Hello Everyone,
Saturday, April 25, we got to the capital of Burkina Faso around 1:00. The capital city is Ouagadougou-- pronounced Waga-doo-goo. We got to the bus stations then paid for two taxis to go out to a village where Pastor Rufus thought we were staying. However, instead of staying there, we just met some people from the congregation and then paid for two taxis to go back to Ouaga, where we ended up staying. I was especially tired because of my sickness and the travelling. Lindsay and I stayed with Victorine and Bridget. I rested until dinner and then spent part of the evening getting to know our hosts.
Sunday, we went back to the church in the village we had gone to on Saturday. The village is called Tingandogo. We did five songs for the worship service. Pastor Rufus talked a little to the congregation about our ministry. There were about 30 people there. Sonja went with Victorine back to Ouaga to buy bus tickets for our long trip to Cotonou, Benin. While they were gone, the rest of us played with the kids in the church. Mostly, we played five rocks, which is a game like jacks. It was a fun time. Sonja and Victorine had left on a moto, but they came back in a large van/bus thing. Apparently, Victorine had arranged for that to be our transportation for the day. However, because Victorine had been speaking a tribal language, Sonja had no idea about the negotiated price. Pastor Rufus had told us he wanted to do a program in another village. We said that would be fine. However, the driver wanted 40,000 CFA, about $80, for it. We said we would be unable to go. After a lot of arguing, we got the price down to 20,000 CFA. Then, we agreed and went to the village after eating lunch; most of the congregation piled into the bus with us. We didn't go to the part of the village where Pastor Rufus wanted us to go; instead, the driver dropped us off where he wanted. We said goodbye to Pastor Rufus, who went back to Fada. We did an hour long program, which is how long the driver said he would stop for. The pastor from the congregation in Tinandogo handed out The Small Catechism in French. Everyone was grabbing it and very excited to get a copy; hopefully, they are that excited after they read it. When we were ready to go, the driver had picked up a few women, then drove off without a few of the women in the congregation because he said they weren't paying customers. Eventually, someone convinced the driver to stop and the women from the congregation got on the bus, while the other women got kicked off and left. We were all very annoyed and confused.
From that village, we drove back to Ouaga. Victorine gathered about 20 people together and asked if we would sing for them, so we did. We sang for about 45 minutes and then they asked us some questions. Some of the questions were very difficult to answer. They asked, "what is your church doing to help orphans in Africa," "will you come back to Africa," and "what will you tell people about Burkina Faso, and how will that help us." Some of the questions were very pressing and unexpected. I appreciated their bluntness, but it was often hard to hear. It was obvious to us that they were in need, but we had little to offer them but our care and presence. Unlike the other countries we've been to in Africa; in Burkina Faso, many people don't mind asking for your money our possessions. In other countries, it was usually Muslims or only after they saw a certain possession that we owned. It is hard to be asked for money or possession when we cling to them so much. It is hard to explain that we are struggling as well; we don't have much money because of all of the economic problems in States and most of the world, but we still have way more than them. They assume that because we are white, we have money; however, the fact that we are volunteering for a year should tell them otherwise. In times like those, it was really tough to show that we cared if we didn't give them something. The next morning, Adrienne left her brother's old guitar with Victorine because one of the guys had specifically asked for instruments for their church. We closed our time with the group in prayer.
On Monday, we woke up really early in the morning because a taxi came and picked us up at 4:30a.m.!! Unfortunately, the taxi driver didn't know where the bus station was, but after calling the number on our tickets, we got there. We had heard that the bus was leaving at 5, but of course, it didn't. The driver was trying to tell us that we had to pay extra for our bags, but we didn't. The bus was small and crowded, but not as bad as it could have been. We were on the bus for 19 hours!! We did have a few stops. While on the bus, I slept, read, ate, listened to my I-pod, and talked. Lindsay took out Adrienne's braids with purple extensions and Sonja took out Lindsay's braids and extensions. They reasoned that it took almost as long to take them out as it did to put them in. Their host in Fada had put them in. We got to Cotonou around 1:00 a.m. the next day!!
Tuesday morning, we asked the bus driver to drop us off near our old apartment in Cotonou because that is where Pastor Gregoire said he would meet us. We were excited to see that there was a new ice cream shop by our old apartment, so we went in and bought some ice cream! Then, we tried to charge our phone so we could call Pastor Gregoire since he wasn't there, but we didn't have any minutes left. So, instead, we decided to walk to Pastor Gregoire's house. We knocked loud on his large metal door and gate, but no one woke up and answered the door. We stayed their for almost an hour knocking. Then, we borrowed someone's phone and tried calling Pastor Gregoire, but there was no answer because his phone turns off after 11 p.m. While we had thought Pastor Gregoire had planned on a place for us to stay, we stayed in the church instead. It is a newly constructed building with bricks and a roof, but no doors. Thankfully, we were safe and slept through the night until about 7.
Later Tuesday morning, we went to Pastor Gregoire's and picked up the things we had left with him, which was mostly drums. We carried all of our stuff--which is a lot with all our djembes-- and took it to our apartment, where Pastor Gregoire had arranged for us to stay at for one night for free. We rested there for the morning and I continued to rest while the rest of the team went into the city back to the artisans' market where we had bought our drums. I had already bought the souvenirs I wanted from Benin, and I wasn't feeling well after the long bus ride, so I stayed back. I was very glad that I did because they had a very stressful time with taxi drivers. We enjoyed a fun evening together and packed are things for our flight back to Cameroon.
Wednesday, we went to the airport early even though our flight wasn't until 5 in the afternoon. We enjoyed hanging out in the airport, but were anxious to get to Douala, Cameroon.
Peace,
Tiffany
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