Greetings from Burkina Faso! Our most recent research trip took us to one of the most isolated regions of Burkina Faso. Isolated in the sense that what little progress and development the country has managed has not been spread there. In one village we visited, we were told that the nearest school was 50 kilometers (30+ miles) away. That may not seem all that far to you, but consider that to my knowledge there are no school buses in the country and certainly not in this region, and nearly all students would go on bicycle or on foot. Then also consider that the roads there are the worst I’ve seen. We left the pavement in Bobo and traveled about 300 miles without seeing it again. It is true that there are some decent dirt roads, but these were not them. Even the locals, without our biased American notions of development, complained continually to us about the roads. There are no electric lines or phone lines in the region (no cell service either). I noticed after driving off and on for about two days that we never encountered another vehicle (not including motos, bicycles, donkey carts, etc.). I had previously lived and traveled in West Africa for 2 years and never encountered so remote an area (with the possible exception being the desert around Timbuktu, Mali). At one point David and I were counting our blessings pondering how many thousands of people we had probably driven past who had never ridden in a vehicle. How many had never placed a phone call? Never been to a doctor or dentist? Never learned to read? More importantly, how many had never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
The findings of our research are encouraging and discouraging at the same time. There are a number of churches even in this remote area. However, they are not reaching the local people, the Dogose (pronounced doh-goh-SAY). They are churches full of “visitors” or “strangers.” You may think of it like this, in the USA we have many immigrants, particularly in large urban areas. There you may often find Muslim mosques or Buddhist temples full of those immigrants without any Americans who are native to the area. Much of the region we visited would be considered Dogose territory. In their case, the “immigrants” are not people of different countries but of different people groups within Burkina. Still they speak a different language, have a different culture, and in many cases a different religion. Thus, most of the churches in Dogose territory consist of Mossi, Lobi, Bobo (a people group as well as a city), and other ethnic groups who have moved into the area. We only met one Dogose believer and he happens to be a pastor. Still, he has only one other Dogose believer in his church. He told us he only knows of a small number of Dogose believers. The four people groups we focused on, the Dogose (of whom there are two kinds), Khe, and Khisa (who we learned refer to themselves by different names), are nearly exclusively Muslim. Sadly the churches in the area are making almost no effort to engage them. They are in great need of our prayers and of faithful Christians to take the Gospel to them.
On this trip, David and I were blessed to be joined by a Burkinabé (the official term for a person from Burkina, pronounced Burkina-bay) pastor. He served as an assistant and translator. He also said that he had not seen anything like this area. He described it as a “forgotten” region. He himself, a Bobo by birth (no jokes please), is a missionary to another people group, the Tiefo. He sold his moto in order to purchase a house in a Tiefo village. (As a 40-year-old man, his only means of transportation now is a bicycle.) He was soon forced out of this house by gunpoint. He left the village for a while only to come back and settle in another part of town. He said the research trip was eye-opening for him in that he saw other pastors in much more remote and hostile areas than his. For example, one pastor we visited was chased from a village by 50+ men with swords/machetes. The situation in this area is very discouraging. Like this Burkinabé pastor, I got a better vision than ever of how hard some people have it, and in contrast, how blessed I am. Consider yourself. If you are reading this, first, you can read, second, you probably have access to electricity and telephone (or other form of internet connection), third you are likely a Believer or at least have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Know that so many people, not only in this region but around the world, have none of that. Even these few categories put you in a very small percentage of the world’s population. We must be thankful. Yet, we must not merely be thankful. We must also use our blessings/resources for the glory of God, not simply for our own pleasure and comfort.
So what’s next for me? Tomorrow, Thursday (March 30), Aaron Mills, a Journeyman based in Senegal who is a part of the larger “Engagement Team” and is doing the same kind of work, will fly in to Ouagadougou. From there, he and I will embark upon a trip to Ghana, south of Burkina. We will be researching four more people groups (Birifor, Vagla, Safaliba, and Kamara) in the northwest of the country. I look forward to meeting Aaron and working alongside him. I am also looking forward to speaking a familiar language since Ghana is English speaking. We will be in Ghana somewhere around 12 days before Aaron has to return to Senegal.
Here are some matters for prayer:
* Praise God for a safe, healthy, and successful research trip.
* Please pray for the same during our trip to Ghana (approx. Mar. 31 - Apr. 11). Since this will be a significantly longer trip than the previous two, please pray for endurance as well.
* Pray that God would send laborers to engage the Dogose, Khe, and Khisa with the Gospel and that many would accept it.
* May we all thank God for all the blessings he has given us and seek how He would have us use them for His glory.
Thanks again for all your prayers and support. You are a blessing to me.
March 29, 2006
March 17, 2006
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March 15, 2006
African lazy-boy
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This is the courtyard of one of the pastors, where we stayed our second night. You'll notice all the painting on the walls of the courtyard. The Lyele are the only group I have encoutered who have this practice (not that I've encountered that many groups). The round little hut like things are grain storage bins. The more rectangular buildings are where the family sleeps, keep their stuff, etc. This chair is what I like to call an "African lazy-boy."
bush hotel
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These were our luxurious sleeping conditions one night. That's David in the fetus position at about 6 AM the morning after we fled to higher ground from the fire. (Read the blog if you don't know what I'm talking about.)
March 14, 2006
Fire!, honeycomb, and tô
As expected we had some interesting experiences on my first research trip. We did not quite reach our original destination on our first day. So we pulled off the road a ways and spent the night there, under the stars, on our mats. Kind of like camping without the tents and smores. In the middle of the night, I was sleeping sound as usual, David woke me up and said we had to move. At first I wondered if we were on someone’s land, although the area seemed quite uninhabited. Then David pointed and told me that a brush fire was coming our way. Sure enough it was, though still a good distance off. Fortunately we were in a large gravely area so we just moved further away from the grassy area. (Now, by grass I don’t mean bluegrass but a tall, brown, dead grass. We are coming toward the end of the dry season but at this point most of the country hasn’t seen rain in several months.) It seems the wind shifted at some time so the fire would not have reached us anyway. In some ways though we might have welcomed the fire since the temperature was around 70 degrees (according to my alarm clock thermometer). That seems extremely cold when the wind is blowing, all you have is a sheet for cover, and you’re used to the temperature being around 100.
It is hard to give you an idea of how bad some of the roads are here, but here’s a quick attempt. On this trip, most of the roads were in decent shape. Yet there was one section that took us well over an hour to travel about 20 miles. In the rainy season this road would probably be impassable.
During this trip we did not bring our own food but ate what was presented to us and what we found on the side of the road. By that I don’t mean road kill but whatever people were selling. That means we ate almost exclusively to (see note below **), rice, noodles, and some chicken (mostly to and rice). At one place, David lucked out and got the chicken gizzard. Another treat we were given was fresh honeycomb (not the cereal). This being a first for me I wondered how we would eat it. My first guesses were that we would lick it or suck on it. Nope. We followed our hosts lead and ate the whole thing. I now have a better understanding of what they mean by “bee’s wax.” It wasn’t terribly bad, but unfortunately I couldn’t stop wondering about what might be inside the comb. I probably don’t want to know.
**And for those of you who don’t remember or have never known what “to” is, it is the staple of most people in Burkina. I always struggle to describe it, but here goes. It is a dish with the consistency of solidified grits or soft play-dough, usually made out of millet, a grain they grow in abundance. It can also be made with ground up corn or sorghum. They always eat to with some kind of sauce, usually made from various vegetables. The to itself is usually quite bland, but what little taste it has is not pleasant, in my opinion. It is pronounced just like “toe.”
It is hard to give you an idea of how bad some of the roads are here, but here’s a quick attempt. On this trip, most of the roads were in decent shape. Yet there was one section that took us well over an hour to travel about 20 miles. In the rainy season this road would probably be impassable.
During this trip we did not bring our own food but ate what was presented to us and what we found on the side of the road. By that I don’t mean road kill but whatever people were selling. That means we ate almost exclusively to (see note below **), rice, noodles, and some chicken (mostly to and rice). At one place, David lucked out and got the chicken gizzard. Another treat we were given was fresh honeycomb (not the cereal). This being a first for me I wondered how we would eat it. My first guesses were that we would lick it or suck on it. Nope. We followed our hosts lead and ate the whole thing. I now have a better understanding of what they mean by “bee’s wax.” It wasn’t terribly bad, but unfortunately I couldn’t stop wondering about what might be inside the comb. I probably don’t want to know.
**And for those of you who don’t remember or have never known what “to” is, it is the staple of most people in Burkina. I always struggle to describe it, but here goes. It is a dish with the consistency of solidified grits or soft play-dough, usually made out of millet, a grain they grow in abundance. It can also be made with ground up corn or sorghum. They always eat to with some kind of sauce, usually made from various vegetables. The to itself is usually quite bland, but what little taste it has is not pleasant, in my opinion. It is pronounced just like “toe.”
Burkina newsletter #3
Greetings from Burkina Faso! I hope all is well in your part of the world. I have now moved into my house, gotten some orientation on the task ahead, tried to learn to get around Bobo, and completed my first research trip. David also gave me a list of things to do, including review much of the information they have already gathered on various people groups, become familiar with the volunteer job requests they have made thus far, brainstorm for some ideas for future job requests, skim a few books, and pray for some of our upcoming work.
As I said, David and I recently completed my first research trip. He did most of the talking while I observed and took notes (about the information they gave us). We went to an area just west of the center of the country to research the Lyele people (pronounced lay-lay). If you click on the “Burkina map (languages)” link on my website (kerryspencer.blogspot.com) and find #29, that’s where we were. We had heard they had been somewhat evangelized and that there were a number of churches there. Our task was to verify this information. Some of our research will be to confirm or solidify some info we already have, whereas other times we may know almost nothing about the people. We went with a list of three pastors to search for. The Lord wonderfully worked things out for us to meet with 6 of 9 Baptist pastors in the northern part of the region (there are 3 different areas/dialects among the Lyele). On Sunday morning we found a church, but the pastor was not one of our contacts. However, because all the churches in the area were exchanging pastors that particular Sunday, one of our contacts came to that church. After the church service, which was completely in Lyele, several of the other pastors came to meet with us. We were able to get a lot of the information we needed from these pastors. We also were able to listen to, pray for, and encourage these pastors in their ministry. We visited several of their homes and churches and stayed the night with one of them. Like most Africans I’ve encountered, they were a tremendously hospitable and generous people. During our time there we acquired a dozen eggs, a woven hat, two chickens, and two unidentifiable vegetables. All in all it was an excellent few days.
I’m actually back in Ouaga now, but leave tomorrow. From then I’ll remain in Bobo until the 20th. Then David and I will go on another trip to the far southwest of Burkina to research 4 different people groups who we know less about: the Dogoso, Dogose, Khe, and Khisa. That trip will be a bit longer. Here are some things you can pray about:
* Praise God for safety, health, and success in this past research trip.
* Pray for these Lyele pastors and churches, that they would be bold in sharing the Gospel and that many more Lyele will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
* Pray for our next research trip beginning on the 20th of this month.
Know that your prayers are heard by God and felt by us. God bless you all!
As I said, David and I recently completed my first research trip. He did most of the talking while I observed and took notes (about the information they gave us). We went to an area just west of the center of the country to research the Lyele people (pronounced lay-lay). If you click on the “Burkina map (languages)” link on my website (kerryspencer.blogspot.com) and find #29, that’s where we were. We had heard they had been somewhat evangelized and that there were a number of churches there. Our task was to verify this information. Some of our research will be to confirm or solidify some info we already have, whereas other times we may know almost nothing about the people. We went with a list of three pastors to search for. The Lord wonderfully worked things out for us to meet with 6 of 9 Baptist pastors in the northern part of the region (there are 3 different areas/dialects among the Lyele). On Sunday morning we found a church, but the pastor was not one of our contacts. However, because all the churches in the area were exchanging pastors that particular Sunday, one of our contacts came to that church. After the church service, which was completely in Lyele, several of the other pastors came to meet with us. We were able to get a lot of the information we needed from these pastors. We also were able to listen to, pray for, and encourage these pastors in their ministry. We visited several of their homes and churches and stayed the night with one of them. Like most Africans I’ve encountered, they were a tremendously hospitable and generous people. During our time there we acquired a dozen eggs, a woven hat, two chickens, and two unidentifiable vegetables. All in all it was an excellent few days.
I’m actually back in Ouaga now, but leave tomorrow. From then I’ll remain in Bobo until the 20th. Then David and I will go on another trip to the far southwest of Burkina to research 4 different people groups who we know less about: the Dogoso, Dogose, Khe, and Khisa. That trip will be a bit longer. Here are some things you can pray about:
* Praise God for safety, health, and success in this past research trip.
* Pray for these Lyele pastors and churches, that they would be bold in sharing the Gospel and that many more Lyele will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
* Pray for our next research trip beginning on the 20th of this month.
Know that your prayers are heard by God and felt by us. God bless you all!
March 6, 2006
Top Ten Reasons it’s good to be back in Burkina (in no particular order, except for #1):
10. 4-roomed airports are so much easier and quicker to get around in
9. The Shaftos (my former supervisors and second family) live here
8. Fresh mangoes
7. I don’t have to speak English all the time
6. Daily adventures (such as driving)
5. Flip-flops are once again appropriate footwear for all occasions
4. I get to ride motorcycles/motos
3. Free suntan while you wait
2. Showers are so much more satisfying here
1. This is where God has led me
9. The Shaftos (my former supervisors and second family) live here
8. Fresh mangoes
7. I don’t have to speak English all the time
6. Daily adventures (such as driving)
5. Flip-flops are once again appropriate footwear for all occasions
4. I get to ride motorcycles/motos
3. Free suntan while you wait
2. Showers are so much more satisfying here
1. This is where God has led me
Burkina newsletter #2
Greetings from Burkina Faso! I arrived safely with all my luggage (unlike the first time I came here). We had a few delays but no major problems. I was welcomed by my old supervisors and new: the Shaftos and Woods. “Supervisors” is how I usually refer to them, but they are so much more: friends, mentors, doctors/nurses, cooks, a second family. I am blessed to have the Shaftos and the Woods as all this and more. The Shaftos are now living in Ouagadougou while the Woods will be nearby in Bobo. So far I’ve not been terribly busy. Just catching up on the past with old friends, making new friends, and running some errands. Went to church yesterday. Some things were different from last week in Hardinsburg. The service was in French and Moore (the dominant language around Ouagadougou). The service was about 3 hours long. My supervisors and I were the only white folk. No pews, organs, ties (well, maybe one or two), stained-glass windows, or carpet (therefore they need not argue over the color). Yet the important things where there: brothers and sisters in Christ singing praises to God, prayer, a message from the Word, and fellowship (Ezekiel 37).
I’ve come to realize that both my flights to Burkina have been very special times for me. I have tended to be very reflective and philosophical at these times. I wrote about that in my journal on the way. Here’s an excerpt:
It is flights like this that are so monumental. They are like a period at the end of a sentence. In this case, the sentence was about 3 years of seminary, youth ministry, and time at home with family. It was a good sentence. Unexpected in many ways. But what do we do after a period? Begin a new sentence. Yet thus far I have only blank lines, space waiting to be filled. So I ponder what I would like to write. But is God not the author and I the pen. I certainly wouldn’t have written the last sentence as it turned, but that is what God had for me and it was wonderful. So yes I have my thoughts and plans, but I must let God have His way. May He be glorified in me and through me. (the end)
Here’s a general schedule for the near future. I am currently still in Ouaga, but tomorrow we will leave for Bobo, my home base. That’s about a 4 and a half hour trip. The first order of business will be to settle into my house, which I hear is very nice, with electricity, a lazy boy, and other amenities. The bad news is I will rarely be there with all the traveling I will do. Soon my supervisor, David Wood, will be teaching me how to do the research. They have been doing it for several months. I will learn by going on a research trip or two with him. At the end of March, a Journeyman from Senegal who is doing the same work as me will join me here. Then we will go to northwestern Ghana together for a research trip. (I’ll tell you more about the research when I learn more.) After that trip, I will likely take time for some Jula language study before our summer volunteer teams arrive. Some good news is I’ve retained most of the French I picked up last time. That will allow me to survive without Jula for a while. Well I guess that’s all for now. Oh, and the question so many are interested in: How hot is it? I saw a sign at noon today that read 43 degrees. You can do the math or trust me that that’s about 110 degrees. It will get worse. April is actually the hottest month. I hope to get this newsletter and maybe a Top Ten list on the website soon. Again that’s kerryspencer.blogspot.com. Check it out. Here are a few matters for prayer:
Praise God for a safe arrival for me and all my luggage.
Pray for me to learn well how to do the research task.
Pray for me to settle in well with my team and new home.
Thanks for all your prayers. I’ll be in touch. God bless!
kerry spencer
I’ve come to realize that both my flights to Burkina have been very special times for me. I have tended to be very reflective and philosophical at these times. I wrote about that in my journal on the way. Here’s an excerpt:
It is flights like this that are so monumental. They are like a period at the end of a sentence. In this case, the sentence was about 3 years of seminary, youth ministry, and time at home with family. It was a good sentence. Unexpected in many ways. But what do we do after a period? Begin a new sentence. Yet thus far I have only blank lines, space waiting to be filled. So I ponder what I would like to write. But is God not the author and I the pen. I certainly wouldn’t have written the last sentence as it turned, but that is what God had for me and it was wonderful. So yes I have my thoughts and plans, but I must let God have His way. May He be glorified in me and through me. (the end)
Here’s a general schedule for the near future. I am currently still in Ouaga, but tomorrow we will leave for Bobo, my home base. That’s about a 4 and a half hour trip. The first order of business will be to settle into my house, which I hear is very nice, with electricity, a lazy boy, and other amenities. The bad news is I will rarely be there with all the traveling I will do. Soon my supervisor, David Wood, will be teaching me how to do the research. They have been doing it for several months. I will learn by going on a research trip or two with him. At the end of March, a Journeyman from Senegal who is doing the same work as me will join me here. Then we will go to northwestern Ghana together for a research trip. (I’ll tell you more about the research when I learn more.) After that trip, I will likely take time for some Jula language study before our summer volunteer teams arrive. Some good news is I’ve retained most of the French I picked up last time. That will allow me to survive without Jula for a while. Well I guess that’s all for now. Oh, and the question so many are interested in: How hot is it? I saw a sign at noon today that read 43 degrees. You can do the math or trust me that that’s about 110 degrees. It will get worse. April is actually the hottest month. I hope to get this newsletter and maybe a Top Ten list on the website soon. Again that’s kerryspencer.blogspot.com. Check it out. Here are a few matters for prayer:
Praise God for a safe arrival for me and all my luggage.
Pray for me to learn well how to do the research task.
Pray for me to settle in well with my team and new home.
Thanks for all your prayers. I’ll be in touch. God bless!
kerry spencer
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