Preparations for Home (for Lauren)

                It is truly hard to believe that 7 months have already passed, and it is time for me to say goodbye to Sheltering Wings. I remember in September thinking that 7 months is such a long time, and that it would be so hard to live in Africa away from my family, fiancé and friends. And although I will admit that it was not always easy being away from those I love in the States, God gave me a complete peace throughout my entire time here that allowed me to say goodbye to them for a short time, knowing that I would see them again.

               When I first got here, I felt at home right away. Because I had been to Burkina Faso before, I don’t think I went through intense culture shock or really had a hard time adjusting to life here. It wasn’t long before I really felt that this was my home. I could walk to the market to buy food by myself, ride my bike to school at the speed of the Burkinabe kids, or barter a price down to what I was willing to pay for various items. Even though life here is pretty different than the life I live in the States, I almost immediately accepted the lifestyle of Burkina Faso.

                Spending time with the kids of Sheltering Wings has been the one thing I have done almost every single day since getting here. Seeing a baby’s face light up when I throw him up in the air, hearing the uncontrollable laughter of a toddler as I tickle her mercilessly, or watching the older kids try not to laugh at my broken French while I stumble through a conversation with them are the things I look forward to every day. Every single one of the forty kids living at the orphanage has their own unique story, and I feel truly blessed that I was able to be a part of their lives for a chapter.

                And now I am here, a week away from leaving Burkina Faso, and this goodbye is harder than the one I experienced in September. I have made some great friendships and fallen in love with the people that I have met in Yako, Burkina Faso. Even though I have every intention of returning to Sheltering Wings at some point in the future for a visit, I am realizing that it won’t quite be the same when I return. By the time I come back, pretty much all of the babies/toddlers will have either returned to their families or been adopted. So even though I will have the opportunity to meet and play with new little ones, it won’t be the same- I won’t be able to chase Kassoum around with my ‘walking’ fingers, won’t know that Omorou always smiles when someone goes to pick him up, won’t realize Benija will stop crying and immediately smile if you take a picture of him. And this is a really hard concept for me to accept. I can’t help but be a little selfish and think that I need to stay at Sheltering Wings longer because these kids need me here.

But amongst my proud thoughts, I hear God telling me that I need to trust that He will provide. God had it planned for me to be here for a certain time, and it is now time for me to move to a new period in my life. Psalm 139:16 says “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” How great it is to know that God knew that I would come to Burkina Faso (a place I only knew existed 3 years ago) before I was even born! And just because I am leaving does not mean that these kids will not be loved every day. They will still have Mike and Amy, Bekah, and other interns that come for various periods of time. I become humbled when I realize that God never NEEDED me to come to Burkina Faso for 7 months to do His work, but he WANTED me and ALLOWED me to have this great experience. And even though God could have chosen someone smarter, more qualified, or wealthier than me to have this experience, He provided for me every step along the way so that I could have the chance to try to help further His kingdom.

Even though I am accepting that it is time for me to leave Burkina Faso, I am not looking forward to saying the actual goodbyes. I am terrible at goodbyes. And it is never pretty, because when I cry (which always happens, no matter what), it gets pretty bad. So with this, I am asking for lots of prayer, because although I know I need to cry for my own emotional benefit, I don’t want to confuse the kids- the babies and toddlers especially. I plan to make the most of my time the rest of this week and start preparing myself emotionally for this heartbreaking experience, and I know that God will be my comfort throughout it all. Even still, I ask that you pray that God will give me the strength to make it through this transition time for me, and that I can be a light to those around me even during this time.

Thank you for all of your prayers during my time here in Burkina. By God’s grace, I have had the most amazing 7 months possible, and have grown in many ways. I know there is no way I could have made it without God and without all of your prayer and support during this time. 

February is a very quick month....

As the weather here in Burkina changes from hot to hotter, Bekah and I have had some changing experiences ourselves. While our daily lives are relatively the same, we have made new memories and new friends.

                As Mike and Amy continue to make improvements around the guest house, we have been able to help and enjoy the new comforts of home. We now have a large Burkina style painting, a batik, and a bookshelf in our living room, which makes it feel cozier. A new laundry cabinet was added, which is great because the last one was falling over. Bekah assisted our tailor in making new curtains for the house, and now we have a lovely green color scheme.

                We both agree that the most exciting change to the orphanage is the completion of the new toddler area. Mike did a great job in making it toddler friendly by including a house with a slide coming from the roof, a child size safari vehicle, a chalk board, and hopscotch. The children have had so much fun in the last week and a half, and we have enjoyed the separation from the infants (and the new toys as well) J

                A lot of people have come and gone through Sheltering Wings throughout the past month. First, Zandee was a girl from North Carolina who stayed at the orphanage for two weeks. Angela grew up in Burkina Faso and is visiting Sheltering Wings for two months. She came halfway through January and will leave halfway through March. Faith and Sonya are two ladies from Canada, eh. They were here for three weeks, during which they gave a custom made moto to the Burkinabe manager of the orphanage, who has a limp, mattresses to all of the widows in the widow program, and Burkina Faso soccer jerseys to all of the kids at the orphanage. Kimberly, Rachel, and Chanel were here for two weeks. Kimberly had been at Sheltering Wings for three months two years ago, and decided to visit with her friends. John and Jeff are brothers who are on the board of Sheltering Wings. They have both been here many times to plan for the future of the orphanage. Jeff, who is a doctor, also did two medical clinics while he was here. Tammy and Rebecca are a mother and daughter pair who are visiting for two weeks. They are checking out the orphanage for a yearlong trip for Rebecca once she graduates in 2015. Autumn is a missionary who is in Burkina Faso for a year. She has been living in Ouaga since June, and decided to visit Sheltering Wings for three weeks. We truly have enjoyed getting to know all of these people and their hearts for the people of Burkina Faso.

                Bekah, Angela, Lea (who lives with our Pastor’s family) and I had the opportunity to go on an overnight evangelism and spend a night in the bush. The evangelism consisted of two movie nights with movies that shared the gospel and speakers who gave an invitation. During the days we went courtyard to courtyard to tell the locals about the event and to answer any questions about the gospel. This was a little difficult for us because we were not useful, which made us feel pointless. However, we had a fun ride back in the middle of the night, where we felt like we were freezing because the wind dropped the temperature down to a solid 60 degrees. We would probably cry if we were at home with the snow right now……

                I have continued to teach Bible in two of the four grades at the secondary school. In 7^th grade, I am doing a lesson on Salvation – I started by introducing the person of Jesus to the students so they would understand why He was important and the purpose of His death on the cross. I will finish by giving each student a wordless bracelet and explain what each of the colors means so they can have a visual reminder each day. In 10^th grade, I am teaching on the book of James. The students really enjoy reading this book and we have had great discussions during each class. It is hard to believe that I only have three weeks left of teaching, but I am enjoying all of my time with the students.

                As April approaches, I have started to think about going home. It is truly hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I will be leaving in less than a month. This concept has made me both extremely excited and sad. Even though I am looking forward to seeing my family, fiancé, and friends again, it is really hard to accept that I will be saying goodbye to the children I have fallen in love with over the past 6 months. It is strange to have such mixed feelings about going home, so I would really appreciate prayers over the next month as I prepare myself and go through my adjustment to life at home.

                Bekah:  As most of you know, one of my special projects has become working with a little boy that is both blind and deaf.  This has presented many challenges but has yielded many blessings. One of the challenges of working with a severely handicapped child in Burkina Faso is the cultural mentality. The people here believe that if someone is not fully capable of everything that a ‘normal’ person can do, then he is not useful and should just stick to begging in the streets.  Because of this mindset, Harouna, the child that I have been working with, has been severely lacking in the love and attention that children need so much and which his disabilities keep him from demanding from the workers at the orphanage.  He is quiet and content.  He rarely cries.  He cannot crawl up into the laps of the workers and demand a hug, so he gets overlooked for the children that can.  Because he is so lacking in stimulation and ways to learn new things, I have made it my goal while I am in Burkina Faso to work with him and to try to teach Harouna the things that he should have already learned. 

That brings me to the blessings of working with Harouna.  First of all, I am happy to report that after being at the orphanage since he was three days old, so 2 years, he officially has a family that is going to adopt him.  He will be moving to America and will be able to get the love, attention, and help that he so needs and deserves.  Secondly, I would like to mention some of the milestones that he has reached recently.  Before I say what he is now capable of doing, let me share with you what I saw when I first got to the orphanage.  Harouna was a year and a half old when I first got here.  He was unable to sit, to eat any solids, or really to do anything but lie on the floor and pull his legs up by his face (he is amazingly flexible).  Now, he is sitting by himself on a bench, he is officially eating what the other children his age eat, and he can even stand for a little while if someone is there to help him balance.  It has been so astounding to see the changes that God has made in this little boy’s life and to know that God has used me to even help in some little way.  I cannot even begin to imagine what his future will be like with a family, but I know that it will be wonderful.

Photos of Bekah and Lauren

 I wanted to share some photos with you of what we are doing here in Burkina Faso. We have been able to upload several photos to Facebook, but it is much more difficult to upload them here. While I have good internet in the capital, I would like to share some pictures of Bekah and I so that you can see some of the specifics of what we are up to! 

Bekah working with Harouna, the 2 year old boy who is both blind and deaf. Bekah feeds him twice a day and uses her speakers to help him feel the vibrations of music. Harouna has developed so much with the extra attention that Bekah gives to him on a daily basis. 

Bekah and I get to enjoy some great scenery here in Burkina Faso. Here we are at the Barage, which is a man made lake. We enjoy spending time with the older children, and day trips like this allow us to spend some extra quality time with them. 

I spend my mornings in the secondary school where I assist teaching Bible with our Pastor. Since I am not fluent in French, Pastor Valentin translates for me and sometimes gets a smile out of my explanations that don't quite make sense. 

The Good and Bad of Living in Africa

In the past month and a half, we have had a lot of changes occur.  We have experienced some really amazing things.  We have been able to go on some really awesome trips and experience our first African Christmas and New Year.  We have also had some really tough times in the last few weeks.  There have been some illnesses in the house and deaths in the orphanage.

One of the biggest changes we went through was the repairs on the house we are living in.  Mike and Amy Riddering have great plans with how they want the orphanage to look and operate.  They have been focusing partly on the house that interns live in during their stay at Sheltering Wings.  We had a drop ceiling added, which is a definite blessing to those who come during rainy season, since the rain on the tin roof sounds similar to rhinos tap dancing.  We also had dressers added to each of the rooms, so that interns have a place to put their clothing and personal belongings.  With the new additions, we were also put to work on organizing the house.  Bekah and I have been going through each of the chests, baskets and dressers to find things that will be useful to future residents of the house, and donating the others to the kids or tantes that live and work here.

Before Christmas, we had some struggles with sickness.  Bekah and I both got severely sick at different points, which made it hard to continue with our daily activities here.  We had to accept that we should take a couple of days off without any work so that our bodies could heal and recover before resuming our work.  Now, we are both feeling completely better, and are taking extra care to stay healthy.

During the past month and a half, we also had several babies arrive at the orphanage.  We continue to play with all of the babies and toddlers, and are enjoying getting to know the new infants.  In the past week, we experienced something we were hoping would not happen to any of the children here.  Baby Omalie, who arrived when she was two days old in November, passed away on January 6^th. This was particularly hard for us, since we had spent nights with her in our own beds so that she would not wake the other babies up. Today, we also experienced another death.  Baby Ibraham, who arrived on January 11, died this morning at the hospital.  We know very little about his story.  We did not even know his age; however, we believe that he could not have been more than three weeks old.

Bekah and I experienced our first Christmas away from home this year.  I know I was particularly worried about how I would cope with being away from family during this time, but things went very well.  It was very nice to experience Christmas in Africa, where the focus is solely on Christ’s birth, and not on presents or decorations.  We celebrated by going to a long Christmas Eve service, that went from 9 at night until one in the morning.  On Christmas day, we went back to church for the Christmas day service, and spent more time worshipping and praising God. It was a lot of fun to celebrate in an African way and spend most of the day really focusing on Christ.

On New Year’s Eve, we got to go to Nazinga (which is about 6 hours away) and go on an elephant safari! We went out before sunset, and saw about 10 elephants, two warthogs, a couple of waterbuck, a crocodile and several baboons.  We were very excited that we got to see some new animals, and we enjoyed celebrating the new year at a nice resort.

We got some very exciting visitors (and gifts) on January 5.  My dad and brother came to visit with a group from Messiah College for three weeks.  I was beyond excited to see part of my family after being away for about 4 months.  The Messiah Education ladies arrived early in the afternoon with Lynn (who lives in Burkina and is working with them for the two weeks they are in Yako).  Angela (the Messiah group leader), dad and Matthew were coming by bus, and they arrived an hour and a half later.  When we went to pick them up at the bus station, we had a tearful hello (ok, it was really only me that was crying, but I am pretty sure the guys might have had tears in their eyes as well) and it was almost surreal that they were actually here.  We spent the first night catching up and going through the suitcases of goodies that they brought for us.  Bekah and I were so happy to receive several things from our families (and Taylor) that will help us make it through the remaining time here in Burkina Faso- candy, movies, crackers etc.  We were also very excited for all of the books, clothing and games that were donated. We cannot thank you enough for all that was sent along, and the children have already started to enjoy some of the items that were sent.

Finally, this past weekend we had the opportunity to travel with the Messiah group to Banfora and stay at a resort.  We left early Friday morning and arrived at 3:30 in the afternoon- it is a total of 9 hours to get there from Yako.  We were very excited that there was a pool at the resort we were staying at, so we immediately changed into our swim suits and went for a swim.  When we jumped in, we realized just how cold the water was, and even though we are in Africa, we only stayed in the water for 20 minutes because we were pretty cold.  We enjoyed our time that we could spend in the pool though.  On Saturday, we went on a short hike to a waterfall!  We took a lot of pictures, and were able to enjoy an hour of swimming and hanging out at the waterfall.  Unfortunately Sarah, one of the Education majors, got pretty sick, and we decided to head back down a little earlier than we had planned so that she could get back to rest.  That night, we had the opportunity to go on a hippo adventure! We went out into the lake with tour guides, who canoed us around to look for pods of hippopotamuses.  Sadly, we did not see any hippos, but we were able to enjoy the beautiful sunset out on the lake.

With all of our new and exciting adventures, we apologize that we did not blog sooner.  We are going to go to another village this upcoming week, Mahadagha, to visit with the other half of the Messiah team, and we are looking forward to spending time with our new friends.  We will appreciate prayers over the next two weeks as we travel quite a bit, and then for the Messiah team when they travel home on January 24. 

The Season to be Thankful

Our house has been very full lately.  After Emily left, we had about a week with just us and Aimie (our friend from France).  Then, we got a group and a new roommate all in one day.  The group has since left, but Kirsten will probably be staying until April.  However, she is young and it is her first time away from home.  As a result, she is considering leaving earlier.  Please keep Kirsten and her family in your prayers.

We have had quite a few children leave the orphanage.  There have been three adoptions and three children going home to extended families.  Dieudonne’s adoption was a historic one for the orphanage.  He was the first child to be adopted from this orphanage by a resident of Burkina Faso.  He will be living in the capital with his new family.  The other two adoptions were actually a set of sisters.  A German couple spent about half a week here before they took Rita and Christianne yesterday.  It was an amazing thing to see.  We got to experience their first sight of the girls this week and see the way that they have bonded as a family through their time.  Rita, who is older, was even learning some simple German before they left.  The parents were so happy that when they left the orphanage yesterday, that they both were crying. 

We have three new babies and a child at the orphanage as well.  Orikea is about 2 years old.  Her mother and father recently died and she went to live with aunt.  This aunt had two infants of her own and was unable to take care of a third.  Her aunt brought her to the orphanage in tears hoping that we would be able to take this little girl.  Omarou is about 3 weeks old.  He is the result of a mentally unwell woman being taken advantage of by a man.  She is unable to take care of the Omarou so he will be staying at the orphanage.  Omalie is only a few days old.  Her mother gave birth to her in a bus and left her there without telling anyone.   Social Action was informed and brought her to us.  She had multiple bruises on her body so she went to the pediatric hospital yesterday for a complete checkup.  God’s grace was shining on her, because everything seems to be fine.  Finally, Wenddinda was found by Social Action to be abused by her family. She was forced to drink poison, which fused her tongue to the roof of her mouth. Before coming to the orphanage, she needed to have a surgery in the capital to fix her mouth.

With these newborns come new responsibilities.  Because they are too young to be safe with the older children, we have taken over much of their care.  We take care of them during the nights (we call this practice for the future) and during the days when we are available. 

Lauren is pleased to report that she had been given the teaching of the 10^th graders.  While the pastor still translates for her, she has taken over the lesson planning, the teaching, and even the testing.  She is currently teaching on the life of David and will continue with that until Christmas break.  One of Lauren’s overabundant projects was to take pictures of all the kids that live at the orphanage.  She wanted to get two of each child.  She is in the process of sending them to her mother so that she (Deb) can get them printed and send them when Doug and Matthew (Lauren’s dad and brother) come in January.  An offshoot of that resulted in a PowerPoint which Lauren made and sent to our church  with pictures of all the kids so that they can be prayed for by our church family back home.

Bekah continues teaching the preschool children.  She continues in the struggle to teach them their colors and numbers.  They have the hardest time with memorization, but they can remember every story that they have been told.  Once a week, the lesson is on a bible story.  They can now tell the stories of David and Goliath, Isaac and Rebekah (that was an awkward lesson), Noah, and Jonah.  Because the stories are repeated a few weeks in a row, they begin to memorize the facts.  It is so cool to hear them ask about Goliath when they pick up a stone on their weekly walks.  Bekah also continues to work with Haruna.  He is a 2-year-old who is deaf and blind.  She feeds him every day and works to give him some stimulation in his life.  He really enjoys listening to music on Bekah’s speakers.  He likes Lady Gaga, the Black Eyed Peas, and Beethoven.  He also likes Christmas music. 

For Thanksgiving, Lauren had to work so Bekah mad e the some of the dinner and ate with every other American in the town (and our French friend, Aimie, and our German friend, Annalie).  We were able to have a good time of fellowship and fun together.  After dinner, we played Apples to Apples and kicked off the Christmas season by watching a Christmas movie together.

Our menu consisted of:

·         Two Turkeys

·         Mashed Potatoes

·         Gravy

·         Green Beans

·         Spinach and Artichoke Dip

·         Pumpkin Bread

·         Bread Stuffing

·         Rice Stuffing

·         Dinner Rolls

·         Cranberry Sauce

·         Apple Pie

·         Pumpkin Pie

·         Chocolate Chip Cookies

·         Cinnamon ICE CREAM!!!

We did not feel like standing in line for Black Friday Shopping, so Lauren and Bekah sent the two newest members of the household to do their shopping.  They came back with five baguettes.  They said they got a great deal.

The Princes and the Paupers

The past few weeks have been filled with our usual daily activities, as well as some new adventures. Lauren continues to go to the secondary school, and has had more opportunities to teach as of late. She is teaching a series on Jonah with the tenth graders, and so far it has been going well. Bekah is still helping with the preschool, and is finally learning some of children’s songs (in Morre and in French). She also learned a new game, Renard passé-passe, which is similar to Duck Duck Goose. She continues in the ever present struggle to teach the toddlers their colors.

Two weeks ago, we had the opportunity to visit the home of one of the boys that lives in the orphanage, Barto. We helped his family begin their harvest of millet, which is a grain. We met his father, sister, and nephew, and enjoyed seeing where he lives, when not at the orphanage. Barto lives at the orphanage because there is no secondary school where he lives, and he wanted to continue his education in order to go to medical school.

Last week, there was a celebration for the new directors of the orphanage. Mike and Amy Riddering have been learning from Ruth Cox for about a year how to run the orphanage, and have now officially taken over. Ruth is moving to the south of the country to begin a new orphanage. Even though we couldn’t understand what was happening at the actual ceremony, the party atmosphere before and the party afterwards were really fun. Everyone looked very nice and was in good spirits. We had chicken and salad (and sodas!), with a very good local dressing. While we dined, we were at the same table with two kings. Then the kids and Bekah watched a movie, The Amazing Spiderman, outside on the projector.

We had to say goodbye to one of our roommates, Emily, on Tuesday. We went to Ouaga on Monday      with Mike and Amy to drop off their friend, Pat, who returned to Florida on Monday night. At that time, we left Emily in Ouaga with her missions organization, so that she can touch base with them before she left for Colorado on Friday. While in Ouaga, we also got hamburgers, French fries, and ICE CREAM J   

One Month In

Today is a month since we got here, and it has been a pretty good month. Even though most of our time is spent with preschool/school and the babies, we have also been connecting with some of the older kids recently. School is officially back in session, so our time is more structured. 

With one month down, we are now mostly accustomed to life here in Burkina. We feel pretty comfortable shopping in the market, although sometimes it’s confusing with the different money (and that slight language barrier). We are getting used to our schedules, and are enjoying our time here. We especially like how relaxed the culture is, and usually get a nap during sieste(from 1-3) every day. 

Yesterday (Tuesday) we experienced our first Muslim holiday. Lauren was a little disappointed since she was supposed to teach for the first time, but school was cancelled. African organizations are not that organized. She found out a couple of hours before school started (through our tailor). Everyone was dressed up for the holiday, and the kids looked especially adorable. It was cool to see everyone very excited and pretty, and the music went well into the night (past Lauren and Bekah’s bedtime- who go to sleep around 9 and midnight respectively). 

Lauren also found out today that she will be teaching on Daniel 3 tomorrow in class. If anyone has any suggestions n this, please feel free to email her at lp1218@messiah.edu. She has never studied Daniel in depth before, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Some prayer requests we have are: 

The husband of one of the tauntes (who take care of the babies) in our orphanage passed away this past week. Please pray for her and her children as they mourn and adjust. 

One of the Air Force men is returning home this upcoming Sunday, and he and his family will be starting the adoption process soon thereafter. Please pray for Joe and Christy as they begin this exciting process!

For us as we continue to adjust to life here without our families. 

A praise that we have is that all of the babies that are adoptable right now have families! We were hoping for a family for one boy in particular, Haruna. He is blind and deaf, and has had very little stimulation in his life, but we are hoping with more stimulation and attention, he will flourish. Just on Sunday, a family from the States accepted him, and we are very excited that he will have a family within the next couple of years!