"Dial-A-Nurse from Africa"

Time is flying by so quickly and yet there is still so much to do!  I wake up to this thought just about every morning now.  

One of my earlier posts, “Seeing Others Through God’s Eyes,” was about a little guy that is different and not readily accepted by those around him.  He came back the other day and I took his picture.  It is now located in the blog. 

Sakinatou with soap

Tabitha House was built by a local organization, Accedes.  They are an arm of the National Church that helps the people of Burkina Faso by digging wells, building latrines, providing irrigation systems, planting Moringa trees, and much more.  We are fortunate to have their representative, Jéhojakim Sangare, working with us.  He is a young man that exudes kindness and patience and does a wonderful job managing the center.  Recently, he and his wife had their first baby.  The women decided to give him a special gift – soap!  After one of our meetings, Sakinatou was elected to carry the present on her head.  Many of the women are big teasers, and as we were walking one of them invited me

to ride on the back of her bike.  Trying to get on the back of a bike in a long dress was no easy fete (and not altogether modest, either!)  but off we went to the hoots and hollers of the other women.  One of them wanted a picture, but I decided side-saddle was much better for a picture.  When we arrived at Jehojakim’s one of the women rang the doorbell and then they all started singing and clapping.  Before long, Jehojakim came out and joined in the song, then his mom, and finally the new mom.  It was a song that thanked and praised God for

the birth of a child.  It was one of the coolest moments I’ve ever shared.  People that were walking by stopped and smiled as we celebrated this new life!  We were then invited into their small home.  Their daughter’s name is Precious, or that’s one of her five names but the one that she will be called.  The baby was passed around for everyone to ooh and aah over, water was provided as it was a hot day and a long walk, and then we returned to the center.  

We celebrated another birth today – there is always a pregnant mom or two!  It’s always a bit shocking and humbling to go into one of the women’s home.  This mud hut consisted of two very small rooms.  There was a bed, two chairs and some cooking utensils and that was it.  The walls were peeling and dirty.  It did have a small courtyard with a straw mat overhead where the cooking and washing were done.  But I never visit a home where I am not treated like royalty.  Even with so little, they make sure you are comfortable in the best seat they have, and are so happy to have guests.

Today we began a series on hygiene and sanitation, with a special emphasis on hand washing.  We talked about germs and how they were passed and the importance of keeping hands as clean as possible.  There were many shocked faces in the room as they listened and understood how they could be passing disease.  Hand washing will create an extra burden for them since they don’t have running water.  It will require additional trips to the well and pushing or lugging large containers of water back to their hut.  But I think they all realized the importance of it.  Today we also introduced using diapers at the center.  Thanks to the tremendous generosity of Vickie Nevel and others, a number of our babies wore diapers.  This is so important because otherwise the baby poops or pees on the floor, the women use an old towel to wipe it up and an unbelievable amount of germs are spread everywhere.  I found a site called Tushie Ties and attempted to model the diaper using ribbon to tie it instead of pins.  The tailor and women that are learning to sew helped sew the ribbons on the diapers.  There is still some fine-tuning but there were no puddles on the floor today.  Hooray!

Many, many thanks to all who have volunteered to help with the flip flop program.  A day doesn’t go by when there isn’t a little one with a cut on their foot or bloody toe from not wearing shoes.  We’re going to have a local vendor come out with different sizes and colors and put them on as many little feet as possible!

We had a number of children with fevers, colds and sores today.  One little guy had fallen on his chin yesterday.  I saw him sitting on the floor by his mom quietly crying.  I went over and started rubbing his back, trying to find out what the problem was.  His mom pulled his lower lip down to reveal an area of what looked like very infected stomach sores on the inside of his lip that were a result of his fall.  The outside of his chin was cut and very swollen.  He was in pain and it was easy to see why.  I gave him some children’s ibuprofen, took a picture of the area, and then sent the picture and text to my daughter in Indiana (who is

nurse) asking what else could be done.  She wrote back to have him wash his mouth out with salt water several times a day because it is a natural antibacterial agent.   How great is that –“ dial-a-nurse from Africa”!

On a personal note, many have been asking if I’m coming back to the U.S.  The answer is yes, for now – my plane reservation is for August 12^th.  It will break my heart to leave, but I have so much to come home to – my daughters and grandbabies, family, great friends who have been such a huge support this year, a great job and a wonderful church.  I feel like my home is two places – South Bend, Indiana and Burkina Faso.  Hopefully a day will come when I can devote time to both places.

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.

Saving Babies, Continued

In February's blog called "Saving Babies," a team led by Herb Buwalda of Clay Church happened upon two little babies that were literally starving to death.  They had gone five days without any nourishment when we happened upon them in Pondue.  With the help of Vickie Nevel and Karen Grant, we were first able to give them some water, and then when John Arnold returned with formula he found at the next village, they had their first meal.

This past week-end their father graduated from the school at Pondue.  Here is how his little babies look now:

 Isn't God wonderful?

Seeing Others Through God's Eyes

Yesterday, I was reminded of the difficulties we have of accepting people just the way they are.  There is a boy who loves to come to Tabitha House even though his mom is not one of our members.  It's hard to guess his age - maybe 14. His limbs flail, he has difficulty walking, and when he speaks his words are incoherent. I happened to be outside yesterday when he arrived. The other kids are either scared of him, or mock him. They poke him, then run and laugh when he tries to come after them. He lives in "survival" mode so if something is taken from him, he retaliates.

As he was coming up to the Center, the kids were screaming, laughing and taunting him. One of the women grabbed a switch and yelled at him to leave, acting like she was going to hit him if he didn't. In their defense, he can become very agitated and aggressive, but who can blame him when he's treated that way? 

I went out to him and brought him to where all the kids were sitting and coloring. I gave him a page, a crayon and showed him how to color. None of the kids wanted to be near him until I sat down next to him and  then they all moved in close to us and continued coloring. (Being the closest to "nasara" - white woman - is evidently very important!)

This boy breaks my heart. He has the most beautiful smile and behind his defenses, a sweet spirit. I happened to notice that flies were all around him. It was sickening when I discovered why- he had open sores on his knees and elbows from falling and that's what the flies were drawn to. I cleaned them up as best I could, slathered his sores in antibiotic ointment and put a bandage on the worst area.

I guess it's the same wherever you go - its hard to accept people who are different. I can't judge the women in Sector 30 who shoo him away with a switch. He can be aggressive and mean. But when you pay attention to him he beams with that sweet spirit. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all see each other as God sees us and treat each other with that kind of love?

Death Touches Tabitha House

On Monday I was told that husband of one of our women had died.  He had been very ill so they took him to the hospital and soon after he passed away.  Because the house they live in is rented, his body could not be returned to the house for proper mourning, but was immediately taken to the cemetery and buried.

This morning before we started our activities at Tabitha House, we all went to visit and mourn with her.  She is a young woman from the Muslim faith.  When we approached the house, there were two elderly men sitting on a bench outside.  Following the lead of the women, we all knelt down and in unison the women paid their respect to these family elders.

We walked inside the small courtyard.  Only several could fit in the small house.  Suzanne (the pastor’s wife) motioned that I should go inside with her along with one of our older women, Tene.  We took off our sandals and entered a tiny room.  On the left side a mat was laid out and two women were sitting on it.  On the right side of the room, there was a piece of cloth on the floor and I was invited to share it with three other women.  We filled the small room – it would have been difficult to get another person inside.  Across from me sat the woman who lost her husband.  She covered her face with her pink headdress.  As soon as she could contain herself, she got up to greet the three of us.  When she came to me I stood to give her a hug.  African women show little emotion and hugging is certainly not part of their culture.  So it was to my surprise when she hugged me tightly and didn’t let go, her body shaking with sobs.  I prayed quietly in her ear that God would hold her close and take care of her little family.  We stood for a long time – hugging, praying, crying.  It was heart rending to hear and feel the pain she was going through.  We gave her a gift of money from Tabitha House and left.  

As we walked back I thought about what her life will now be like.  She has two small children and they will be alone in the small hut.   It will be up to her to find a way to feed them, and she doesn’t have a job or income.  She will find out if there is a relative that will take them in and perhaps return to her home village.  She might stay, but it will be very, very difficult for her as it is basically impossible for a woman in Sector 30 to find a job.  

In our devotion this morning, we talked about Nicodemus and his quest for a “new life”, an eternal life free from death and pain.  Living in Burkina Faso has given me a whole new perspective on the importance of that promise.

Books, Coloring Books and Pillowcase Dresses

In the last several days at Tabitha House I’ve discovered something I didn’t expect.  The children LOVE children’s books and they LOVE to color in coloring books.  Several teams brought a number of the books and crayons with them but I’ve hesitated to get them out.  I knew there were little ones that liked to look at pictures in books, but had no idea how excited they are to have a book read to them (even in English!) and to be able to color.  And they color very well!  There is no distinction between what a boy should color (e.g. trucks and cars) vs. a girl (Little Mermaid) and what colors girls should use vs. a boy.  They are just excited to color.  We had to have several discussions about sharing the crayons and only using one at a time because we had a couple of little hoarders, but for the most part they were very good at sharing the crayons.  At the end of our day I had them line up and display their pictures and then we would applaud their work.  My theory is that the best years of a child’s life in Burkina Faso is the two years when they are tied to their mom’s back.  After that, there is usually another baby on the way and the child loses that one-on-one attention from their mom.  They are assimilated into the “pack” of other children.  It's not that their moms don't love them anymore, but her attention and energy is spread in many different ways.  They crave attention, so having them display their coloring projects was as exciting to them as winning an Oscar or Emmy.  Thank you teams for the coloring books and crayons.  They are a huge hit!

And for all those who made pillowcase dresses, check out this sister act.  The girls love the dresses!  And guess what?  So do their moms!

On Friday, one of the women at the center had a little baby girl, after having four boys.  On Wednesday we will go to visit her and see the new baby.  A woman from one of the team churches made adorable little quilts for babies.  They are very light weight and are as cute as can be.  We will take a quilt and a baby outfit (one my little granddaughter quickly outgrew) to the new mom.  The other women will bring small gifts as well.  Thank you so much for the quilts and baby clothes.

A local jewelry maker named Zumana is coming to the center and teaching the women how to do a better job with their jewelry.  Several team members recently brought Modge Podge and that has given the beads a new shine.  The women really enjoy making jewelry from the beads made from magazine pages.  Thank you for the Modge Podge and for all those who are so supportive of the work at Tabitha House.  

Next week we will begin soap making.  A teacher is secured and the materials purchased.  Our hope is that the women can sell the soap locally. 

This picture is work happening in the children’s area.  The darker squares are chalkboards and can be used for children to practice their homework on the days we do not meet.  There will soon be an overhang so that the kids are always in the shade.  Several teams made this possible, and we thank you for such a great area for fun and learning.

The dolls have been remodeled to better reflect the modern day woman at Tabitha House and they are adorable!  We have several team members working on a website where you can purchase some of these items.  In the meantime, please let me know if you are interested in any of the product and we will send it to you via teams.

I only have a little over four months left here in Burkina Faso and there is still so much work to do.  I’m so thankful that God put me at Tabitha House and I know He has great plans after I leave.  It’s such an awesome privilege to be a servant of God!  Many thanks to all of you who support that ministry in SO many ways.  You make life much, much better for these wonderful women and their families.