Little Bare Feet

When I first started at Tabitha House, John and Betty Arnold encouraged me to always keep front of mind that the work needed to be sustainable and be able to function without the oversight of missionaries.  On Wednesday I returned from a three week trip to the U.S. and was blown away at how efficiently and effectively the Center operated during my absence.  They were so excited and proud to show me everything they had accomplished.  It was incredible to see!  This now gives me the opportunity to start dedicating my time to the children in the few months I have left.  There are two important areas to concentrate on with the children: sharing the Bible, and working on healthy habits.

We started the healthy habits several months ago by implementing a hand washing program.  Before each child receives a piece of bread they have to wash their hands.  (You can’t imagine how dirty the collected water is after all the little hands have been washed!)  Yesterday I spent the day with them in their play area.  They love to color, so we spent the majority of the time doing that.  Then a little boy came up with an open sore on this toe.  Many of these children don’t wear shoes and that means cuts on their toes and feet.  Even more concerning is that they walk in dirt, and through trash and dung with these open sores.  I cleaned his toe, put antibiotic gel on it, and covered it with a band-aid.  That immediately took him to “rock star” status with the other kids, and they all started looking for any kind of sore on themselves that we could bandage.  We spent about an hour cleaning, medicating and bandaging boo-boos. Here in Burkina Faso, if your mom is concerned about how she is going to buy food, then a pair of flip flops is not a high priority.  Each child in Sector 30 should be wearing shoes as a healthy habit.  If you would be interested in helping put shoes on these little one’s feet please let me know. 

Thanks to Karen Grant and Clay Church I have a wonderful flannel graph series as a teaching tool for the entire Bible.  Again, there is the language barrier, but the flannel graph images really help.  It’s amazing what knowledge can be transmitted through pictures and actions.  It also gives me the opportunity to teach them some English words and they love that.