Sunday, February 14, 2010

Bandit Warning

Last week, I was scheduled to go on a trip to Niaogho, a small town in Bissa country, along with the director of SIL and several people from the Bible Society of Burkina Faso. Normally, we would take the Po road south from Ouaga, hang a left at the Manga turnoff, and head east from there, about a two-hour trip one way.

However, the day before the trip, we were informed by the leader of the Bissa translation project in Niaogho that there was bandit activity in the isolated region between Manga and Niaogho. He advised us to take the long way around through, along the Fada road to Koupela, south to Tenkodogo, and then east through Garongo to Niaogho. This would add an extra hour and a half to our trip one-way, but better safe than sorry, right?

Once in Niaogho, I talked to some of the other people at the meeting. All assured me that it was safe to take the shorter route home. The bandits only operated in the early morning hours, so we would be safe in mid-afternoon. Besides, the police were patrolling that stretch of road during the day.

A little confused by what appeared to be conflicting reports, I mentioned this to the leader of the Bissa translation project. He pointed out to everyone that just two days ago, bandits had fired on a vehicle in broad daylight, and there were no police around to stop them!

We took the long way home.

1 comment:

Laura Dun said...

wise decision