Overnight Trip to Kaya:
One of our desires before we left was to visit an orphanage with elementary aged children. Joseph gave us two options. The first was in Ouaga which was with an organization he did not know much about and he was not sure what the experience would be like for us. The second was in Kaya, a city about 110 km (68 miles) north of Ouaga. In Kaya he said he knew the director, he has worked with them in the past, and they have a guest house where we could stay overnight. With things getting busy at the end we had mixed feelings as to the overnight. We also wondered if it was really necessary. However, considering most everything we did took longer than anticipated, we figured the overnight might have some benefit. The part which I did not fully understand until we got there is that Joseph’s wife and kids have been living in Kaya. This was our only opportunity to meet his family and to spend time with them. It also gave Joseph a chance to spend time with them, which he had not done since we arrived. We faced our initial long delay for the weekend before leaving on the overnight trip. I had agreed with Joseph that he’d pick us up at 10:00 AM. By 11:00 AM he called and suggested that we have lunch before leaving. We did not leave SIM (our Ouaga residence) until after 2:00 PM. This was one of our longest delays of the trip, but not uncommon. When we arrived in Kaya we went directly to the orphanage. It turns out it was another orphanage for kids from birth to toddlers. There were 27 kids at the orphanage. This orphanage is also responsible for working with many families from the region in helping malnourished children. There are over 400 children who come in once a month with their family for a check-up and any follow-up training and/or supplies. The orphanage only has children through the age of two because by then the children are either returned to a family member or adopted by another family. This was a surprise to me and I am still trying to understand if it is this way throughout Burkina Faso or just this orphanage. We stayed the night at the guest house and it was arranged for us to play with the kids in the orphanage at 8:30 AM for an hour or two. That morning we stayed in the guest house reading and talking until after 11:00 AM. This time the delay was a miscommunication as far as who was supposed to meet who in the morning. We did get to spend about an hour with the babies in the orphanage, which was enjoyed by the entire team. The highlight of the morning came when one of the workers asked Laura if she wanted to hold a baby. The next thing Laura knew is that they were strapping a baby to her back so that she could walk around with it like a traditional African woman. It was a special experience for Laura. Besides our time at the orphanage, we spent time with Joseph’s family as well as shopping, which I’ll describe below. We made it back to Ouaga by 4:30 PM Saturday afternoon.
Family Visits:
One of the highlights of our time during the last few days was the time that we were able to spend with the families of our host Joseph and that of Dr. Felix Kohol. After visiting the orphanage on Friday, Joseph took us to have dinner with his family. Joseph’s wife is a nurse and she has been on an assignment to Kaya since March. The result is that she has been living in Kaya since March with them only being able to spend time with each other approximately every other weekend. They also have two kids, a three year-old girl and a six year-old boy. During the school year the boy was with Joseph in Ouaga, but since then he has been with his Mom and sister in Kaya. It was tremendously special for us to visit with Joseph and his family. They immediately made us feel at home as well as giving us a great dinner. During this time we were able to hear several fun stories from Joseph about how they met, when they got married, stories about the kids, and from Joseph’s childhood. On Saturday, after the orphanage and shopping, we also had lunch with Joseph and his family. It was another great visit and tasty lunch. On both occasions they also took time to pray with us and to share a passage from the bible.
After getting back from Kaya we went to the Artisan’s Village for shopping and then to the house of Dr. Felix Kohol and his family. It was fitting for us to have dinner at Felix’s for our last evening in Burkina Faso, as that is where we had dinner the first night that we arrived, nearly three weeks earlier. The evening was rather simple with us arriving and talking with Felix in the living room area for awhile. Then Nema fed us another great dinner. Then back to the living room for more conversation. Felix and Nema have three wonderful daughters who were a treat to spend time with while we were there. We also went through a series of pictures with Felix, Nema, their kids, and Julia, a visiting nurse-in-training from Indiana. During our three weeks in Burkina Faso we did not spend a large amount of time with Felix and Nema. However, every opportunity that we did spend with them was incredibly special and we all felt very fortunate to have been able to get to know them during the trip.
Shopping:
One of the priorities for the last few days in Burkina Faso was to go shopping for gifts and souvenirs. A week earlier we had spent an afternoon at the Artisan’s Village in Ouagadougou, which had some great gifts and souvenirs. While we were in Kaya, Joseph had us visit a similar Artisan’s area with a focus on leather products. It was an intense but profitable experiencing shopping the market in Kaya. The products were of similar quality but much cheaper. In every case one could also barter with the person for a lower price. We also had Joseph and one of his friend’s with us to further lower the price. Initially I used Joseph’s friend to help me barter. Things got crazy enough that I started doing my own bartering. That was an obvious challenge considering I don’t speak their language. I’d communicate through hand signals and they’d have a calculator to use as a display to exchange numbers. By the end of our hour at this market I was buying far more than I needed. I think everybody came away with more than they anticipated and enjoying the somewhat intense but very local experience. After we returned to Ouaga we immediately went to the Artisan’s Village. This is the same market where we had spent a few hours a week earlier. This time around most everybody had an idea as to what they wanted and we walked around buying things up one after another. There was bartering at the Artisan’s Village but not as much and far less intense than what experience in Kaya. Unfortunately, we were all so into the shopping that I don’t think one picture was taken from the markets.
Navigator’s Send-Off:
The last event for our three weeks in Burkina Faso was a send-off by the Navigators team in Burkina Faso. The send-off was scheduled for 2:30 PM. It was arranged to be for an hour, allowing us time to go back to SIM for a final pack and to get ready for our flight to Paris. Earlier in the day we attended the International Church of Ouagadougou, similar to the week before. Then it was lunch and a small wait. In somewhat typical fashion for the trip, we never really knew the details for the send-off. At church we talked with Antoine, a friend from the camp, and we told him there was a send-off party for us. He said he knew nothing about it. I wanted to give him the details but we didn’t know any details. However, it turns out we were not as bad off as Antoine. He didn’t know any details and it was held at his home. We were sitting around SIM waiting for somebody to pick us up when Joseph arrived at 2:30 to bring us to their Navigator’s “meeting room”, which was a concrete room behind somebody’s house. At the send-off we took some time to sing, read some passages from the bible, and share our experiences from the three weeks. The improvement in Emily and Laura’s French was readily apparent when Emily shared her experiences from the three weeks entirely in French and with little hesitation. Laura did the translation for Haley and did it without any problems. Meanwhile everybody was entertained when I simply ended my reflections with “merci”, or “thank you” in French. At the end of the send-off they had gifts for all of us. The women received some material to make a dress or something like that, and the men received shirts. Pictures were taken and then we were off to SIM. It was a great send-off and we appreciated the opportunity to end our trip to Burkina Faso by spending time with these new friends.
At the Airport:
After returning to SIM from the send-off things were a little rushed. The other team members stopped at the nearby street market to buy a few last minute gifts. Then it was last minute packing and loading up the cars. The Ouagadougou International Airport is not much to see. It is likely best described as a large warehouse with some regular airport terminal accommodations. Some of our only troubles from the entire trip came when trying to get through security. In the end we all made it onto the airplane without any problems and departed on time. I am still searching for the words to describe the feeling of leaving after our three weeks in Burkina Faso. It was the end of an intense and amazing learning experience of being immersed in African life and culture.
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