Merry Christmas!

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Well, do I have a lot of complaining to do!!! We have 6 foot snow drifts, spent many, many hours digging out even with the driveway being plowed twice and I am sick of winter. This is southern Michigan for pete's sake. I can honestly say this is the worst winter so far in all my years living in the area. This is a lot of snow for up north, but it makes it a double whammy down here.
Other than that all is well in Imlay City. The show was wonderful. Pics to be put up soon. Grandma is surviving her treatments ok. She is currently wearing some machine to check her heart which she is not too happy about, BUT her pulse was only 32 yesterday. So........she is wearing her monitor and being the good little Grandma.
Anyway have to scoot for now. There is coffee to make, but Merry Christmas everyone and God Bless you!

Gobble, Gobble!

I am posting a little early because tomorrow will be pretty busy. Adele goes in for her CT scans to begin radiation.
Anyway, everyone around here is doing well. Just looking forward to great food and our usual tradition-the movies. I get to try out my new table on company. I am excited.
Rakieta is excited because we always pass the phone around the table to talk to her.
Have a good one everyone. God bless!

Life

The last 6 months have been an absolute whirlwind and way busier than even I like to be but we sure did get a lot accomplished. It started with the trip to Burkina. I jumped off the plane at home and immediately we began the studio. Well, it is not completely finished, but it is very comfortable and usable. The kids love it. Adele began to try to get cleared for hip replacement surgery and we have ended up with them moving in and going through cancer treatments. Lastly, we lost our gelding, but gained a very large gentle older mare so now we have plenty of riding horses and now a new very roomy and warm barn and over 3000 acres and a dirt road to play around on. We have moved from having young horses that needed training to having well broke horses.
We closed the Hillsdale studio and immediately made up the numbers in our Imlay City studio. I finally bought a much needed dining room table and this week put a much needed new couch on layaway. Terrible economy and all.
Yes, it has been a whirl wind. Yes, there is terrible news all around us, and yet, I have a great sence of peace. It is great to be able to sit back and enjoy all the accomplishments. And you know what? Not one penny borrowed.

We are very tired though and in pretty good shape from all the manual labor.

Chemo Port Insertion

Good morning everyone,
I am sitting in the operating waiting room at the hospital. Adele is getting her port for chemo today. Her pulse was very low this morning so we now have something else to add to our list of symptems. I guess I always took health for granted because my people have always lived long relatively healthy lives. I am learning a lot about cancer. It is an area that is totally foregn to me.
Adele's spirits are up and down. Very appropriate I think. She has lived a long and great life. No worries now that we are taking care of Lee with her. It is pretty cute. Now I do most of the heavy lifting along with Matt and the girls and Sandy, a neighbor lady we hired as his companion. So that leaves Adele to just enjoy his company. It is nice to see them lighten up and smile now that the stress is off.

Long Time No Publish

Well, I am back at least for now. Life has been a little hectic. My mother in law has cancer. She is in the medically frail category now and my father in law is in the advanced dementia category so.......the morning after the last screw was put in the new floor of the new studio space, I was in Emergency with my mother in law. That day my father in law moved into the old studio space and when my mother in law came home she moved in with him. Not too bad of an adjustment, but talk about close to the wire. At this point we are going through all the things necessary to start the chemo and radiation.
In all other news things are well. Horses moved down the road to a barn I will refer to as a mansion. For those of you not in the know, we adopted another horse, an older mare who is just perfect for the occasional riders in our entourage, but she is a VERY BIG girl. So rather than move her, we moved our other girls and now they are all residing in what I think is an old calf barn. And it sure is nice! We are adding stalls and making it horsey. With all the other stress, it sure is nice to have things so easy with the horses.
Dance is going well. The students love the new studio space. We do too. It now gives us the basement room we never had in our old farm house. So now we have the perfect space for any large gathering we have.
Well it is now fully daylight so I need to begin my very busy day. I promise more pics and writing on Burkina soon.

Delilah and Stephanie's school

This is the outside of the school building

Here is a picture of Stephanie's class.

This is a private school and as you can see they do need supplies and it is not a fancy school. I am asking for gently used back packs, globes and other things that they probably do not have access to. Let me tell you this. Our Stephanie's back pack was absolutely in tatters. Then I saw the public school kids backpacks. They basically use the things that people with even a little bit more cast off. So, if you have a heart for this and have the stuff please contact me. My contact information is in the donations list further down the page.
Mamie put the girls in this school so that they could walk back and forth since it is only about 2 blocks away and also since she, herself, was very well educated, she is very picky about education. So another example of no matter how different things are, they are still the same throughout the world. People wherever they are want what is best for their children.

Ike is in Michigan too!

Well, I am sitting here waiting for Hurricane Ike to arrive. Even in Michigan we have flood warnings and wind advisories. So we shall see.
I am finally getting caught up a little on paperwork so that means I'll probably be blogging a little more.
College is going well for the girls, dance is going great guns, and the studio is getting there. We can use it now for tumbling when we need to and that is a relief. My table just can't take any more. Wait until you see my new table though. It is beautiful.
I'll report tomorrow on any hurricane damage. They are saying up to 6 inches total and the ground is already really saturated.

Oh yeah last count on the chicks is 38. They are pretty cute.

Cheep, Cheep, Cheep Part 2

I am now up to 28 chicks and counting. I have lost 4 additional to irresponsible mothering. A couple of the hens are young and a bit flaky. In other news, another Pepe Le Pu and I'll be out trapping again tonight. That will make 5 for the season.
We are still painting, working hard on the farm and working hard on the studio.
Sadly George was put down a week ago.
Rakieta went to the clinic with just her brother and had her prosthetic foot fixed. All was successful.
Delilah is living with her biological mother. I don't know how well things are going as there has been no news but we pray all is well.
I'll be up for air after Labor Day and will begin regular posts once again.

Cheep, Cheep, Cheep!!!!

Imagine my surprise when I opened the coop today, late I might add, to find 8 new baby chicks and they were running a muck!
I already have 15 this year and I was feeling the stress of the oldest 3 families as they are now getting older and needed to be moved out of the nursery pen. However, they were not cooperating well so it took me a couple of days to get the job done. My normal procedure is to move the mother and baby(ies) as soon as they start hatching by cage to the nursery pen, keep them locked up for a day or so to make sure everyone is bonded and then let them begin the business of growing up in safety and security.
However, silky mom #2 was nesting on the floor of the main coop and they all must have hatched at once because they were all out and running around by the time I got to them today. There were 2 more up in one of the nesting boxes screaming loudly so it was quite a spectacle. Finally 1 and 1/2 hours later I had all mothers and babies where they needed to be. Things were a bit complicated because the nesting box moms were right next to one another and they had each had one baby hatch. Mother hens are very attached to their babies and some will not accept another hen's babies. Other hen's are good sarrogates and will parent all you give them. They are just like people. Anyway, the two mothers in the boxes were not happy about the babies in their nests. So, I switched things around and at last check everything was calm and happy.
As if I am not in over my head enough, one of the mothers abandoned her unhatched eggs. One of the veteran moms jumped on and saved the day so I could get 5-7 more from that batch. The other hen has about the same amount of unhatched eggs and I have yet another hen ready pretty soon on about 8 eggs. I could easily end up with 60 chickens. This is the most I have ever had hatch in one year. Well, there may be a chickens for sale sign at the end of the road this fall.

Needs List:

Donations needed:

Stuff for sewing school: Can be gently used

Pin cushions
Pins
Tape measure
Seam rippers
Zippers
Buttons
Velcro
Thread
Lace
Embroidery floss
Embroidery hoops
Needles
Sewing machine needles
Scissors
yarn


School supplies: can be gently used

Pencils
Pens
Crayons
Markers
Manual pencil sharpeners
Paper
Wire bound notebooks
3 ring binders
Highlighters
Post it notes
Glue sticks
Envelopes
Erasers
Rulers
***back packs*** need badly
Atlases and globes
tape
Color books
Educational games

Other items: can be gently used

Shampoo, conditioner
Tooth paste, tooth brushes
Any and all personal hygiene or medical supplies
Bedding
Children’s games, toys and books
Manual can openers
Plastic dishes
Silverware and cutlery
Cell phones
Laptops
Dvds
Dvd players

Last but not least-money to help with mailing supplies

We also need pen pals for anyone who wishes to actually sponsor an individual child. Please call me for more info


Phone number: 810-627-1833
Kalinowski@bigtube.net
http://browncityrdadventures.blogspot.com

A Big Thanks or Merci Beaucoup

Thank you’s

Dr. Oghboh and staff of Brown City for donated time and free medical care
Brown City Income Tax for free use of high speed internet
Imlay City Church of the Nazarene for donations and time
Pastor Douglas and staff at the 1st Congregational Church in Imlay City for time
Father Duane Beauchamp and Holy Trinity Anglican Parish in Hillsdale for everything but the kitchen sink
Hillsdale Community Hospital and Health Center for donated medical care
Shriner’s Hospital of Cincinnati for donated medical care
Greater Flint Prosthetic Center for donated medical care
Linda Moreno and Super 8 Motel of Imlay City for donated shampoo, soap and bedding -It has been a Godsend
Alert Medical care of Imlay City for donated medical supplies and ongoing discounts
Ultimate Styling of Yale for donations
The Hebert family of Camden for time and donations
Pastor Allen of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Imlay City for time
Grace Episcopal Church of Lapeer for time
The Fist family of Imlay City for time and donations
Dorita Urrata and Children’s Chance of Waterbury, Conn for everything but the kitchen sink
Walmart of Lapeer for donated medical supplies
The Kon’e Family of Lansing for translating
Kenny and Jeanette Lewis of Chicago for donated medical supplies
Ladies at the Imlay City Post Office for all their kindness over the mailing stress
Volume 1 Books of Hillsdale for time
Dr. Lamb’s Dentist Office of Imlay City for donations

And last but not least:

The Just Dance families for all their donations, well wishes, and everything including the kitchen sink

Shopping in Burkina Faso

Art Van Burkina style

Yes, these are terra cotta pots!

Typical market scene. You buy everything you need in places like these.

Today I am posting pictures of shopping in Burkina Faso. This was something I was very interested learning about. I will write more later. I am just too exausted this evening.

Pepe Le Pu 2

After a very long but productive day of farm and yard work, I wandered around the yard at dusk. Isabelle was barking, snapping and growling ferociously at something on her turf. I walked over to see what had her so indignant. There in the shadows was the black and white culprit. It had sprayed but off in the other direction luckily. However it seemed pretty docile for a skunk with a 100 lb dog breathing down it's neck. So I watched while I figured out how to get Isabelle out from harm's way. Calling her was not working at all.
So I finally got her away from the thing, put her in, came back out-now I needed a flashlight-looked again-all I could see was heavy breathing and the stripe seemed to be slithering around. So much so that for a minute I thought maybe I was dealing with a snake. But no such luck. It was Pepe all right. So in the house I went to read up on the habits of our smelly intruder.
It seems they are pretty prevalent rabies carriers. That had my attention since this thing did not seem to be acting normal. Matt called in the midst of my studying so out I went to give my report and the darn thing was still there. So........we either have a sick or wounded skunk. Yippee, skippee.
So Isabelle is grounded to the house and Matt has skunk duty when he gets home. I 'll report on how well that goes tomorrow. The last skunk disposal was quite entertaining.
Hopefully this is my nasty predator.
Last week another skunk was run over near the house. We hoped that would end our problems, but something killed one of my ducks earlier this week. It was a very big duck so whatever it was either was very vicious or sick.

Delilah and Stephanie's School

The front of the school. Note it is also gated. The men out front are guards.

Stephanie's classroom.

These are pictures of Delilah and Stephanie's school. They were difficult to get. Not so long ago it was illegal to take pictures of any public place or in a public place. However, under the latest regime, the laws are relaxed a lot. Today you must ask and if you are told no, you must respect. That is it. I had to receive permission from the principal to even go into the school room.
I had no problems. I was told no just a few times, but do keep in mind that anyone, especially a white person with a digital camera is a magnet for photos. so be prepared to become the neighborhood photographer. I didn't mind. They thought a lot of my pictures were just hilarious. They couldn't understand how or why I would want such silly pictures of things like an outdoor kitchen or privy. They were very good natured with me though and were willing to take me on lots of neighborhood tours. I also took lots of family photos and such. It's a good thing I am a pretty decent photographer AND computer geek. They are going to love the albums and stuff when they get them.

As you can see, this school is not overly luxurious. This is a private school of around $150.00 per year. The educational level is good. As I stated in an older post the need for supplies is very great. I am currently asking for donations of supplies, globes, atlases etc to help them supply the classrooms. One other unusual thing in at least this school. Most of the staff I saw was male. I don't know if that is common every where, but it seemed the norm here.

The price for public schools is $3.00-$6.00 per year. I will report more on this later

Hello Harouna!

This is Rakieta, Harouna and me. I have a neat story about Harouna. I was looking for someone to tutor Rakieta. The phone number someone passed to me happened to be Harouna's family's phone number. He did not know English to tutor, but he gave me the best phone number he could find for an English speaking tutor. (It was accurate by the way. Not bad for 2 people who couldn't communicate.)
Anyway, Rakieta called him to say thank you for me and it turns out he knew Rakieta's mother. That has led to a good friendship between them. So Harouna was my friend first, but now he is Rakieta's friend too. It is funny how God leads people to one another. It seems like everything about our situation with Africa is a series of coincidences. I say the guardian angels are working over time. When I bumped into my friend from the US accidentally and then she turned out to be living across the street from Delilah and Stephanie that was definitely pretty twilight zone.

I wanted to post this picture today because Harouna wrote to me to tell me hello this week and I was slow in replying. I found out he has been sick with malaria. So I wanted to cheer him with our picture.

What's Up in Imlay City?

Matt on his new bike.

Matt putting up insulation on the front of the new studio.

Merry packing down the old coon hole by jumping in the new studio AKA the old barn.

Me raking and leveling things out
Cherry picking. The trees were so loaded. I forgot how much cherries love cool and wet. We picked about 40 quarts. It was a great year.

Cherries. They are still a little green here, but the trees are just loaded.

Ellie Mae on one of her lessons. She is doing very well.

Typical Homes in Ouagadougou

A typical gate. The upstairs you see is not to this house. It is a new house being built behind this compound.

A typical Burkina privy. You just squat and then there is always a little plastic teapot nearby.

A traditional, classic cooking area. The vast majority of Burkina families cook this way.

A pretty typical living area. These people are not super poor as they have a stuffed couch. As you can see comfort and furniture are a real luxury. Note the buffet and tv.

Today I am posting pictures of the average home in and around Ouaga. I was not out trudging the villages as I was not there on a mission trip but to see our girls. So I spent my time trudging around seeing and doing things as they do. Both Delilah and Stephanie and Rakieta are living in neighborhoods with electricity. However Rakieta's family lives far enough out that there is no electricity there.
Homes are all shapes and sizes and very wealthy people live next door to very poor. Zoning and organizing of communities into business sections and such is not real well developed yet. I would say neighborhoods were developed by tribes or clans as they were originally being settled. Of course over the years things change, but in the beginning groups of people who know or are related to each other tend to develop a neighborhood.
For example, Mam'e lives in an old neighborhood and it is made up of a lot of older people from the Fada region. The houses were all expensive and modern when they were built many years ago, but compared to new homes they are quite simple.
The couple Rakieta lives with are both employed by the government and are solid middle class. Their house, while probably quite fancy when built is now also considered quite simple. In fact, because they live near the airport and that is an area developing into what will be the most western and modern looking area in the city, they have been told the house must be brought up to the new standards or they must move. Mam'e is also very scared that since new houses are being built all around her that are quite large and modern that she will be forced out.
That all being said, let's get to the nuts and bolts of the average Burkinabe compound.
Every house and most businesses have a large concrete or brick wall and tall heavy duty gate. So you see very little from the outside. In fact, the condition of the outside has little bearing on what the inside will look like. I walked through very fancy gates and found myself in very simple, primitive structures and then went through very simple, not well kept gates and found myself in very nice, modern homes.
Once inside the gate, you will usually find lots of green. That is where the trees are, little garden plots, etc. Some families have gardens and others have mostly mango trees and flowers. It is all beautiful.
The homes in and around Ouagadougou are all square or rectangle. Most have metal roofs, but some have the leaves under the metal. Once way out, you will see some of the round houses with roofs of leaves.
Modern homes all have glass windows that can be opened out. They all open up their homes at least part of the day. The simpler homes just have metal shutters that can be opened or closed.
Some homes are laid out in what Americans would call a ranch style. Others are set up to best benefit a particular family. For example, Rakieta's family which is Muslim, has several little 1 and 2 room houses in the compound. They had the least amount of indoor living space I saw, but they had a little more land. They farm more. Not huge amounts as is done out in the countryside, but a decent amount.
Many families keep some livestock. I saw rabbits, donkeys, chickens, turkeys and a horse. No one seems to mind. In fact the chickens all run around in the streets and stuff and just return home at night.
Furniture is hard to come by. I was in 2 homes with what Americans would consider adequate furniture. The first was an American/French family working there. Another was a family who the husband worked for Catholic Relief Services and they also had many western things they brought back from the US. A few families had soft, newer couch sectional things that wrap around rooms. I saw those being sold in one of the market areas, but that would be a major, major purchase and perhaps the only furniture set ever bought.
Beds are woefully inadequate for most. Mam'e said once that they just stack them up like sheeps and that is a pretty accurate description.
Comfort the way we understand it just doesn't exist there. Chairs are hard to come by, let alone wonderful, cushiony comfort. They just deal with it.
We are changing over some furniture here at home and I want so badly to send it over, but there is just no sane way to do it.
I do need to mention how important buffets are to every Burkinabe family. In America we call it a hutch, but let me tell you I wasn't in one house without some kind of buffet. It may have absolutely been in a shambles, but it was there. It is a very important item to them. Cabinets, cupboards and closets are almost nonexistent so that makes the buffet even more important.
At this point the vast majority of Burkinabe have a tv or have access to a tv. Along with cell phones and transportation, they really cherish their tvs. The home I showed you has electricity, but Rakieta's family who has none, also has one. They just use a car battery for power.
lastly, I need to mention lace. They love it. Rich or poor, they all have it. They also like the gaudy stuff my grandma loved as trim on things. Think ugly, dangly things from the darkest corner of the fabric store.
For me the whole experience was amazing and awesome. I was surprised at how much similarity there was to America and equally surprised by the vast differences.

Speaking of Transportation.......

Here is Sarah, my niece, on her first driving excursion. I roused her out of bed (8:45 am) and she wasn't too enthused, so she will complain about how she looks.......But the important thing is that she drove. Almost 20 miles even. She did quite well. She is quite cautious. We have a lot of unpaved straight roads and she will be 17 in a month or 2 so it is definitely time. We will spend all summer learning the off the beaten path routes from her house to ours.

Eureka!!!! We have solved the electronic conversion problems!

Rakieta told me last week that the portable dvd player I left behind for her was working finally. Her tutor took her American cord and somehow figured out it wasn't getting any juice. So he stuck in an African cord (egads) and Viola! it worked. So she is now able to use it.... sort of.
Today she reported that it isn't working again. However, since they aren't too electricity literate any number of things could be the problem.
However, I decided that the trusty little tutor (He is about 20 and works pretty hard at getting our whiny oldest African daughter to enjoy school work. ) might be on to something. So I dragged out all the AC adapter cords we own and set to work seeing if I could get the same result. Well, of course none of the little plugs were the right size. But I remembered the extra universal laptop cord that we had sitting around from the prior laptop. We had to buy it to replace the original cord and it has a gazillion different little things to fit in the connector hole. Anyway, What do you know? It worked!!!!!
So, for any of you going over I highly recommend you purchase one of these. TARGUS 90 watt AC/DC Notebook power adapter. Best Buy sells them and you can get them online.
Here is the deal:
1. It fits many different electronic items
2. It reads how much electricity the device needs
3. It reads what type of electricity is coming from the source
4. It transforms everything safely so there is no Kaboom!!!!

One last thing-make sure you have 3 to 2 prong conversion plugs if you are coming from the US. They can not be gotten there and you will need them to insure you will not be having bare plug exposed when trying to plug in. In Paris I couldn't even begin to try to plug in because the 3 prong plug would interfere with the outlet's extra prongs. My handy conversion plugs were not adequate. You need both the 3 to 2 American and the European/African to get things working properly.

You learn something new everyday and it is great to be able to work in unison to solve problems. That 7000 mile separation is getting a little smaller with every positive thing like this that happens.

Transportation in Burkina Faso

We rode with a school group to a destination. This is a typical bus in Burkina Faso. To my knowledge, no mass transit exists at this time except for the green taxi's.

There are some semi trucks. I wanted folks to see that while things are very different, there are some similarities to the western world. There is a lot of other neat stuff in the picture I will comment on later.

Our trusty Mercedes. As you can see just because it is a Mercedes, these people are not living high. They do need our help, but just as importantly, our friendship and ideas. Here we are in the car repair. Big difference from what we are used to eh? This picture was very difficult to get. I will post on picture do's and don't later.

Typical family off for a ride on the motor scooter. Note Dad's work clothes and the baby tied to the mother. This is typical. I meant to get faces too, but I wanted the family actually moving. In the movement the faces were lost.

A man traveling to or from his little street side store. He is carrying goods on the back of his bicycle. He is dressed in traditional Burkina male attire.
By the way, this is the front of my American friend's house. The shack out front is a little hut for the driver and guard to sit in to escape the sun and heat.

This is a green taxi. This is a typical street scene during a busy time of day.

Donkey cart! He is hauling sand.

What a topic! There are a few late model vehicles. Most of them are 4 wheel drive because even busy roads are not paved and can be impassable especially during the rainy season. I did ride in a couple of the newer cars. One was with my friend from the US. Her family had a Toyota station wagon and they employed a driver. (more on that in a bit) The others were families whom cars were provided by the place of employment. One was the government, the other was Catholic Relief Services.
Everyone else was driving themselves and most had what Americans call old rattle traps. (Now we proudly own the hoopty, so buckets of bolts if they run good, are nothing to stick your nose up at.) I think most were Mercedes which does say a lot about how good the cars are, but I think they are stripped out in the home country and then shipped over. Once here, whatever seats can be found are bolted in. No adjustment options, some were missing windows, seat belts-what are those? Comfort controls, tape decks (remember those?) etc were long gone. The people who did have them really cherished them.
Now people are very proud of their cars no matter what shape they are in. They have helped a country who is not industrialized for the most part become mobile. The weather conditions there are mild-temps never dip below 60* F so no heat or missing windows is really not a bother too much.
I watched people a lot. I mean after all I was there to understand the life our girls live. People lucky enough to have cars kept them immaculate. Not easy with all the red sand/clay and no vacuum cleaners. They also lock them religiously no matter where they are. I assume hot wiring is a popular hobby for the dubious characters in the community.
People were very generous about rides. Some, I think, wanted to be a part of this American person who came all the way to Burkina to stay with the people. But I think it is just how things are, too. If you need a ride, someone who has transportation is pretty cooperative about getting you where you need to go.
Motor scooters are very popular and plentiful now. I did see a few motor cycles on the last day. And mopeds are also plentiful, but motor scooters rule. They are what most people have.
Bicycles are owned by most everyone, even the very poor.
And people still walk...a lot and a long ways by most American standards. However, I doubt you would ever see an extremely obese person there. You just have to get too much exercise!
Then there is the green taxi's. They cost about 30 cents which is not small change in Burkina. They will take you wherever you need to go. Rakieta uses the green taxi to go back and forth to school.
My favorite of course, was the donkey carts. They use them like we use pick ups and dump trucks. I assume you would hire a donkey man for things like moving concrete or bricks. Although maybe the brick and concrete people keep their own supply of donkeys and carts much like a concrete business keeps a fleet of trucks here.

In my mind, I think transportation methods rank very high in the minds of the people. So I think they will forfeit food to save or pay for a mode of transportation. In fact I know that to be the case because Rakieta's family is hungry quite often, but they have motor scooters and her dad has even somehow ended up with a car. I am not sure if it runs. I do know he can't afford to learn to drive or put gas in it yet so it sits in the compound to be admired. They live very far out so his logic is that they need the car even if they can't use it yet.

I'll post separately about the roads in part 2.

Happy Birthday Delilah and Stephanie!

On Monday morning I went shopping with my friend who was from the US. That was an excellent idea, especially to go so soon after my arrival and with someone who shared my language and culture. She helped me change my money. Not easy by the way, for any of you on your way over. Anyway, I wanted to get a birthday cake for the girls since both had had a birthday in the last week.
So my friend took me to the bakery, probably the only one in the country, and we bought the best looking thing they had. Now best looking is relative there. It wasn't pretty but it was a cake so I took my selection to the counter. I was in a tepid room, trying to learn to use CFA's and my French was not good enough nor was their English good enough for this to be a great experience. Most shops that resemble anything remotely like what westerners are used to are run by Lebanese. One thing I'll say for the Lebanese no matter what country they hang their hat in is that they know their neighborhoods and try very hard to make sure the goods needed get in. Hence a bakery. Paltry, tepid and not what we would consider a good one, but nevertheless a real European/American style bakery.
My selection was about $20.00 American which is an astronomical amount for most Burkinabe so I know this was a really big deal for our girls and everyone who was there. I brought over some nice decorations from the grocery store here in the US. So nothing fancy for us, but it was a really big deal for them. Of course in my culture overload I forgot the candles so Mam'e came to the rescue with the baptismal candles. It was definitely something they and I will remember and cherish forever.
One last thing. People are always wondering what is appropriate clothing. Well, my experience is that the younger the person the more western the dress. Mam'e and others her age never dress western. Middle aged people wear a mix of clothing, but never jeans or what is common in the US really for Burkinabe women. But the younger people are all wearing anything western they can get their hands on. However, thongs, hootchy skirts or anything suggestive or sleazy is not OK.
I wore capris and was pretty comfortable. Being white I stuck out anyway so I didn't worry too much about blending in. But loose fitting, light clothing is the most comfortable. Nothing should be above the knee. So capris ok, shorts, especially short shorts or skirts no.
As I promised I will do a post on shopping as it is really interesting and I am sure those going over will appreciate the information. But it will have to wait for another day.

Life Is Getting Easier

Well, no skunk last night. So we'll try a different strategy tonight. I'm not anything if I am not persistent. The hay is all hauled, the sidewalk bricks are all moved, the chimney bricks are almost all moved and the tree trimming is making headway. Those are all things that exhaust me and make me very grouchy. Especially when Matt is in his usual procrastination mode. The shed is being converted into the studio on schedule, the garden is getting caught up, the fences are making their way up, the trees are getting planted and in general life feels pretty good. Still do not have the costumes put away and cataloged nor have I really gutted the house but that will all come.
I am finding that I actually have time to catch up correspondence, post the blog stuff and play with the horses now. It is a pretty good feeling.

A hunting we wiw go, A Hunting we wiw go, Hi How da dawy ow, A hunting We wiw go!

Well the nuisance critters are back. Isabelle got a baby coon while I was in Africa. Her mother is a bit too rascally to get. Or maybe it is Daddy. Whatever it is, it is big, old and seems a bit creaky. Probably very hard to outsmart. Could be why this is the second season we have seen it and still haven't caught it.
Last night a rather audacious skunk came out of a hole just too close to the chicken coop. Now I know what has been raiding the duck eggs. Mrs. Duck the Second is sitting on eggs as we speak and last night the little stinker (no pun intended) grabbed eggs out from underneath her.
So tonight the trap came out. Hopefully the grand buffet meal provided will get us our culprit. More on this later.

Papiers Du Sahal

Paper from offices at the Embassy, etc that needs to be recycled

These are the tools that are used to mix and cook down the paper mix

Hay to mix with the broken down paper

What the paper mix looks like once it is browken down and ready to make into new paper

Paper mix being placed on paper form. The liquid is allowed to run off

The paper is pressed and later hung up to dry

I made a friend online in the last several months who was living in Ouagadougou. Turns out she is a neighbor of Grandma. She has been a wealth of knowledge to me in my preparations to go over. She has a blog also. It is http://bethinburkina.blogspot.com I also have a link over in the links column. It is really good reading.
Anyway, she helped some of the women start a paper co-op which has given them financial security. I told her I would give the business a plug when I got home so here it is. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Ol' Kalinowski had a farm, Ey , i, ey, i, O!

Daisy the sheep getting sheared

Merry pitching loose hay

Well the hay is finally done. It was a lot of work, mainly because we aren't set up to store that much extra hay but we got it. Each bail averages 60 lbs and there were at least 6 truck loads of loose hay. I am glad to be done. Today Daisy was sheared. That was so quick and easy. I was amazed. I am getting the wool washed and sending it over to Africa.

Toil, Toil, Toil!

A very tired and crabby me hauling wood

Merry thinking she is cute catching us all sleeping. That's the corner of Matt's head on the far couch

Did I comment that I thought the African people toil a lot? Yes, I did. Well, I forgot about how much toiling the small farmer can do in Michigan in a cool, wet summer season. It has rained pretty much every day since I have been home. I can't keep up with the grass for starters. The hay season is becoming more and more frantic. So we are moving hay and moving hay and moving hay. The deal is great. The neighbor needs the old hay moved along with all the loose stuff so when it finally dries out they can bust their butts getting it all off and stored before it rains again. So we are getting a very good deal on the old hay and the loose hay is free. But it means heavy labor, really heavy labor.
The trees are growing and growing and growing. That is awesome but the tree trimming is not. The garden is doing very well, but so are the weeds due to the rain.
In addition there is the studio that needs to be finished, the painting that needs to be done, the wood that needs to be hauled and the list goes on and on.
Right about now I could use a housekeeper, and all the other hired help that the more affluent folks in Africa have. Oh well, such is life in good ol" Michigan with no hired help.
When I am not grousing about being exhausted, I really am proud of our place though. We bought it in 1992 and have worked really hard to get the trees to be so beautiful and the outbuildings so nice.

Pets, Burkina style

One of Mam'es escargot. She keeps a little bowl of water out for them. This one is about 6-8 inches long. They are pretty big there.

The lizards. They are everywhere. They are like squirrels here in the US. They don't bother anyone and they keep the bugs under control. They are funny to watch.

I have posted a couple of pics of pets Burkina style. Well, I don't think the lizards are actually pets but they are everywhere and everyone just gets along with them. The lizards kind of make their homes in each compound and lizards and humans are able to coexist without bothering each other too much. This pic is of a gecko. They are pretty fun to watch. There is another kind that lives in the houses and eats bugs in there. They make a funny noise that sounds like the Nextel walkie talkies. Mostly they hang out behind pictures or other dark things. I did have a little one that got emotionally attached to Matt's big camouflaged duffel bag I took. We tossed him out a few times. Luckily he didn't make the journey back to the US.
Don't worry about them crawling in bed with you or anything. That would be as yucky to them as it sounds to you. I am not a reptile lover and I was very ok with them.
The other pets I saw were assorted livestock-donkeys, a few horses, chickens, rabbits, turkeys-I'll be posting on all of them .
There were some dogs. Most looked alike. They are about 30 lbs and have short hair and have a kind of a jackal or greyhound look. I did see cats too. In fact the neighbor has one and it patrols the tops of the walls of the compounds looking for mice and stuff. Pretty cool.
The last thing I want to mention is this little shrew that lives a Grandma's. Shrews are these mole looking things. Anyway, they are pretty harmless. They eat bugs and worms and are nocturnal. This one lives Grandma's garden and seemed to have gotten lost one evening. They communicate the way bats do so the noise was a little weird. But it was a cute little critter.

Ellie Mae Is Off To The Trainer

Well, Ellie Mae headed off to the trainer today. We happen to have a couple of teen/young adults who live just a mile to the north of us who are very talented horse people. They are working the roping circuit. So Julie, the daughter who needs a part time job like all teens, has volunteered to take our hapless haflingers. Seriously, Ellie Mae should be very easy and fun. We have started her, but I am just not qualified to finish her and Jeni doesn't have the time so sending her down the road was the best solution.
Now George will be a bit more of a handful. I will have interesting posts on him I am sure.

Grandma or Mam'e

Mam'e, Rakieta and Stephanie the first day

This is Delilah and Stephanie's grandma. Everyone calls her Mam'e, including me. She insists upon it. I have always enjoyed her and respected her, but after spending so much time with her I love her as much as her birth family does. She is kind and gentle and has a heart for everyone.

She is very intelligent and thoughtful and went to a huge amount of trouble to make sure I had a wonderful trip. She doesn't have a whole lot of money, but it was the little thoughtful things like powdered milk, mango, banana and silverware. She has an awareness of how Americans think since she has a daughter living in the US and has visited in the past.
It was that and of course her grandmotheryness that made all the difference.
"Cyndy, you must rest." "Cyndy, you must sleep." Cyndy, you must eat." "I got to tell you though", the days I didn't stay with her I really appreciated her because Burkinabe who have never been out of the country do not realize how different their culture is. Thank goodness I had Rakieta to mother me a bit.
However, everyone I met went to a lot of trouble to show me their best hospitality and I really appreciated it. While not the kind of place you can visit as a tourist, it was a wonderful trip.

Mackinac Island

No motor vehicles allowed on Mackinac Island so this and bicycles are the standard method of travel. In the winter people use snowmobiles or snowshoes when needed.

Merry, Jeni and one of the dance girls investigating Lake Huron.

I thought I would take a short break from all stuff about Burkina to post on some of the American happenings. After all this is a blog to show Africa what we do over here too. By the way, they love this thing.
Anyway, Sunday a car load of us went up to meet some of the Just Dance crew and watch the Lilac festival parade.
Typical of northern Michigan, we started in 50*F (10* C) and rain. However, it quickly dried up and turned to a sunny 70* (21* C) Perfect for walking. This time we just walked part of the island.
The parade was pretty cute. It was mostly businesses from the island, but quite creative. The lilacs were just beautiful!

Cooking Burkina Style

This is a Burkanabe (pronounced Burkina bay) kitchen. All Burkina people have something resembling this even if they are fortunate enough to have a stove also. This is the preferred method of cooking. From what I can tell, cooking is a ritual that is taken very seriously. While the food is not plentiful by American standards, it is flavorful and being a good cook is something all the women are very proud of.
This is Lucienne standing in front. She is from the Fada tribe and lives with Grandma or Mame. She keeps the house very clean and is very proud of her job. She can speak some English so even the public schools are getting English taught. In fact I think the poorer schools are doing every bit as good of a job as some of the more expensive schools. She can tribal dance better than anyone else and is part of the choir at the Catholic church. She attends the tribal Mass. I would have loved to have gone but it was just too early for me. 6:00am Anyway, she is a very loved part of the family. I am sure she gets a wage, but just as importantly she is getting opportunity by living in Ouagadougou.
The other lady is Mame Salle. She is a lady who lives down the street who came to help that day. It was Mother's Day in Burkina and my first day there. So she came to help cook. The food was delicious.

And The Rains Came!

The first rain of the season

The Pilot on the plane told us it was rainy and cool in Ouagadougou. They were wrong. We disembarked into hot! It was just hot. Dark and sticky and hot! We rode weird little old dilapidated buses from the plane to the airport. The airport looked like a military building out of the late 1950's with NO air conditioning. We stood in line a long time. They looked at our passports and immunization records.
Then we got into another line. There they looked at our papers we filled out and our passports and visas again. Because in our hurry to get to the airport we forgot the addresses and phone numbers I didn't have the stuff, it caused me a little problem there. One thing that was very noticeably different about Burkina from the US and Paris was the presence of Military police everywhere.
Anyway the woman Rakieta lives with was there and she came in and took care of the numbers so all was good. They did look at my bags and let me go without too much fuss.
Going out into the night was a bit of a trip. My welcome party was there and that was great. But there are street vendors everywhere and they are pretty aggressive. Luckily my party was able to whisk me out of there. That alone would have overwhelmed me if I hadn't had them to show me the ropes. There was a lady with 2 babies strapped to her who was begging. That was a little hard. The parking lot was very small and the cars were noticeably smaller and older than America is used to. However, I was reassured instantly that our family who is middle class was not helping out people who were upper class.
The ride to Grandma's was very overwhelming. It was dark, but it was just a lot on the senses since it is soooo different from rural Michigan.
We got there and went in the gate. It felt great to see everybody. We talked a bit and then went off to bed. The room they fixed for me was wonderful. I had a mosquito net which I had to learn to use and there was a room air conditioner. I set it at 27* c/81*f which was pretty comfortable for me and easy on the electric bill.
The next morning we woke to rain. Heavy rain. They were happy. It was the start of the rainy season.
The first picture is what happened to the road after several hours of steady rain. The second picture is of a rousing game of Uno with no power. I brought the cards and taught them. Uno is great when you have language problems because it gives you something in common. Rakieta always loved Uno. It was very popular this trip too.
I was told and witnessed that toys and games are very rare. A board game can cost well over $100.00 so Uno was a wonderful gift.