joy about them—they are so happy and they love the Lord with all their hearts, minds, and souls.  It is absolutely contagious!  I’m very tired…a couple of early mornings in a row and no sieste—so I’m going to get to bed.  Gnight!

-JK

A day with the Youth at EAC

Kirsten Digging At EAC

The morning came very quickly!!  We  (the Appleton Team) arrived at Central Church (EAC) and got to working right away.  The main job was picking weeds and shoveling new dirt into what will be the floor of a new building.  Picking weeds was actually pretty fun (I will probably never say that again) and Kirsten and I were sure to pick Burkinabe style…bending over only at the waist…not crouching at the knees.  Once the weeding was done…it was pretty hit or miss on the shoveling because some of the youth (college age) students were there and they didn’t want to give up their shovels…especially to an American girl (we are not strong enough for Burkinabe work…is what I was told)  When I did get a chance to shovel…they were impressed by my strength but still laughed a little bit that this little American girl was doing hard work.

Pastor Tomas and Me

I got to see Jonas again!  He was the translator for my team when I came to Burkina in the summer of 2005.  It was fun to catch up with him—he was the one that helped me get chances to shovel dirt.  I also met Pastor Tomas for the first time.  He is the district president and he has met my dad.  It was nice to say hello to him and introduce myself.  He is an amazing evangelist/talented preacher.

Putting up the Scaffolding

Much of my time was spent in the church…helping setup scaffolding to clean the speakers and projector on the ceiling.  It was four blocks high…and it was REALLY scary to build.  I didn’t have a lot of confidence in the sturdiness of it while we were building it. We didn’t have platforms on the scaffolding, so we laid a wooden bench across the top…which wasn’t all that strong feeling in the middle…so I stuck to climbing around in the metal edges instead.  While we were up at the top cleaning…the Burkinabe kept using the blower (like a mini leaf blower) to fan/cool me off.  He thought it was really funny…but I liked it because if felt colder than the air.  He was a lot of fun to interact with because he could speak Spanish very well!!

Climbing around

After working in the morning, we went back with the team to the guesthouse for lunch.  Sam made brochettes for us with rice and a delicious fruit salad.  We sat around and relaxed at the guesthouse…but the power was out so it was very hot.  We played the game called…I’m going to a party and I’m going to bring (blank)…it was entertaining for a while…but then everyone got pretty hot and tired and just decided to lay/sleep.

At 4:00 we went back to EAC to play soccer against the youth.  It wasn’t Americans versus Burkinabe…because that would be a catastrophe and very embarrassing for us.  So we were integrated into their teams.  The game was so much fun.  Jonas was on my team and he assigned the positions.  He put me up front and told me that I my job was to score the goals.  I told him that I was a really bad forward and that I liked to play defense…but he said that I had to play up front.  Well, the first half…I didn’t do my job…I didn’t score any goals.  In the middle of the game…it started to sprinkle a little bit, which felt amazing because it was so hot.  Everyone was very impressed by Kirsten’s soccer skills.  They said that she should stay in Burkina and play with them instead of going back to the US.  After the half, I moved back to defense.  It was really fun. I liked challenging the Burkinabe…even though I didn’t make much of an obstacle for them…I did decently.  The goalkeeper…my new friend Francis…complimented me a lot.  At the end of the game, Jonas told me that I did a really good job on defense—and I just said “I told you!” He found it pretty humorous.  I told him that playing defense suits me better because I’m not much of a showgirl…but I like to encourage and support people…and he just laughed at me.

Ami and Me

Throughout the evening…one little girl latched on to me.  Her name was Ami.  She carried my bag and water bottle around for me everywhere and tried to braid my hair before the game.  I ended up with a few small braids and my ponytail.  I took lots of pictures with her before we left…she liked looking at the back of the camera after the picture was taken.  She kept calling me My Nasaara (my white person) It was pretty humorous…especially when they all found out that I knew what it meant.  The youth really enjoy that I try to speak in More and Jula with them.  If I came here long term, I would love to learn More.

Being with the youth was so fun! I talked the most with Francis, Jonas, and Jon.  I really wish that Kirsten and I would have been able to do more with this group…but it has been difficult since we don’t have our own transportation.  Tomorrow we will do a youth worship night…I am really looking forward to that.

Jonas and Me

After soccer we went back to the guesthouse for dinner—baked potatoes with all the toppings you can imagine!  The team is really great and I have really enjoyed hanging out with them and getting to know them all.  It has been great to catch up with Pastor Ben too—and recount some of our Burkina experiences from 2005.

Well—while I was typing this post…I killed a quarter-sized spider in Sarah’s room….its legs kept twitching after the initial strike—very gross!  Goodnight—its been a full day and I am tired.

-JK

A day of Cipro and MJ

As of early this morning…I can check off a new FIRST.  For the first time, I was sick in a foreign country.  At about 5 am…my stomach started churning…and it didn’t stop for 3 hours.  After my first trip into our little bathroom, I immediately self medicated with Cipro (which takes about 3 hours to kick in)  Just to be sure that I would be okay while at the clinic, I took 2 Imodium tablets. For the rest of the day I’ve been feeling just fine…I’m not sure what went wrong.  No one else has gotten sick…so I don’t know where I got it from.  I was extra careful to stay fully hydrated today…because I definitely lost a lot of water this morning.

We went to the clinic this morning…and it was slow.  The best part of the day was giving Dr. J some gifts.  I made him a CD of Michael Jackson songs (his FAVORITE artist) from my computer.  We spent a chunk of the morning tapping and drumming along to Black or White, The Way You Make Me Feel, and Billie Jean.  It was so fun to see his face light up!  At the end of the day we gave him the TIME commemorative issue on Michael Jackson and a t-shirt that says GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.  He was so happy to get these gifts.  We looked through the magazine together before leaving the clinic.

Lunch today was at the American Rec Center.  It is located on Embassy grounds   We ate with Susan, Jess, Alice, Charity, and Sammy.   . Alice picked us up and we got to the Rec around 12:40…we didn’t end up eating until 2:30.  This holding period was spent with 2 kids under the age of 8…so that was fun.  I got a chicken club sandwich, and after the wait it tasted AMAZING!

After lunch, Kirsten, Jess, and I went back to the market with Virginie to look around.  We got some more cloth because Mark, the tailor, will be coming to the house to size us for clothing on Monday.  It was fun because we went back to the same lady we had visited before…she recognized us and was happy to see us again.  Virginie’s sister is getting married tomorrow.  She will have a traditional wedding—where animals are exchanged between the families.  Virginie has a lot of cooking to do tonight!  We have been letting her borrow some of our movies…and for the weekend, we sent her home with Kung Fu Panda to watch with her 2 girls.  She already watched and enjoyed 50 First Dates.

Tonight was English Café.  Students from Susan and Sarah’s ESL classes are invited to come over to the Hub for games.  Tonight only 2 students showed up—there are a lot of school presentations going on this Monday at the University—so a lot of students stayed home.  Kirsten, Jess, Sarah and I played Jenga and Memory with Gere.  He is an economics student at the University.  It was really fun to talk with him…we learned a lot of More and Jula phrases and about the culture of Ouaga and students in general.

So it was a fairly chill day today…we will be waking up early to work with the Appleton team doing construction at Central Church tomorrow morning…730 am!

Happy Birthday to Mr. Dier today!!

-JK

A day late…

Internet was down last night…big storm…

Last night after posting on the blog, I walked out to the Cap with my flashlight.  As soon as I opened the door—this dialogue unfolded…

K: Jenny, tell them that I took their medicine

J: What?

K: Tell them I took their medicine.

J: Kirsten, did you take their DOXY (the medicine that Sarah, Susan, and Jess are taking for malaria prevention)

K: (PAUSE…PAUSE) Why are you taking DOXY?

J: Who’s medicine did you take?  Did you take my medicine (which produces GREAT dreams as a side effect…so I figured it was possible..)

K: Noooo…I took the MALARONE. (which is her medicine)

J: Okay…did you take your malarone?

K: no response…completely asleep

It was BIZZARE…but hilarious to recount to her in the morning!

This morning was really slow at the clinic with Dr. J—we saw about 3 or 4 patients total.  Much of the later morning was spent attempting to setup a different laptop for the EEG because the original laptop was stolen from the clinic the day before.  I ended up finding a book about AIDS and I read that for a long time.  Then we had a conversation about administration and medicine in Burkina Faso with Dr. P’s friend Mark.  He is a technician at the clinic and a lot of administrative work has been thrown at him to help run the clinic.  Running a clinic in Burkina is a financial nightmare!

We went over to Alice’s for lunch today—she made chicken tenders and fries with cucumbers and carrots.  She even made chocolate ice cream for us!  It was fun to sit and talk with her over lunch.

In the afternoon, we went to the private hospital Schiphra again with Dr. J.  I really like going there with him—we see such a variety of patients and Dr. J takes time to explain a lot of things to us.  We were there for 2.5 hours this afternoon and saw 11 patients.

One lady that came in was from Bobo—a village outside of Ouagadougou.  I had to take her blood pressure—it was hard because the cuff was so much bigger than her arm!  She was very frail looking.  She was complaining of abdominal pain.  One of the more humorous parts of the day was Dr. J trying to explain what type of test the lady needed.  The word he had was selle…and when I looked it up…it meant saddle in English.  He started trying to describe it but you could tell that he wasn’t fully divulging what he meant…and I finally pieced together that the lady needed a STOOL sample to be taken.  When we taught Dr. J this new word—stool—he was soo excited.  Ironically about 5 other patients needed stool samples to be taken…so he would get so excited when he got to use this new English term.  It was hilarious!!

A middle aged man came in with a few other men. They had helped transport him to the Schiphra hospital from a village about 600 km away.  He had terrible side pains…he had tears rolling out of his eyes as Dr. J pressed on him stomach.  He quickly hid his head into his arm to keep us from seeing his pain.  The initial thought was appendicitis…but after some echographies the diagnosis was a liver tumor as a complication of Hepatitis B or cirrhosis of the liver.  A liver tumor cannot be removed here in Burkina.

A teenage girl also came in complaining of abdominal pain.  When I got to feel her stomach, I could feel what seemed like a heartbeat in her abdomen—which is not normal.  We had found a malignant tumor which had vascularized.  It is likely that she has had this tumor for a while…but she didn’t not seek medical treatment early on.

The lady with the extremely enlarged liver returned with her results today—it also showed an enlarged spleen.  Like many patients in Burkina, she had come in too late—there was nothing that the hospital was capable of doing for her.  Patients tend to come once the problem is serious and the medical staff is only able to treat the symptoms—not the underlying problem.  They resort to helping the patient remain as comfortable as possible for as long as possible.

The strangest case was a middle aged man that came in complaining about his stomach.  Other clinics couldn’t find anything but he was convinced that there were fleas in his stomach.  Yes…fleas.  Dr. J calmly explained to him that he probably had a psychological problem…but the man did not agree with him.  So tests were ordered to scope his stomach and look for the fleas…but hopefully we will see him again and be able to help him get some psychological treatment after he is once again shown that there are no fleas in his stomach.

A married couple came in –they both work translating the Bible into the local languages of Burkina Faso.  There are over 60 languages spoken in Burkina Faso and they are working on translating 17 of them right now.  The husband was going over blood tests.  It was the wife’s first time at the hospital.  She got a general checkup.  When we listened to her heart…it was going pretty fast—and when Dr. J commented on it—she said that normally it is not that fast, but whenever she is in a hospital…it goes much faster.  When he tested her knee reflex…she got very scared when her leg kicked out.  She immediately asked if that was normal.  It reminded me how little the general public knows about their health and body.

When we finished up the work at the hospital, Dr. J took us on a tour of Ouaga in his car.  We drove to the center of the city, downtown, by the Prime Minister’s house, and some other areas.  It is cool to see how proud he is of his city…and yet how he comments on improvements that could be made.  After telling us that we were driving on a road named after the president of Ghana…he commented on how a road could be named after Obama in the future.  He told us that there was a bridge named after MLK Jr.  Then he started reciting the “I Have a Dream” speech.  He also told us that MLK Jr’s Dream came true because the USA has a black president.  The people here really love Obama.

When we got back to the Hub, we had only a little bit of time before the book study for the missionary interns.  We all walked over to Pete and Alice’s house.  Alice led the discussion tonight.  We talked about the necessity of prayer.  It was a really great time—I’ve definitely realized that my prayer life needs strengthening.  I take for granted sometimes that God knows everything…so I often don’t worry about praying for all the things that are on my heart—but God really works through the prayers of His people.  In the case of Elijah—God knew he would make it rain…but he still asked Elijah to pray for the rain…and he made him pray HARD!  It is important for me to go to God in prayer—not only does He use people as intercessors to do His work…but it also will build my faith and character to pray and see him answer prayers.

A big storm is going through right now…the cool air feels AMAZING!  As I am typing, Kirsten and Jess are doing another Rock Your Body video…I did take a break to do a segment called Drama Combo.  Fun fun all the time here in the HUB!

-JK

Dog Food and Dance Parties

This morning we went off-roading in the the ambulance again to the mobile clinic.  We spent much of the ride talking about soccer teams and politics with Dr. J—I really enjoy that time that we all have together chatting during car rides to different clinics.  When we arrived at the site, we went to see the location for the hospital that will be built there.  They have a very proactive plan going for them…the new Ouagadougou airport will soon be  built outside the city…causing the city to expand toward the airport.  The clinic is going to be built in this area—and these mobile clinics help to build the relationships between the medical staff and the villagers that are already in this area.  We got to see the footers for the anchors of the building.  They have quite a bit of land.  The man who has been digging the footers came over to see us when we got there.  I greeted him in More–Yebieogo (good morning)—and he thought that was pretty funny.

We only had one case at the mobile clinic today…the village representative’s (the man who goes into Ouaga for meetings to represent the village) 9 month old girl was very sick—she had malaria.  The girl was doing fine until the man asked me if I wanted to hold her.  I said sure…and I barely had her resting on my hip before the wailing began.  She did NOT like me at all!!  Kirsten and I have been told that some mothers will tell their young children and white people eat babies—and that’s why African children don’t like white people—but that could be just a myth….but this little girl did not want me anywhere near her!!  At the mobile clinic, the consultation is free—but the family had to buy 3 different medicines. It was less than 2,000 CFA (which is less than $4).

We drove back to the clinic and saw a few more patients before the afternoon was over.  We saw another EKG and talked about different medicines—including propanolol (which I’ve been taking for headaches)—they don’t prescribe it out here…but they prescribe some that are in the same -olol family.  Dr. J is a really smart man! He was explaining beta blockers to us and talking about receptors etc—and was really happy when Kristen and I were able to follow him.  Kirsten is a complete signal transduction/receptors nerd…so it was entertaining to watch them explain/talk in broken up French and English.

DOG FOOD FOR LUNCH

Bon appetite!

Lunch was left over dog food!  It did taste better today because Kirsten recooked the rice.  After lunch—during sieste…I read for a little while (THE HOT ZONE—awesome awesome book!!!) and fell asleep on the recliner…I was in such a deep sleep—it was fabulous!!

After sleeping for a while—Kirsten and I decided to walk down to the market.  We were low on money—1,120 CFA—but we really wanted some fruit.  We went to the same lady that we purchased fruit from the first time that we went to the market with Sarah.  It was fun to see her again.  We got 2 mangoes and 3 apples—for 700 CFA!  We worry sometimes that because we are white…we will get charged more…but we got the lowest price that our housegirl Virginie said for the price range—so we were really happy!  We walked around for a while after that—just kinda exploring.  It was so fun just to be walking around the market—greeting the vendors, seeing all the people, looking at the items for sale, smelling the different foods being made.  When we got back to the main road…a guy started following us and talking to us…it took us a little while to get him to leave us alone…but he eventually got the hint.

There is a lady who works at a stand on our way to the clinic that we see every time we walk to or from the clinic.  We recognized her as we were walking on the main street near our house—she recognized us too—so we walked and talked with her for a little while.  She is in her 20s…single…and very sweet.

This evening we went over to the guesthouse to have dinner with the Appleton team—quesadillas made by Sam!  Dinner was fun—the team is very inquisitive and they have been asking us a lot about our perceptions of Ouaga, the ministries here, what we want to do with our lives…great dinner convos!  After dinner was a prayer meeting—lead by Lorinda—a full time missionary here.  Everyone introduced themselves and told a little about themselves—school and future plans.  Most of the team members are going into their senior year of high school—a very exciting time—and the same time that I came to Ouaga for the first time.  Some of the team members are the younger siblings of the members of my team.  I feel really old because none of these students were in high school when I was…  We talked about the ministries in Ouaga, what the missionaries are doing here.  Kirsten and I shared what we have been up to during our time here and we spent time praying for the missionaries and the team’s time in Burkina.

The Appleton team brought us some stuff from home…so it was fun to see those goodies when we got back—THANKS MOM and MRS DIER! (and Greg for the shirt)

Rock Your Body Dance Party at the Hub

Upon return back to the Hub—it was time to put on work out clothes and set up the projector.  Kristen, Jess, Sarah and I decided to do one of Jess’ workout videos (ROCK YOUR BODY)—it is like dancing and working out.  We did one called Booty Time.  It was soo much fun!!!  We were sweating like crazy and laughing because we looked so ridiculous.  We had to close all the blinds so that the guard outside wouldn’t see us—if he had he might start telling the neighbors that the American girls are INSANE and really bad dancers.  It was hilarious though—waay too much fun.  My thighs were burning and we were all dripping by the end (whether the sweat was from the workout or the heat…we will never know…)

-JK