La Tristesse

Here we are, back to relative peace and stability in Burkina.  But, that doesn't mean that all is well here.  Just about every day we see something truly sad here.  Hence the title of today's post: tristesse, or sadness in French.  If we didn't have the Kingdom hope, this would be a truly depressing place, or at least a truly depressing blog post!  Happily, though, we do have a hope.  We certainly wanted to share it with a family today.

Some time back, we came across a home with a deaf woman.  They said that no Witnesses had ever been by to see her, so we took down their information and shared it with a brother from the sign language group here in Bobo.  When we took him by the house, we found the situation was even sadder than we initially thought.  The woman has never gone to school, and so can really only communicate with her family using "home signs", a problem that will be quite familiar to anyone serving in sign language anywhere in the world.  We knew this would be a challenge for the brother, but it comes with the territory.

However, in sitting and listening to a conversation in a language we didn't understand, we saw more of the family.  Behind the deaf woman, about 20 feet away we saw a child laid in a tub or basket.  While a little bigger than a baby, this child didn't seem to be able to even wave away the flies which were crawling all over his face.  Glancing at each other, we had the same thought, first: that's really disturbing with the flies, second: there is something wrong with that child.

When the child's mother picked him up and brought him over, we could see more clearly that he has a serious health issue.  His hair is faded, almost a blonde color, a color that we have never seen on anyone here.  Very apparent, also, were his curled hands and feet, as if he was trying to keep his thumbs and big toes curled in.  Then his grandmother dropped the bombshell, that this rather large baby is in fact over 4 years old!  He can't walk, and clearly hasn't grown much.  Only after all of this did we notice that he didn't move at all.  In fact, the only thing we saw him do was move his eyes.  They were very much alive, taking in everything happening, and it seemed sure that there is a lively 4 year old mind gazing out of this withered shell of a body, unable to do anything more than observe his environment.

Now, all of this would be sad anywhere in the world, but it's a little sadder than normal here.  Being one of the poorest countries in the world, Burkina Faso doesn't exactly have top-end health care.  It's quite possible that the doctors here don't have access to the tests needed to properly diagnose this young boy, or that the necessary treatments aren't available, even if he was diagnosed.  Sadly, it's not unheard of for children to fall sick and die here without anyone ever knowing the reason.  Looking at this boy, and knowing that he has very little chance of being well nearly brought tears to our eyes.  In this case, though, it's not just the country of his birth that makes it hard, but also the poverty of his family.  Walking up to the door, we already know that this family doesn't have much money.  They have 2 houses in their courtyard, a one room house and a two room house, the bare basics for living.  Their courtyard is bare dirt, meaning they don't have money for pavers, of course this also frees up one corner for growing a few crops which may be their only source of income.  The houses and the courtyard wall are bare brick, not painted, as paint is an unnecessary and expensive luxury.  There is no car, no motorcycle, not even a bicycle in sight.  The courtyard doesn't even have a gate, just an opening in the fence.  All of this tells us that there is likely no money to even take this little boy to the doctor, much less to pursue any course of treatment for him.  Again, if we stop to think about it, the sadness of the situation is almost overwhelming.

In the end, though, this is just a reminder of why we are really here.  After all, what do these people need more than anything else?  Why, the Kingdom message!  We can't wait to hear her reaction when the deaf mother is able to learn the promises at Isaiah 33:24, and of course Revelation 21:3, 4.  While it's sad to see things like this, it's even more sad to think that everyone dealing with such sad situations might never hear the Good News!  So, we must shake off the sadness, and get on with the preaching work.  As the system winds down to it's end, would we want to be doing anything else?  Not a chance!!!

coup, anyone?

You may have already heard, but Burkina Faso just underwent a forced change of government...  Happily, it was a peaceful event.  We don't know how, or if, this will affect our life here, but for now we are just fine.  If things change, we will keep everyone updated via blog, email, phone, skype, ???
For now, you can check out our view of events at www.strangelifeinafrica.blogspot.com

Seldom worked territory

Seldom worked territory…. Maybe you have had the privilege of being able to work in such a territory, maybe some rural area far from your home.  That’s exactly what we were recently able to do, and we would like to share some highlights with you!  Just in case you aren’t familiar with this term, “seldom-worked territory” applies to an area which has not been preached in by Witnesses within a year, sometimes longer, sometimes no one has preached there before.

Earlier this year, every congregation in Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso received a letter from our Branch Office announcing a campaign to work “seldom-worked territory”.  (Oddly enough, the 4^th country in our branch, Niger, was never mentioned.  Maybe because, with only 240 Witnesses, every territory they have is seldom-worked?)  Needless to say, we were excited by the possibility to preach somewhere new, so we filled out an application.

Our assignment ended up being some villages about a 2 hour drive from our home, near the borders with Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.  They are included in the territory of a small group in Diebougou.  However, the group consists of only 10 publishers, 3 of whom are pioneering, and it’s all they can do to cover the town of Diebougou.  To make it more difficult for them, the only ones in the group who have motos are the special pioneer couple assigned there.  Everyone else is on foot or on a bicycle.  Making a 50 km trip to a village is clearly not an easy thing for them!  According to recent memory of those in the group, 2 of the villages that we preached in had never before been visited by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The group was small, just us 2 and 2 single sisters from our congregation, but we were accompanied every day by one or both of the special pioneers, and sometimes local publishers, even once by a pioneer visiting from Cote d’Ivoire.  It’s a good thing we were able to use our neighbors’ car, a Renault Kango, to carry everyone!  If you aren’t from France, you have probably never seen one of these cars… it’s kind of a cross between a minivan and a SUV.  Not necessarily the epitome of comfort for the furthest rear passengers (the boxes of literature were the seats), but still effective.

When possible, our method consisted of getting to each village on their market day, when lots of people would be crammed together in one place.  Once there, we pulled out our witnessing cart, and braced for the flood.  A few curious onlookers would gather, which instantly created buzz, and we would typically have 20-30 people around the cart at any given moment.  The biggest challenge was determining who could read French.  Before handing anyone literature, it’s best to confirm they can actually read it!  Surprisingly, the vast majority of kids that asked for something could read.  It seemed like the small, remote villages are better educated than the average in larger towns and cities.  While we don’t know where all these seeds of truth will land, we certainly pray that some will take root and grow.  In the course of our 5 days preaching, nearly 1000 tracts and hundreds of magazines were placed.  For many, this was their first exposure to Bible truth.

It wasn’t possible to get to all the villages on market day, so we did door-to-door in a few.  While not nearly as lightning fast as the cart, we still had great success.  Some people had met Witnesses during a visit to a larger city, and many were eager to learn more.  In the smaller villages, most people seemed to be Catholic, and they had some spiritual hunger but virtually no knowledge.  In one case, a guy literally chased us down the road to stop us for more literature.  In another village, we had a group discussion with about 8 guys at a roadside café, with everyone accepting literature and listening to Bible verses.  By the time we left, they were discussing among themselves how the verses applied.

Not all of the joys were spiritual, though.  It was also a great opportunity to get out of Bobo and see some different landscapes!  Getting to the territory involved passing by something we don’t see too much of here in Burkina: hills.  A landscape is so much more interesting when it includes hills!  Thanks to the time of year (end of the rainy season) there was also a lot of water.  We crossed a river in full flood stage, quite impressive.  Happily, the highway is built up sufficiently high, however the original road beside it was underwater in spots.  Due to this abundance of water, everything was incredibly green.  Knowing how brown and dusty everything will be in 6 months, we thoroughly appreciated the greenery pushing up as far as the eye can see.

In the end, we were ready to get back home, but were also convinced that 5 days wasn’t nearly long enough for this territory.  We don’t know who will follow up on our work, we don’t know what results will come from it, but we do see what a need there is here.  These few villages we preached in are not the only ones that need covered, there are hundreds of villages throughout the country that also need to hear the Good News.  We certainly do see the truth of Matthew 9:37 here in Burkina!

For a small glimpse of the scenery, click here