Tabitha Center - First Day

Tabitha Center is a place of refuge for widows and other women in Sector 30, the poorest section of the capital city Ouagadougou.  They come there several mornings a weeks to study the Bible, pray, and work on income producing projects.  With only a month of French under my belt, we interviewed and hired a translator to go with.  One young woman that was going to have a one day trial basis called last night to say that she was out of town and couldn't make it back in time.  The young woman was very kind and sweet, but her English was limited and I was concerned that it could make things more difficult.  Then not to show up was a red flag so we decided to go back and start at square one to find a translator.  In the meantime, I had committed to being at Tabitha Center this morning.  I decided to go by myself and give it a whirl.  As I was praying last night about the day, I had a realization that I could do this without a translator if need be.  I would write out my lessons in French and have my French teacher check them for me and work on the pronunciation.  It would be a good way of pushing me harder to learn and converse in French.

The drive to Tabitha Center is like driving anywhere in Burkina Faso.  Traffic is usually insane and the roads, both paved and dirt, are bumpy.  I took some videos on my way in this morning just to give you and idea:

The directions to get there went something like this:  Take Charles de Galle to the dead-end circle and turn left.  Go to the light where the blue and white gas station is on the right and make a left.  Go until the road dead-ends and turn right on the path.  Go down to the large electrical wires and turn left.  Go to the first set of two electrical wires and turn left.  You'll go down a very narrow path until you come to Tabitha Center. This is a video of pulling up to Tabitha Center and the children that run to the car in excitement of visitors.

Fortunately for me, Jehojakim from Aceddes was there for part of the morning.  He speaks some English and we were able to cover a great deal of information.  I brought out a suitcase full of items that came from the States, including a solar charger, pillow case dresses, seeds for peanuts, carrots, tomatoes and melons, and toothbrushes and toothpaste.  After that we went to the room where the women were gathered. What I was quickly reminded of is that you don't have to speak the same language to communicate.  We had so much fun!  They had an absolute blast going through the pillow cases dresses and choosing several for their daughters:

I took their pictures and wrote down their names so I can memorize them faster. There are more women that could  not make it today, so I'll add them as they come. 

Odette

Asseta

Zeste

Iasette

Tabita

Atena

Centia

Madolin

Suzanne

We arranged for me to come on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 8 a.m. - Noon and teach a Bible class and work on an income-producing activity.  I'll also come on Saturdays from 9 a.m. - noon and teach personal hygiene and sanitation.  As the garden is planted, I'll try to make it out more often to help with that.

I was overcome with emotion when I left this morning.  When I asked what I could do to help, the reply was "your presence here is enough".  I kind of wanted to pull a Moses and say "wait a minute - you don't understand! It's just me, nothing special, nothing earth shattering".  But I can't help but believe that I'm here for a purpose, and I'm ready to get going!

This last picture is one of the things that drew me back here after the visit in the Spring - the children.  There were several today that are not in this picture that were definitely not feeling well.  One little baby was sitting on the dirty floor when I came in.  She had flies all around her, and especially around her mouth where there was a sore.  Please pray for all these little ones and the women at the Tabitha Center.  

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