Life in Ouaga

I haven't been reporting on our African kids much because I have been too darn busy being a nurse maid to even call. Today however, I was able to have a really long talk with Rakieta.
It seems the time has come that Rakieta MUST have a sewing machine of her own. So, we are taking a short break from paying for her new prosthetic to getting her machine. It will look about like this.
This whole sewing school thing has become very stressful. Being the quick witted young lady she is and having been outside the country and experiencing something other than the African way or the French way (I am not sure which is worse) Rakieta has been wailing and gnashing her teeth for quite a while over the fact that she doesn't think her school is doing the job right. She watched me sew, she has obviously been paying attention to the seamstresses in her neighborhood and she is painfully aware that she is not up to speed or skill.
So the lamenting has been pretty loud for quite a while. Perhaps this is part of the reason she has the blood in her mouth in the morning. Between grinding her teeth to the nubs and the ulcer she has probably developed, that pretty much explains the medical issue.
Anyway, the school seems to be solving the problem for her. They have explained that she must purchase a sewing machine.
The problem all goes back to the lady who she lives with. The lady is very good hearted. In fact, she developed the school. However, she also is very lax and is a huge procrastinator.
It is pretty bad when the head mistress of the school tells Rakieta that if she wasn't living with Marie, they would have expelled her for tardiness and absenteism. That was the last big problem. We solved it, but it required a ton of scheming about how to quit using Marie for transportation and just start using the green taxi.
Looks the solution this time is simple. I send the money, Marie picks up the machine and Rakieta can become a sewing fool. Sounds like a great plan to me!