Back in Burkina Again

Our bio-clocks are out of whack again. Yesterday, we slept in until noon. Last night, I lay more or less awake until after 3 a.m. And this morning, we’d intended to arrive on our Centre in Ouaga to greet everyone again at coffee break time at 10 o’clock. But we didn’t make it. That five-hour time zone difference between central Canada and Burkina Faso is making itself felt!

Yup, we’re back in Burkina, having arrived on Sunday evening after over three months away. I must say that of all the times we’ve left home in Canada to go overseas, this was probably the hardest. In times past, the rest of our family either accompanied us or we knew we’d see them again in a few months. This time we’re on our own with no fixed idea of when we’ll be home again. In times past, we knew what we were coming back to in Burkina and were excited about it. This time, things will be somewhat in limbo for the next three months until we take up our new responsibilities in March. The past year in Burkina has been the most turbulent and challenging of our lives here, mostly due to internal, organizational politics, and the next three months don’t promise to be any better. We’ll see...

However, even in the short time that we’ve been back, we’ve seen small blessings to be thankful for. All our luggage arrived with us and we were waved through customs without even having to open a suitcase. A good friend and colleague came to pick us up at the airport and bring us to our house. Our neighbour brought us some rice and sauce for supper, as well as some food for the following day. Our house, which is normally full of dust and dirt that has blown in after even a small absence, was still amazingly clean after three months away. Just a thin layer of fine, red, dust that was easily wiped up. No termites had made it into our cupboards, closets, or storage room. The last time we were away for any length of time, they had completely demolished the shelves of one closet and damaged much of the stuff in it, as well as making significant inroads in our storage room shelves.

Well, I am eager to see my friends and co-workers again, so if I want to have any hope of seeing them before siesta today, I’d better get over to the Centre. Bye for now!