journal from june 2007

TRIP 3 2007

Day 1 (Wednesday June 20th)

Its so great to be heading back to Burkina. It’s been too long!
This time it’s a real privilege to be taking six other folk from Southampton to share the experience. It’s been a real God project with the team and focus for the trip coming together at quite a late stage. Three students; Andy, Tom and Chris introduced to me through Alan Cox and Megan our church student worker – together with three girls from our old evening congregation; Kat, Bekki and Rach.

It’s been a hectic build up, with lots of last minute preparations particularly for Bekki and myself getting ready for the Schools of Ministry teaching that is planned with some of Pastor David’s leaders. That together with an amazingly successful ‘Burkina Fun-raiser’ which gave us a glimpse of how much God’s in the trip, (which helped us on our way towards us raising over £3200 to support the projects that David is involved with) and an abundance of clothing, toys (and Gary the gorilla) donated from friends to take out to the villages.

So a bright and early start, in fact a start of things to come with two of the girls turning up a fashionable 30mins late! For me this was to be the most hectic day of the trip – to actually get there! As we had the logistic mission of getting 6 people, 11 bags of luggage and a guitar to Heathrow via three cars, an IBM car-park and two taxis, and then meet Tom before heading onto Burkina Faso via Paris. Eventually we got ourselves and the beaucoup de luggage checked-in by a rather unhelpful Air France attendant – who was blaming their failings on us ….with three of us initially being issued with tickets only as far as gay Paris (though fair enough we did look like bit of a rabble, some would say a circus!)

We made it to Paris, with our time-keeping being noted again by the stewards as we were last onto the plane! Good foundations were then sown in CDG airport, Paris where we had about a 2-3 hour wait for our connecting flight to Burkina – in our first game of ‘up and down the river’. Plus le chat (Kat) was nursing the first of her many war-wounds and scars in a collision/fall incident racing up a downward moving escalator with Undy (Andy).

Mission no. II was getting the masses of luggage out of Ouagadougou airport (Ouagadougou the great name for capital of BF), with some particularly unhelpful red uniformed couriers!
It was all quite hectic arriving on mass at the rather cramped airport, with soaring tarmac temperatures and not speaking the local lingo. So there was definite relief to be greeted outside by old friends Michel (one of Pastor David’s leaders), Hovis (real-name Clovis) and Christophe (two of David’s children), friends reunited! David couldn’t be around to meet us as he was still at a leaders outreach conference in Ghana – and so the team wouldn’t be meeting their ‘old BP66 friend’ until the Friday.

Then a short drive to our Ouaga base, not quite the comfort of SIL (the Wycliffe complex we’ve stayed at on my last couple of visits) but will suit our needs perfectly – and as we later discover, turns out to be the perfect location for us. The house, located in one of the suburbs had an interesting sink, shower, toilet combo in a not-so ‘well-secured’ bathroom (more on that later) where Undy was very keen to pilot a ‘3 at once’ economy run whereby one person does toilet, one shower and the other teeth, all at the same time – then rotate! Unsurprisingly perhaps this didn’t catch on.

We have our first Burkina meal together, a brief intro from Michel, a pray together as a team – and then a much needed though ‘limited’ night of sleep.


Day 2 (Thursday June 21st)

A nice cold shower to start the day, breakfast and with car repairs needed, a free hour appears for us to have a prayer time together. Out comes the guitar, and then Tom – the team guitarist bottles playing claiming not to know any songs (which turns out to be so untrue!) – so its left to me to start proceedings with my willy-wonky guitar rhythms back in play, and (bad) memories of an ‘public-performance’ incident on 24-7 trip to Ayia Napa a few years back quickly come flooding back! Still we have a decent time of singing, a little meditation on Psalm 46 and a chance for Undy to share some of his Brazil experiences. I guess this first morning of praying together sets the tone for what was to come each day in what were really special and memorable times of singing, worshipping, praying, and hearing individual’s personal stories/ experiences.

Our first proper day in the country is a gentle one, with a trip into the city for money (CFA’s ..central African francs I think?) and water reserves (beaucoup de chateau d’eau), ah plus my first ‘malta’ of the trip (an alcohol free beer made from malt – tasting remarkably like ‘Shreddies’)! Thankfully the ‘team Nationwide visa card’ which holds all our money reserves works – and so we’re in business. If that hadn’t have worked, which is pretty common in Burkina, we’d have been pat cashless all trip! Ah almost forgot – we have our first introduction to the local kids in our street, over a quick game of hacky-sac, and it be rude not to mention Betty’s (Bekki) falling incident next to the car.

Then off on our first excursion with Michel, Clovis and driver for our time in Ouaga; Daniel – to see the country’s president’s personal animals, that is a zoo – only I doubt it gets many visits from the locals/ tourists. Not sure who was more surprised – the animals in seeing the Nassalas (white people), or us checking out the animals! Was an interesting experience – with some good memories with all the ‘usual’ animals on display but on reflection probably a place we’d prefer not to go back to, as it was a sad sight and conditions for the animals ropey to say the least. It left a bit of a sad taste, and we had our hearts set on setting the animals free – especially the poor young elephants who didn’t look like they’d drunk in months (that is before being hand-fed from Rash’s bottle of water)!

We returned for a late lunch back in Ouaga mid-afternoon– where Tom formed a close bond and attachment with the ‘love-burger’, and then back home.
Little do we realise the day is only just beginning. Tom & Undy quickly get a game of football going with the local kids in our street – and before we know it, there’s a full on match with 20-30 or so kids, with interested parents and adults peering over the fences to see what’s going on. ‘Henry’ is a quick favourite with us (a fun if slightly aggressive kid wearing his Arsenal Henry kit), as is Willy – an incredibly cute but sad little kid who injures himself early in the ‘game’. This is probably where the travelling circus was first birthed – that is the Team Burkina circus, on tour from Southampton – possessing many hidden tricks and talents up their sleeves – from football skills, ‘poi’ (How do you spell it??), break-dancing, the classic game of ‘fetch’, having your picture taken on camera or video, to simply being white and having BIG MASSIV hearts for children…which we soon discovered all the team had in bountiful supplies (being white is still quite a head turner & crowd drawing factor once outside the hub of the main city centre).
Ah yes, Betty tries to distract proceedings by locking herself in the toilet (clearly not her day, sorry Beks - which begins the process of many new locks being fitted to the bathroom during our stay, and the construction of the beautiful sign on the bathroom door …can anyone remember what it said??) Anyway before we know it the travelling circus has created the perfect arena for a full-on spontaneous street mission outside our house with maybe 40+ kids (and onlookers at the fringes) almost eating out of our hands!

And so as dusk draws in, Andy has the idea that we should take the opportunity to speak to the kids. Then with the aid of Michel and Hovis (and a bad rendition of ‘Lord I lift your name on high’ on guitar from moi), Andy gives an excellent and inspired God talk off the cuff to maybe 20-30 of the kids (& interested onlookers) – with what seems perfect translation from Michel. The response is stunning, with the majority responding at the end. Michel continues things with some songs in their regional dialect – and we immediately see something of Michel’s amazing connection with children, and his huge heart and compassion for the kids of Burkina. Dusk eventually brings things to a close, and so we venture inside for dinner, mango, more mango and the conclusion of our game of ‘up and down the river’, won naturally by yours truly!


Day 3 (Friday June 22nd)

. Up for a quiet time altogether led by Tom and Chris
. as we head off to the main park in Ouaga - a version of our Southampton Common – notice kids outside our house have created a full-blown football pitch for us, with full lines and markings – displaying their potential creative talents (and free time at disposal!)
. A huge varied expanse of trees, shrubs and openings, with random students hidden in random places secretly studying for coming university exams.
. Naturally we find opening for more football and some Frisbee.
. Perfect two-a-side goals miraculously appear from the trees
. Burkina beat England 5:3 in the Ouagadougou international 2-a-side cup (Tom & Undy letting the away nation down). There’s a good chance this game features in the evening’s sports bulletin on tv – with no expenses spared clip-chart & graphics
. kat gets nasty gash on leg after I stupidly trip her up
. off to park café for more coca, then on home for lunch to meet ‘our friend’ pastor who’s just flown in from Accra, capital of Ghana – yey. What an amazing man he is!
. in afternoon we as team go for walk in suburbs with Clover
. pied piper pick up all the locals en-route – over game of table football, and with our circus talents, our cameras, charm & intrigue of the chicken tikka nassala’s.
. kat even does a dance off in some street park with the locals!
. then back home with the masses picked up en-route for big football match and follow-up street mission!
. folk from the neighbouring suburbs who followed us home were not made welcome by kids in our street which was real shame, but some hang around for subsequent football game and entertainments
. big overcrowded game of football, maybe 20-a-side – though hugely one-sided
. more poi teaching, breakdancing – with the kids fully joining in
. then the Burkina Olympics – someone on team has brainwave of initiating running races down the street with the kids – track gets created about 150m in length. Have races for boys, girls, and of course team Burkina get a go too (but in reality – it’s a free for all)
. then eventually as dusk comes, another spot-on preach from Undy & some more songs from Michel. Awesome time of prayer – with the kids really entering in & perfectly quiet throughout
. evening ends with great fish meal, some more cards with our own Burkina rules of ‘s-head’, and the introduction of ‘slam’


Day 4 (Saturday June 24th)

. travel to Leo, lose Michel’s 4x4 en-route, arriving a good hour before others
. great to be reunited with the family Zopoula – seeing Monique, Pascaline, Claudine, Nathan et al. And for me always feel deep connection with David’s home town, Leo
. before leaving Ouaga we have our daily quiet time together, and chance to give our new friends outside the house some bouncy bally & bubbles (from the stashes of supplies that we brought out)
. drive to Leo is amazingly quick on new surfaced road – feels so different to previous visits – road make the place feel lot more modern (yet same time, still has the same laid back feel & hasn’t really grown very much over last 3 years)
. notice difference in scenery – Leo so much greener than Ouaga
. we are staying in new pad – attached to the new Napon empire school (a CREDO school)
. great little facility but sadly a good 3-4km from Leo – so not really walking distance, so our new home is lot more remote than wear we’ve stayed on previous trips
. unpack & continue our time together praying for Betty
. TV’s seem to haunt us wherever we go (this is something that seems to have changed since prev trips in that TVs seem much more of a norm – and wherever they are, if there is running electricity – they must be ON …created some tension on trip for team Burkina, creating the beginning of the ‘vanishing remote’ saga!
. have really nice meal with David’s family at our new home, followed by guitar performances all-round (Undy is caught on camera visibly ecstatic listening to one of my songs!)


Day 5 (Sunday June 24th)

. Sunday is church day ....Ah yes the morning begins early with the creation of lac de Burkina chez nous following Rash’s shower overflowing our cozy Leo pad
. So its off to El Shadai – David’s home church in Leo of about 300 people? Beforehand we manage a quick breakfast and a pray for Undy, in preparation for speaking in church
. Its good to be back in David’s home church – and reunite with the vibrant and colourful worship. Today is a special kids service, and so the privileged Team Burkina each receive a little ‘rosette’ decoration for our shirts with a verse from Matthew!
. And then after worship it becomes our turn to sing a few songs with Tom on guitar – which ‘surprisingly’ (for us) seem to be pulled off pretty well (although that was not a trend that would continue!!!)
. Then its Undy’s turn, who does a sterling job speaking from Ephesians 2
. It becomes a long, long service and eventually after what is nearly 4 hours we leave, then on home for lunch and stories with David.
. In the afternoon the team head out for games and fun with the church kids (and their friends). Our biggest game of football yet – and I (Grandpa Comer) was certainly feeling the heat on the bigger pitch – and so although I would never publicly admit it, it came as quite a relief when the heavens opened in a nice big thunderstorm. This was our first taste of Burkina rain on the trip and good timing, as it was well needed.
. So in English cricket style, the rain stopped play and proceedings, as we took cover in a rather cramped (and stuff) school classroom where we get a chance to learn a few new action songs with the children. Then as soon as the rain stopped, full activities sharply resumed outside with a thoroughly enjoyable game of football – alongside the usual travelling circus entourage of poi, frisbee, photography and the like. This was my first official meeting with the team’s soon to be adopted son Mettis (Michel’s youngest boy – who’s around 3 and probably the cutest kid in the world) – who was very keen to participate in our game of football despite being not much taller than the ball itself. The standard of football was pretty good, as was the English of a few of the children – particularly a cool boy called Martin
. That evening we look after (smother) Mettis over dinner, and his talents as a future photographer are discovered
. Then on for some more ‘up and down the river’ (but won’t mention who won again)


Day 6 (Monday June 25th)

. A much needed lie-in to start the day before Team Burkina venture out on an exciting day-trip to Ghana. Leo, David’s home town is situated right in the southern corner of Burkina, only 20 or so km from the Ghana border. We are en-route for Tumu, another 20km into Ghana, a place I first visited in 2003. We are off to meet/ be entertained by a good close friend of David’s, Pastor Seth – joined by Michel and Hovis
. A brief stop off at the border control, where the patrol police/ customs guys were busily engaged in a game of draughts. We wait for Seth to meet us (and thus avoid the issue of not having Ghanaian visas)
. So Seth, an interesting character and wife Victoria entertain us at their family home with drinks and good conversation (with their poor dog chained to the tree at our feet!). Tom and Rash get drawn into reading the tale of an early English missionary who ended up being cannibalised by the local tribe! And then a pleasant lunch cooked up by Victoria
. The weather is fine and it’s a good chilled time. Its good being back in Ghana, where there is a noticeably different look and feel to Burkina. Firstly everything’s a little greener, then a lot more of the buildings are made from bricks, having ‘V’ shaped roofs. And its nice to know that some of the locals speak some English too! Not like the south of the country though where English is the first language. Last time I visited, Tumu was the centre of the Sisala tribe (David’s tribe of birth) and we had an opportunity to meet the tribe’s leader (a rather proud and chauvinistic man if I remember right!), but a decision was taken a couple of years back to divide the Sisala people into two regions, east and west Sisala
. Then it’s on to meet Penny in Tumu, a British missionary lady from the ‘north-east’ (i.e. Norwich!) – a physio working as an NGO who’s just returned to the country after some time-out back in England. She seemed a lovely lady and it was great to hear an English voice, and a shame we couldn’t spend longer with her. Over in Ghana she’s a health support worker providing help/ guidance in the smaller villages in cooking/ hygiene related matters.
. Before heading ‘home’ to Burkina we get some petrol, and stashes of Ghanaian money (from a black market bank!) to pay for the petrol, then back to border control to slip a little backhander to cover our missing visas
. Later in the afternoon the travelling circus are rejuvenated to life once more as we visit the a fairly remote village the Michel is currently building up relationships with and reaching out to – about 5-10km outside of Leo, where there are currently no Christian churches. Poor Hovis gets sent out to sort out the Peugeot as it punctures on arrival, whilst the rest of us get greeted with a drum-call by a rather eccentric, if slightly mad old woman. Here again we see Michel’s amazing heart and compassion for the kids. He has a plot of land to build a new school – for training and equipping some of the older youth with skills that will set them in good stead for the future which will also double up as a church. The hope is this can come into action soon if the £5000 required can be raised.
. So once again we are ‘forced’ into playing with the children, it’s a hard life – with football, frisbee and the ‘usual’ other activities. The football pitch was the most overgrown yet – and long too, and so I was finding it pretty hard going! But the Africans have bags of energy to fill the gaps. Undy’s side completely outplayed us – and we were thrashed! As the football draws to a close – the old lady of the village (possibly related to Pam of Waitrose fame) initiates some dancing games with the kids in true African stylee. Man it was awesome to see the kids having so much fun. Full on random dances, where the people in pairs take it in turns to strut their stuff whilst the onlookers form a circle around them. I reckon the dances could take off back on UK soil at the local leisure centres, with some of the routines more resembling the squat thrust and star jump. Rachow in spite of headaches & dehydration literally went for it – showing off her talents and passions as a prathetic dancer, with the rest of the team joining in too. Good times, good memories, and great fun to go a little crazy too. We need to take some of that fear-less, non-self-awareness fun back home with us
. We were only a few miles beyond the school where we’d been staying whilst in Leo, yet the village felt so out in the middle of nowhere. And as no cars tend to go there – the locals were not as used to the chicken tikka Nasala’s (white people) - and so some were a bit more stand-off-ish (probably rightly so, the cwazy band of brothers that we are!)
. Then back home for dinner, mangos and more fun


Day 7 (Tuesday June 26th)

. Day one of the Schools of Ministry teaching. Bekki and I had been frantically preparing in the weeks leading up to the trip to share on the area of Leadership. This is one of the major modules in the Schools of Ministry program (which has currently has over 30 modules). The aim was to pilot the School in Burkina with some of David’s regional leaders around the Leo area – with a view to setting up a more formal School sometime next year (depending on how the teaching was received).
. so it was an early start at David’s Leo Bible School, starting with worship at 8am
. Bekki and I were to cover 5 seminars, each with around 2 hours of material over two days
. we had about 35 people show, mostly from Leo, but a few travelling in from neighbouring villages en velo.
. from what we could tell, the teaching seemed to be well received, with a good of questions offered up after each session (with some challenging ones thrown in too!). And feedback was very positive from people afterwards – so all in all we were rather encouraged
. we meet Pastor Jacque from Ivory Coast – who then ‘invites himself’ round for dinner with us that eve!

. the others go back to Michel’s school in the morning to help with the teaching (if you can call playing bingo & hangman ‘teaching’ – hangman of all things huh!). Things get a bit hot inside, so the class carry their desks out under the shade of some of the trees …and Undy subsequently falls asleep (up in one of the trees!)
. whilst there the group get to see the plot of land set aside to build a new school and church (part of Michel’s vision for the village)

. dinner with Pastor Jacque, and an interesting game of Uno-jenga (don’t buy it, its not very good!)
. then we have good times praying for our man Michel and Jacque


Day 8 (Wednesday June 27th)

. Conclusion of the Schools of Ministry teaching/ training. We found it quite full-on in terms of giving out but seemed to again go down well, and was well-received. Around the lunch interval we witnessed a huge downpour, providing some much needed water to the land and some huge puddles too!
. Rest of the team head off to CREDO, a nutrition centre in Kairo just outside Leo -headed up by Pastor Napon, a key Christian and close friend of Pastor David’s. It’s quite a hard-hitting, impacting place – where you get to visibly see some of the poverty of the region, where the mal-nourished babies and children are treated whilst their mothers are educated and trained in preparing and cooking food which will provide a balanced diet for their kids
. Whilst Bekki and I conclude our teaching in Leo, the rest of the team head off on a jolly in search of les elephants in the afternoon – but sadly all that happens is they are chased by wild geese. Serves them right, going off on jollies whilst the other harder working members of the team were occupied working hard!
. It was our last evening in the delightful Leo, and so we all headed over to the Zoupoula’s home for a grand meal, and time with the family – which meant also getting to spend a little bit of time with the beautiful Monique! The team have their first experience of ‘tow’ (a maize based, candle-wax appearenced dish which forms the staple diet for most Burkinabes. As well as being entertained with great company, its not long before the emperor TV gets wheeled out – and we get to watch Matt Watson’s inspiring Burkina short documentary, together with some American in an African top (apparently his luggage got lost!) preaching at a conference in Ghana which David had just returned from (not the best background watching)!


Day 9 (Thursday June 28th)

. Watch parade and random dancing in Leo with the Zopoula’s
. Drive to Bourra to visit the orphanage (on the way passing David’s home village where he has his own field)
. Lots of hugging of babies and young orphaned children. A beautiful yet incredibly sad place. It was very hard to leave – as those kids need so much love….we’d love to come back another year and spend a whole week at the Orphanage getting time with the babies & youngens – and maybe doing some decorating/ odd jobs/ painting murals etc to brighten the place up
. Andy shared a cool word, translated by David’s daughter Pascaline - to the older kids using a massive chalked out world, drawn on the floor (probably by the Canadians)
. And then a longish drive to Bobo Dioulaso – the second city, and former capital of the country – to be reunited with my good friend Pastor Samuel and his wife Martine. Staying in our best accommodation yet – its almost luxury and the classic drinks chalk-board!!
. Go out for a meal in the dark! And it takes forever for the food to arrive …by which point most of us have fallen asleep
. Kat spent yet another day tending to her hair and trying to put it up in a pony tail


Day 10 (Friday June 29th)

. Visit Pastor Samuel’s amazing school project in the new suburb on the fringes of Bobo. The suburb is still taking shape, and only the first phase of school is complete with several new buildings and rooms under construction. Its an exciting project which touched us. Bobo is predominantly Muslim, with a rapidly growing Muslim faith, and so Pastor Samuel has a vision to establish a strong Christian school in the city.
. Once again the travelling circus got plenty of opportunity to hang with the children – this being our clear ‘calling/connecting point’ - some being the school kids but also some that probably are not schooled and live in the new suburb. Before leaving we get to sit with the kids for a familiar coke stop and have a good pray with Samuel and the school principal.
. Samuel and his wife head off to lead a wedding the next morning. I spend the afternoon back at base preparing my talk for Sunday’s meeting (well sun-bathing really) whilst the rest of the gang hit Bobo and check out the interesting old village
. I go for a wander around the neighbourhood where we’re staying, and get a bit intimidated by some of the locals around the mango market – then and head for a run just before dark into the city centre to get some cash, with my Burkina national football shirt on. Have an amazing moment running through a street of cafes where a few people think I’m Zinedine Zidane and start heckling – then on my way back, it seems everyone on the whole street are standing applauding me, shouting out Zidane …I feel like a celeb for a couple of minutes!
. Head out to town with everyone in the eve for a meal together


Day 11 (Saturday June 30th)

. Awesome day of fun and adventure …driving to Banfora to visit the hippos and Les Cascades (the waterfalls).
. I have happy memories going back to see the hippos and waterfalls from a previous trip in 2003.
. With Bettie, Rash, David, Michel and myself in one (leaking) boat, our guide paddles us out to close proximity of a group of hippos, amazing creatures! The other boat with Tom-the claw, Undi, Hovis, Kat & Chris – seem a little disinterested in the hippos – spending more time fixing up lily-flower necklaces and leaf hats for the crew!
. then onto Les Cascades, a great big mass of rock with great views, and several layers of waterfalls …where we get to spend some time hanging out, chilling in the water under the falls. Entertaining time and great memories (especially for the girls when David stumbled in on them changing!)
. Back to our Bobo base for a home cooked meal

TO BE CONTINUED soon