Ok, first of all, please feel free to leave comments! Any questions you have, thoughts, etc, etc. For now there won't be many pics on here, at least until we get to Burkina and start taking some of our own. But, I will be adding links to maps and pictures that you might enjoy.
For today, I just wanted to share a little information about Burkina Faso with everyone. Chances are that you have never heard of it (most Americans haven't). Burkina (noone ever says the whole name) is in west africa, is landlocked (means no beaches....), and one of the poorer countries in the world. Of course, this is not to say there is no money there. There are some very rich people there, and some very high-end neighborhoods. For example, there is a development in the capital Ouagadougou called Ouaga 2000 which is supposedly where people such as the royal family of Morocco have vacation homes. Here are some listings for rentals in that area, running beween $700-$4000 a month. Needless to say, that is not where we are going!!!! Oh, and by the way, the capital Ouagadougou (pronounced Wah-gah-doo-goo) is also never said in full. Everyone just calls it Ouaga. You might notice a trend in abbreviating names...
Our initial plan is to spend a few days to a week in Ouaga, but that's not where we will be living. The branch that covers this territory, located in Benin, gave us 4 choices on where to go to help a French congregation. The most likely destination is in Bobo Dioulasso. Any guess on what this town is normally called? Yep, you guessed it.... Bobo. Anyways, we still have to get in contact with the brothers there and confirm everything. But we do know that Bobo is a city of about 500,000 people with 5 congregations. From around 1900 to 1960 the French made it the main city of the area, so it's still a commercial center. We should be able to get anything we want there... depending how much we want to pay of course. As far as the practicalities, the branch said that a budget as low as $230 a month is possible... much depending on our ability to live without air conditioning. To be on the safe side, we plan to double that. Even so, $500 a month is pretty cheap! There is a grand marché in Bobo (the african equivalent of a Super Walmart.... where you can get just about anything), also a fruit market where we can get any local, fresh fruit (very important, you know how Alisa loves fruit!). Sounds like the normal way to get around is a moto (generic for scooters and pretty much any kind of motorcycle). We will see where we end up living, distance to the KH, etc, and decide if we need a moto of our own once we get there.
About 50 miles southwest of Bobo is a small town called Banfora. That is going to be our first tourist destination! Whenever any of you come to visit, I'm sure we will be happy to go back there again and again! Here are a few pics of the sights at Banfora:
http://banfora.net/Les-cascades-de-Karfiguela.html
http://banfora.net/Les-domes-de-Fabedougou.html
http://banfora.net/Les-pics-de-Sindou.html
http://banfora.net/Le-lac-de-Tengrela.html
Sorry, you're not going to find many pages in English describing Burkina!
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Friday, June 14, 2013
Small beginnings....
Ok, to be fair, we aren't anywhere near Burkina yet. We are still right here in Alameda. BUT, we have made our decision and are starting our preparations... so I figured I should figure out how to get this blog thing going so it can be fully at speed once we are "au pays". First, hafta get used to typing on this mini-keyboard connected to my Ipad :)
Please remember, don't share this blog with others without express permission from Alisa or me.
But, now, enough boring stuff! What are we actually doing to get ready? Well, I did something fun today.... got 3 of my wisdom teeth out! A dentist finally convinced me that it was going to be necessary. Now, the thought of having dental problems requiring immediate attention in Africa? Not something I want to deal with!!!! Don't say I have no sense of adventure... but I want to know that someone cutting me open has access to modern technology, especially pain meds!!!! So, spending my day laying on the couch looped out on vicodon really is part of preparing for Africa :)
Next step, monday we are getting our vaccinations, yellow fever, etc. Once we have that, we can send off for our visas. By the first of August (or earlier if we aren't patient) we should have our tickets from JFK to Ouaga. All that's left after that are the details!!! Of course, there are a lot of those details....
That's all for now. I'll be back when there is more progress to report.
Please remember, don't share this blog with others without express permission from Alisa or me.
But, now, enough boring stuff! What are we actually doing to get ready? Well, I did something fun today.... got 3 of my wisdom teeth out! A dentist finally convinced me that it was going to be necessary. Now, the thought of having dental problems requiring immediate attention in Africa? Not something I want to deal with!!!! Don't say I have no sense of adventure... but I want to know that someone cutting me open has access to modern technology, especially pain meds!!!! So, spending my day laying on the couch looped out on vicodon really is part of preparing for Africa :)
Next step, monday we are getting our vaccinations, yellow fever, etc. Once we have that, we can send off for our visas. By the first of August (or earlier if we aren't patient) we should have our tickets from JFK to Ouaga. All that's left after that are the details!!! Of course, there are a lot of those details....
That's all for now. I'll be back when there is more progress to report.