It’s A Celebration!

Several months ago Mike Pierce from Georgia joined a group of pastors from Indiana to view well digging in Burkina Faso.  The group traveled to a number of villages and heard firsthand how important the wells are, not only in providing physical water but also giving a platform to the local pastor to talk to the villagers about the living water of Jesus Christ.

When the team was in Ouagadougou, they made a visit to Tabitha Center.  I happened to sit next to Mike and he commented that he would like to purchase matching t-shirts for all of the women.  The women had a lot of fun deciding what color they wanted the t-shirts to be – and the majority won with green.  Tabitha Center was placed on the front in white letters, on the back a verse from Jeremiah which is a “theme” verse for the center.  

Fun in a Sea of Green

Through a very generous donation we had the funds to do a grain distribution so we decided to have a party today and all wear our green t-shirts.  It was a sea of green at Tabitha Center today and the women love their t-shirts!  It was a wonderful party including singing, dancing, a devotional by John Arnold who visited us with his wife Betty, their son and his wife Maggie and Brian, and an intern Jake.  We had macaroni with sauce, bread with Nutella, and cookies for lunch.  I’ve never seen such a mass of food disappear so quickly!  

One of the dances that I really enjoyed included everyone forming a circle.  We have such a large group that we had to move outside for dancing.  Two women enter the middle of the circle, dance around motioning each other much like in a boxing match.  At an agreed time, they come at each other and bang hips.  They really got into the motioning and teasing each other.  At one point I went into the circle and the woman that was to bang hips with me went “ohhhh”.  She wasn’t quite sure about banging hips because she didn’t want to hurt me.  I was ready and motioned her to bring it.  Needless to say, it was a very meek hip bang on her part.  

100 kilo bags of corn

After lunch was completed, the corn distribution began.  The corn came in 100 kilo bags that were divided among three women.  It was hard work for the three guys that were lifting the 100 kilo bags, pouring it into a measuring container and then pouring it into a sack that each woman brought with her.  Corn is more expensive than rice and is a real treat for the women.  They will make porridge and tou which is served with either peanut sauce or red sauce.  To prepare the corn for cooking, they will pound it in a large wooden bowl with a very large pestle until it is a ground powder.  It is a slow process and before they can eat it, it must first be cooked.  That means building a fire either out of wood or coal outside of their hut.  There are no “quick serve” items in Sector 30.

I wish you could have been there today and experience such joy at simple things, for today they did not have to cook a lunch meal and had food they could not afford  like sauce with meat, bread with Nutella and cookies.  You would have loved the look on their faces as they received the corn.  And you would have benefited from lots of hugs, “praise God” and “barka’s” (thank you’s).  

We celebrated God’s goodness today and it was an awesome testimony to His power and greatness!