Burkina Faso is officially recognised as one of the poorest countries in Africa with a huge national debt. It is a majority Muslim country with large numbers of the people practising animist rituals and worshipping idols, it is a country that really needs to hear the message of Jesus. Our team consisted of people from across the UK and after 3 days training in London we began our journey to Ouagadougou (capital of Burkina Faso). We were based in the second city of Burkina Faso called Dialassou and our accommodation was in a local school.
We were working with a Tearfund partner organisation called Accedes. In our first week we helped with construction work on accommodation for a bible school. Due to the extreme temperatures (45º in the shade) manual work was very tough but we did manage well as a team although we were all completely knackered by the end of the day. The following week we started teaching English in classes for beginners, intermediate and advanced. We had nearly 60 people on the register, ranging from young children to pastors. The attitude of the people was amazing, they were so keen to learn and the funny thing was they all ended up speaking in a Northern Irish accent. We also were involved in taking English speaking church services, these services were a great experience as we had the opportunity to lead bible studies, worship and pray with the people.
During my time in Bobo Dialassou, I had the chance to use my skills as a final year physiotherapy student to treat a man called Sibele who suffered from two strokes and yet received no medical attention whatsoever. I was able to teach his family some basic treatment techniques, which they could continue when I left.
These are just a few of the things we did in Burkina Faso but the major thing I learnt from the experience is that it doesn’t matter where you go in the world, God is always there. He is working through missionaries in Burkina Faso to reach people who have never heard about him and through prayer what may seem an impossible task becomes possible.
