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!

Topics for Teaching

               The past three weeks have flown by so fast! We are now basically completely adjusted to life here in Burkina Faso. Right now, we have a lot more people living with us than when we first arrived. Last Friday (October 4), a girl from France, Aimie, arrived. She will be staying at Sheltering Wings with us until December- she is doing an internship at a nearby school. Also, yesterday (October 7), Ruth and Linda arrived. Ruth is the lady who began the orphanage here. She is only visiting for a couple of days, and will be going to south-west Burkina Faso to start another orphanage. Linda is one of Ruth’s friends and will be going with her.

                This past Saturday, Bekah and Lauren had the opportunity to help at another TOMS distribution. This time, we handed out shoes to 1,144 kids- how amazing is that? Bekah was sizing feet this time, and Lauren was fitting the shoes on the kids. The kids at this village were so excited to get their shoes, and it is amazing to see how a simple pair of shoes can make a child’s day.

                Lauren started going to school last Thursday (October 3). She is an assistant to Pastor Valentin, who teaches Bible at the secondary school. Pastor Valentin teaches 7^th through 10^th grade, and he teaches through 4 different parts of the Bible:
 

7^th grade- Creation
8^th grade- The fall of man
9^th grade- Jesus’ life/death/resurrection
10^th grade- The second coming of Christ

Lauren makes lesson plans for two of the four classes that the Pastor teaches (7^th and 8^th grade). Just this morning (Tuesday), Lauren had the opportunity to teach part of the lesson. After class today, the Pastor asked Lauren to teach the following week on the third and fourth days of creation. Lauren is very excited for this opportunity, and hopes that more opportunities to teach will also be available.

Bekah has been continuing her work with the preschool at the orphanage.  At the beginning of every week, the head teacher tells Bekah what topics she wants to teach on and Bekah figures out the exact method and materials needed to convey those topics.  The basic outline of the day starts with some singing and music.  The children are each given an instrument and they sing some basic Bible songs.  Then there are two different topics each day.  Normally, the first topic is a story of some sort (at least once a week, this is a Bible lesson).  The second topic is more general.  It can be something like learning a specific letter, numbers, colors, or even playing soccer… football. 

Classes are Tuesday-Saturday, from 8:30-10, so you can see that Bekah has plenty of time to do other things.  She can be found playing with the children, but most of the time she is doing some sort of work for the orphanage.  Last week that consisted of a lot of painting.  Yesterday, she (and the other girls living in the house) sorted through the preschool supply closet and cleaned all of the toys in the baby and toddler area. 

In the late afternoon, Lauren and Bekah tend to spend their time with the older children.  Many times, they are playing Uno or watching a football game.  Sometimes this means following them around while they ask the girls to take pictures of them.  Then they go eat dinner.  Lauren really can cook J