Thanksgiving in Burkina Faso

Last Saturday, a dental team arrived from the U.S.  Con and Hien are Vietnamese.  Con is a dentist and Hien, his wife, is a doctor.  They have two wonderful daughters that came with them.  Also on the team, Mar who is from Burma and works in an E.R., Brittany who works in health care, and Matt and his wife Kara.  Kara is a secretary at her church and Matt works with computers.  On Sunday I had the incredible opportunity to travel with them to Tougan.  John and Betty Arnold, Pete, and Larry supervised the operation from the Burkina Faso end.  We arrived Sunday evening and were treated to dinner by the local church.  We started early Monday morning and Con finished the last patient for the day close to 1 a.m. Tuesday morning.  Pulling teeth began Tuesday around 8:30 a.m. and by the time we finished at noon, Con had pulled 68 teeth from 38 villagers!  Some of the teeth came out easily, while others were difficult and very painful for the patient (and all of us watching).  We packed up and headed back to Ouagadougou in time for Pete to catch his return flight back home. Early Wednesday morning the team was back at work in Sector 30.  There is no electricity or running water in Sector 30 which presents special opportunities but everything went smoothly.  With no electricity, it was necessary to end before dark and head back to the mission house.  Today, Friday, we were back at Sector 30, and at 3:30 p.m. Con had one more patient to see before closing down and packing up. 

Last night our team had a Thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey, dressing and stuffing.  The dental team joined us and we had such a nice evening.  Before coming, the dental team asked what each of us would like for them to bring to us.  We sent one or two items that we either were missing from home or would be useful in our ministry.  I asked for a water bottle, and scissors with white thread for Tabitha House.  They went above and beyond in bringing not only what we requested but other gifts as well.  It was like Christmas! This team is made up of very special people that I have become close to in 6 short days.  We'll all be sad to see them go.

Celebrating Thanksgiving in a country that does not celebrate the same holiday was strange.  It didn't feel like Thanksgiving.  It's hot, there are no advertisements for the holidays, and no black Friday shopping.  But it was an enjoyable day and nice to spend the evening with our team and friends.

Only through God's blessing and guidance, Tabitha House continues to be successful.  We were told today that people all around the Sector 30 area are talking about the work there.   It's amazing to watch these women who don't know how to read, write, or use a pair of scissors, beam with pride when they learn a new skill and are anxious to learn more.  I really struggled with capping the number of women that could come at 50, but we had no more room.  The goal now is to love and train these 50 women to have the ability to carry the work on by themselves, and to give them the skills to go out and teach others about Jesus and the Good News.

I missed my daughters and their families on Thanksgiving - that's for certain.  But I'm really thankful to be here and a part of this work.  

Claire, the woman who works here at our house, lost her sister this week.  She was 18 years old.  You can see the sadness on Claire's face.  Please keep her in your prayers.  And just a note about Claire -- last week after my French lesson with Daniel, she went running after him as he was leaving.  They talked for a few minutes and then Daniel came back to the house with her.  Claire wanted to know if it was o.k. for her to call me "Mammie".  In their culture they call women who they respect "Tantie"  which means auntie.  Claire wanted to know if she could take it to the next step and call me Mammie.  It was really touching.  Claire is a very gentle, kind soul.  With it being so hot here, I've fallen back into the bad habit of drinking Coca Cola.  Whenever I drink one I fix half of it for Claire.  When I offer it to her, you would think it was a gift of gold. 

Wednesday was an exciting day at Tabitha House

Wednesday was an exciting day at Tabitha House.  First, a team that was recently here from the US heard that we were in need of tables and made five of them.  They were delivered early Wednesday morning.  Here is the thank you note that was sent to them:

Dear Friends, 

You will soon be receiving some photos of the delivery of the tables you made to Tabitha House.  It will be hard for you to appreciate the feelings and emotions of the women by the pictures.  So, I thought I might share it with you with words.

The women that come to Tabitha House have a very hard existence.  They work to eke out an existence from one day to the next.  They certainly don't think of themselves as special in any way. But today you made them feel very special.  You showed them that others care about them and love them -- people that they haven't even met!  Most importantly, you helped them see the love of God working through you.  Instead of trying to cut fabric on a narrow wooden bench, they had that fantastic table to use.  Instead of designing and putting together necklaces with the beads and string on their laps, they had a table to lay out their beads.  They even used one of the tables, carefully covered with a piece of scrap material, to use an iron that had been heated in the fire to complete the ties for the jewelry sacks.  Everyone of the tables were used today, and will be for hopefully a long time.

When I first went to Tabitha House to be introduced to the women, I looked out at their faces and thought "how arrogant I am to think that I could come here and make a difference".  These women needed a miracle-maker.  It scared me so badly that all I wanted to do was get up and run as fast as I could!  But I clearly heard God's voice in my head saying "you can love them.  That's what they need. You can love them."  That's what you did by your gift - you loved them and by doing that gave them hope for a better existence.  Many who come have not heard of Jesus Christ before, so your gift shows them what life in Jesus is like - loving others because He loved us.  And that's powerful!

So, on behalf of the women at Tabitha House - THANK YOU!  Your love is and will be far reaching.

Dee Dee Sterling

Then to add to the excitement of the day, I had the incredible opportunity to distribute money that had been received for the jewelry and dolls they made. The women were paid a percentage of the funds based on the number of days they came.  Most of the women sat in stunned silence and amazement at the amount they were receiving.  (These women and their families eke out an existence on about $.50 a day.)  Some cried and some could just sit smiling from ear to ear.  From what I understand, there was a a lot of rejoicing in their homes that evening. 

Sometimes I find myself wondering how I get the privilege of working in this ministry.  What I've decided is that I can't answer that question so I'll just be extremely grateful for the opportunity.

One of the women that come to Tabitha House lost her husband in an accident on Tuesday.  If you would, please say a prayer for her and her family.  Life was hard before and now without her husband, I can't even imagine.

Sunday was the 21^st anniversary celebrating women in the church here in Burkina Faso.  The service was 3-1/2 hours long with lots of singing, dancing, and acknowledgement of women, all organized and led by women.  Each year they commission a special fabric for the event and make their skirts and dresses out of it.  They wrote special songs and did a great skit on being blessed by God but then turning around and not treating others with the same love.  It was a joyous service.  As I watched, the importance of the day for these women really hit me. 

Amnesty International did a study on women in Burkina Faso in 2010.  Here are some of their findings:

Unmarried women are seen as ill-fated and of little worth. Married women without children face discrimination and are at risk of being abandoned or rejected by their husbands and in-laws. There are heavy cultural pressures from the community on women to have many children, seen as a sign of wealth, particularly in rural areas.

Although women have equal status under the law, in practice most are subordinate to the men in their lives and are unable to make key decisions, including the timing and spacing of their pregnancies. Women are embedded in a vicious circle with little access to education or to information on sexual and reproductive rights, and are subject to early marriages, female genital mutilation and polygamy as well as being expected to work long hours while pregnant or after childbirth.

Women are well aware of the dangers of pregnancy, as nearly everyone knows a relative or friend who died or suffered complications in pregnancy and childbirth. Several women told Amnesty International that young girls in rural areas used to wish each other "not to have the misfortune of being pregnant".

Women in Burkina Faso

• Every year, more than 2,000 women die in Burkina Faso from complications of pregnancy and childbirth.
• In 2007, the literacy rate for women and girls was only 21 per cent, compared to 36.7 per cent for men and boys.
• In rural areas the fertility rate is 6.9 children per woman, as compared with 3.7 in urban areas. The national average is 6.2.
• Young women in rural areas are more likely to bear children, with 157 per thousand rural adolescents becoming mothers, compared with 64 per thousand in urban areas.

Statistics taken from Giving LIfe, Risking Death - Maternal Mortality in Burkina Faso (pdf 2.34MB) a report by Amnesty International.  http://www.amnesty.org.au/poverty/comments/22437/

It is wonderful to see the church in Burkina Faso playing such a dynamic role in acknowledging and changing the status and worth of women. 

A Growing "Good" Problem

This morning I woke up and was immediately apprehensive about going to Tabitha House.  Didn't sleep much during the night and I felt very unprepared.  On Monday I thought it would be a smart thing to just leave all of the materials there and not tote them back and forth.  It didn't dawn on me until late yesterday that I had made a bit of a goof.  In order to get a running start today, I should've cut the magazine pages up so that the women could immediately start rolling beads, but everything was at Tabitha House.  So this morning I got into the car and started praying that God would be with me.  I always have a concern in my stomach that I really can't converse with the women and that can make it difficult to get a reading on what they are thinking or feeling, plus today I didn't feel prepared.  When I walked through the door there were 27 women ready and waiting - not counting Johasakim, myself and probably15 little ones.  We went around the room and had everyone say their name since we had four new women.  And then the magic began!  I gave the devotional and we prayed.  Without a hitch and like a well-oiled machine, the women broke up into groups either cutting magazine pages, rolling  beads, making sacks for the jewelry,  sewing placemats, or putting together a prototype of a cloth necklace we are going to try.  They are so excited and anxious to learn and just have to be shown once how to do something and off they go!  The video will give you an idea of the activity and the noise level.  I sat in amazement and watched God at work.  It was fantastic.

A funny note about the placemats - when we tried to explain what they were for the women were absolutely baffled.  They usually eat on a bench or sitting on a rock, rarely at a table, so they couldn't understand the concept of what a placemat would be used for.  I'll be the first one to admit that I use placemats in the United States, but today they seemed so frivolous and I felt a bit guilty about the excess we enjoy.  Fortunately though our excess will help fund their existence so there's a positive!

It's good that there are 4 days before we meet again on Monday because most of the supplies have been wiped out and need to be replenished, we are just about out of space to hold everyone and some thought needs to be done on how to organize the room, and there needs to be some planning as we grow faster than I ever anticipated. 

The women that come to Tabitha House are of varying religions and that excites me.  It is a great opportunity to introduce Jesus Christ to those who may not know Him, and give a boost to those who do.  The African way of praying is for everyone to pray out loud all at once.  Sounds kindof like a bee-hive.  What's interesting is that women like for me to pray in English and will ask me to do that periodically.

Some of you have asked me if there is anything you can do.  There are two things that would be tremendously helpful.  First is to remember the women in your prayers.  Second is to help buy materials and the best way to do that is to send a check made out to Engage Burkina to:
3522 Hiram-Acworth Hwy
Dallas, GA 30157
and mark it "Dee Dee's Ministry Funds".  Please know that I haven't and won't ask for funds.  This is just in answer to several requests.  And as an FYI - I'm not told who sends funds unless you specifically direct that.  In other words, you won't make me feel bad if this isn't something you're interested in!

On a personal note, I LOVE ice cream - Dairy Queen's M&M Blizzard is my favorite.  Ice cream is not easy to find around here and the one place we have gone to is called Festival de Glace.  I didn't know how to get there, so it made the obession for ice cream even greater.  Last night a group of us went there and I paid very close attention to directions.  I am thrilled to say that I drove there by myself this afternoon and enjoyed two scoops of ice cream!  When it's 100 degrees, nothing tastes as good as ice cream.

Something Unexpected

I am so excited to announce that my daughter, Amber gave birth to Caroline Elizabeth Brown today.  Both are doing really well.  I really don't know how to thank so many people that have been praying for Amber and Caroline through a difficult pregnancy.  Isn't she just the sweetest little thing?

Today has been one of those difficult days of waiting - and waiting very far away!  I thought I would handle not being there for the birth better than I did.  Love is such a strong bond and I found myself wanting to be there so badly.  Her sister, Audra left Wisconsin this morning to be with Amber and I'm so thankful and proud of her for doing that.  Audra, Amber and I are the "Three Amigos"!

As a side note, today is a very important Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha.  Most everything was shut down today.  Muslims went to the temple about 9 a.m. this morning to pray and when they returned home, they slaughtered a lamb or a goat in remembrance of Abraham's faithfulness to God when He instructed him to offer his son.  Then lots of food is prepared and the rest of the day people visit from one house to another enjoying each other's company and giving gifts.  The aroma from my window this morning was incredible!

Transformation

For the last three years, Tabitha House lacked leadership and both the number of women attending and the physical status of the building had declined sharply.  As you can see from this picture, the place had become a dumping ground.  Our numbers were growing but we were quickly running out of room to seat everyone with all the junk in the back.  And we never knew from week to week what might appear in the room to clutter it even further.  John Arnold called the pastor of Sector 30 and told him it was discouraging to arrive and find the room in such a mess.  That was a call to action!  Last Friday the women got together and we cleaned out the room.

I want the women to know that I'm a partner with them and want to work along side of them.  But everytime I would pick up a shovel or a broom, one would be there to take it from me.  Finally I convinced them to let me work with them.  We were shoveling piles of Shea nuts into bags.  After about 15 minutes of shoveling I thought I was going to pass out!  But they are not even breaking a sweat.  After 2 hours of working in over 100 degrees I had to call it quits while they were still going strong.  When I left, the room looked like this:

As we were working today, the pastor came with a team to fix the window grates and door.  I noticed he was working on some kind of equipment, but didn't have any idea what it was.  He finished with it about 10 minutes before we dismissed.  He tapped my shoulder, had me come over to the piece of equipment and turned it on.  It is an air conditioner he had rigged up!!  I actually could've kissed the man!  We are in the 100's now with the hot season to come and truthfully I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to handle it. Betty told me that these things are a huge honor.  Working there is a huge honor for me. 

We had a new baby today:

Her mom came in, spread out the piece of cloth and laid the baby on the concrete floor - no crib, no padding, no mattress. I'm sure this is how she sleeps at home, but it's probably a dirt floor.  Pretty humbling, isn't it?

The paper beads we are making require a page from a magazine to be marked every 2 centimeters across the top, and for the bottom, 1 centimeter and then 2 centimeters for the remainder of the bottom of the page.  The first mark for the 1 centimeter at the bottom of the page becomes one of the ends of a triangle, and continues across the page.  Today, two of the women were watching me mark the pages and ask if they could try.  Remember that they can't read or write.  So I had them mark the 2 centimeters across the top, and then the bottom as we pointed out each centimeter on the ruler and counted them out loud.  I'm not sure that they had ever seen or used a ruler before.  They were so intent and excited on what they were doing.  After awhile they wanted to try cutting the triangles.  Using scissors is very difficult for them, because they have rarely used them before.  But before long they were cutting away.  It was a moment of triumph for both of them - something we would take totally for granted.

One other thing you might find interesting is that the homes that these women live in do not have running water.  They have a large barrel that is bolted on a frame with four wheels and a handle for pushing.  They push these large barrels to a watering place and then have to push it back home.  I would guess it's half a mile to the watering place and back.  And when they are pushing these large barrels filled with water, they usually have a baby tied on their back.  It is mind-boggling how hard the people here have to work just to survive one day to the next!

An Unexpected Outcome

Today is the day that we had to go to the police station to determine fault for the accident I was recently involved in.  Even though I knew I wasn't at fault, it would be a lie to say that I wasn't scared and physically feeling ill about what could happen.  My hope, and what I thought would be the best scenario, would be for the young man and his mom not to come and everything just be dismissed.  But there they were, waiting for our turn.  They were sitting next to a large board that had pictures of traffic accidents where people had died.  There were dead bodies with blood all over the pavement.  It was a small stuffy area and I thought I might pass out. 

What happened next is something that noone but God could have devised and put together.  We introduced ourselves to them and I noticed that the mother gave me a concerned look.  A conversation started (in French so I couldn't understand it) between Betty, Adama and the mom.  As it turns out Adama had worked with the woman's sister for a long time.  The mom was a Christian and came to know Jesus through Pastor Tomas at the Central Church where I attend with the Arnolds.  As they continued to talk they found out that they had more and more acquaintances.  The young man had his toe wrapped, and cuts on two fingers and his arm but was doing well.  That they would be so kind and compassionate was totally unexpected.

We were then called into a room to go over the accident.  Rumor had it that if you were white, you would be found at fault regardless of the circumstances and I could hardly breathe knowing what probably was ahead.  A very impressive young police officer drew the scene of the accident on a chalkboard from pictures they had taken.  For almost an hour he then talked to the young man about the foolishness of what he had done.  He did not do it in a demeaning way, but rather with facts and concern for his future safety.  He asked how old the young man was and he said "20".  The police officer said "Congratulations" and let him know that he wouldn't make it to 21 if he kept driving the way he was.  By looking at the chalkboard, there could be absolutely no doubt about how the accident happened.  Although I was relieved that proof showed he was clearly at fault, I kept waiting for another shoe to drop.  There was no other shoe, just a lesson for the young man to learn that fortunately hadn't killed him.  We were then told that we had a chance to work it out among ourselves first, and if a resolution couldnt be found then the police would make it.  We decided not to ask for them the replace the window - they would take care of their damages and we would take care of ours.  Everyone in the room was amazed that we didn't demand payment and as John said, it was a great testimony.

Who could've written such a script?  None of us, that's for sure. It was truly amazing to watch unfold.