The Women of Burkina Faso
As many know, March 8th is International Women’s Day! Because this holiday is not as greatly recognized in the U.S., this was my FIRST time celebrating! I had a wonderful time with the women here in Burkina Faso. I have only been here for one week but there is no doubt that the women in Burkina are hard workers. Many will wake up long before the sun gets up. Even though Sunday School starts at 8:00 am, some will show up exhausted from the day already. This is because they woke up at 4 am or earlier to walk miles for water, prepare food for the day, wash clothes by hand, and THEN get ready to come to church! During dry season, some girls even sleep overnight at the watering hole waiting for water. I am inspired and convicted by their life. How many times did I complain because I missed my coffee on Sunday mornings? It is shocking that I have ever complained at all! I am looking forward to learning from these inspiring women.
Celebrating in Church
Jason and Charity Rishel hosted an event at their church to celebrate Women’s Day! It ended up being a great day. I’m thankful that Charity gave me the opportunity to share a five minute lesson that was translated into French and then into the tribal language, Jula! Charity gave the main lesson, the church teens put on a skit, the church women sang a special, and we had a fun game with prizes! There was food for everyone following all of the events. The best part of all is that the men prepared, cooked, and served the food! They also took care of ALL the cleaning! To show additional respect to women, Jason and Nate wore aprons and head coverings that had everyone laughing. It was fun to see these hard working women relax and enjoy part of their day in church. Jason and Charity do a wonderful job loving their church people and the many guests that come out to events. Nate and I are only beginning to see what life is really like here. We still have so much to learn!
Is It That Different?
Church events are quite different here than what I have known previously! Here are a few differences that surprise me.
- People have little access to WiFi so there is no online registration.
- Children from the neighborhood will see an event happening and show up in crowds.
- You never know how many people will show up. You could have up to 100 extra people come and you just learn to work with it!
- Expect people will show up very late depending on their schedule or if they even have a watch to look at!
The Watering Hole
Here is a picture to give you a better understanding where some people in Burkina get their water from! Each person will bring their own barrel for water on a cart. Most of the time they push the cart to and from the watering hole themselves. Sometimes they will have a donkey that can pull the cart for them! Either way they work much harder than most of us ever have to for their water.
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