Ya Souma

This week has passed so quickly I can’t believe it’s already Friday afternoon! (Ya Souma is moore for it's good. It was a good week so Ya Souma)

Monday afternoon Liz and I set off for Yako. We walked out from SIM to the Chales de Gaulle to catch a taxi. The first taxi that stopped for us wouldn’t take us to the bus station for any less than 1500f (750f each) which although when you convert it Canadian dollars or American dollars seems like a very cheap cab ride, was outrageous for the distance we would be going and we knew he was trying to take advantage of us. We let him continue on his way without us and waiting for the next one. A little boy selling Kleenex at the intersection heard the exchange with the taxi driver and was sitting at the side of the road laughing at the price he’d suggested! The second taxi suggested the same price but we talked him down to 1000f (500f each, knowing anywhere between 400f and 500f was reasonable for where we were going.)We passed by the intersection in Ouaga that puts up the temperature on a big screen. I usually love passing by there because I never know what the temperature is until I see it. I was in for a big shock when I saw 49C! I realised of course it felt hot, but it wasn’t too hot and it was definitely liveable. I had to laugh though, 49C! When we arrived at the bus station the bus to Yako was ready to depart, so Liz quickly hopped on while I bought tickets. We could have got on without buying tickets and just paid en route but needed better change than we had so we paid at the terminal. Since the bus was ready to go there were no seats to speak of, and since we were taking the after sieste bus the whole isle was full too. We found spot on the steps leading down to the door and stood. Fortunately the ride is only 1.5hours and Mondays ride passed much quicker than it usually does (perhaps because I could see almost nothing..) When we finally got off in Yako Liz and I were joking that we hoped we ran into some of the kids on their way home from school because we had so many bags. We didn’t run into any of our kids, but a lady that lives near us stopped us on the road and asked us to give us some of our bags because she wanted to walk with us. It was so kind, and we had a nice chat with her for the walk home.

Back in Yako I’ve been splitting my time between working with the babies and working on things for the office. I had one really sweet morning with the toddlers: I was coming back from the office when I saw Ibra (like many toddlers he’s curious and he likes to take walks and we often end up chasing after him or calling him back...so I wasn’t surprise to see him walking away from the baby play area) he was walking ahead of Joseph and Tinbnoma and turning around to wave at them and call them forward. The followed me to the house. When they arrived on the doorstep I went to the door and looked out the three of them pulling themselves up on the step and grinning. “Children!” I said to them “when you come to someone’s you must say cock cock cock!” (this is the same as telling them to knock) They immediately all said “cock cock cock!” and I as I opened the door for them the three of them came rushing in. They had a great time sitting on the chairs, trading places with eachother and exploring a little bit the front living area while I finished up what I’d been working on. Then I took them over to the sink to wash their hands. It took a few minutes with each of them because they wanted to turn the water on and off a bunch of times, and I let them. Joseph discovered how to spray water by putting his hand right under the flow from the tap and soaked me. He laughed hysterically which made me laugh too, so it was all good. I gave them some peanuts to eat and then stood at the water filter while they brought glasses to drink water. Finally they felt they had enough water and wanted to sit at the kitchen to drink. The three of them looked so small sitting there I took a quick picture (above.)

Point of praise: We had another child’s paperwork and court proceedings finished this week and he was declared officially adopted! Ibra will be going home with his family very soon.

Points of prayer: We have three children in the hospital currently:
-Jules is back with Doctors Without Borders. He seemed to be improving and his weight had gone up to 5.8kg, but he got sick and his weight went down to 5.0kg. Pray he will overcome the illness that is attacking his body, and that he will be able to consistently gain and maintain weight.

-Rosalie our newest child at the orphanage is at the hospital in Ouahigouya. She has been at the hospital just over a week so we hope she’ll be ready to come back to the orphanage soon.

-Salif is our most recent child to go to the hospital. He left Tuesday evening. He had been sick since Thursday and had been receiving Malaria treatment here in Yako, when on Tuesday (the last day for his malaria treatment) he was still very sick it was determined he would be better treated in Ouhigouya.