Elephants, monkeys, and more...

I've just arrived back in Ouaga after a two day trek to South Burkina, a 200-acre national park called Nazinga. This national park is home to approximately 500 elephants, and lots of baboons, monkeys, antelope and other such looking creatures, crocodiles, lions (that are never seen, only carcasses are come upon every so often), wart hogs...everything you would want to see in Africa except for giraffes. There aren't any giraffes in Burkina.

Nichole, Lynn, and I left Friday morning and arrived sometime around three. Its about a 4 1/2 hour drive from Ouaga. It's only about 30 km north of Ghana.

The first afternoon we were tired and wanted to rest before heading out on a "ballad" (a trip through the park to see animals....like a safari). We dropped our stuff off in our bungalows (very simple one room with bathroom) and went outside to look around. Nichole was the first to see any wildlife...monkeys running across the road. About fifteen of them. It was incredible. They just kept jumping off of the tree next to the road and sprinting across. We walked down the road and took a lot of pictures, although they didn't turn out the best because they blended in so well with the trees and dry grass. Southern Burkina looks a little more like Missouri in the fall than it does Africa. Except for the trees are quite a bit more spectacular than anything we have in Missouri. It smelled like fall. It was a lovely smell.

After watching the monkeys for awhile we headed over to the observatory. A little outdoor "room" next to a lake making looking for and watching animals easy. As we surveyed our surrounds we found our first elephants. They were across the lake and we couldn't see them very well except for when they moved...but it was so amazing to see! We weren't at a zoo. These elephants are free to go wherever they want whenever they want. They are not fenced in or kept on the park grounds in any way. There is a small village nearby that has trouble cultivating their fields because of the elephants...I can't imagine saying "My crop got ruined again this year because of the elephants." How bizarre!!

The next morning we had a 6:30 AM appointment with a guide who took us around the park. We had not been on the road for more than five minutes when we spotted elephants. Probably 100 feet from our car. They were RIGHT there. Just eating. About five of them. One of them started walking towards us and so we back up and he turned around and kept walking with the others.

Our guide later told us that there is one elephant in particular that all the guides know. If he sees them coming he deliberately blocks the road forcing them to find another path and has been known to charge vehicles. But mostly they leave humans alone.

We continued and saw a lot of deer/antelope animals running and sitting and eating. They are beautiful. Some have black faces and black legs and crazy horns that are striped. Its beautiful.

We saw some baby warthogs.

We came upon a family of elephants and we stopped and watched as they made their way across the road. The last one started to make his way towards us just as we were starting to move again. All of a sudden he raised his truck and trumpeted us. It was so scary!! He was huge and we thought he was going to charge us, but it was more like a warning to get away from his family. He was nice enough to let us watch and take pictures but now it was time to move on.

When we got back to our bungalows Nichole was looking down the road again and this time saw baboons!!! We hadn't known to be looking for them! When we first heard about Nazinga we thought it was just all elephants...no idea that we would be seeing so many animals.

We spent some time at the observatory and saw a lot of elephants bathing....the little ones playing, pulling each other under water with their trunks. It was like watching National Geographic in real life....because of the terrain I kind of felt like I was just sitting on the edge of the Lake until I looked across the water and saw an elephant! It was so surreal and amazing.

Lynn saw a crocodile. That was a little freaky. I saw the nose of one as he swam across the lake...that was scary enough. Apparently they've eaten a guides dog.

We went out again on a "ballad" and saw a lot of baboons...I think their red butts are redder out in the wild than they are in the zoo.

I think that was the craziest thing the whole time was that these animals are wild...this is where they live...and we are allowed a little glimpse into that.

The closest town to Nazinga is called Po. It's a fun city. Pretty. As we were driving down the road through the town all three of us thought and then later said that when we thought of Africa this is what we thought it would look like. Not that Yako doesn't "look" like Africa...but Po had something about it that fit our imaginations of Africa better than Yako.

I'm missing the kids...Deborah is home from the hospital!! Looking like a real baby. Beautiful. But it was good to get away and spend some time with Lynn and Nichole (who is leaving in 25 days!! It will be a sad sad day!!!)

My family will be here in less than a month and I can't wait to see them!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a note to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone!!!!!!
I hope you eat a lot of turkey and enjoy your families and friends and take a good nap; and I hope that the football games are good and eat some pumpkin pie (with whip cream!) for me!!
I'll be at an American missionary's home with some Americans that I have yet to meet, and for dessert we are going to the American Embassy. In between we have a lot of work to get done (Deborah is coming home from the hospital!!) and so I don't think it will feel much like Thanksgiving...which maybe is a good thing....

Baby News

About three weeks ago we received a new baby, Deborah. She was six days old and premature. She was tiny. She wasn't eating a whole lot and not gaining weight. While we were in Gorom she was treated for thrush (which I'm not really sure about, but it's a bacterial thing in the mouth and babies who have it have a hard time eating) and they (our nurses) put a feeding tube in her. The feeding tube was removed shortly after we returned, but she still wasn't eating a whole lot. There are six other babies in that room and she wasn't getting the attention that she needed. As we talked about our concerns for her we realized that if she was at home she would be in the NICU and have individual attention 24/7. I weighed her the other day and she weighed 3 1/2 pounds. She is TINY. I decided that I would take her in. That I would be her "mom" and she would sleep with me and go with me wherever I went because she needed it. That was Thursday. I spent the afternoon feeding her every hour or so and changing diapers. There wasn't much time for anything else. Thursday night came and I was up most of the night feeding her, changing her diapers and cleaning up after she threw up twice. Once was all over my bed and so I had to sleep on the floor...It was a long night. But there was grace. I prayed a lot. For myself and for her. She is just so small and weak. Her little cry sounds just like a cat meowing. In the morning, Lynn came over and said that in the middle of the night she remembered that there is a hospital for premature babies in Ouaga. We called, and while they can't take her for a long time (they only take babies who are less than a month old and she is a month), they did say that we could bring her up for a few days. We took her and one of our caretakers, Pauline, to the hospital yesterday. It was clean!! And the nurses were kind and there were pictures on the walls...all good signs that they will do what they can for her. I feel relieved that she is there with people who actually know what to do with premature babies. None of us had any idea what to do. I'm still a little unsure...a little unsettled. We probably should have brought her there before now. Like when she first came. So I'm praying for Jesus to show His faithfulness in her life. We had another new baby, her name is Safi...something. I can't ever remember it. She came while we were in Gorom and had all sorts of things wrong with her. She had a cut in her mouth and down her throat so she couldn't eat, and she had sores all over her head. She couldn't close her mouth all the way (not because her cheeks were too fat which is the case with one of our other babies, Perpetue). Her family told us she wasn't sick, but it was obvious that she was. While we were gone, they took her to Dr. Zala (I think I've mentioned him before. He is an amazing man who loves Jesus and children which is a rare thing to find in a doctor here). He did what he could and sent her home. Yesterday Nichole spent a lot of time with her because she was starting to become more and more worried about her, but we didn't know what else to do since she had already seen Dr. Zala. I slept in a little bit this morning (seeing as I didn't sleep well the night before and I spent all day yesterday running around in Ouaga) and as I was waking up and still lying in bed Nichole came in and told me that the worker in Safi....'s room and our night guard came and woke herup (by tapping on the window) at six this morning because she had died. It doesn't make a lot of sense because she didn't seem like she was dying-sick. And the worker said that she had eaten during the night(which, I know just because someone is dying it doesn't mean they can't eat...) it all just seems weird and surreal. Babies die so easily here and it's hard...it always seems like we should have done more....but being here in Africa there's not much more we could do in any of these situations.
On a lighter note, five of our kids got baptized today! It was held at this lake-type thing on the outskirts of town. A lot of churches were involved, and so we got to watch about thirty or so baptisms. It was beautiful. Our kids were really excited (Pauline, Ange, Lazar, Michel,Marcel).
Everything is brown again. It turns brown just as fast as it all turned green. And the weather is finally cooling off. We laughed the other day because Nichole and I were wearing T-shirts (with sleeves...normally it's too hot for sleeves) and feeling very comfortable...almost a little chilly. Our visitor was saying how she was so hot and she was sweating.We looked at a thermometer that she had brought (ours is broken) and it was 82ish degrees!! hahaha!! I guess my body has acclimated to the heat when I think that 82 degrees is almost chilly. I have a blanket on my bed now (just a thin fleece) and I usually wear socks to bed. Our kids are actually wearing clothes now and they all look adorable. Its so fun to see them in clothes (most of the time they just run around in their diapers because its too hot.
I can't believe Thanksgiving is in two weeks!! We are going to go into Ouaga and eat with some American missionaries and then head over to the American Embassy for dessert....Not quite like home, but we will still get to celebrate and that's exciting. I don't know if I said this before or not...but Ruth has gone home for the next few months. So it's Nichole and I here. Lynn helps us out a lot in making decisions...but mostly it's Nichole and me. Its not an easy job....it's only been a week so I'm thinking that it will get easier...

Camel Ride & A Night on a Sand Dune

I just got back from a mini-vacation that was much needed. Nichole and I, along with four other twenty-somethings who live in Burkina or have lived in Burkina and were visiting, made a four hour treck to the city of Gorom-Gorom in the Sahel Desert which is apparently the desert just south of the Sahara (I didn't know there was a desert just south of the Sahara...I thought the Sahara was it...) We had an amazing time.

Before going, Nichole knew one of the four people we were going with. He is a missionary here with the Baptist Mission working out of Bobo, a city in the South. We met him at the airport one time and have kept in touch. He's come to visit several times; and we meet up in Ouaga when we are there. Nichole and Ruth went to visit him in Bobo before I got here...He is the one who set the trip up. His girlfriend was here visiting. She was living in Burkina with the Baptist Mission about four years ago in a village for two years. The other two were Peace Corps volunteers. They are the only Christians in the group of volunteers that they came with and have since become good friends because of that. They both live pretty far from us in the south somewhere.

Being able to be with peers was amazing. I didn't realize how much I missed it. We were able to talk about our experiences in Burkina and what Jesus is teaching us. One guy brought his guitar, and we were able to worship and pray and read the Word together. It was refreshing to my soul. It was beautiful and restful. And now we (and soon to be I seeing as Nichole is leaving in about a month and a half and I will be the only twenty something white person in Yako) have friends in Burkina. We exchanged phone numbers and have been texting each other some and plan to get together over Thanksgiving weekend and whenever we are both in Ouaga.

Not only did I come away with new friends and a rested and refreshed soul, I came away from Gorom with a story that very few will ever be able to tell.

We went on an overnight camel ride. It was incredible!! We got on our camels around 830 in the morning and started our ride into the desert. We were in the middle of nowhere, and it was beautiful in a barren desolate way. I'm not sure if it makes sense. Maybe it's just something that you have to see....It's quiet and the sky is cloudless and blue and the trees are sparse and the grass is tall and golden and waves in the dry wind.

My camel, who I named Mel until later when I named him Rough Rider, was in fact a ROUGH ride. I don't think he knew how to run. Or walk really. It was soooooo bumpy and I was leaning to the side and he tripped a lot and I thought I was going to fall off so many times. Everyone else was like "yeah, its pretty bumpy and I'm leaning too" but no one seemed as concerned about it as me...Eventually one of the guys offered to switch camels when we stopped for lunch. We stopped about 5 km from where we were going to spend the night. We stopped and ate lunch and our guides filled up their water bottles at a well. We can't drink well water. There wasn't a pump nearby (water we can drink)...the pump was 5 km away...next to the place we were going to be sleeping. We had all only brought one bottle of water and this was nearing empty for all of us. We were in the desert. It was hot. We ate lunch and tried to rest a little bit but finally decided we needed to get going or we were all going to die of thirst. Our guides got up and saddled our camels again. They took us to water. I was on a different camel this time, and I could immediately tell a difference. The guy who took my camel could tell there was something not right with him (so that made me feel better. It wasn't just me!!) We traversed the desert and came to a small village with a pump with about fifteen children standing around. They were so excited to see us, and we were so excited to see the pump!!! That water was so sweet!!! I now have a little bit of an idea of what the Bible talks about when it talks about Jesus being living water and thirsting after Him and those kind of things. We were really dehydrated and that water was amazing. It revived us all. We walked a few more meters and came to a sand dune. We went up the sand dune with our camels and had some mats laid out for us. This is where we slept. On the top of a sand dune. No tents...just the stars. It was beautiful.... and freezing cold. Although we realized later that it was probably in the seventies...But when you are used to temperatures over a hundred everyday, temperatures in the seventies are pretty cold. We doubled up sheets that we had brought and Nichole and I slept as close together as we possible could. One of the camels slept about ten or fifteen yards from us. That was a little scary. We both were wondering what would happen if the camel came over and stepped on our heads...hahaha it's kind of morbid I know. But its what we were thinking. Before sleeping though we had a great conversation about Jesus and Galatians and Proverbs; and we had a great time of prayer. There was a cook along with us and he made us African style spaghetti with a chicken. Here in Burkina people eat with their hands, and they all eat from the same bowl. Plates and spoons are saved for special occasions. So we were given a huge bowl of spaghetti and a bowl of water (no soap!) to wash our hands. We circled up and dug in with our right hands (left hands aren't allowed!!) There was such a sense of community and intimacy as we ate by flashlight with our hands out of the same bowl. We had all eaten with our hands and out of the same bowl as Africans before but never before with all white people whom we had just prayed and shared our hearts with. It was beautiful. We slept well and watched the sunrise in the morning. We got back on our camels and headed back to Gorom. The ride back was so much better than the ride there because of the camel exchange. We were all hurting pretty badly but even still I was much more comfortable, and this time it was everyone else who was complaining about the bumpiness of the ride.

When we got back to Gorom it was time to head for home...and it was sad. None of us were really ready for our trip to be over.

On a side note, I would just like to say that my French has begun to mingle with my English; and we here often find ourselves saying things like "how do we say that in English?" Or we throw French words into our English sentences. We speak a kind of Franglais (French-English) with one another and it's pretty fun. And weird that it's sometimes hard to speak my own language sometimes...I'm saying this because its funny and because if you read words in my blogs that aren't normally used in English or I use a phrase that no one ever says it's because I've just translated the French into English because I don't remember how we say it in English...and then you can laugh at me. It's funny.

Nichole and I are here running the orphanage now...Ruth has gone home. It's been two days. So far....its ....ok. I'll write more on that later.