Bobo

Yesterday morning I arrived home from a week-long trip to Bobo-Dialossou and Banfora. Miriah, her brother Jordan and our friend Lazar (Jordan’s good friend and our fellow Yako-ite) all traveled down to beautiful southern Burkina to visit with friends and see some of Burkina’s touristy sights.
A couple highlights...
I loved visiting the old quartier (constructed in the 11th century) and seeing the ‘old bobo’. It felt more ‘village-esque’ to me, as opposed to the busy Bobo just outside, and I appreciated the change of pace, as well as the chance to learn about some of Burkina’s history . We saw the old mosque (the Imam panicked that we would hit our heads on everything so spent the entire tour saying ‘watch your head!’ every three seconds), and all four sections of the old quartier (muslim, animist, blacksmith and griot).
A cute story too (I suppose?): a little girl grabbed my hand in one of the first courtyards we visited in the old quartier. I held her hand as we walked around the courtyard together and said goodbye to her as we left her courtyard but, she followed me for our entire tour. She would quietly take my hand, sometimes disappear for a moment when I needed to go into a building where it appeared she wasn’t invited, but always reappear to take my hand again and walk with me. We didn’t have a common language (she spoke almost no French, and Dioula is the heart language of Bobo) but it didn’t matter. It was just a simple moment that put a smile on my face.
We spent an afternoon swimming in a river just near Bobo. As I sat on the rocks I watched an older man spear fishing and another climb palm trees to gather fruit, a few children splashing in the water by the bridge and their mothers washing clothes by laboriously pounding them against the rocks. When we climbed in the river we let the river pull us downstream, and I watched as the jungle transformed around me. It was tranquil and it was stunning. Months ago a friend emailed me and told me that every time I see ‘a majestic tree or beautiful flower’ in Burkina I should let myself be reminded of God’s awesome love for me and for his people here. I couldn’t help but be overcome by an overwhelming sense of this as I took in God’s creation on the quiet banks of the river Gingette.
There are so many other highlights I wish I could write about them all. Perhaps, with pictures, I will be able to better describe to you what my small trip was like. It was a wonderful experience and I was very excited to see Bobo and Banfora (places I had wanted to visit last year but didn’t make time to see). However, as trips always go, I was thrilled to step off the bus into Yako. I came back to Yako just in time for the sponsorship distributions (today and Saturday) that I’ve been looking forward to for so long.
Can’t wait to update you on the happenings of the distributions!