Mouton? Pour le petit-déjeuner? And other tales.

Last Tuesday at lunch time Liz and I had our first taste of our friend the sheep. Sheep soup, and meat (the normal meat!). The boys didn’t realize we wanted to eat with them, so they saved us a bowl. But we got there quickly and it was warm and delicious. They brought us water to wash our hands (always wash your left hand with your right), and then we dug in. The meat was delicious (sorry sheep!), tender, and well prepared. The soup was tasty, although I struggled a little with all the pieces of bone. The kids a eat the bones and then spit them out, but I wasn’t sure how to, or if I wanted to crunch on them. When we asked where the brain was the boys replied the sheep head wasn’t cooked yet and it would be that night. We of course were invited to dine. Later Tuesday afternoon I stumbled across Ascension and Aschille cleaning the head. They scraped the tongue to removed all the “salité” (dirt), and then started popping teeth out! The sound of that alone was enough to make my stomach turn..I didn’t see them skinning the head, but I know that was also part of the cleaning process before it could be cooked. We didn’t end up eating more sheep Tuesday night, but Wednesday morning... 7:05 my alarm clock went off. Seconds later I heard a knock at my door. Liz told me the head was cooked, and Ascension wanted to eat it with us before he left for school at 7:30. We looked at each other smiling and said “Well, this is Africa! Sheep head for breakfast it is.” So off we went in search of breakfast. We started off with the sheep brain. I tried a little piece; the brain agreed with me the least. It sent my stomach rolling a little, but I held my own, and once I told my stomach not to act out I had no trouble with the rest of the meal. Next came the sheep tongue which was absolutely fantastic! No lies. After the tongue I had some jaw muscle (slightly crunchy), some of the eye (very chewy, but agreeable) and then finished it off with more tongue.Without a doubt it was the most unique breakfast I’ve ever had. The Tantis were all watching as we ate, and the kids loved to hear us tell them about it. Some of them couldn’t believe we’d eaten it! They said we were the first visitors they’ve ever had that have eaten anything like that. A couple of the kids told me they can’t even stomach the brain or eye... I told them next time they “égorge” (literally means to ‘slit the throat of an animal, it’s incorrect French apparently to say kill) a sheep, maybe I’ll try the stomach, feet, ears and intestine. They were rolling in hysterics at the thought, but I was pretty serious.

A lot of the Burkinabés have difficulty pronouncing my name. A couple of times some of the younger boys have even called me by Evangeline, because they said it’s easier to pronounce. Tuesday Liz and I were sitting chatting with Ascension (our sheep connoisseur; he walked us through both meals). He told us about the Mooré language and about Botanique names. I replied “Botanique names? Like flower names?” Of course that’s not the case, but I tried. Botanique names are names that have true Mooré origins. After telling Liz and I about these he said he’d give us Mooré names. We said we’d love that! My ‘nom Botanique’ is Fasnewendé (if you want to know how to pronounce it just sound it out, Mooré is written very phoenetically.) Fasnewendé translates in English to ‘everything is possible with God”. Some of the kids still call me Brittany, but most have adopted my Mooré name very quickly. Even one of the teachers at the school called me Fasnewendé today. (And actually it seems almost more Burkinabé to go by two different names, as lots of the kids have more than one first name.)
Wednesday was also gecko hunting day. We don’t actually set aside a special day for hunting geckos, Wednesday was just a particularly good day for us three. I really didn’t like the thought of killing geckos at first, but I got over it quickly. They’re everywhere! And if we didn’t kill the ones that venture into our territory I’m sure they’d overtake it. And now that the warmer weather is upon us, the geckos are really coming out of the woodworks...Wednesday Ruth killed a gecko, I killed two (one of them jumped on the couch while Liz was reading and another ran across my feet. Eeew!)The last gecko we got was one of the big ones from my room. It took Ruth, Liz and I to kill him. Liz was our furniture mover; Ruth and I wielded the brooms. He took numerous hits before he went down (not normal). He lost his tail under my window (totally normal), and two feet (also pretty normal), but he kept running around without two of his feet (not normal), which meant he tracked gecko blood all over my floor, some of my bags and books (don’t worry I cleaned up well.) When we finally took him down we heard a knock at the door. My first thought was that we made so much noise someone was coming to ensure all was well. But actually it was someone to talk with Ruth. So I went to get the dustpan to sweep up the gecko. As I bent over him the supposedly dead gecko, his eyes opened and he stuck his tongue out right at me. Often the geckos flinch after we kill them, must be nerves or something, but this was different. I had a very stereotypical female response: I shrieked and ran right out my door. My door leads right into the living area- Hello visitor! Eyes wide, he looked at me like ‘what on earth is the matter with this girl?”. Ruth calmly picked the broom back up and went back to ensure the job was truly finished. Later when cleaning up I found the tail (when you hit the tails off, they fling around all by themselves- it’s pretty amusing the first time you see it), and one of the feet. I can’t say for sure what happened to the other foot: out of sight out of mind?
Thursday I started my toddler class. Two days a week I’ll be doing a mini preschool for the five toddlers we have here. We’ll be singing, doing story time, crafts and shortly I’ll be making some musical instruments (drums and shakers), and getting them to play along. I’ll be switching it up often, and trying new things to try and keep them stimulated. We’re hoping something small like that, in conjunction with some of the other work we’ve all been doing with them will have us seeing them talking soon, and those that aren’t walking mobile soon. It’s a work in progress still, trying to find things that work for the kids. They have very short attention spans, and aren’t used to things like holding a crayon.
Thursday and Friday Adiara and I went out to do some home visits for our sponsorship program. The purpose of these home visits was to determine whether kids were eligible or not to be a part of our sponsorship program. Finding the kids houses is the first obstacle. For some Adiara had done some background work, but for most we had their name, and which sector of the city they live in to go off of. From that we drive to the right sector and started asking around. Sometimes someone could give us directions, but more often than not a kid would hop on their bike and we’d follow them on the moto. If the child was little enough Adiara would have them crawl on the moto with us, almost in her lap. They’d point and she’d drive. It takes time to find all the kids but Adiara somehow manages to find the kids on her list every time we go out.
Saturday morning was our Widow distribution. I don’t know for sure how it works every month, but today the women received grain, dried fish and salt. Jean does the distributions usually, and a local woman goes with him to pray with the women. Today Liz and I tagged along and Steven, one of our boys too. I enjoyed it a lot. Meeting the women, and seeing how joyful they are, even when some of them are faced with really difficult situations.
It was a good opportunity for me to practice what little Mooré I’ve picked up too! I understand a few of the basic greetings. Whoever told me African languages are fairly simplistic has never tried to learn Mooré! There’s a greeting for good morning, a different greeting to use from noon-1, a greeting for good afternoon, good evening and goodnight. Etc etc. However Monday I started Mooré lessons with Adiara so I’m hoping soon enough greetings will be a breeze and we can move onto something more difficult. She will be teaching me Mooré in exchange for English lessons. I think it’s a great deal, and I’m really excited to learn more of the ‘heart language’ of the people.
Sunday we did attend the church soccer game. The other team didn’t show up so we won by default, but fortunately another team at the same field found themselves in the same predicament and so our two teams played an exhibition game. So we were still able to watch some good soccer! Sunday night we had a movie night with all the girls here. We had baked a cake with most of them earlier and then Sunday settled in to a night of painting nails, eating cake and watching Pride and Prejudice. It was a lot of fun, and a good opportunity for me to get to know a few of our girls better. We’re looking forward to some boys nights soon. Who knows maybe we’ll have them cooking too?
It’s early Tuesday morning here, and already past 30 degrees. We are most definitely out of the cold streak we were having. Lots of days by mid day we’re reaching nearly 40 degrees...It still cools down a lot at night though (maybe to around 20 or a little lower). The temperature gauge on my blog is not always accurate, or so I’ve been told. Especially since it gives the weather for Ouaga- and apparently when it’s cold it’s colder in Yako, and when it’s hot it’s hotter.. I'm enjoying the weather right now, and even starting to get a bit of a tan. One local told me all the sun is good for me- it bronzes me a bit and "i need that." haha.

Prayer requests? The continued good health of our staff and children. Please pray for one very serious that we saw yesterday. The child was not one of ours but we have helped him seek treatment- pray that he will recover fully.
Please pray for our children. Pray that the Lords hand in their cases would be evident.

Barka! Thank you!
For your continued prayers and support. God Bless.