Evance (and The Star)

Meet Evance!

He has a sense of humor that is all his own, and his smile and laugh do nothing but put a smile on my face. He is, simply put, hilarious.

When I think of Evance I think of the music he loves. Even now, the song ‘Mighty To Save’ has a special place in my heart because it reminds me of Evance and the night us volunteers and all the children sang and danced together under the stars. But, when I think of the music Evance loves I think of him at church and I am reminded of how he takes of care of the little ones there. A gentle pat on the head as he walks past them, or quiet conversations are simple ways Evance shows Therese and Ferdinand he is their loving older brother.

One day last spring I was sitting with a bunch of the boys teaching them tongue twisters. ‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers’ we were endeavouring to say but, inevitably we would end up laughing before the phrase was finished. At one point I asked if there are any mooré tongue twisters. The boys said they’d have to think about it and we continued on to learn “She picks sea shells by the sea shore”. Later that evening, or maybe even the next day, Evance came to find me. He had a huge grin on his face and a slip of paper in his hand on which he’d carefully written down a mooré tongue twister. We practiced it together and he cheered me on until I was pronouncing it “well”. It was a small gesture but, a kind gesture that I appreciate immensely. It is also a wonderful example of Evance's tender heart.

Evance has an amazing love for people and a desire for knowledge. Sometimes after lunch Evance and I would sit in the shade and talk away sieste. I remember more than a few conversations about what westerners don’t understand about Africa and about the differences in our cultural values. Evance always approached these conversations as though he were an old friend, explaining to me something he’d learned over the years and simply wanted to share so I’d have something to mull over. He'd then ask me for my thoughts on the subject and we'd talk through how I saw it, maybe why us westerners approached it that way. We’d often sort through questions about life, the past and the future. These conversations would leave me feeling pensive- with thoughts of Evance’s dreams weighing heavily on my heart.

I think though, it would be improper to introduce you to Evance without also introducing you to The Star.

The Star is Evance’s bike. Now, all the children at the orphanage have a bike but, The Star is the only one I know that has a name. And if you are wondering, I haven't translated the name for you, Evance uses the english term for his bike (or that's all I ever heard used). Evance's english is, in fact, very good.

Save for a few very rare exceptions Evance was the only person to ride the bike and I’d often see him in the courtyard replacing the tires and spokes, or caring for the paint job.

Evance used to tell me “The Star is the most unique bike in all of Yako, maybe all of Burkina!”. It is a pretty unique bike so I didn’t doubt him too much but, it wasn’t until I kidnapped his bike for a day of “adventure” that I discovered just how unique it was. (The day of adventure was when Liz and I took pictures of it all over town. We then we posted them on facebook for him to find and he thought the whole thing was hilarious).

I asked a man to pretend to put the star on his bush taxi so I could take a picture of it, and the man said to me “This is the most unique bike in all of Yako, maybe even all of Burkina!” I almost burst out laughing. Apparently, all of Yako recognizes the uniqueness of The Star.

Evance sent me a message last fall telling me The Star was sick (meaning it was broken). Fortunately, I received word recently that The Star has been healed.