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

Bienvenue à Burkina!

Hi everybody, just a quick link to a short video... Our first attempt with our new camera, so don't be too critical!  But it gives a little glimpse of Burkina


Bienvenue à Burkina!

Vacation

Most of you already know that we got to take a little vacation recently, so we wanted to share a few pictures!  A sister who was in Bobo last year invited us to her wedding in Prague, so of course we accepted!  This post is a few highlights from our week in Prague, and the post to follow will have a few highlights from the rest of our trip.

Alisa with the happy bride-to-be Ema

Ema and Filip

Our very loving hosts, who gave up their apartment for us

The pre-wedding dinner for all the foreign visitors.  Included Czech, American, German, British, French

After our "african dance routine" at the wedding

Czech pastries... made on a roller

Even got in a little witnessing with these Ivoirian immigrants

Live music on the Charles Bridge

Do you see the Tetragramatton?

World famous Astrological Clock

Catching up

If you regularly check our blog, you are probably wondering what happened to us.... No posts in 2 months?!?!?!?

Well, no need to be alarmed, we are still alive.  All we can say is: life sure does get busy!  No doubt you can agree.

Rather than bore you with every little detail of our life for the last few months, how about a quick summary?

Our Memorial campaign was a little interesting, mostly due to the availability (or lack) of invitations.  Our congregation only received enough for each publisher to distribute 25. In an average morning, one can hand out almost that many in 2 hours!  (No, we don't leave them at not-at-homes.... Wait, what is a not-at-home?)  Due to the shortage of invitations, our elders decided to start the campaign by writing the information on tracts.  About a week in, a neighboring congregation shared their surplus, and we were finally able to start using the real invitations.  We were very grateful to them for sharing!

Our campaign ended on April 3, just like it did wherever you are, with the Memorial.  Our first Memorial with the Sarfalao congregation was a first of another kind too.  Our first Memorial outdoors!  Well, there was a tent for most of the audience, but still outdoors.  Since our Kingdom Hall is so far outside of our territory, we use a school for Memorial.  No, not a class room.  The school yard.  That is to say, the large dirt area that all the class rooms open into.  Unlike in the USA, school yards here don't have grass.  They are simply dirt.  Aside from being a little dusty, this didn't really cause any inconvenience for us.  The set-up was just about the same as it would be in any other facility, in other words it took all afternoon.  One benefit to having it at a school is that quite a few students were curious and stuck around after school to attend.

You might think that our lives would get back to normal after memorial, right?  Not exactly.  The day after Memorial, we had company, missionaries from Ouaga.  Even though they could only stay for 2 nights, we were able to cram in a trip to the waterfalls in Banfora with them.  One of the couples is originally from California, and had never been outside of Ouaga during their 4 years in Burkina.  Imagine 4 years in a dusty furnace.....  Seeing some natural beauty was just what they needed!  Just a few days later, we had more visitors, this time from Arizona.  They were in Burkina to "scout out the land" with a view to possibly moving here.  We got to spend 2 1/2 weeks with them, and they came away with a pretty positive view of Bobo, despite the many challenges here.  Hopefully, everything works out for them to move.  We would really enjoy having them here!  Of course, they would also be a great asset to the congregation!

So that brings us almost up to the present, and hopefully you are still with us at this point!  Only a few more things to share (exciting things).  First, we finally got a generator for the Kingdom Hall!!!  No more meetings by flashlight!!!  Maybe you aren't too excited by that, but we sure are!

Second, we are finally getting public witnessing going too.  After a little confusion in getting a cart, we finally have one.  So far it's only a few publishers involved, but we are already seeing benefits.  Our post just happens to be right in front of our house, from 10 am to noon once a week, when the students all leave the school across the street for lunch.  At first, we wondered if the kids would just take everything we offered simply because it's free.  While there may be some of that, we have seen real interest too.  For example, last week we were able to start 2 studies right at the cart.  Then, yesterday, we had a teenage boy approach who had taken the "Truth" tract last week.  He said that he had read it, but had some questions.  Of course, we invited him to sit down, and we answered his questions.  As it turned out, this boy is convinced that a loving God would never burn people in hell, and really appreciated hearing that the Bible doesn't teach that at all.  In the end, he accepted a Bible Teach book, and will hopefully be back next week so we can start studying it.

After seeing how successful the cart is with students, we thought of another location: a main road with a school on both sides.  When school lets out, there are hundreds of students!  We are excited to find out what good results may come from that location as well!  (One benefit to locations near schools: all the students passing by can read, which is not at all guaranteed in other locations)

Finally, we got to attend a wedding for a couple who will soon be joining our congregation.  The sister works at the Jula RTO here in Bobo, and her husband was a Bethelite in Benin.  Happily, the branch accepted to keep them both as Bethelites, but to everyone's surprise, assigned them to Bobo Dioulasso!  Why was that a surprise?  Because the brother doesn't speak a word of Jula!  As our congregation hosts a Jula group, the branch assigned them to us, so that the brother can learn Jula while still getting his spiritual food in French.  So, happy for us, we gain an elder and 2 full time servants once they finish their honeymoon!  We do feel for the Jula congregation though (which the sister had been part of before the wedding), as they only have 2 elders and a few servants.  Making it even harder for them, one of their elders just left for the SKE, leaving the other one solo for 4 months!  But, as with everything in Jehovah's organization, we know that He will provide.

That's about all for this post, bringing you up to date with our lives here in Bobo.  Thanks for sticking with us despite our long silence!  No doubt, we will be a little more prompt about our next post :)

The best life ever

Faces seem to float, barely visible, in the dim pools of light being feebly cast by flashlights squeezing the last bit of current out of their batteries.  Through the open window, we catch the brief flash of far off lightning, and fervently wish it would bring with it some kind of breeze.  Every forehead drips with sweat, as we slowly swelter in the stagnant oven air, superheated all day under a hot tin roof, left with nowhere to go as night falls, locked in a thermal prison.

Still, comments ring out, as the speaker searches the audience with his flashlight, looking for hands raised.  When the time arrives to sing, one brave voice takes the lead, as the rest of us follow.  Small groups huddle around single lights, straining to make out the words in the dimly lit books.  As the last word is sung, all lights are extinguished, allowing us to concentrate on the prayer with complete lack of visual stimulus.  Immediately upon "amen", the work of cleaning begins, done in teams: one with a light, 2 with brooms.  All who aren't involved with cleaning escape to the relative chill outside, not allowing the darkness to inhibit an interchange of encouragement in any way.

This wasn't quite what we expected as the meeting began.  However, when the entire neighborhood suddenly plunged into darkness about 15 minutes in, we knew we were in for a new experience!  No, this wasn't the first time that the power has gone out during a meeting.  However, our first Hall here had a small generator, enough to power the sound system and half the interior lights.  Periods of darkness rarely lasted more than a few minutes, although the generator would occasionally be rather temperamental.  This invariably led to a short flashlight session inside the Hall, and an impromptu elder meeting outside, with brothers circled around the generator coaxing it back to life.

In fact, this isn't even the first time we have had an entire meeting without electricity.  Just a few weeks ago, our 2nd meeting back in Burkina, a large swath of Bobo was privileged to go without electricity for the whole weekend.  Fortunately, the sun was still up during that meeting.  The largest inconvenience fell upon the CO who didn't have the benefit of technology to make himself heard by all.  Still, that wasn't as much of a hardship as he faced on his previous visit, when an inopportune downpour pounding on the roof made it virtually impossible to hear anything he said, even with the aid of microphones and amplifiers.  Earlier in the same visit, the CO had contended with a wedding party literally right outside of the Kingdom Hall during the meeting.  As is the case in pretty much the entire world, wedding parties here involve music.  Loud music.  Lots of music.  Lots and lots of loud music.  Traveling overseers here face unique challenges!

But not all mention of technology here in Africa comes with tales of woe.  Rolling back time again, to our first meeting back here, we were very privileged to enjoy something completely new for our congregation, a new tool which brought us up to date with most congregations in the US.  Imagine how much the congregation enjoyed watching the JW.org video, easily seen by all, thanks to a new video projector!  You might be asking yourself "what were they using before?"  After all, the videos have been featured in service meeting parts for several months now.  They didn't entirely miss out, in September and October the videos were displayed as per the KM.  Those in the first 2 rows fully enjoyed them, those further back might have strained to see the 11" tablet....  Obviously big screen projection is a treat!  Sadly, in December no one had any way to show the videos, as the missionaries with the tablet were out of the country.  We hope they won't have to miss out on any more!

The projector is quickly becoming an indispensable member of the congregation, having also been able to show some of the newly released videos after a recent meeting, being scheduled for the public talk this Saturday, as well as enjoying fine association with ones from all over Bobo.  Ok, you caught me.  The projector isn't actually "giving" the public talk.... But it will be displaying the video that is taking the place of the talk!  And, no, the projector didn't really "associate" with us the other night.... It just sat there very passively and showed us the February JW broadcast.  Nearly all the English speakers in Bobo were gathered for the event, even a few who don't speak English.  A fine spiritual time was had by all (including our new friend, the projector... as far as we can tell)!

As you read this, it's possible that the same thought entered your mind as has entered ours... "What if the power goes out in the middle of the video????"  Well, we are actually a little concerned about that, but, since we have no control over it we are choosing to ignore it!  No doubt, in that event, one of the elders will be stepping in with a very last minute impromptu talk.... with no microphones, and lit by flashlight!

Whenever we start to miss the days of unlimited high speed wifi, power that never went out, water we could drink straight from the tap, etc etc etc, we stop and remind ourselves that, yes, we did in fact choose to come here.  All these small inconveniences, we can get used to them.  It is an adjustment going from one of the richest countries in the world to one of the poorest.... But the ministry is enough reason to make the change!  Plus, we really feel privileged to help share all of the faithful slave's provisions, whether on the big screen at the Hall, or on our cell phones in the territory.  Whenever we look at the whole equation, there really isn't anywhere we would rather be.  Just like they say in the movie, this really is the best life ever!!